5 reasons Excel isn't actually the worst

By Sarah Darby

If you're anything like me, you probably cringe at the thought of using Excel. I, too, claimed I hated Excel, thinking the program was only useful to accountants and maybe people living under a rock.

It turns out, Excel is actually a very useful tool for data journalism. I completed NICAR's computer assisted boot camp last week, and I emerged with a new-found appreciation for Excel. If you're a Mizzou student, I highly encourage you to take the CAR class, JOURN 4430, during a regular semester or intersession bootcamp to learn more about data reporting. For everyone else, here are five reasons Excel isn't actually the worst.

How to #NICAR15 If You Missed #NICAR15

By Madison Feller

Last week, a gaggle of journo/coder hybrids overtook Atlanta, Georgia for the 2015 Computer Assisted Reporting conference. Over three-and-a-half days, students and professionals alike came together to learn about everything from Fusion Tables to APIs. It was a jam-packed weekend, but if you happened to miss it, don't worry. ONA Mizzou is here to tell you how to get everything you can from #NICAR15—even if you didn't actually go.

Resources to learn software and coding

By Ashley Crockett

Photo courtesy of Best PSD to HTML

Are you ready to take the first step in learning software and programming languages? If so, read on to learn how.

Classes

JOURN 4502
Multimedia Planning and Design
Learn to build websites using HTML5, XHTML, CSS3 and jQuery. Secretary Nicole Garner and I just completed this course and loved it. Rob Weir, the director of digital development for the Columbia Missourian, will teach the class in the spring. He starts by teaching the most basic tools, so his students can build beautiful websites by the end of the semester.

JOURN 4430
Computer-Assisted Reporting
Data journalism takes tons of information and breaks it down into bite-size pieces for people to understand. In CAR, students use everyday programs like Microsoft Access and Excel to turn data sets into stories. Students learn how to pull information from databases using Structured Query Language (SQL) as well as how to think critically when analyzing findings. CAR isn't just for investigative reporters: It offers a variety of skills every journalist can use.