Sunlight Academy Content

Welcome to Sunlight Academy, a collection of interactive tutorials for journalists, activists, researchers and students to learn about tools by the Sunlight Foundation and others to unlock government data.

Be sure to create a profile to access our curriculum, track your progress, watch videos, complete training activities and get updates on new tutorials and tools.

Whether you are an investigative journalist trying to get insight on a complex data set, an activist uncovering the hidden influence behind your issue, or a congressional staffer in need of mastering legislative data, Sunlight Academy guides you through how to make our tools work for you. Let’s get started!

Modules

Pivot Tables

Advanced Google Searches

Follow the Money in Election 2012: Return on Investment (webinar)

Scout

Learning about Data.gov

Political Ad Sleuth

Lobbying Contribution Reports

Mapping Campaign Finance Data

Churnalism

Lobbying Registration Tracker

Setting Up Datajam

Lobbying Report Form

Data Visualizations in Google Docs

Introducing Foreign Influence Explorer: A database on foreign agents and their clients

Unlocking APIs

Scout (webinar)

Exploring State Legislative Data

Uncover Political Fundraising

Using Influence Explorer to Track Campaign Contributions

Collaborative reporting tools

How to Follow the Money in your Congressional Race (webinar)

Uncovering the Spending Behind Political Ads (webinar)

Follow the money in campaign 2014 and beyond (webinar)

Intro to Docket Wrench: Explore the Influence Behind the Regulatory Process (webinar)

Political Ad Information at Your Finger Tip (webinar)

Election Day Countdown (webinar)

Follow the Unlimited Money (webinar)

Political Fundraising Unveiled (webinar)

Intro to Open States: Legislative Data Across All 50 States (webinar)

Advanced Campaign Finance Search With Raw Data

APIs and datasets

Docket Wrench docket-wrench-training

Follow the Midterm Money Trail in Real Time follow-midterm-money-trail-real-time

State PAC data and influence tools (webinar)

APIs in the Newsroom (webinar)

Uncover Political Fundraisers with Political Party Time (webinar)

Reintroducing OpenCongress: Federal Legislation Made Easy (webinar)

Fixed Fortunes: What top corporate political players get out of Washington 2014 (webinar)

Fixed Fortunes 2015 (webinar)