Scraping Websites with R
In Person
This intermediate workshop will teach you how to scrape user-generated content from the internet using R. The workshop will start with a theoretical introduction to web scraping and specific approaches to scraping static websites with a focus on HTML tags. We will then select a website and go through the process of scraping it. Then we will discuss different kinds of websites that present problems for web scraping.
This is an intermediate-level course. Students must have a basic background in R. This includes, at least the basic data types in R, how to install and load packages, and how to use functions, pipes, and apply/map functions. It will be sufficient for students to have taken the Introduction to Programming with R and RStudio course.
Those who have registered to take part will receive an email with full details on how to get ready for the workshop.
This workshop will be taught by Jessica Witte.
After taking part in this event, you may decide that you need some further help in applying what you have learnt to your research. If so, you can book a Data Surgery meeting with one of our training fellows.
More details about Data Surgeries.
If you’re new to this training event format, or to CDCS training events in general, read more on what to expect from CDCS training. Here you will also find details of our cancellation and no-show policy, which applies to this event.
This training is connected to the Legal and Ethical issues in Webscraping training taking place on the 14th of October.
If you're interested in other training on webscraping and text analysis, you can have a look at the following:
- Text Mining YouTube Comment Data with Wordfish in R
- Legal and Ethical issues in Webscraping
- Silent Disco: Introduction to Text Analysis
Return to the Training Homepage to see other available events.
Room 4.35, Edinburgh Futures Institute
This room is on Level 4, in the North East side of the building.
When you enter via the level 2 East entrance on Middle Meadow Walk, the room will be on the 4th floor straight ahead.
When you enter via the level 2 North entrance on Lauriston Place underneath the clock tower, the room will be on the 4th floor to your left.
When you enter via the level 0 South entrance on Porters Walk (opposite Tribe Yoga), the room will be on the 4th floor to your right.
