NICAR and, where indicated, The Associated Press provide specialized training in your newsroom. Learn to transfer data from government files into newsroom PCs. Build spreadsheets for insightful stories on the beat. Comprehend documents with database managers. Navigate the Internet and on-line databases.
Cost varies. For information, call Lisa Barnes at (573) 882-8969, or to register, call the numbers below.
Note: In the following list, "Open to all" means any journalist may sign up. "Closed" means the session is open only to members of the host organization.
Lincoln, Neb., Alternative News Weeklies April 12. Closed. Kansas City, Alternative News Weeklies April 12. Closed Milwaukee, Wis., Milwaukee Journal April 14-16. Closed. New York, N.Y., CBS News April 16. Closed. Lima, Ohio, Lima News - April 20-22. Closed. Charleston, W.Va., Marshall University- May 13-16. Closed. New York, N.Y., Reuters America-May 29-30. Closed.
Conferences
NICAR will offer training and seminars at the following professional conferences, including the IRE and NICAR national conferences. Costs vary. For information or to register, call Lisa Barnes at (573) 882-8969. IRE National Conference, Phoenix, Ariz., - June 12-15.
Bootcamps
Bootcamps are week-long, intensive training sessions offered at NICAR's headquarters at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo.
As with on-the-road training, you will learn to transfer data from government files into newsroom PCs, build spreadsheets for stories on the beat, comprehend documents with database managers, and navigate the 'Net and on-line databases - but you'll be drilled all day, every day for a full week. Tuition ranges from $500-$1,000 depending on circulation or market size.
For information, call Wendy Charron at (573) 882-0684.
May 4-9. Advanced Bootcamp concentrating on stats and maps at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with Philip Meyer, author of The New Precision Journalism. The seminar is held in Chapel Hill. For details, call (573) 882-0684. May 18-23. Regular Bootcamp on general computer-assisted reporting. For details, call (573) 882-0684. Aug. 10-15. Regular Bootcamp on general computer-assisted reporting. For details, call (573) 882-0684.
South of the Border
Periodistas de Investigacion (IRE-Mexico) offers computer-assisted reporting training in Spanish to journalists in Mexico and Latin America. PI, based in Mexico City, has developed a two-day workshop that covers the basics of investigative reporting and computer-assisted reporting, and a four-to-five day bootcamp that covers CAR intensively.
The workshops can be held in almost any city with prior notice. The courses cover using internet, spreadsheets, database managers, and generally electronic records, and uses examples from the Mexican and Latin American press.
There are two bootcamps scheduled in April and May:
Medellin, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana April 7-12 Mexico City - May 14-18.
A one or two-day CAR workshop will be held in April in Monterrey, Mexico. Dates and times to be announced.
Annual membership to IRE-Mexico is $25 (or $200 pesos mexicanos) and is open to journalists or students of journalism living in Mexico and Latin America.
Instructors are Lise Olsen, managing director of IRE-Mexico, and Pedro Enrique Armendares, assistant director. Both have more than seven years of experience in investigative reporting, Olsen at The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia) and Armendares at La Jornada (in Mexico City). Olsen specializes in computer-assisted reporting, and Armendares in internet resources. Call Olsen at (52)-5-554-7613 for more information, or e-mail her at: lise@ire.org