JOUR 353 and 355 - Fall 2007

Undergrads taking all six credits in the news bureau will be judged on their ability to handle different types of assignments, including: researching and writing interactive news quizzes; reporting and writing a variety of multimedia stories, breaking news pieces and a photo essay (see below); writing headlines, captions and smart Web links; coding and packaging Web content; selecting, sizing and cropping digital photos for story pages and special reports; collecting and posting audio on the Web and digitizing and posting video on the Web. You'll be assessed on your ability to follow Associated Press style, to follow rules of good grammar and to write accurately and fairly. Your grade will also reflect your demonstrated news judgment--since you'll be asked to help pick stories for display on the site. And you will be judged on your creativity in suggesting interactive projects and special reports or other features for the site. 

It is essential that you meet deadlines and complete assignments. 

In addition to the points noted above, your final grade will reflect on your work habits, time management, attendance, punctuality, attitude and demonstrated improvement.

In the bureau, you will get regular, informal feedback on your progress on particular assignments. If you take all six credits, you'll also get a written mid-term evaluation, similar to a professional job evaluation, in which we will discuss your strengths and weaknesses and you will be given advice on how to improve your work. Students taking only three credits will have one-on-one discussions with me about your progress throughout the semester and will be given a midterm and final grade.

Here's how your grade will be assessed, for each of the three-credit classes:

JOUR 355: Online News Bureau. This chiefly focuses on copy editing--including headline, caption and link writing--research, photo selection and cropping, story packaging and production, and audio and video editing.

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

• Each week, you will be given responsibility for updating one or two section fronts. This means you will have a say in what stories are selected for packaging, how they'll be displayed, and what photos, graphics and headlines will be used to accompany text. You will be selecting and sizing the images and writing captions for them. You should always talk to me before changing out a section front or home page. Working from Maryland Newsline templates, you will write the basic code to place new features on the page.
• You will be asked to pull together archival and current stories, links, photos and video or interactive features and then build at least one major new package for the special reports area. You may be assigned to work on this with another student or two. Packages from previous semesters include: "Maryland Votes 2006"; "National Champs"; "Teens and Technology"; "Final Auction"; "Schools in Crisis"; "Katrina's Aftermath"; "Casualties of War"; "Inauguration 2005"; "Uncovered: Maryland's Health Insurance Crisis"; "Maryland Votes 2004"; "Brown vs. Board of Education 50 Years Later"; "Saving the Chesapeake Bay"; "AIDS: Dealing With an Epidemic", "In War's Shadow"; "Census 2000"; "Political Ethics in Maryland"; "Reach the Beach"; "Farewell to Cole"; "State Symbols"; "The Death Penalty"; and "The Tobacco Industry."  Special reports will only be produced on ongoing stories with staying power. Please clear this assignment with me before beginning on it.
• You must research and write at least two interactive news quizzes or Google map mashups 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. In lieu of one of these interactive quizzes, you have the option of completing a photo essay, with text and audio. See description below.

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 multimedia 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 10 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. You are strongly encouraged to include audio. (We'll have the software SoundSlides loaded on at least one computer in the lab for your use.) For inspiration, check out Melissa Pachikara's flash essay on Tom Stuckey; A.J. McComb's gallery on dressing for job interviews; 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 two light, bright feature stories. 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 A.J. McComb's "Ghostly Tales Offered on University Tours," Melissa Pachikara's "UMD's Turtle Sculptures Go on Auction," April Chan's "University Library Celebrates 75 Years of Nancy Drew," Kendra Nichols' "Amateur Cooks Learn Ways to Warm a Woman's Heart; 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 breaking story on a daily deadline. You must include at least two relevant Web links and a proposed headline. Photos and audio are optional. See: Parade Spectators Claim Their Own Pieces of Inaugural History"; Stephen Mather's "Hundreds Remember Muppets Creator With Statue Dedication at UMD"; and Daina Klimanis' "Circus Fun Erupts When Seuss Is Honored With Reading, Stamp."

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. 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 must do all the Web production work for each of your assignments (putting photos, text and audio into the appropriate templates), and you may be asked to do some other occasional site updating.

Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Chris Harvey. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.