CAR Conference Hands-On Class Schedule


Choose to see the schedule for a particular day or scroll down to see the whole schedule:
Friday	Saturday	Sunday

A=Advanced Classes; B=Basic Classes; I=Intermediate Classes
The classes marked as "Mini-Boot Camp" are set aside for preregistered CAR beginners. Special morning panels are coordinated with specific hands-on classes in the afternoon, giving participants a mini-boot camp experience with plenty of opportunity to apply what they learn. To ensure that as many people as possible can take advantage of our hands-on CAR classes, conference attendees who are not registering for the mini-boot camp will only be allowed to sign up for four hands-on classes.
Friday
Time	Class	Room
9-10:10 a.m.	B: Access 1: The purifying experience of filtering your data. Learn to select and sort data items you choose • Agustin Armendariz, The Center for Public Integrity	Mercer
	B: Excel 1: Performing simple calculations and sorting • Steve Doig, Arizona State University	Morris
	I: Making the most of using the U.S. Census Bureau's Factfinder • Kelly Guckian, San Antonio Express-News	Bergen
	A: Beyond basics 1: Using advanced Excel functions • MaryJo Sylwester, St. Paul Pioneer Press	Hudson
	A: An introduction to SQL Server: What it has that desktop apps don't. How to import, view and query the data • Alletta Emeno, The Philadelphia Inquirer	Rutgers
10:20-11:30 a.m.	I: Access 2: Summarizing databases with counting and summing • Agustin Armendariz, The Center for Public Integrity	Mercer
	B: Excel 2: Calculating ratios and rates in Excel • Steve Doig, Arizona State University	Morris
	B: Web sites and search techniques for reporters • Toby Lyles, The New York Times	Bergen
	A: Beyond basics 2: Cleaning data with SQL functions in Access • Jeff Porter, IRE and NICAR	Hudson
	A: SQL automation: How to spend zero time on those tedious, recurrent tasks of importing, manipulating, analyzing and publishing data with data transformation service. • James Wilkerson, The New York Times	Rutgers
11:40 a.m.-12:50 p.m.	A: Access 3: How to join tables, matching information from one file to another • Tom McGinty, Newsday	Mercer
	B: Excel 3: Learn pivot tables, filtering and more • Janet Roberts, The New York Times	Morris
	B: Backgrounding people on the Internet • Margot Williams, The New York Times	Bergen
	A: Beyond basics 3: Programming in Access to ease importing and other automated tasks • Maurice Tamman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune	Hudson
	A: Optimizing with SQL Server: Using indexes and other tools to spot slowdowns and speed up your queries • Tom Torok, The New York Times	Rutgers
Lunch on your own
2-3:10 p.m.	B: Excel 1: Performing simple calculations and sorting (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Aaron Kessler, Virginia Public Access Project	Mercer
	B: Excel 1: Performing simple calculations and sorting (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Enric Volante, Arizona Daily Star	Morris
	B: Backgrounding businesses on the Internet • Monika Mathur, The Associated Press	Bergen
	A: Mapping 1: Displaying data geographically with ArcView 9 • Christopher Schnaars, The Morning Call	Hudson
	A: SAS: Reading in and analyzing with SAS tools • Dan Keating, The Washington Post	Rutgers
3:20-4:30 p.m.	B: Excel 2: Calculating ratios and rates (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Aaron Kessler, Virginia Public Access Project	Mercer
	B: Excel 2: Calculating ratios and rates (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Dave Sheingold, The Record	Morris
	B: Excel and Internet: Importing data from the Web into spreadsheets • Carolyn Edds, St. Petersburg Times	Bergen
	A: Mapping 2: Importing and selecting data by attribute (ArcView 9) • Brad Heath, The Detroit News	Hudson
	A: Similar tasks, different tools: Moving data into your newsroom with ASP.NET • Aron Pilhofer, The New York Times	Rutgers
4:40-5:50 p.m.	B: Importing data into Excel (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Debbie Wolfe, St. Petersburg Times	Mercer
	B: Importing data into Excel (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Dave Sheingold, The Record	Morris
	B: Excel and Internet: Importing PDFs into spreadsheets • Derek Willis, The Washington Post	Bergen
	A: Mapping 3: Geocoding to merge databases with street addresses into maps (ArcView 9) • Andy Lehren, The New York Times	Hudson
	A: Similar tasks, different tools: Moving data into your newsroom with PHP • Joshua Tanzer, Freelance	Rutgers
6-7:20 p.m.	Philip Meyer Award Reception Join us as we present the first Philip Meyer Awards, recognizing the best uses of social science methods in journalism. Thanks to David Smallman, Esq. and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC for support of this reception.	Bentley's Restaurant
Saturday
Time	Class	Room
9-10:10 a.m.	A: Database building: Using Access forms to ease the process • Anthony DeBarros, USA Today	Mercer
	B: Excel 1: Performing simple calculations and sorting • Danielle Cervantes, The San Diego Union-Tribune	Morris
	B: Web sites and search techniques for reporters • Toby Lyles, The New York Times	Bergen
	A: Mapping 4: How Spatial Analyst can pinpoint places and improve stories (ArcView 9) • Matthew Waite, St. Petersburg Times	Hudson
	A: MySQL: Introduction to writing database code in a low-cost alternative to SQL Server • Daniel Lathrop, The Center for Public Integrity	Rutgers
10:20-11:30 a.m.	B: Access 1: The purifying experience of filtering your data. Learn to select and sort data items you choose. • Griff Palmer, San Jose Mercury News	Mercer
	B: Excel 2: Calculating ratios and rates • Natalya Shulyakovskaya, The Orange County Register	Morris
	A: Advanced Scripting I: Using Perl to grab data from the Web • Matthew Ericson, The New York Times • John Perry, The Center for Public Integrity • Aron Pilhofer, The New York Times	Bergen
	A: Mapping 5: Nailing down the details — dealing with projections • Jennifer LaFleur, The Dallas Morning News	Hudson
	A: Introduction to social network software • Jaimi Dowdell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch	Rutgers
11:40 a.m.-12:50 p.m.	B: Access 2: Summarizing databases with counting and summing • Griff Palmer, San Jose Mercury News	Mercer
	B: Excel 3: Learn pivot tables, filtering and more • Larry Gillick, American University	Morris
	A: Advanced Scripting 2: Using Perl to grab data from the Web (attendance in Advanced Scripting 1 required) • Matthew Ericson, The New York Times • John Perry, The Center for Public Integrity • Aron Pilhofer, The New York Times	Bergen
	A: SPSS 1: Navigate SPSS, using descriptive statistics and frequencies. Create basic counts and percentages to help you understand your data. • David Donald, IRE and NICAR	Hudson
	A: VEdit and others: Using text editors to clean your data and text manipulation • Sarah Cohen, The Washington Post	Rutgers
Lunch on your own
2-3:10 p.m.	A: Moving into Access: An introduction to filtering with Access (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Jennifer LaFleur, The Dallas Morning News	Mercer
	A: Moving into Access: An introduction to filtering with Access (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • William Hartnett, The Palm Beach Post	Morris
	B: Excel and Internet: Importing PDFs into spreadsheets • Derek Willis, The Washington Post	Bergen
	A: SPSS 2: Doing crosstabs to show the data in different ways, and statistical tests • Jason Method, Asbury Park Press	Hudson
	A: An introduction to Perl and regular expressions • John Perry, The Center for Public Integrity	Rutgers
3:20-4:30 p.m.	I: Access 2: Summarizing databases with counting and summing (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • James Wilkerson, The New York Times	Mercer
	I: Access 2: Summarizing databases with counting and summing (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times	Morris
	I: Downloading and analyzing Census demographics to help cover your community • Doug Stanley, The Tampa Tribune	Bergen
	A: SPSS 3: Basic linear regression techniques and diagnostics • Steve Suo, The Oregonian	Hudson
	A: Scripting away your data woes: Perl and VBScript as tools to format, clean and organize data for use in any database software • Tom Torok, The New York Times	Rutgers
4:40-5:50 p.m.	A: Access 3: How to join tables, matching information from one file to another (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • James Wilkerson, The New York Times	Mercer
	A: Access 3: How to join tables, matching information from one file to another (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Robert Gebeloff, The Star-Ledger	Morris
	I: Downloading and analyzing campaign finance data • Jeff South, Virginia Commonwealth University	Bergen
	A: SPSS 4: Using SPSS syntax to automate time-consuming tasks • David Donald, IRE and NICAR	Hudson
	A: Similar tasks, different tools: Moving data into your newsroom with ASP • MaryJo Sylwester, St. Paul Pioneer Press	Rutgers
6-7:20 p.m.	If you have a willing teacher and students, we can add a session in this time slot! Come see us in the Demo Room for scheduling.	Mercer
	If you have a willing teacher and students, we can add a session in this time slot! Come see us in the Demo Room for scheduling.	Morris
	OPEN LAB for mini-boot camps: A session on finding, downloading and importing data (limited seating available; students might have to share computer time)	Bergen
	If you have a willing teacher and students, we can add a session in this time slot! Come see us in the Demo Room for scheduling.	Hudson
	If you have a willing teacher and students, we can add a session in this time slot! Come see us in the Demo Room for scheduling.	Rutgers
Sunday
Time	Class	Room
9-10:10 a.m.	B: Build your own database: The ins and outs of how to structure and maintain a database you create. (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Robert Gebeloff, The Star-Ledger	Mercer
	B: Build your own database: The ins and outs of how to structure and maintain a database you create. (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • Andy Lehren, The New York Times	Morris
	B: Backgrounding people on the Internet • Margot Williams, The New York Times	Bergen
10:20-11:30 a.m.	A final Q&A session, exercise and how to take it all home. (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • IRE and NICAR staff	Mercer
	A final Q&A session, exercise and how to take it all home. (MINI-BOOT CAMP) • IRE and NICAR staff	Morris
	B: Backgrounding businesses on the Internet • Monika Mathur, The Associated Press	Bergen