{
  "id": "1996-may-nicar-seminars-taking-the-show-on-the-road",
  "slug": "1996-may-nicar-seminars-taking-the-show-on-the-road",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-may-nicar-seminars-taking-the-show-on-the-road.html",
  "year": 1996,
  "month": "May",
  "monthNum": 5,
  "headline": "NICAR seminars Taking the show on the road",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "Brant Houston",
  "author_title": "managing director",
  "affiliation": "NICAR",
  "summary": "The National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting will conduct 52 seminars across more than 25 states between January and June 1996, training over 1,000 journalists in computer-assisted reporting tools and techniques. The organization is also expanding its reach to minority journalists through fellowships, regional seminars, and partnerships with journalism associations.",
  "keywords": [
    "seminars",
    "journalists",
    "training"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Journalism & Newsroom",
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Internet",
    "spreadsheet"
  ],
  "full_text": "Fifty-two. Count 'em. 52. That's how many seminars the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting will give between Jan. 1, 1996, and June 30, 1996.\n\nIn six months, NICAR instructors will have gone to more than 25 states to teach the rudiments of CAR to more than 1,000 print and broadcast journalists. The NICAR seminars last from one to six days, ranging from a CAR overview to intense hands-on work in statistics and mapping software.\n\nIn the past few months, NICAR has conducted customized on-site seminars for 10 to 20 reporters and editors at Newsday, The Washington Post, the TV magazine American Journal, Alabama Public TV and Money Magazine.\n\nThe institute also held a special, first-ever seminar for 25 broadcast journalists in March at Northwestern University and a week-long advanced seminar in statistics and mapping at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill with precision journalism guru Philip Meyer.\n\nAt the same time, NICAR has trained journalists from smaller news organizations on the needs of minority journalists. In a joint effort with the Associated Press, NICAR will give at least 16 regional seminars in six months, with several more planned. Journalists from papers such as Paducah Sun and Kalamazoo Gazette have been able to afford the low fees and convenience of these regional, two-day meetings.\n\nMinority fellowships\n\nMinority journalists have been offered fellowships to the week-long bootcamps at the University of Missouri in Columbia. In the fall, NICAR will hold three two-day regional seminars for minority journalists. NICAR hopes to hold the seminars in Richmond, Va.; Dallas, Texas; and San Francisco, Calif. NICAR also has teamed up with the Multicultural Management Program at the Missouri School of Journalism to hold a week-long seminar for minority managers dealing with the new technology.\n\nNICAR also plans to give presentations and sample training at the national conventions of the associations of Hispanic, Black, and Asian American journalists.\n\nNICAR's basic curriculum covers practical use of the Internet (not to surf but to produce stories), spreadsheets, and database managers — the three basic tools of CAR. NICAR instructors can also teach mapping, data managing and statistics.\n\nProviding a backbone of instruction are exercises created by practicing journalists and the NICAR staff, the handbook \"Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide\" and two books of synopses of CAR stories, and a collection of videotapes.\n\nPost praises ambassadors'\n\n\"Ambassadors to the newsroom\" is what Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. called the journalists at the NICAR seminar at the Post this spring. In a brief talk with the 10 seminar participants, Downie said he expected them to take their new knowledge back to the newsroom and lead the way on computer-assisted reporting. Downie said he wanted computer-assisted reporting to become a routine occurrence in the Post newsroom, saying that it could be used for deadline stories, on-the-beat stories and projects. The Post invited NICAR to teach three days of a five-day seminar put together by Post CAR experts and trainers. William Casey, who heads CAR at the Post, led the first day of training on the Internet and spreadsheets. NICAR trainers then appeared on the second day and spent three days on spreadsheets, database managers, data acquisition and data cleaning. On the fifth day, Casey finished the seminar.\n\nCasey said the training journalists received before NICAR's arrival made the seminar extremely productive. Trainers at the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and Newsday have also found that kind of preparation helpful.\n\nDiane Weeks, manager of computer training for the newsroom, said the seminar worked \"really well\" and plans are underway for Post trainers to spread the CAR word further.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1995-september-nicar-expands-minority-programs",
      "score": 0.449
    },
    {
      "slug": "1994-may-new-advanced-seminars-planned-road-shows-launched",
      "score": 0.396
    },
    {
      "slug": "1994-december-coming-events",
      "score": 0.348
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-april-two-day-seminars-listing",
      "score": 0.327
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-march-get-computer-training",
      "score": 0.316
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-may-nicar-seminars-taking-the-show-on-the-road.html",
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}