Blogging and Online Sources

As promised, here are your viewing and reading assignments for next Monday.

First, take a look at this video about mobile journalism. It reiterates a lot of what we already discussed but I thought you might like to see another point of view.

READING ASSIGNMENTS:

Here is a pdf of a chapter from an open source book about digital journalism. We will probably be reading several chapters from this book.  Journalism 2.0-How to Blog

Here is a blog post with some informal advice about writing good blog posts.  10 Tips for Writing a Blog Posts

Here is a pdf with a convenient check list for evaluating online sources that you might use. We will talk more about online research and online sources in class. Evaluating Online Sources

After reading the chapter and blog post on blogging I would like you to post a comment on THIS blog which contains a link to a blog that you think is interesting or well done. Briefly explain why you like this blog and be ready for us to take a look at it in class. Remember to have a name chosen for your class blog because we are going to start the process of creating a blog on Monday night.

Multimedia Examples

I have included brief examples of online multimedia tools we will be using in this class. I created all of these projects but you can do a much better job with a little more time and effort.

VUVOX

POPCORN MAKER

MEOGRAPH

The term “new-media” implies something that is constantly changing and evolving and that is certainly true for this class. This semester we are going to conduct an experiment in “backpack journalism” or what some would call “mobile” journalism. The focus will be on reporting, observing and recording stories that are disseminated through the use of “new-media” techniques. Backpack journalism means that your tools will be only a small digital video camera, hopefully a laptop, and your brains. The emphasis will be on breaking news, on-the-scene reports and the use of social media and blogs to tell the story. 

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Online Reading assignments will be given weekly on the blog. You are expected to follow the blog and be ready to discuss assigned readings.

Here are your reading assignments for Monday, January 28th. Please be ready to discuss all these articles.

Are Newspapers Dying?
Failing to Harness the Web's Visual Promise
Ten Online Journalism Trends for 2013
A Visual Look Back at Digital Publishing in 2012

After reading the articles please post a comment at the bottom of THIS blog about one of the articles you read. Please do this before Monday night's class.

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Course Assignments and Requirements:
 (More detailed descriptions will be posted online as the class progresses. While there is no book in this class you will need to purchase an SDHC digital memory card. I suggest getting one with the capacity of 16 or 32 gigabytes,)

For those of you that absolutely have to have a hard copy of a syllabus: click on this

BLOG PAGE/FACEBOOK/TWITTER/YOUTUBE: Social media is becoming an ever increasing outlet for media organizations. As part of the class you will be required to establish a blog page, Facebook account, Twitter account, YouTube account and photo storage account. Part of your job is to market the work done in the class by the use of social media. 

All assignments in the class will be published through your blog. You will be required to submit at least four additional blog entries (online sources, linking, photo exercise, video/photo essay exercise) over the course of the semester.

40+ 40+ 40+ 40+ 40 = 200 points

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PHOTO/AUDIO SLIDESHOW: Each student will use a digital video camera to take still pictures of a breaking news or ongoing news event. They will combine these images into a Vuvox slideshow that combines cutlines, explanatory text and music. The audio, text and images will be combined into a slideshow that tells a story without the need for additional written text.

125 points

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VIDEO REMIX: Each student will use a digital camera to take videos of a breaking or ongoing news event. They will edit these videos together to create a video bed that they will then embed in Popcorn Maker to add text, pop-up boxes, photos, maps and twitter feeds to add additional information. The text, pop-up boxes, photos, maps and twitter feeds will be combined into an video multi-media presentation that tells a story without the need for additional written text.

125 points

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24 HOUR JOURNALISM CHALLENGE: Each student will have 24 hours to find, shoot and produce a story with video, photos and text. The student must have the completed story up on their blog and then market the story through Facebook, Twitter, etc. within a 24 hour period.

150 points

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MAPPING/TIMELINE: Each student will use a digital camera to take videos and photos of a news event that lends itself to documentation through mapping and timeline documentation. They will use Meograph to document the timeline of the event, map its various locations and add video, photos and voiceover for context.

200 points

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WEB BIOGRAPHY: Each student must create a multimedia biography of an interesting individual. The biography must contain video and photographs, hyperlinks and text of between 1250 to 1500 words. You will create a digital Timeline for this person. You may also use any of the other multimedia tools we have used previously in class.

250 points

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EXTRA CREDIT: For every “breaking news” photo, video or story posted on your blog outside of the established assignments you will receive 10 points (if I deem the post worthy of bonus points—all decisions are final).

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Week#/First day of week-Reading & Writing assignments

(Online Reading assignments will be given weekly on the blog. You are expected to follow the blog and be ready to discuss assigned readings. This schedule may be adjusted at the instructor’s will.)

Week 1/Jan. 28-Intro. to Course/Future of Journalism

Week 2/Feb. 4-Use of Online Sources

Week 3/Feb. 11-Linking in Online Journalism

Week 4/Feb. 18-Multimedia and User-Generated Content

Week 5/Feb. 25-Photo/Audio Slideshow Demo

Week 6/Mar. 4-Work on Photo/Audio Slideshow

Week 7/Mar. 11- Video Remix Demo

SPRING BREAK

Week 8/Mar. 25-Work on Video Remix

Week 9/Mar. 26-Legal & Ethical Issues

Week 10/Apr. 2-24 Hour Journalism Challenge

Week 11/Apr. 9-Mapping/Timeline Demo and Proposals

Week 12/Apr. 16-Work on Mapping/Timeline

Week 13/Apr. 23- Web Biography proposals

Week 14/May 30- Work on Web Biographies

Finals Week-Final BLOG entries due

FINAL- Fri. May 17 6:00 – 8:00