Spreadsheet exercises and tipsheets.


Newsroom technology training tips.

• Web Target > backgrounding a beat (pdf) The Web is an important resource for locating valuable background information. This tip sheet focuses on a collection of 10 Web sites with a "Special Bonus" public records link at the end. All resources are gold mines in that much of the information cannot be found using traditional "search engines" such as Google or Yahoo. Each entry is annotated with usage tips and many include search strategies and results. Having folks background a beat or topic is a great way to teach the Web as each person creates their own custom examples as they work through the handout. This tip sheet is in Acrobat Reader format and all the hyperlinks are "hot" for easy use. By Debbie Wolfe, St. Petersburg Times (Web: canyonwolfephoto.com)
  
• Going Online A guide to e-mail and the Internet at The Kansas City Star, submitted by Yvette Walker, AME/Staff Development and Rob Perschau, editorial systems manager.
  
• Seminars Online Pilot Project - Feedback Summary
  Four Cox Newspapers staff members participated in three American Press Institute Seminars Online to assess the value and effectiveness of online training. This report by Michael Schwartz is a summary of their online training experiences.
  

• Advanced searches of the Web (pdf) Journalists are watchdogs of government and other groups. As such, knowing how to conduct advanced searches of the Web is an essential skill for every reporter, editor, researcher, producer, photographer, news artist and copy editor. Those who gain the knowlege to go beyond the basic uses of search sites like Google and Ixquick are among the top in their field. This tip sheet uses a familiar grid to help you easily compare multiple search engines in an "apples" to "apples" format. It will help you learn more and make a strong "search choice" for the research question of the moment: One search site will NOT fill all of your research needs. This same tip sheet is included in the IRE/NICAR Better Watchdog seminar CD-ROM. Updated by Debbie Wolfe, St. Petersburg Times (Web: canyonwolfephoto.com)
  
• How to use information from the Web (pdf) Knowing what you should and should not quote from the Web can be a "gray area" until you read this classic tip sheet by Stephen Miller of the New York Times. His hierarchy of trust nails this topic and leaves you with a clear understanding of how to use information from the Web for a news report. MIDIS stands for the Miller Internet Data Integrity Scale. This is a classic tip sheet used at IRE/NICAR seminars and Poynter.