Banville, Lee M.

English

University of Montana

University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Syllabi Course Syllabi Spring 1-2016 JRNL 331.01: Intermediate Web Reporting Lee M. Banville University of Montana - Missoula, lee.banville@umontana.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Banville, Lee M., "JRNL 331.01: Intermediate Web Reporting" (2016). Syllabi. 3849. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/syllabi/3849 This Syllabus is brought to you for free and open access by the Course Syllabi at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syllabi by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact scholarworks@mso.umt.edu.   JRNL 331 Syllabus - Page 1  JRNL 331: Intermediate Web and Digital Reporting Syllabus – Fall 2015   Scope This course examines major trends in web, mobile and digital reporting and trains journalists how to report and produce content for various types of news outlets. Course includes a focus on understanding how people develop, produce, publish and consume news. Course will also prepare students to work on the digital/web teams in most newsrooms.   Learning Outcomes Successful JRNL 331 students will:   1. Be able to report, edit and produce compelling content for a variety of news platforms. 2. Discern the sources of online information and better be able to ascertain the validity. 3. Assess the impact of on-demand technologies on both the creation and consumption of news content. 4. Recognize news consumers' expectations for the online space and how news websites are organized to serve those needs. 5. Understand how to use social media to report stories, develop personal brands and engage audience. 6. Evaluate online story packages and explain why they work well in the medium, or why they do not. 7. Effectively use blogs, links and content aggregation as part of digital reporting.  Grading options This course must be taken for a traditional letter-grade. No-credit grading is not permitted. The Montana University System’s plus/minus grading system will be used in this class.  Class Meetings  Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 — 5:00 p.m., in DAH 306.  Instructor Info Lee Banville, Associate Professor, School of Journalism. Office: Don Anderson Hall 406  Office hours: Tuesdays 10-11 a.m. and Thursdays 2-3:00 p.m. I’m also available at other times by appointment. Office phone: 243-2577.  My regular e-mail: lee.banville@umontana.edu.    Required Textbook There is no required textbook • Readings may be assigned and posted on Moodle.  Course Grading   Attendance    10%  First Draft Multimedia Story  10%  First Multimedia Story  25%  In-class Writing/Editing  25%  Website assignments   30%  Attendance and participation Trust me, I don’t want to come to a class that lasts until 4:30 p.m. either, but such is life. So… I will keep track of your attendance to this class. Three unexcused absences and you lose a full letter grade from your final grade. Excused absences need to be authorized ahead of time or come with documented evidence of an illness or family emergency. I am not a jerk, but this should be seen as a job and when you aren’t coming to work, you let your boss know.     Cell phones must be off or on vibrate while you are in class and must be off and totally out of your sight during examinations. Do not answer a call during class. Anyone whose phone rings during class will be made fun of by me.  Academic Honesty I expect your honesty in presenting your own work for this course.  Academic misconduct at The University of Montana is subject to an academic penalty ranging from failing the assignment to expulsion from the university.  Students need to be familiar with the Student Conduct Code.  http://www.umt.edu/SA/VPSA/index.cfm/page/1321  Plagiarism As defined by “The University of Montana Student Conduct Code” plagiarism is: “Representing another person's words, ideas, data, or materials as one's own.” This is strictly prohibited in this class and any case of plagiarism in this course will be subject to the penalties outlines in the student code of conduct.    Students with Disabilities Students with disabilities will receive reasonable modifications in this course. Your responsibilities are to request them from me with sufficient advance notice, and to be prepared to provide verification of disability from Disability Services. Please speak with me after class or during my office hours to discuss the details. For more information, visit the Disability Services for Students website at http://life.umt.edu/dss.      JRNL 331 Syllabus - Page 3 Schedule (Subject to Change) Week One: Multimedia Reporting What makes effective multimedia? How do you conceive of stories that are ripe for telling in different formats. Multimedia reporting means lots of different things to different news organizations. Generally newspapers think that means video, TV think that means audio slideshows and magazines get bolloxed up and have no idea what it means. We will hear from multimedia reporters in the field (Washington Post, Smithsonian and HBO) about how they seek to mix media.  We will also explore the evolution of multimedia storytelling by dissecting and critiquing “Snowfall” and another multimedia piece TBD Assignment: Pitches are due before class on Thursday. Week Two: Mapping Stories/Planning Reporting Multimedia doesn’t usually happen on the fly. Stories are planned, narrative flows outlined and reporting formats considered before you hit the pavement. This week you will consider your story elements, set up interviews and consider best ways to report your story.  By Thursday you should have mapped out your tentative reporting plan. Week Three-Four: REPORTING You will workshop your reporting with another team in class on Tuesday and present where you are with your reporting by Thursday. Week Five: Producing Multimedia So you have done all your reporting. This week we put it together as a story using the Creatavist publishing platform. Week Six: Web writing and producing Each student will create or modify their digital presence at the beginning of this class. You will either build or modify your professional site(s) as well as establish or improve your social media presence.  To do this, you will first choose a professional you admire in the field you are interested in. For Thursday you will analyze their primary social media feed (most likely Twitter) and develop a one-page analysis of what they do well and where they are weak.  For the following Tuesday you will then develop a plan for establishing or modifying your website/feed by the end of week three. This plan will be submitted to me before class next Tuesday. Week Seven: Researching and Sourcing "There was 5 exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003, but that much information is now created every 2 days, and the pace is increasing." Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.   For Tuesday, you will research yourself and then compose a plan for this week on what someone can find out about you or identify a knowledge gap on the web.  For Thursday go over searching social media for experts and sources and we will discuss on class Thursday. For Thursday, you will use social media to identify and contact sources for your Missoula-based story.  For next Tuesday, read aggregation articles posted on Moodle. Week Eight: Aggregation Aggregation is a central concept to digital news production, but what makes good, value-added aggregation versus plagiarism? This week we understand the laws around aggregation and how to write aggregated copy. Assignment: Aggregate a specific news story in your topic area for your blog. Aggregation should be more than just cobbling other people’s work and content into something new… It needs to add something to the story through analyzing the facts or adding reporting. This week we will build on initial aggregation to push our writing to take on more of an analytical voice. Assignment: Aggregate a story in your area and add analysis or additional reporting for your blog. Week Nine: Aggregation II More on aggregation Week Ten: Website Development Assignment: Aggregate a story in your area and add analysis or additional reporting for your blog. Week Eleven: SPRING BREAK Week Twelve-Fifteen: Montanareport.org 

JRNL 331.01: Intermediate Web Reporting

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JRNL 331.01: Intermediate Web Reporting

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