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

Class 0 (June 8/9): Orientation

Introduction; how to log in if you have to; fundamentals of Mac OS X; the software you'll use; shortcuts; stupid OS X tricks, document management; syllabus.

Class 1 (June 11): The Internet I

What's computer-assisted reporting?; tools; domain names; file paths and URLs; Internet research tools; finding people for fun and profit; mailing lists; Usenet; government resources, online publications, and wire services.
• Pitch (due Class 3)
• E-Mail Interview (due Class 10)

Class 2 (June 15): The Internet II

Internet sources; dos and don'ts; anatomy of an e-mail; reading e-mail headers; e-mail interviews.

Class 3 (June 18): The Spreadsheet I

What's a spreadsheet?; basic spreadsheet elements; basic equations and functions; combining equations and functions; sorting; resizing; file formats and delimiters.
• Pitch is due!

Class 4 (June 22): The Spreadsheet II

Additional operations; graphing data; sample exercises; so, like, wtf is this all used for?
• Spreadsheet Analysis (due Class 6)

Class 5 (June 25): Spreadsheet Analysis Work

Time in class spent working on the Spreadsheet Analysis assignment - or we move on to the next class.

Class 6 (June 29): Statistics and Meaning I

What statistics tell us; the math-illiterate’s guide to statistics; standard deviation; uncertainty; probability; error and confidence.
• Spreadsheet Analysis is due!
• Stats Reporting Critique (due Class 9)

Class 7 (July 2): Statistics and Meaning II

The birthday trick; pitfalls of statistical research; correlation vs. causation; miracles; can you prove a negative?
• Proof of E-Mail Interview contact is due!

Class 8 (July 6): The Database I

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

Class 9 (July 9): The Database II

Advanced searching; relations; examples of real-life award-winning database journalism.
• Stats Reporting Critique is due!
• Database Analysis (due Class 12)

Class 10 (July 13): Data Analysis

Using spreadsheets and databases together; more examples to work on.
• Database Building is due!
• E-Mail Interview is due!
• Data Mining (due Class 13)

Class 11 (July 16): Database Analysis Work & Stat Reporting

Lessons learned from the Stat Reporting Critique, and time in class spent working on the Database Analysis assignment - or should we do some HTML?

Class 12 (July 20): Data Mining Work

Time in class spent working on the Data Mining assignment - or we move on to the next class.
• Database Analysis is due!

Class Optional (July 22): Are You HTML or Not?

I have more notes than I will get through in class, so here they are: HTML I, HTML II, and HTML III, along with some info on Electronic Publishing and getting your Web site.

Class 13 (July 23): Last Class

Short in-class assignment (nope, not officially a test, no siree).
• Data Mining is due!
• In-Class Assignment That Is Definitely Not a Quiz