Web Biography Assignment

From "Coming Home a Different Person" Washington Post

Your online biography should use videos, photos and text to tell a feature story about an interesting individual. You will report your story using headlines, videos, photos, cutlines and any other online multimedia platforms you choose.  Be sure and choose a subject whose biography would lend itself to interpretation through online journalism.
You will write a fairly brief (500-1000 words) text biography of your subject remembering to incorporate some of the writing techniques we have discussed relating to online writing. The use of multimedia techniques should enhance what you have written but not be in a in lieu of your written biography.
The videos should be between 30-90 seconds in length. At least one of the videos should be a direct quote from the subject of the biography.  At least one of the videos should be a direct quote from one of your sources about the subject of the biography. Upload the videos (minimum of four-no maximum) to your YouTube account and on each video include at least one text description about what is being seen. Take photos needed to tell your story, upload them to Picasa and give them appropriate cutlines (minimum of four-no maximum). These are the minimum requirements of the assignment but given that this is a biography, the presentation of some kind of timeline using multimedia platforms seems appropriate. How you accomplish this is up to you.

You will need to write a proposal for your online biography and add it as a post on your blog. Be prepared to defend your proposal Monday, April 29 at 5 pm.

Be prepared to present your raw materials on Monday, May 6th so we can discuss your progress during our lab session.  Final deadline for this project is Friday, May 17 at 6 pm.

Here are some examples of biography related projects. The first two are by professional journalists and the last one was done in this class last year.
Coming Home a Different Person
A New Dawn
Running for a Reason

Meograph Mapping/ Timeline Assignment

This is a Meograph that I started this week. I will demonstrate how to recreate and finish this Meograph on Monday night. 

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Your mapping/timeline assignment should use videos, photos, cutlines, hyperlinks and audio narration to tell a story about a recent ongoing or breaking news event. To report your story you will have to gather appropriate videos and photos from the event. Then you will create a timeline and map of the event using Meograph as your presentation platform.
Your videos should be between 20-90 seconds in length. One of the videos should be a direct quote from one of the participants in the event you are recording. Make sure to get the person’s name so you can write an appropriate cutline. Upload the videos (minimum of three-maximum of six) to your YouTube account so that you can add them to your Meograph. Only videos you actually shoot will count as one of your three to six videos.
In the Meograph you need to add "moments" with times, map locations and cutlines. You will also need to add at least three audio narrations to your Meograph. My suggestion is that you only add audio narration to the "moments" that feature photographs, not videos. Once you have finished your Meograph, save it and hit the embed button underneath it. Copy the code and use it to embed the Meograph on your blog. Write a headline for the story with a brief explanation of the story the Meograph is telling. Be sure and put links up on Facebook and on Twitter with the hashtag #meograph as well as #nmjatsru.

Some troubleshooting hints:

• Meograph only works with the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers. It does not work with Internet Explorer. It works best on PCs so I would suggest sticking to that platform.
• The audio narration button is buggy. If it stops working, reload the page. If the browser says you need a newer version of Flash then download it. (You won't be able to update Flash in the labs.) If you can't get the narration button to work, then record your narration with Sound Recorder and upload the audio clip.
• Create a story timeline BEFORE you start working in Meograph. It is not good about moving "moments" around and you might be stuck deleting work just to reconfigure the timeline.

The deadline for this project is Wednesday, April 24 at 5pm. 
The class on Monday, April 22 will be a lab session for me to give you help and advice on your project.

Here is a video of how Meograph works in case you miss something in my demonstration.

Meograph Mapping/ Timeline Proposal

For our next assignment we will be producing a story using the four dimensional multimedia tool called Meograph. For this assignment I want you to first come up with a story proposal for an ongoing news story that makes specific use of the timeline and mapping functions of Meograph. For this proposal I want you to create a post on your blog outlining the proposal and explaining how this story could be told using Meograph. You will be expected to defend this proposal to the class on Monday, April 15th.  You will not be allowed to proceed with this story until you have your story proposal approved. Below I have linked to several examples of Meographs from KVWM, a television station in San Diego, California.

And here is one that I made about my musical journey in Chicago.

Legal and Ethical Issues for Online Journalists

I know you are diligently working on your 24 hour challenge stories but there are two articles I want you to read before the next class. These articles deal with legal and ethical issues related to online journalism. We have obliquely discussed these issues before but this time I want you to do some thinking and form some opinions so we can have a more informed discussion Monday night. 

Digital Media Ethics
Legal Challenges Facing Online Journalists

24 Hour News Challenge

Your 24 Hour Challenge story should use text, videos, photos, hyperlinks and any other tools we have learned this semester to tell a story about a breaking or current news event.
The goal is to find a breaking or current news story, gather your media and upload the story to your blog within a 24 hour time period.  For this exercise write a brief story (400-800 words) to accompany your photos and videos.  Include at least two videos and two photos and add cutlines and annotations for context. You may also use any other tools we have used in class (such as a photo collage or a Popcorn video remix) to enhance your reporting. 
Since time is an important element of this assignment be sure and include a Dateline with the time and day the story occurred. The final story along with the pictures and videos should be up on your blog along with links on Facebook and Twitter within 24 hours of the beginning of the event. For the purpose of this assignment all sporting events are off limits. You will be judged first on the newsworthiness of the event you cover and second on the depth of your coverage and your use of online reporting tools. This is your chance to impress me with your use of the tools we have worked with this semester.
Since there are no new technical elements to this assignment there will be no excuses accepted for not hitting your 24 hour deadline. You must complete the assignment between Tuesday, April 2nd at 9 am and Monday April 8th at 5 pm.


Here are two links to completed assignments from last year's class.
Slippery Rock Election Poses Large Divide Between Residents
Uncapping the Truth about Bottled Water

NMJ alum's vlog of Ireland

I thought I would just share this example of Erica Kurvach's vlog she posted during her trip to Ireland. She shot the video with her digital camera and edited it all together with Windows Movie Maker. Erica is an alumna of the class I thought it was interesting to see how she used some of the skills she has learned to post some interesting vlog entries. You can find the rest of her videos at ekstudentchannel.

Day 6 in Ireland

Five shot sequence for multimedia journalism

I thought this article by a multimedia professor gave some great advice on how to make sure you get the video coverage that you need to cover a news event. Although we are not putting together traditional broadcast news packages, the advice he gives on what kind of shots you should get in case would be helpful anytime you need to gather video clips for a story. I would take a look at the pdf he includes that breaks everything down for you visually.