JOUR 295_Online Journalism

Schedule

March

Week 8
Tuesday, March 13: Interactivity

• wikis, discussion boards, blogs, vlogs and the facebook phenomenon. All journalism?
  

Links:

• The Myth of Interactivity on the Internet (article)
• Inactivity on Interactivity (article)
• OJR: Multiple Ways to Interact (article)
• The Core Rules of Netiquette (list)
• OJR Writing for the Web, focus on interactivity.
  

Thursday, March 15:

LAB

• Photoshop
• Work on personal sites

Blog:

“Web is NOT print! Web is NOT print! Web is NOT print! ” Marie Shanahan, Senior Online Producer of CTnow.com told UConn’s Professional Seminar and OJ students Wednesday. Interactivity is perhaps the most distinctive feature of Web. To get what Shanahan was talking about, FIRST read Chapter 9 of FOUST. Then blog your answers to “Activities” on pg. 214. (you will need Chapter 9 Digital version).

Week 9
Tuesday, March 20: Online research & reporting

• Smart surfing for journalists
• The impact of online content on research and reporting

  Anyone can surf the Web. But to get something worthwhile from the effort, that takes navigation skill and knowledge of the terrain, plus a healthy measure of skepticism.

  ISSUES

  •Unreliable information
  • Spam, pop-up windows, viruses and other annoyances
  • Too many search results
  • Too few search results
  • Lack of useful statistics
  • Too much techno jargon
  • Can't keep track of new sites

  ...MORE ISSUES

  • What’s bookmarking? How do I do it? Can I have MY bookmarks on-line?
    •How do I deal with tons of email?
    • Useful newly-launched sites
    • Which search engine is best for each search
    • Finding sources/info FAST
    • Dealing data and stats
    • When to use, well, the library, instead of the Web

Links:

• Things you didn't know Google does I (Sree & WNBC)
• Things you didn't know Google does II (Sree & WNBC)
• Smart surfing tips from Sree
  

Thursday, March 15:

Reading:

• WARD, chapter 3 (handout delayed -- you get it next week)

LAB

• Research critiques (FOUST Online, Chapter 5)
• Dreamweaver: behaviors

Blog:

1. Attempt activities 5.1 and 5.2 on FOUST pg. 105. For Q5.2, use this link. The one provided by FOURST is faulty.

2. Effect the Swap Image (download instructions in pdf) and blog your success or frustrations.

Week 10
Tuesday, March 27

Verification: finding and evaluating info online

• Web site analysis (Who owns this? Is it reliable? How do you know?)

LINKS

• Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet: Checklist
• Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask
• Verifying Information on the Web
• Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility

Thursday, March 29:

Reading:

• FOUST, Chapter 1

LAB

• Work on personal sites

Blog:

Go through this week's links. Blog in detail what you've learnt from them.