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SAMPLE SYLLABUS – MULTIMEDIA / ONLINE JOURNALISM / DIANE STORMONT
FORMAT:WEEKLY 3HOUR DIGITAL MEDIA LAB SESSION X 12
CONTENT: Students will learn how to produce a number of multi and multiplemedia journalism projects for publication on the web. The
projects will be uploaded to each student’s personal website and embedded blog (established during bootcamp). This is a practical course and
students will be expected to become familiar with:
(i) Software: Dreamweaver / Photoshop / FTP programs / Audacity / Levelator / Soundslides / Word / Excel
(ii) CMS: Wordpress / Joomla / Drupal / others
(iii) Web 2.0 utilities: including photosharing / wikis / CSS generators, online photo editors, remote storage & backup / RSS readers /
timeline generators / map generators / mashups / comms including Twitter/Flutter etc / security including encryption, proxy servers / streaming
video
LEARNING OUTCOME: By the end of the course students will be capable of:
(i) producing worldclass multiplemedia journalism for the web directed at an international audience
(ii) be comfortable using the standard web technologies and utilities currently available to report and present their articles
(iii) in a position to judge how to choose and use the appropriate technology to best tell the story
(iv) equipped with the skills to anticipate, approach and teach themselves to master yettobe developed technology as it emerges
GRADING:
25% Inclass work & class participation
25% Assignments
25% Soundslides team project
25% Individual final multiplemedia website project
ASSUMPTION: This syllabus does not include shooting and editing video, which is taught separately at the JMSC. It does address streaming
video and embedding from video services such as ustream/ youtube / vimeo in week 5 which may not be necessary.
What makes a good/bad/indifferent webbased
journalism? Function vs form.
We will compare and contrast an assortment
of news websites and consider:
Layout
Story treatment
Use of various media
Concentration spans / volume
How the human eye traverses a screen and the
mind absorbs information
Interactivity
Aesthetics
DISCUSSION
The role of bloggers, sourcing, accuracy,
reporting practicalities (email vs the phone,
how to harness twitter etc); the difference
between aggression and persistence, offthe
record vs “backgrounders”, role of the PR
industry, where/how to access public
information. Tips, tricks and ethics.
THREE AUDIO Record and edit a twotothree minute 05 points Basic understanding of
What makes good audio audio clip incorporating the following recording, editing and
How to record clean sound elements: Natural sound, voiceover, uploading audio. Hands on
Editing sound using Audacity and thirdparty voice. practice.
Audio formats Upload to your website; include
converting audio formats standfirst and background.
MP3 vs WA etc
Ethics of clandestine recording
FTPing and presenting audio files
Excel – producing charts and graphs
Google maps
Timetoast
Dandelife
EIGHT WRITING FOR THE WEB=1 Create a topic page on the class wiki 05 points The ability to report
for your final project breaking news, deal with
Practical exercise in the flashcoverwrap conflicting facts, deal with
insertupdatewrap system. Retopping stories, Find and subscribe to relevant confusion, keep one’s eye on
adding new developments, breakouts, newslists/discussion sites/RSS feeds the main story.
toppingandtailing, dealing with
contradictory facts that emerge in the Outline your approach to researching How do deal with and learn
confusion of a breaking story and your proposed topics, including from feedback. What makes
consideration of news cycles. See appendix 2 potential interviewees. a good multiplemedia
for a sample scenario (other scenarios would presentation? How to
include a plane hijack moving between Include any progress made. improve.
countries, a natural crossborder disaster and
so on).
FINAL PROJECT: DISCUSSION OF
WORKINPROGRESS
NINE WRITING FOR THE WEB=2 Work on your final project; expect to 025 points As above
produce workinprogress reports and Appreciation of the limits of
See above present them to the class for feedback, CMS – how to use skills
suggestions and CONSTRUCTIVE developed in this class to
FINAL PROJECT: DISCUSSION OF WORK criticism. Please treat such sessions as circumvent their shortfalls.
INPROGRESS akin to a news planning meeting as
TEN CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS=1 held in all serious news organisations.
Practical instruction in setting up and using
assorted CMS – including but not limited to
Joomla, Drupal, PHPCMS etc
ELEVEN CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS =2
See above
PREVIEW OF FINAL PROJECTS
TWELVE PRESENTATION AND CLASS CRITIQUE
OF FINAL PROJECTS
FILL OUT FEEDBACK FORMS