Image via Wikipedia

We are getting close to the end of the semester. Before you hand in your final assignments, I thought you might like to know how I am going to grade them.

1. Is the item newsworthy? I will not evaluating whether this is breaking news or hard news, I will evaluate whether it fits into one or more of the elements of news.

There are a number of places that list these elements and the lists vary a little, but this is the list I will use.
Oddity – Strange is news.
Emotion – How do people feel about it, how does it make the reader feel?
Consequence – What is the effect/impact on the reader?
Proximity – Where is the story geographically or otherwise in relation to the reader?
Drama – Dramatic events and experiences.
Human Interest – People doing interesting things.
Prominence – Famous people are always interesting because they show humanity amongst the glamour.
Progress – Advance in technology, education, society, etc.
Conflicts – Man v. man, man v. nature, man v. machine, man v. himself
Timeliness – The sooner a story can be reported the better, but make sure the facts are accurate.

It can be argued that any article can fit into one of these categories, but the more obvious the fit, the better the grade.

2. Does the medium fit the message? GJMole is a multimedia website and a story can be covered using audio, video, writing or a combination. You will be graded on how well you used the medium for your story.

3. Does the content show effort? In addition to excellent writing, other forms of effort are obvious in emerging media. Use of Twitter, YouTube and other tools demonstrate effort as well.

4. Is the content professional? Keep in mind that GJMole is an experiment and there are different standards for web content. However, your content should show that you are a competent journalist. Spelling, style, grammar, etc. will all be evaluated. In other words, you are upperclassmen in college, I expect that to show in your writing. Basic news writing and reporting techniques are expected.

Related articles

• GJMole project categories (talkingdigital.org)
• GJMole Assignment details (talkingdigital.org)

According to the schedule, our Final will actually be on Wednesday, April 11 at 3pm.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT:

Turn in print copies of the 10 GJMole posts that you want graded. I will grade the assignments according to the way they appear online. The only reason I ask for print copies is so that there are no questions as to what I am expected to grade.

You will also hand in a paper which addresses the following:

1. Describe your experiences with GJMole – include both good and bad.

2. What did you learn about social media, video, podcasts, WordPress, etc?

3. What did you like about the class? List specific class experiences if possible.

4. What would you have changed about the class?

5. Describe what the world of Mass Communication will look like five years from now. Include the following:

How will we consume news?
How will reporters report news?
What skills will be required of future “journalists”?
What will media technology in general be like?

6. Have the skills and experiences in this class had any impact on how you see your future career? If so, how? If now, why not?

Your paper will be graded on quality of content not the opinions you provide.

Related articles

• GJMole will go down in history (talkingdigital.org)
• How assignments will be graded Spring 2011 (talkingdigital.org)
• GJMole project categories (talkingdigital.org)

Image via Wikipedia

We are getting close to the end of the semester. Before you hand in your final assignments, I thought you might like to know how I am going to grade them.

1. Is the item newsworthy? I will not evaluating whether this is breaking news or hard news, I will evaluate whether it fits into one or more of the elements of news.

There are a number of places that list these elements and the lists vary a little, but this is the list I will use.
Oddity – Strange is news.
Emotion – How do people feel about it, how does it make the reader feel?
Consequence – What is the effect/impact on the reader?
Proximity – Where is the story geographically or otherwise in relation to the reader?
Drama – Dramatic events and experiences.
Human Interest – People doing interesting things.
Prominence – Famous people are always interesting because they show humanity amongst the glamour.
Progress – Advance in technology, education, society, etc.
Conflicts – Man v. man, man v. nature, man v. machine, man v. himself
Timeliness – The sooner a story can be reported the better, but make sure the facts are accurate.

It can be argued that any article can fit into one of these categories, but the more obvious the fit, the better the grade.

2. Does the medium fit the message? GJMole is a multimedia website and a story can be covered using audio, video, writing or a combination. You will be graded on how well you used the medium for your story.

3. Does the content show effort? In addition to excellent writing, other forms of effort are obvious in emerging media. Use of Twitter, YouTube and other tools demonstrate effort as well.

4. Is the content professional? Keep in mind that GJMole is an experiment and there are different standards for web content. However, your content should show that you are a competent journalist. Spelling, style, grammar, etc. will all be evaluated. In other words, you are upperclassmen in college, I expect that to show in your writing. Basic news writing and reporting techniques are expected.

Related articles

• GJMole project categories (talkingdigital.org)
• GJMole Assignment details (talkingdigital.org)

Image by the new world via Flickr

Here is a list of categories for your work on GJMole. Keep in mind that there are many special options that are not listed.

Turn in hard copies of 10 GJmole posts from no less than five of the categories below:

Image via Wikipedia

I was recently contacted by Mark Newton, who is the yearbook and newspaper adviser at Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, CO. He asked me to compile a manual that can be used by high school journalism departments that to build online news site similar to GJMole.

As you know, I am currently working on my Master’s online from the University of Memphis. I ran the idea past my adviser and he recommended that I take on the project as the capstone to my Master’s. I have selected a committee and now the work begins.

This is a significant project, not only for me, but for GJMole and its contributors. As we finish the year, let’s push hard to experiment with new ways of covering the news. Let’s look for unique stories and try to cover them in the best possible way. At the end of the semester, our goal is to have learning experiences that will be compiled into a manual that future educators can use for building their own experimental news sites.

Listing the pros and cons of working on GJMole will be a significant portion of your final project papers. Let’s get to work and create something that will benefit high school and college journalism programs around the country. This project could easily become a boilerplate for hundreds of programs aroudn the country. Let’s take it seriously and move forward with the ambition necessary to make it a successful learning experience.

Related articles

• MicroMemphis – University of Memphis’ hyperlocal project (talkingdigital.org)
• Mountain Vista grad Dain Taylor to get an NFL look (denverpost.com)

Image by Fordan via Flickr

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Image via CrunchBase

I recently demonstrated Zite, the iPad app that finds customized news stories and presents them in a magazine format. I also demonstrated Flipboard, the iPad app that converts Twitter and Facebook streams into a more readable and news-friendly format. Pulse News Reader is another app that is available for both iOS and Android that aggregates custom news in a stylized format.

These new aggregation apps are exciting for news-junkie mobile users, but the content creation industry (traditional newspapers, magazines and television) are paying their lawyers overtime to come up with a way to put these app creators out of business.

Rather than take the idea of custom news and run with it for their own publications and productions, traditional news companies are attempting to put an end to the good idea so that they don’t have to change their own product.

Note to Media: Don’t Fight Zite, Learn From It: Tech News and Analysis

Why newspapers should be loving up mobile content aggregators instead of suing them: Rob Woodbridge

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• Publishing Heavyweights Target iPad Media App ‘Zite’ (wired.com)

Image via Wikipedia

As most of you know, I am working on my Master’s in Journalism online via the University of Memphis. I am trying to find a way for our GJMole work to apply toward my Master’s project. University of Memphis is doing their own hyperlocal project called MicroMemphis. The most exciting part of hyperlocal news is that it is still very experimental at this point. Please look around the web for other examples of hyperlocal news and bring them to class.

Image via Wikipedia

True, you are in college to learn new skills. However, there are so many resources out there that allow you to learn the concepts on your own. I am always happy to teach a topic from beginning to end, but it is often unnecessary and cuts out one-on-one time that may be needed to address individual frustrations.

Here are some cool links for learning more about the various forms of web content development and production.

Media College – A cool site with many written tutorials on topics such as video and audio editing, lighting, equipment, etc. It is a great place to get started. It even has a well-compiled glossary of media terminology.

PC Video Editing Software Comparison – Ignore the top portion of this website that says which software is better. But, the section with the check boxes is accurate. iMovie, Final Cut Pro and Express and other Mac software are not listed on this chart.

This video has horrible audio and could have been much more interesting, but the concepts are excellent and this guy’s advice will really help your video editing.

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Here is the video from class today.

I want to clarify, that I love Mass Communication. I made a statement in class about how I changed my major from Art to Mass Communication. Please understand, that statement did not mean that I regret changing my major. My regret is that I stopped doing art. In other words, I stopped doing something that I loved because I felt that I was expected to use my energy one more practical applications.

I love Mass Comm. however, I have been the most happy and found the most success when I have deviated from what was expected and gone with what was best for the message. Being creative is not the opposite of being intelligent and failure is not the opposite of success. Experiment and gauge your education on how much you’ve learned, not how you did on tests.

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