Syllabus for JN 430-001 New Media Workshop
(it will change as we figure out this course)

Spring 2005, 3 hours

MW 2:30-4:30, Phifer 338

Instructor: Edward Mullins, Professor and Publisher, The Dateline Group, Department of Journalism, The University of Alabama, Box 870172, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487. Office: Phifer 323, 205-348-8592, 205-349-2006, mullins@jn.ua.edu, emullins13@netscape.net. Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday: 10-11 a.m.; Tuesday/Thursday, 10-noon; and by appointment

Instructor: Major Highfield, Instructional Developer/Web Producer, Department of Journalism. Office: Phifer 402B, 205-348-8617, 205-310-4393, majorhighfield@hotmail.com

Dateline Alabama Editor Patrick Beeson, Graduate Assistant, Department of Journalism. Office: Phifer 402D, 205-348-7155 205-239-5544, patrickbeeson@gmail.com

Catalog Description

Exploration, practice and application of media convergence in a newsroom environment. Class combines reporting, editing, design, photography, multimedia, promotion and advertising to maintain the young adult web magazine Dateline Alabama. Lectures (including guest lectures), laboratory, demonstrations, discussions, assigned readings. Pre-requisite, JN 311 or permission of the instructor.

Required Textbooks

Web Journalism: Practice and Promise of a New Medium, by James Glen Stovall, Addison-Wesley, 2004, ISBN 0-205-35398-3; AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law with Internet Guide and Glossary, 2002 or later, The Associated Press, New York. ISBN: 0-917-360-21-4.

Note: Many readings will be available online only. It is expected that students will have access to the Internet outside of class.

Other books (optional, but knowledge assumed)

Carole Rich, Writing and Reporting News, Thompson-Wadsworth, ISBN 0-534-63333-1. William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, 2000, Longman, ISBN 0-205-30902-X. A standard dictionary. Recommend Merriam Webster or Webster’s New World.

Equipment

You will have access to Dateline’s Nikon D70 digital camera, Digital Marantz audio recorder and Apple iBook. Also the computers and scanners in Phifer 338 and the Reading Room and in my office (the old Dateline Office, Room 323). For all equipment questions (and most of the answers), see Major Highfield or Patrick Beeson. Let them know if you have a digital camera and your photo and graphics capabilities.

About Dateline Alabama

Dateline Alabama is a weekly magazine oriented to young adults. Emphasis is on at the University and Tuscaloosa and their interests. The site combines long and short features, indepth reporting and edgy commentary. It employs interactivity and multimedia to bring collegiate storytelling to a new level for a new medium. It is currently the USC of college independent websites, having been ranked No. 1 by the Society of Professional Journalists. It is our intention that it remain so. Our partner is The Tuscaloosa News, which hosts the site. Dateline Alabama has been an integral part of the journalism curriculum since 2000. Evidence of its reach may be seen in the number of average daily hits: 3,000.

Dateline Operations

Except in unusual circumstances, all content will have a deadline of Monday and posted on the subsequent Friday. Students generally will receive their assignments on Wednesday with deadline on the second Monday after receiving the assignment.

As JN 430 gets going, temporarily some students will participate in Dateline Alabama through JN 380 Practicum and JN 382 Independent Study. Also, we will continue to receive content from classes and from volunteers.

Stories must be accurate and in good taste for a medium that is not a subscription medium (public domain). They must adhere to AP and/or Dateline Alabama style guidelines and include any additional content stipulated by the instructors or the editor (links, photos, multimedia).

In addition to reporting, editing and photography, students will have the option to work on promotion/PR and advertising.

Blogging

Once little more than insider journals, blogging has exploded into a competitor to traditional media and has opened up access and influence for citizen journalists to become a major part of the news media environment. But how reliable are blocs and should they be considered journalism?

Examining the blogging phenomenon will be a major part of the course.

Photojournalism and Photoshop

We’ll learn the basics of taking good pictures and editing them in Adobe Photoshop. The instructors and the editor believe there is no content that does not deserve some kind of illustration. Capturing public domain images as well as taking original photographs will be a major part of the course.

Video and Audio on the Web

The growth of broadband makes web audio and video more practical. We’ll learn how to capture and edit using Sound Studio and iMovie.

Multimedia Storytelling

We will combine still images, audio, video and Flash to create interactive stories. We’ll study the sites that do this best.

Web Advertising and Marketing

Web advertising accounted form more than $3 billion in income in 2004, up from $1 billion the year before and less than half a billion the year before. Even many small newspapers are netting up to $50,000 a year from their web operations. And more and more independent websites, such as ours, are showing a profit. We’ll learn about different types of advertising and how to balance ads with content to develop a creative site.

News Site Design

Yes, there is a way to impose to order on the current design madness. Studies show that readers’ eyes move in specific directions and that audiences expect certain elements in certain locations. We’ll study this, too.

Technologies Used by Websites

Newspapers now combine databases with graphical user interfaces to make updating their sites quicker than you can say “Hypertext Markup Language.” We’ll learn Dateline’s content management system, Publicus, as well as a news-feed technology called RSS.

Websites Requiring Registration (but its free)

OK, we know that the AP still uses Web as a proper noun and Web site as two words. But the online industry has opted for lowercase and one word, just as it has also decided that online is one work in all uses, without a hyphen. We’ll make these advances part of our local style. By the way, OK? It used to be okay.

• tuscaloosanews.com

• nytimes.com

• washingtonpost.com

• chicagotribune.com

Other Sites to Become Familiar With

News and Commentary

• al.com — Most popular site in Alabama

• bbcnews.com — No. 1 large site, Online News Association

• cnn.com — World's most popular news website

• salon.com — A top feature and indepth site

• slate.com — A top commentary site, now owned by Washington Post

• venturacountystar.com — No. 1 small site

Journalism and Media

• cyberjournalist.net — Reviews of web journalism and new media

• journalists.org — Website of the Online Journalism Association

• ojr.org (Online Journalism Review) — Analysis and commentary about online media

Best Blogs

• andrewsullivan.com — Conservative commentary and gossip

• gothamist.com — New York City blog

• instapundit.com — Political blog

• newmediamusings.com — New media blog

• wonkette.com — Liberal commentary and gossip

Web Design

• webmonkey.com — Resources for web development

• w3.org — Resources for web development and web standards

Other Requirements

• Class attendance required. E-mail 2 hours before class meets if you cannot attend.

• Check e-mail daily. Confirm preferred e-mail with senior instructor

• Mininal production contracts between each student and the instructors and editor will be established on an individual basis.

Final Word

Dateline Alabama is an instructional website that adheres to professional standards. These standards are well covered in the SPJ Code of Ethics below:

SPJ Code of Ethics

Journalists should:

• Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.

• Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.

• Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.

• Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.

• Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.

• Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.

• Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.

• Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story

• Never plagiarize.

• Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.

• Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.

• Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.

• Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.

• Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.

• Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

• Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

• Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public's business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.

Class policies: Absences and tardiness

• Students may not make up in-class assignments, quizzes or homework.
• Students may make up the midterm exam in the case of an absence due to an emergency, but some type of credible documentation will be needed.
• More than three unexcused absences will drop the student's overall grade by one letter.

Class policies: Code of academic conduct

All students in attendance at the University of Alabama are expected to be honorable and to observe standards of conduct appropriate to a community of scholars. The university expects from its students a higher standard of conduct than the minimum required to avoid discipline. All acts of dishonesty in any academic work constitute academic misconduct. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:

• Plagiarism: Representing the words, data, works, ideas, computer programs or output, or anything not generated with attribution, as one's own.
• Fabrication: Presenting as genuine any invented or falsified citation or material.
• Misrepresentation: Falsifying, altering, or misstating the contents of documents or other materials related to academic matters, including schedules, prerequisites and transcripts.

Academic Honor Pledge

By registering for the current semester and by enrolling in this class, you have consented to the following: I promise or affirm that I will not at any time be involved with cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, or misrepresentation while enrolled as a student at The University of Alabama. I have read the Academic Honor Code, which explains the disciplinary procedures that will result from the aforementioned. I understand that violation of this code will result in penalties as severe as indefinite suspension from the University.

A signature is not required but may be obtained at the instructor’s discretion for any test or assignment. For a full account of code violation procedures see section c of the Student Handbook, available in the Tisch Student Services Center and in the Office of Student Affairs.

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities are encouraged to register with the Office of Disability Services, 348-4285. Thereafter, you are invited to schedule appointments to see me to discuss accommodations and other special needs.

Weekly Schedule      

A schedule of weekly activities will be distributed later.