End of the Semester Presentations

Each student will have about five minutes to present her/his work to the class. You should talk about the highlights of your work during the semester, the challenges, what you learned, and advice you would give to others students or journalists who undertake similar projects. Inform us. Entertain us. Keep it concrete and specific.

Remember your Final Project must be completed and posted on your site by finals day.

The Mon/Wed class will present on Thursday, May 7 from 2:45 p.m. -4:45 p.m.

The Tues/Thurs class will present on Wednesday, May 6 from 2:45 p.m. -4:45 p.m.

Suggested Talking Points:
-Remind us of your blog subject and the “beat” you covered.
-Give a quick overview of the types of posts and features you performed.
-Talk about one success.
-Talk about one thing that didn’t turn out so well.
-How much traffic did you get to your site? Anything unusual or unique in your traffic?
-Tell us one thing you learned.

Your presentation will be graded on your preparation, your evaluation of your own work, and your participation in the class while others are giving their presentations. If you do not attend, you will lose points for your participation in the class.

Worth 25 points

What Do I Do with My Blog at the End of the Semester?

1. “I’m happy with what I’ve done, but I don’t want to continue.”

Great. Write a final farewell post (Post #20) letting your readers know you are done — or are at least taking a break for a while. Link to some of your best posts so they can see your “greatest hits.”

You can leave your blog where it is. Future students will see it and get inspired. You can link to it for internship and job applications.

2. “I don’t like my blog. I’m done with it. I don’t want anyone to see it.”

That’s fine. But DO NOT DELETE your blog right now. It has all of your work for the semester. Many things could happen in the coming weeks. I could lose my grade book. The school could screw up your grade. You could decide to challenge your grade. Or you may change your mind and decide to pick it up again. So don’t delete it.

Please make sure it stays public until May 31. After then, you can password protect it – meaning only you or other people who have the password can see it. For instructions, see the instructions for Setting Your Blog to Private.

After you have received your offical grade from Rowan, you can delete it. Here are instructions for how to delete your blog. If you delete a blog you will not be able to get it back.

So don’t delete it until you get your official grade and are absolutely sure you want to eliminate your blog.

3. “I love my blog. I want to continue it.”

Good. Go for it. Give yourself assignments. Nurture your audience. Make your blog what you want it to be.

4. “I love my blog. I want to continue it. But the free version of Word Press is limiting.”

Fine. You have a few options.

You can purchase a Word Press upgrade starting at $15 a year. There are various options to fit different needs – domain names, more space, upload audio and video directly, etc. Carefully research them before you spend the money.

You can try some other blogging software to see if you like something else. Blogger, TypePad, OnSugar, or LiveJournal might be better suited to your needs.

You can also buy a space with an Internet hosting company. They will give you your own domain name and (which can run about $7 a month) and still use WordPress to run your blog.

You should check out http://wordpress.org/ — that’s .ORG, which is different than .COM. I suggest that you get a host that allows for automatic instillation of WordPress. They give a list. WordPress.org offers plenty of options – plug-ins, templates, etc. Many news sites – including NYTimes.com, Wired, CNN, and People – use WordPress to run their blogs.

5. “I’m not sure what I want to do.”

Fine. Follow the instructions from #1.

6. Wait. Isn’t there more online journalism than blogging?

Of course. But you have learned more than just blogging this semester. You have been introduced to some important concepts and have tried some standard formats – ie linking, slide shows, maps, audio, short video clips – used at online news organizations.

And in a few years, all of this will be out of date. So keep educating yourself.

Keep up on what is happening in the online news world by reading Web sites like Cyberjournalist or Media Shift (…there are plenty more).

Teach yourself some new skills with tutorials from sites like Knight Digital Media Center or News University (…there are plenty more).

Get an online news internship and learn on the job.

Keep taking courses outside of your primary area of interest – or even outside of the Communications College.

And whatever career you choose or job you find – keep learning, keep educating yourself, keep challenging yourself.

Quiz 5

You will answer three essay questions in class. You can use notes or other resources if you wish. Answer the questions in your own words. I am not looking for textbook definitions. I am looking for thoughtful and articulate responses.

1. What is journalism? (Minimum 3 sentences)

2. Is online journalism different from tradition print and broadcast journalism? If you say “yes,” explain why and how? If you say “no,” explain why it is not? (Minimum 4 sentences)

3. Have you performed journalism or “acts of journalism” with your blog? If you say “yes,” give a specific example and explain why and how. If you say “no,” then explain why what you have been doing is not journalism. (Minimum 4 sentences)

Final Project Pitch

Here is what I’m looking for in your final feature pitch.

Answer the following questions:
1. What is your story idea? (1 or 2 sentences)
2. How you will go about it? Research? Reporting? Events? Sources? (2 to 4 sentences)
3. How will you present the story? (1 to 3 sentences)
4. What is goal for the final product? (1 to 3 sentences)

YOUR FINAL FEATURE MUST BE APPROVED BY THE INSTRUCTOR.

Assignment: Final Project

Create an final project – the equivalent of a substantial feature story – for your blog. It should demonstrate what you have learned over the course of the semester and be the culmination of your blog coverage to date. Your goal should be to tell a compelling and complete story.

Final feature requirements:

• story pitch must be approved by instructor
• original reporting and research
• a structured narrative

Some possible presentation options include…

Interactive Assignment

Assignment V – Interactive

The goal of the interactive assignment is to create an online news feature that would only work on the Web. Try to tell a story or relay information related to your topic without a lot of text. It should allow the user to approach the information in the way the wish, not necessarily the way you present it, or even in a linear way.

You have a few choices for how to approach this assignment:
1. Create a Google map to tell a geographic-based story related to your topic.
2. Create a Dipity timeline to tell a time-based story related to your topic.
3. If you have other ideas, talk to me. I’m open.

Continue reading for guidelines and requirements…

Interactive Timelines

Interactive timelines have become a standard format for online news. They can often be useful for:
-telling a story that spans years, decades or longer
-understanding how an event or series of events unfolded
-highlighting a person’s life or career.

The key question is this: Can the timeline format present your information in a clearer or more compelling way than other formats (text, photos, audio, etc)?

Timeline Examples:
10 Weeks of the Recession (NYTimes.com)

100 Years Since the Last Cubs Victory (NYTimes.com)

The Clinton Campaign (NYTimes.com)

History of the Earth (MSNBC.com)

Casino Timeline Map (Las Vegas Sun)

Obama/McCain Debate of Oct 15, 2008 (C-Span)

Dipity Timelines

Dipity is a Web based way to create timelines. It is open to anyone, but is also being used by news organizations like Huffington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle. You can pull in videos, pictures, and updates from hundreds of sources instantly. Or you can create your own timeline manually. Here is a brief overview and some simple instructions for getting started…

A Quick Overview of Common Interactive News Features

User Generated Content
CNN’s iReport
New York Times Picturing the Recession

Multilayered Web Features
Frontline’s Sick in America

Citizen Journalism
Ohmynews.com English Version
11 Layers of Citizen Journalism (Poynter)
Your Guide to Citizen Journalism (MediaShift)
Citizen Media Initiatives List (Cyberjournalist.net)

Crowdsourcing
WNYC.org’s Are You Being Gouged?

Mashups
Everyblock.com
15 Election 2008 Mashups (10,000 words)

Interactive Features and Games
MSNBC’s Hurricane Tracker
GothamGazette.com’s Garbage Game

Intro to Map Mashups

Google Maps is a free mapping service from Google. A mashup is a Web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool.

Google Map Mania – Mike Peg’s blog about Google Map Mashups
-Mike’s introduction to Google Map Mashups
-Mike’s 50 Things to Do with Google Maps
-Mike’s index of current event maps

Mapki- A Wiki specifically for Google Map Mashups

Of course, we are not only interested in how to find a restaurant or a new jogging route, but how Google Map Mashups might be useful for journalists.

Here are a few examples of how news organizations are using Google Maps to cover events:
San Diego Fires (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
San Francisco Oil Spill (The San Francisco Chronicle)
Oregon Wind Storm (The Oregonian)
Kansas Unsolved Homicides (The Wichita Eagle)

Also: See 5 Maps That Connect Communities (10,000 Words)