Previous class project sites
Course goals
This course is designed to offer students exposure to various elements of online journalism. Practically all newspapers, magazines and broadcast news organizations have an online presence, and online journalism is becoming an increasingly important part of what all journalistic organizations do. More journalists are working in online forms, either exclusively or in addition to their work in traditional media forms, such as newspaper and magazine stories and TV news. Even if you don't directly work in online journalism, an awareness of its opportunities and limitations and some experience working with online text, photos and video are valuable.
This course has several specific goals:
- To critically examine issues in online journalism, such as writing, editing and design
- To learn some of the techniques commonly used in online journalism
- To produce an original Web site, applying lessons learned in the class.
Much of the first half of the class will be devoted to working on the first two goals. We will have several workshop sessions that introduce HTML, Soundslides, and video shooting and editing. The second half of the class will include some additional work with applications used in online journalism. We will also be working on the Web site. In past years, we have focused on one main story assignment. This year, students will work individually on one story and in a group on a second. A group of volunteers will be responsible for the overall site design; they will be expected to spend less time on stories.
General information
Readings
There is no assigned book. I have not found one that I think is appropriate for this class. The schedule page has many online readings. There is also a bibliography of online articles. This bibliography page is a work that is always in progress, because Web articles tend to come and go. I hope it will change throughout the term as we find new readings. From time to time, I will put other readings on reserve in Allen Hall. Readings for the week appear on the tentative schedule. Assume the readings are to be completed by Monday's class.
Class sessions
Class meets twice a week for two two-hour sessions. Attendance is expected, and unexcused absences will affect your grade in the class. During many of the class meetings, we will be planning the class Web site and working on it. In a class with such a project, absences not only hurt you as an individual but also the group as a whole.
Grading:
Much of the class grade will be based on work on the Web site story or stories each student does. There will be at least one other graded assignment. For the Web site, grading will be based on professional criteria for reporting. I do not expect all students to be proficient with multimedia elements; grading of these elements will reflect a willingness to work in these areas.
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