In addition, you also will be posting video every week from our TV news bureau. You will be asked to update/add to existing Special Reports on the site, to demonstrate to the class any new tools you teach yourself to use during the semester and to use your creativity to pitch ideas for new features and pages for the site. 

JOUR 353: Advanced Online Reporting

Here are the minimum assignments that all undergraduate students will be expected to complete:

• You must research and write at least one interactive news quiz for existing or new Special Reports on the site. Topics should be cleared with me. For strong examples, see Lisa Tossey's "Physical Traits of Presidents," Daina Klimanis' "The Future of Hubble" and her "Bartlett vs. Rolle, on the Issues," Nicole Albowicz's "History of Slots in America," Nicole Richardson's "How Well Do You Know Cole?" and Nikki Hawkins' Maryland symbols quiz.
• You must report, shoot and write at least one photo gallery with informative, extended captions on a newsy event or a feature topic. Please clear a topic with me before setting out on it. The photo gallery should include four to eight pictures, taken by you with one of our digital cameras. The reporting, writing and packaging of this counts for as much as the photography. Your pictures and captions should tell a story. Extra points for also including audio. For inspiration, check out Jennifer Fu's "Testudo's Troops," April Chan's "Living at the D.C. Armory," Sonia Kumar's "Panda Provisions," Kim Harris' "Sea Art in Charm City," Amy Silva's "The End of an Era: Maryland Tobacco Auction in Photos," Nikki Hawkins' "Pit Bulls in Maryland, Nicole Richardson's "Two Weeks in the Life of the D.C. Blossoms" and Amanda Karr's "Driving in Style: The Life of Vintage Car Collectors."
• You must report and write at least one light, bright feature story. You must include at least two relevant Web links for each story. You must also include at least one photo for each story -- either one you took or one you got permission from the copyright holder to re-use. You must also write a proposed headline and caption. Bonus points for adding audio. For strong examples, see April Chan's "University Library Celebrates 75 Years of Nancy Drew," Kendra Nichols' "Amateur Cooks Learn Ways to Warm a Woman's Heart" and her "Exhibit Shows Women Weren't Just Pretty Faces in Early Days of Broadcasting," Jessica Shyu's "Digital Library Preserves Fading Cultures for Younger Generation," Danny Conklin's "From Torts to Tarts," and Shelley Buter's "Historic Home Linked to University of Maryland's Past Gets Facelift, Garden."
• You must report and write at least one profile of up to 1,000 words of a soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan or an interesting or quirky person, businessman or inventor, public official or candidate for office. Multiple sources must be interviewed during the reporting phase; information must come from paper and people sources; LexisNexis should be used for backgrounding; and, preferably, some government records will be searched. Sidebar stories and boxes can be used to accompany the story, to fit in vital info that exceeds the 1,000 words in the main piece. The profile must include digital photos taken by you or archival photos retrieved and cropped by you and at least one audio clip collected by you and edited for the Web, which we will link from the story page. You must also include a headline and subheads in the body of the text, to aid in readability. Please clear this assignment with me before beginning on it. For examples of other students' work, see April Chan's profile of a New Orleans family displaced by Hurricane Katrina; Mike Santa Rita's profile of a Maryland soldier killed in Iraq; Kim Harris' profile of a survivor of the World Trade Center attack, and Fanen Chiahemen's profile of an AIDS sufferer.
• You will be required to report and write one complex story of 800-1,000 words. Students should pitch their ideas to the editor. Possibilities include: a trend story (see Mike Santa Rita's "Wounded Soldiers Return from a Different Kind of War," Desair Brown's "For the Love of Anime: Middle Schoolers Plunge into Japanese Language Classes," Kaukab Jhumra Smith's "Internet Fraud Grows in Maryland," Jessica Shyu's "Kids Partner With Adults to Conduct Research for Kids," Fanen Chiaheman and Amanda Karr's "Baltimore Struggles to Slow Spread of Drug-Fueled HIV," Maha Ezzedine's "Comics Finding Niche Audiences on the Net," and Kim Harris' "Final Score: Wrecking Ball Razing Memorial Stadium,") or a database-driven story (see this piece by Kathleen Johnston Jarboe). All stories must include at least two relevant Web links, at least one audio clip collected and digitized by you, and at least one photo taken or collected by you. You must also write a proposed headline.  
• You must do all the Web production work for each of your assignments (putting photos, text and audio into the appropriate templates).
• You may also be asked to update a section front each week. 

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Last updated: 09/12/06 03:09 PM