j2blogs.com

Due Date: Sunday, March 14

You’ve all been very quick to declare that traditional print media (newspapers and magazines) and perhaps even traditional broadcast media is dying fast and being quickly replaced by digital content. This week, let’s think about the ways traditional print media can still be important or valuable. I’d also like to see what you think about other dangers associated with this shift.

Barack Obama used Digital Media (blogs, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook) to great effect during his campaign for presidency. His administration is also using digital methods to communicate with America and send messages to the world.

There are positives and negatives to the use of digital media as opposed to traditional sources. One of the most dangerous questions that has arisen is the question of Media Ownership. If something doesn’t have to be newsworthy to become news, and if there are no gatekeepers to screen out biased content, and there is no consistent ethical standards for the content. At the same time, this could be closer to truth than traditional methods.

The people and places we allow to define our truths creates our daily realities. Who defines the truth in the age of Digital Media? Who creates our realities? The choices you make on a daily basis define your world.

Feel free to engage as many (or none) of he the following questions in your blog this week. A good blog post can come from answering even one of the questions or by posing your own.

1. What role do you think traditional print media still serves?
2. What danger is there when people can choose their sources and be exposed to only things that interest them?
3. What do you think about the fact that government agencies and personnel can communicate directly and create their own media more easily than ever?
4. How likely will you be to subscribe to a daily newspaper (local or state) or a weekly/monthly magazine when you’re our of college?
5. Does being exposed to a variety of ideas from unexpected sources – traditionally supplied in print publications – help a person be more literate? If so, how can you be sure you stay well informed about new things?
6. What’s the job of a reader in the digital age?
   
7. Is Democracy in trouble when people stop reading traditional media? How can we protect our democracy in a digital age?

I bolded #6 because this is a question that is intriguing me a lot right now. Can readers actually own this new media, or are we just being made to feel like this so we accept it more easily? That doesn’t mean that you need to answer this question. It’s just what’s on my mind.

This site, produced by the Columbia Journalism Review, gives you a comprehensive look at what media companies actually own. You can see everything they own and when they acquired it. For one surprising example, take a look at Time Warner and see how much of what they own is a part of your life.

Consider using some of this information in your blog.

Due Date: Sunday, March 7

You’ve got two things to do this week this week.

Step 1

1. Go to wordle.net and click “Create Your Own“.

2. In the second text box (The one where you paste a feed or a web site address), paste in this code:

http://blogs.bhs.cc/YOUR_USERNAME/feed/

Change the YOUR_USERNAME with your username on j2blogs (for example rmccallum).

3. Edit it to make it look great and click “Submit to Public Gallery”.

4. Copy and Paste the Embed Code and paste it into a post on your blog.

This gives you a complete picture of everything you’ve blogged about this year so far.

Now things are getting crazy. You’ll be blogging about your blog.

Take a look back at the things you’ve written and done for the past six weeks. What trends or major discoveries do you notice? What can you learn about yourself as a student/journalist from the things you’ve produced or the writing you’ve done? How have you grown or changed as a writer or journalist?

Make this entry your own.

Here’s a video of how to do the Worldle Cloud

If the video doesn’t work, go here.

Step 2

So far in this class, we’ve looked at some great examples of New Media – journalism that goes beyond the printed page. That media has come in the forms of blogs, traditional news media outlets, and independent publications. We’ve looked at ways that print journalism may eventually be replaced by these new media sources. At the very least, they’re going o become a larger part of media than they currently are.

That transition is going to be perfect, right?

Not so fast.

What do you think? Are bloggers going to ruin journalism? Many people disagree. However, this change can’t be all good.

Here are some questions that come to my mind as I think about these issues. Feel free to engage them in your blog or respond in your own way.

1. How can new media be dangerous? What can be done to make it more safe?
2. How will readers need to change as the way we get our information changes?
3. What standards from traditional journalism should carry over to new media journalism?

Due: Sunday, February 28

Your projects last week started a great discussion in the class about what people want to know and what people need to know.

People are customizing their news sources, clicking on only stories they want to read, and deciding where they get their news from on an individual level. One one level, this is a great thing. People are more involved with news than ever before, and that means that people are more likely to read news.

On the other hand, this means that people can choose to ignore news that they don’t like or topics they simply don’t want to hear about. This could create problems.

The following video talks about this Paradox of Choice. If the video won’t load, go here.

What do you think the right balance is?

There are certainly things people need to know, but we know that not all people will choose to listen to it. How do you break through the culture of choice when there are important issues to be heard?

How do you break through the issues of 140-character attention spans and give people something other than a headline. We all blogged about how the truth is a lengthy process, but we rely on summaries and headlines more than ever.

How to you still give people a choice while also making them knowledgeable, informed participants in the global culture and a democratic society?

Due: Sunday, February 28

Your projects last week started a great discussion in the class about what people want to know and what people need to know.

People are customizing their news sources, clicking on only stories they want to read, and deciding where they get their news from on an individual level. One one level, this is a great thing. People are more involved with news than ever before, and that means that people are more likely to read news.

On the other hand, this means that people can choose to ignore news that they don’t like or topics they simply don’t want to hear about. This could create problems.

The following video talks about this Paradox of Choice. If the video won’t load, go here.

What do you think the right balance is?

There are certainly things people need to know, but we know that not all people will choose to listen to it. How do you break through the culture of choice when there are important issues to be heard?

How do you break through the issues of 140-character attention spans and give people something other than a headline. We all blogged about how the truth is a lengthy process, but we rely on summaries and headlines more than ever.

How to you still give people a choice while also making them knowledgeable, informed participants in the global culture and a democratic society?

Due date: Sunday, February 21.

After working to create a newspaper that can survive the next ten years, you’ve probably come to some conclusions about the state of newspapers.

Remember, you don’t have to answer all or any of these prompts.

From your experiences creating this project;

1. What have you come to understand about newspapers right now?
2. What are the main struggles you had making a newspaper people would buy and advertisers would support?
3. What are newspapers going to struggle with in the near future?
4. What did you base your ideas for design on?
5. Which group was the closest to getting things right?
6. What are your main conclusions about the future of print news?

WITH THIS ENTRY:

Post your group’s project and PowerPoint and write a reflection on it as a portfolio entry.

You’ll have to export your project as a jpeg and upload it to your blog.

Due Date: Sunday, February 14

Blogger and high school librarian Carolyn Foote writes on her blog about a speech she attended given at the University of Texas by former newspaper editor Molly Ivins. She came away thinking, at least partly, about the future of journalism and how it relates to schools. She writes:

Her [Milly Ivins'] concern that night was the future of journalism; specifically, the future of newspapers.   I have thought of her insights often the last few months.

She was aware that because of the instant availability of news online, that newspapers were going to have to change, and she felt that because large conglomerates have been purchasing many urban newspapers, their main concern has been profits, and not the reporting.   Because newspaper profit margins had increased in the 90’s, owners now have the expectation that newspapers should make higher profits than they had made in the past.  So reporters have been laid off at many large newspapers, and there is more use of “headline” stories, etc.

What do you think? I’ll outline a few of the questions that come to my mind about this situation. Feel free to engage any of them or your own questions in your blog post for this week.

1. Do you think there is a future for print news? If so, what will that future look like? If not, why?
2. What advantages do print publications have over digital news sources?
3. How do you think the job of a reporter will change over time?

A minimal expectation of your blog this week is at least two links to outside sources and synthesis about what those links mean. Much of my Reading Log deals with this issue. As an adviser of a print paper who has been raised in the age of Print News, the potential death of daily print news and the transition to digital is fascinating to me. You’ll find examples of not only exampels of papers that are changing their ways but also examples of what is being done to survive in print form. Find your own examples or pull from existing links. Last year’s students also blogged about this topic early on.

Due date: Sunday, February 7

If you’re like me, it’s been a long time since you’ve gotten most of the news about your world from a print newspaper (besides The Hoofprint, of course) or traditional television news broadcast. Subscription numbers and revenue is starting to drop for traditional media outlets. Chances are, you’ve been getting your news from websites – even sites like Facebook and MySpace – your cell phone, YouTube, or other non-traditional media. More and more, Blogs are becoming news sources, and phrase Citizen Journalist and Participatory Journalism are becoming part of our common vocabularies.

This brings us to two important questions for the modern journalist:

1. How does journalism survive when digital devices have made centralized printing presses and TV stations all but obsolete?
2. What is journalism, anyway, in a time when citizens with a cell phone and laptop can tell stories, take photos and be journalists for a day anytime they want?

Tackle one or both of these questions in your blog. Remember to make these posts your own. Link to and quote from other sources, including your classmates’ blog. Proofread your blog after you post and feel free to make changes to it after you’ve proofread it or read more of your classmates’ work.

“The task is the same no matter where the skilled journalist plies his trade: be inquisitive, be honest and be loyal to the truth and your reader. Advocate for the community, and tell it like it is. Ask and learn. Share the knowledge.”
- Source

Due date: Sunday, January 31.

Although all journalists are supposed to be loyal to the truth, truth is a difficult concept to define. For the past two days, we’ve discussed your interpretations of the meaning of Truth. We came up with a wide variety of possible definitions and characteristics for the concept of truth, but we were unable to come up with a broad definition that could satisfy everyone. Your first blog entry should tackle this difficult situation.

Take a look at the following questions and respond in any way you choose on your blog. Try to include the word “Truth” somewhere in your post’s title.

1. What is truth to you?
2. What should all journalists know about the truth?
3. What does it mean to be loyal to the truth?
4. In what ways can a high school journalist find a report the truth?
5. Can you find or link to a story/video/podcast that exemplifies the pursuit of Truth.

Your response should be thorough and personal, capturing your unique voice and perspective. Try to write at least 200 words. A true blog will contain links to outside sources or responses to the thoughts of the other blogs in the class. Look to last year’s examples to see what a good blog should be like.

Good luck.

Due date: Sunday, January 31

• Here’s one example from last year.
• Here’s another one.
• Here’s a third.

Thank you for a great semester.

Your blogs are safe and tucked away, ready for next semester.

Simply visit this page to find the link to your blog.

Due date: Friday, January 22

Here are four options:

1. How have your opinions about yourself as a journalist or the profession of journalism changed over the course of the semester?
2. Define blogging. Help next year’s classes out. What is blogging? How has that definition changed? Have you attained your definition of blogging? Link to your best blog of the semester and let people know why it was the pinnacle.
3. We began the class by discussing by discussing the concept of Truth and how it relates to journalism. Much of the class was dedicated to a search for truth through journalism. How has your perspective on this developed over the course of the class? How are journalists and the truth related? How much truth can or should be broadcast? How can people best find and report the truth?
4. As always, you can pick your own option, but for the purpose of closure and the class, it needs to relate to a summary of your experience in this class. Be creative! Surprise me and your readers.

Additional Requirement:

Portfolio Pieces and Reflections

1. Export your final project spread as a PDF and as a jpeg.
2. Make a new post in your blog, upload the jpeg to your blog, add it as a thumbnail, and write a brief reflection.
3. Catagorize the post as “Portfolio”.

Reflections:

Here’s a sample portfolio piece and reflection.

• A reflection should accompany each entry into your portfolio.
• Write about what you did, the things you learned along the way, what you think you did well and what areas you still have for improvement.
• What would you do differently if you could do it again?
• How can it be applied to future projects and layouts?