As Jerry Garcia said, "Somebody has to do something and it's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
If you are feeling that way because you have to do something about CAR training in your newsroom, don't get all pathetic, there is a lot of help out on the Internet.
I'm going to break down the types of CAR techniques and resources you might be needing to do training on and will list a few places with good tutorials, handouts, or explanations that you can use.
General
Free Academy http://www.freep.com/jobspage/academy/index.htm The Detroit Free Press FREEP Academy page has a great listing with links to handouts on topics from getting started with computer-assisted reporting to transportation stories to cleaning computer data to why you should know financial journalism. A very nice resource, written by and for working journalists. Thanks, FREEP Academy Dean Joe Grimm.
Computer Assisted Journalism Front Page http://www.nyu.edu/pages/journalism/caj/home.htm
John Garcia, formerly a professor at NYU, put this guidebook together as a teaching aid for his classes.
It will help you in yours, too. He's put together great reporting exercises and examples.
Statistics
Statistics Every Writer Should Know http://nilesonline.com/stats/ Having to teach about mean versus median (when you don't always keep them straight yourself). This tutorial on statistics is geared for journalists. Here's your manual, but contact Robert Niles at robert@nilesonline.com before using it.
As he says on the site, "Hey, since he went to the trouble of making this site, it's the least you can do."
News & Numbers: Help for placing "scientific" and statistical claims in perspective. http://www.facsnet.org/cgi-bin/facsnet acgi?alpha=Nwr5r.67ujU5E1 Victor Cohn, former science editor at the Washington Post, wrote these chapters, which should be the required reading of anyone teaching, or taking, a class on numeracy.
Databases
Databases Basics http://www.indiana.edu/~ucspcc/training/db/database.html A brilliant tutorial on databases, their use and their construction, by Indiana University. It is an Adobe Acrobat file, so you will need the reader installed on your computer to get it. Look, too, at the files on Filemaker Pro and Access.
Spreadsheets
Excel training basics http://www.indiana.edu/~ucspcc/training/db database.html This tutorial, also from Indiana University, includes sample files you can use in your teaching.
The Spreadsheet Page: http://www.j-walk.com/ss/
An incredible collection of information about spreadsheets with specific links to pages with information about Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, and other programs.
And to liven up those training sessions, there is even a section for spreadsheet jokes.
Internet Overview
Nora Paul's Computer-Assisted Research: a guide to tapping online information http://www.poynter.org/car/cg_chome.htm OK, I'm allowed to put mine first, aren't I? Anyway, this guide has chapters on the main tools of the Internet and an overview of the uses of computer-assisted research techniques in newsgathering.
The structure focuses on the whats and the whys of using these resources.
Mike Wendland's Wired Journalist http://www.rtndf.org/programs/century/wired/wjforward.html With Mike's focus on broadcast journalists' needs, this book is a terrific guide to the uses of the net for journalists. For you trainers, his chapter V, Training Exercises, is a life-saver with real life-like reporting assignments for which the Internet can provide information.
E-mail/Newsgroups/Listservs
The Reporter's Guide to Internet Mailing Lists http://www.daily.umn.edu/~broeker/guide.html Timothy Broeker, in nice clear language, covers all the various aspects of Mailing List use. It's focus on use in journalism is particularly helpful.
Everything E-Mail
http://everythingemail.net/discussion.html Mary Houton-Kemp's Everything E-mail is just what it is billed, EVERYTHING e-mail! If you are doing a class on e-mail use, this is your one stop shop. There are e-mail tips, a glossary of terms, finding e-mail addresses, getting news by e-mail. The listing of resources about listservs, how to find them, etc. is very useful and great handout material.
Searching the World Wide Web
Researching on the Internet http://www2.dgsys.com/-editors/articles excerpt.html The Internet Newsroom's Tim Maloy put this quick overview of ideas and tips for searching the net together, it would be a good quick read for starting web search instruction sessions.
Finding Data on the Internet http://nilesonline.com/data/ This is a terrific site, particularly the compilation of "Links to Potential Story Data", compiled by Robert Niles. Check it out.
Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
The librarians at Berkeley have put this very comprehensive self-teaching guide together. Why not try doing some virtual training, have everyone, on their own time, step through this tutorial and then meet for a brown bagger discussion of what they encountered along the way.
Evaluating information on the web
ICYouSee A to Z: T is for Thinking http://www.ithaca.edu/library/Training/hott.html
Written by the librarians at Ithaca College, this site gives a good overview and some directed exercises for looking at and evaluating information found on the World Wide Web.
Evaluating Web Resources http://www.science.widener.edu/~withers/webeval.htm
Written by librarians at Widener University, this is the ultimate website for critical thinking about evaluation of information. There is even a PowerPoint program: The Web as a research tool: evaluation techniques. The handouts on evaluating different kinds of web sites (advocacy, news, informational, etc.) are great.
The Online Journalist: Part 1: How "good" is information on the Internet? Part 2: What's in a Domain Name? http://www.facsnet.org/cgi-bin/facsnet.cgi?alpha=Nwr5r.67ujU5EL Randy Reddick, of FACSnet and author of the Online Journalist, put these two chapters on the website. They are good explanations and would be wonderful handouts, for helping journalists learn how to check the credibility of information and sources they find on the Web.
Nora Paul can be reached at (813) 821-9494, or send e-mail to npaul@poynter.org