(Click class titles for useful URLs, handouts, and/or other notes.)

Class 1 (September 7): The Internet I

What's computer-assisted reporting?; tools; what's the Internet?; clients and servers; TCP/IP; packet-switching; domain names; file paths and URLs; Internet research tools; finding people for fun and profit.

Class 2 (September 14): The Internet II

Your old friend, Boolean logic; mailing lists; Usenet; government resources, online publications, and wire services; the scribbly bits of URLs.
• Internet Scavenger Hunt (due Class 3)
• Pitch (due Class 5)
• E-Mail Interview (due Class 8)

Class 3 (September 21): The Internet III

Internet sources; dos and don'ts; anatomy of an e-mail; reading e-mail headers; e-mail interviews.
• Internet Scavenger Hunt is due!

Class 4 (September 28): The Spreadsheet I

What's a spreadsheet?; basic spreadsheet elements; basic equations and functions; combining equations and functions; sorting; resizing; file formats and delimiters.

Class 5 (October 5): The Spreadsheet II

Additional operations; graphing data; sample exercises; so, like, wtf is this all used for?
• Pitch is due!
• Proof of E-Mail Interview contact is due!
• Spreadsheet Analysis (due Class 7)

Class 6 (October 12): Statistics and Meaning I

What statistics tell us; the math-illiterate’s guide to statistics; standard deviation; uncertainty; probability; error and confidence.
• Bring a math/science/stat-based article to class, if you find one

Class 7 (October 19): Statistics and Meaning II

The birthday trick; pitfalls of statistical research; correlation vs. causation; miracles; can you prove a negative?
• Spreadsheet Analysis is due!

Class 8 (October 26): The Database I

What's a database?; structure and varieties of database; making a database; entering and importing data; layouts; sorting and searching.
• E-Mail Interview is due!
• Database Building (due Class 9)

Class 9 (November 2): The Database II

Advanced searching; relations; examples of real-life award-winning database journalism.
• Database Building is due!
• Database Analysis (due Class 11)

Class 10 (November 9): Data Analysis

Using spreadsheets and databases together; more examples to work on.
• Data Mining (due Class 12)

Class 11 (November 16): Internet Publishing I

Web publishing; how to write for the Web; HTML and elements; HTML editors; FTP; building blocks of a simple Web page.
• Database Analysis is due!
• Personal Web Page (due after Class 13)

Class 12 (November 23): Internet Publishing II

Naming files for the Web; HTML design elements and redundancy; anchors and links; images; tables and frames; style sheets (CSS).
• Data Mining is due!

Class 13 (November 30): Last Class

Short in-class assignment (nope, not officially a test, no siree); Web page help.
• In-Class Assignment That Is Definitely Not a Quiz
• Personal Web Page is due!