Journalism 772 and 472:
Computer-Assisted Reporting
Philip
University of
Fetching exercise materials for
CAR class
For our in-class exercises and homework assignments, data files will be placed in a “secure” folder on the Internet. You will have to log in with a special user name and password that you will learn about in class. Once you have logged in, you can download a data file to your own computer in class or at home. To do these exercises at home, you will need to have Microsoft Access or Excel on your computer there. You will also have to know which version of these programs you are running. We are using Access and Excel 2007 in class. If you have older versions at home, you will find links to tip sheets for those versions as well as data files that can be used with those version.
NOTE: This tipsheet was prepared using Internet
Explorer for the downloads. You may
experience difficulties downloading data via Mozilla Firefox because of
different security features. If you
are using Mozilla Firefox and encounter difficulties, switch to Internet
Explorer. If you believe you
have downloaded a file but can’t open it, you may have saved the link to the
file rather than the file itself.
The steps:
1. Click on the following link: http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/secure/
2. With Internet Explorer, you will see a login screen that looks like this. Type in the special user name and password you were given for this CAR class site.
1. Next you will see the page with links to files you may download, something like this:
2.
Click on the file you would like to download: 
.
3. For exercises in class, we will use the Access 2002 versions, which are highlighted in yellow. After you have clicked in the link to a file, you will see a dialog box that may look like this:
4. DO NOT CLICK ON “Open.”
5. Instead, hit the “Save” button. Now you may see a list of drives and folders on your computer in class or at home. If you are in class, save the file to your H drive. If you are at home, pick a location where you would like to save the file. Although the files will be “clean” – virus free – when they are placed on the secure class Web site for you to use, it is never a bad idea to run a virus scan on the files once you have stored them on your hard drive unless your computer is set up to do this automatically. Then you may go ahead and work on them.
6. When the file is saved, you will be prompted as follows. Choose the “Close” button.
7. Start Access and open the file from the program’s OPEN icon.
8. YOU MAY NOT SHARE THIS SPECIAL USER NAME AND PASSWORD WITH ANYONE WHO IS NOT IN THIS COURSE. If you get an email or call from someone claiming to be a network administrator or to be someone in a position of authority who needs your password, that person is an imposter. Please contact your instructor as soon as possible if you get such a request.
9. If you have trouble opening an Access file after downloading it to your home computer, you may be getting interference from a security feature of Internet Explorer. The Web version of this handout has advice on dealing with this issue: http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/772/SecureDownload.htm