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SYLLABUS (GREEN SHEET) REVISED 4/30/09 Journalism 134: Spring 2009 In-Depth Online Reporting TTh 10:30-11:45 a.m. DBH 226 |
Dr. Richard Craig, Associate Professor Office: DBH 108; 924-3240 E-mail: profcraig@profcraig.com Office Hours: Tuesday 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. and by appointment |
Class home page: http://www.profcraig.com/134s09.html
SYLLABUS SUPPLEMENT:
You are required to read all information on this syllabus and
on the syllabus supplement, which lists policies that apply to
all my classes. A copy should be attached to this document;
if it is missing or you need another copy, it is available on
the Web at http://www.profcraig.com/syllsup.html.
CONTENT:
This course is designed for the experienced journalism major who wishes to learn
about multimedia reporting for the online medium. The course teaches
reporters how to approach stories for posting on the Web using the strengths of
the online venue. Newspaper, magazine, broadcast and photo majors will work together to
produce multimedia packages for posting on the Internet. Editors from the
different sequences will collaborate to produce an online portal containing
content from each sequence.
TEXTS:
Richard Craig, Online
Journalism: Reporting, Writing, and Editing for New Media (1st Edition).
Yes, that's me. The book is available at the Spartan Bookstore and assorted online outlets. Though I wrote the book specifically for online journalism courses, we won't necessarily be following it day by day because of the special nature of this class. Please note that other outside readings will be assigned periodically throughout the semester, and that you will be responsible for these readings in addition to the text.
LAPTOPS:
This course is part of the SJSU Laptop Initiative, which means that all
students are required to have a laptop computer and bring it to class.
Many assignments will depend on this, so if you don't already have a laptop,
you'll need to get one ASAP. It can be either a PC or Mac, as long as it
has Microsoft Office and Adobe CS3 installed.
A wireless card is also recommended to take advantage of the building's wireless network. The Spartan Bookstore has laptops available at student rates, and both Microsoft Office and the Adobe programs available. For more information on the Laptop Initiative, go to the JMC school's page about the project or the SJSU Laptop Initiative Web site. Check out this article on Apple's Web site about our participation in the project.
DIGITAL CAMERAS:
To complete many of the assignments for this class, you'll need to take
digital photos and video to accompany your stories. I'm less concerned
about the quality of these than I am with the process of getting you used to providing images for
your stories. As such, any digital camera or camera phone that shoots both
stills and video should serve the
purpose. I'm in the process of trying to get us some dedicated equipment
for this class to use, so stay tuned.
STRUCTURE:
Because we're creating and fine-tuning a news portal, the
structure is by necessity very fluid. This is going to require some fresh thinking, and I don't want to
constrain that by being too rigid. This class will include a few lectures
and reading assignments, some lab instruction, and a lot of discussion. Since this is a
production class with a great deal of work done in
the classroom, regular class attendance and showing up on time are a
must -- repeated absences and/or lateness will be noted and will hurt
your grade. Assignments are loosely weighted as follows:
| Lab work and exercises | 35 percent |
| News story assignments | 35 percent |
|
In-depth story/Final project |
15 percent |
|
Class participation |
15 percent |
See syllabus supplement for other grading policies.
ERRORS:
Please note that since this is an advanced class, it
is expected that you will not make many errors in your assignments. In written
assignments, you
will be expected to keep minor style errors and typos to a minimum.
Mechanical errors -- style, spelling, punctuation, minor grammar
errors, copy preparation -- will lower your assignment grade by .25 for each error.
This includes the same error made more than once.
Misspelling or misstating the name of a person, an institution or position in your stories is a major error and will result in a failing grade on the assignment. This is not meant to scare you, just to make sure you check out the facts before you write. Stories with any other factual errors will also receive a failing grade.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
In the age of the Internet, it's easy to find lots of information for
stories. However, just because you find it doesn't give you ownership of
it. You're encouraged to search as far and wide as possible for
information, but cite your sources, period. There is nothing
that will get you in trouble more quickly than failing to cite a source, whether
you're doing text, audio or video. If you have any questions about citing
a source, let me know before the assignment is due.
Stories submitted after deadline will not be accepted and will receive a failing grade.
Any student who fabricates a story will receive a failing grade in the course.
Any student who plagiarizes a story will receive a failing grade in the course.
Please note that I'm not in the business of giving failing grades -- as long as you understand and adhere to these rules, I won't have any problem with you. Above all, if you have questions about any of these rules and how they might apply to a given story, please contact me before the due date.
See syllabus supplement for information on attendance, deadlines, academic honesty and other issues not covered here.
THE WEB SITE
The main thrust of this class will be on creating and refining a new Web portal to display the work of our student media, including the Spartan
Daily, Update News, Access magazine, and any class work worthy
of publication. The site will not necessarily go live on the Web until the
end of the semester, to give us an opportunity to run through production and
work out kinks before the whole world sees. This is to be a collaborative
project -- we're going to work together to include both design and content
elements that present this content most effectively, and sometimes adding
elements to those stories that make them more appealing in the online
medium. We may eventually work with reporters from the different student
outlets as they report their stories from the beginning.
NEWS ASSIGNMENTS AND THE STORY PITCH
In addition to creating and maintaining this site, students in this class
will be working together on multimedia reporting projects. As with the
development of the Web site, the theme here will be collaboration.
Students will work in teams to learn from each other as they develop story
packages for posting on the Web site. Ideally, by the end of the
semester each student should have produced video, audio, photo and text content
for the site.
Because multimedia stories are different than just a written story or video package, members of reporting teams for each story will need to work together to come up with a notion of how best to present their chosen topic. For each story, students will be assigned to work together in groups and given contact information. Each group will meet to discuss the elements that will best serve the story, then put together (1) a discussion of the chosen story and its main points, and (2) a visual outline of how it will appear online. These will be presented by one or more members of the group in class on the days noted in the schedule, with others in the class encouraged to offer suggestions.
Please note that every student will be expected to present at least part of a story pitch at some time during the semester. Groups will be given a week or more to produce finished packages, and the packages will be given a collective grade. Also, you will be expected to fill out the Group Activities Form on the Web site for each group story package, to let me know what duties you and your fellow group members performed.
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Given the upper-division standing of this course, you should know the basics
of news writing and reporting. Journalism 134 is a course designed to
polish and enhance those skills for online multimedia production. Specifically, by the
end of the semester you will be expected to:
SCHEDULE: (Subject to change, with notice):
Subject matter of each day's class is in plain type.
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Jan. 27 |
Intro to course -- online storytelling |
| Feb. 3 |
The strengths of the online venue and its
technologies |
| Feb. 10 |
Site content, layout and design |
| Feb. 17 |
The job of the online journalist |
| Feb. 24 |
Web resources and databases |
| Mar. 3 |
Campus Quirk Story Package due Mar. 3 |
| Mar. 10 |
Writing leads online |
| Mar. 17 |
Tightening and livening up your writing |
| Mar. 24 |
SPRING BREAK - NO CLASS |
| Mar. 31 |
Mar. 31: NO CLASS Online standards vs. journalistic standards Reading: Craig, Chapter 14 |
| Apr. 7 |
Trend Story Package due Apr. 7 |
| Apr. 14 |
Controversy Story Pitch: Apr. 14 |
| Apr. 21 |
Ethics in cyber-land |
| Apr. 28 |
Apr. 28: NO CLASS |
| May 5 |
In-Depth Feature Story Pitch: May 5 |
| May 12 |
Course review In-class lab work on final project In-Depth Feature Story Package due May 12 |