j2blogs.com

Due: Thursday, June 10, by the end of class.

Recently, we had a great discussion centered on two articles on the hopeful future of journalism. This came on the heels of some wonderful discussions about news, culture, and society. Over the past three weeks, you’ve created and sustained this class.

For your final blog, I’d like you to think about your next steps and how you’ll play a part in the creation of your own path.

I’d like you to do one of several things. I value your perspective of this class and your work on it, so Option One exists for that purpose. Option Two, honestly, is the question I’m most excited about and I’m getting ready to be amazed by your responses.

Option One is the old rules:

The purpose of this blog is to reflect on the work you’ve done this quarter. It should include:

1. Links to the work you’ve done on Hoofprint.net with a description of the type of work you’ve done this year on Hoofprint.net

2. Links to your favorite blog or blogs and a description of your growth and development as a blogger.

3. A description of what you created for your final project and the work you’ve done on that project.

4. A summary of what you’ve learned and gained in the class as well as what you contributed.

5. A final statement about what you have contributed and produced. You don’t have to give your self a grade. This should be more of a narrative.

Option Two is your rules:

Consider the following passage from Robert Krulwich’s commencement address at Berkeley.

News, after all, is a spin of words and pictures. It’s a kind of music. There are beats in a newscast, a newspaper story. … When you grow up in different decades, you laugh at different jokes, hear different machines (typewriters versus computers, pinball machines versus Mario Brothers), you hear different ads, jingles, songs, sounds. When you talk, write, or film, you work with the music inside you, the music that formed you. Different generation have different musics in them, so whatever they do, it’s going to come out differently and it will speak in beats of their own generation.

“The people in charge, of course, don’t want to change. They like the music they’ve got. To the newcomers, they say, ‘Wait you turn’. But in a world like this… rampant with new technologies, and new ways to do things, the newcomers… that means you… you here today, you have to trust your music… It’s how you talk to people your age, your generation. This is how we change….”

“So for this age, for your time, I want you to just think about this: Think about NOT waiting your turn.”

As you shape your blog, I’d like you to consider the following questions:

What is the “music” inside of you? What are the sounds and sights and experiences that have shaped you and your generation?  How has your creations in this class, and especially the interactions with your friends and classmates, become part of your continued development?

Anna Quindlen wrote that people have created entirely new industries because “not because we have made room for them, but because they inverted room for themselves.” How have these influences shaped who you are going to be and what places you are going to invent for yourself? How are you going to find a path for yourself and create rules for yourself?

What is your destination after this and how are you going to remain a big player in your own future? How will you be a difference maker in a world with ever changing and uncertain rules?

This answer can take any direction you want it to. My questions may not be good enough, but it’s something to get you started. I’m excited to see what you can come up with.

First of all, thank you for the work you did last week. You fueled seven days of great discussions that could have created the foundation for a whole new class. I wanted to make sure that what you did this week had a chance to become a blog for next week.

Here are the best options I could come up with, based on your discussion and the reflections you’ve done.

1. React to a topic we discussed this week and expand on the original conversation. Bring in your own voice, the voice of others, and some online resources.
2. Tragedy and Journalism
   1. Something is newsworthy when it has proximity to its audience. That proximity can be geographic (distance), emotional, temporal (timely), personal, or experiential. If a journalist wants to cover a tragedy in a good way, they’ve got to get close. How do you think a journalist can get close enough to be accurate without altering the series of events that made the story?
3. Your own choice.

Due: Friday, May 13, end of class
400 words minimum
3 links minimum
PLEASE INCLUDE TWO QUESTIONS AT THE END OF YOUR BLOG THAT COULD START A GOOD DISCUSSION.

Your blogs this week will be the basis for class discussions next week. It’s very important these get done by Friday so I can spend some time this weekend to put together discussions for next week. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Take a look at one (or a few) of the following sites that deal with current issues in Journalism and New Media.

Journalism.org | Pew Internet and American Life Project | Pew Research Center | Columbia Journalism Review |  Journalist’s Resource | Sensible Talk: Analysis | NPR’s On The Media | CyberJournalist.net | New Media @ Media Life |Online Journalism Review | Newsthinking.org | Poynter.org |

1. Either find an article that presents or raises  a great question and explore it. Examine the author’s points and bring in some points that either support or refute it. Finally, ask questions that could lead to a great class discussion based on what you researched.

2. Ask questions first and find articles that could give clues to answers. Create the discussion yourself.

For example: I found this tremendous article on the influence of a single person on journalism that could be greater than Twitter or even Facebook. I would love to start a discussion based on this, including the visual data included in the article. I’d reflect on it, finding some other sources that helped with my understanding and then include some questions to start a discussion.

Due: Sunday, May 1

A Study by the Pew Research Study claims that people who view The Daily Show and Colbert Report are more informed than other people when it comes to the news. At the very least, they are as informed as readers of Major Newspapers.

Data from Pew Research Study

However, the study also found that

Since the late 1980s, the emergence of 24-hour cable news as a dominant news source and the explosive growth of the internet have led to major changes in the American public’s news habits. But a new nationwide survey finds that the coaxial and digital revolutions and attendant changes in news audience behaviors have had little impact on how much Americans know about national and international affairs.

Essentially, it found that Americans, in general, aren’t any more informed about current event news stories now than they were 20 years ago, despite CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN, and thousands of online news sources. We’re also less informed than Europeans about World issues (CJR – A News Deficit). That could bring up the first question – why do you think that is?

A 2006 Study showed that more than half of American teens got their news from entertainment sources (including the Daily Show and Colbert Report) at least once a week, and that

Only 10 percent of teens say they are not at all interested in the news, mostly because they feel it isn’t presented in an interesting way.

Things brings up a second question, but look for that later.

Recently, Jon Stewart has gone on the offensive against the media, claiming that it’s not only boring, but also harmful to American. The first clip is his now famous appearance on Crossfire, where Stewart argues that the show is hurting the country when it could be helping the country. He argues that the focus shouldn’t be on debate and contention but on informing and analysis – looking for meaning from both sides.

The second clip is more recent. After trading barbs on their own shows, Jon Stewart and Jim Kramer went face-to-face on the set of The Daily Show, and the general opinion is the Stewart dominated the discussion. He accused Kramer of being, in a word, evil and showed evidence of him manipulating the stock market for the benefit of his own show. He once again pointed out a way that the media is twisting reality for profit and drama. Are his criticisms of specific shows representative of the news media as a whole, or is this just a battle for ratings between two shows?

The backstory:

The Summary of the show:

In class this week, we’ve seen examples of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report using their status as Wise Fools to tell the truth about news in the name of Comedy. We’ve also seen C-SPAN and CNN and the way they’ve presented news.

Who do you recognize? From Pew Research (2007)

A recent book I read said that most people view The Daily Show as more honest than other news sources because they believe that the voice of Jon Stewart reflects their own voice better. His outrage mirrors their outrage, his desperation matches their desperation, and his sense of helplessness is something they can relate to. Simply because he’s free to be funny, emotional, confused, and angry – something traditional journalists all have been trained to avoid – he gains credibility and popularity. The Pew Study shows that his delivery isn’t making people dumber, either. His audience is as smart as any audience. (I won’t go as far as to say that he’s making people smart. Maybe smart people are more likely to watch his show for any number of reasons.)

At the same time, are major media outlets trying harder to win awards and get respect from other news outlets than to actually inform readers about things that matter to them? Is “good news” being produced that doesn’t actually matter?

So, here are the questions I can come up with. Feel free to make your own questions. You get major respect for that.

1. Do you think that traditional media outlets should attempt to change their presentation to get more of an audience? If so, how should they change?
2. What do you think about the fact that only 10% of teens are interested in the  news and that most of them say that it’s because the news is presented poorly? Why do you think that is? 66% of teens say they get most of their news only from the front pages of portal sites (like Yahoo, Google, and MSN’s default front pages).
3. Do you think that Fake News can be better than actual news, or is this a dangerous road to travel? Should news organizations ignore Entertainment to adhere to strict ethics codes, or should they start dabbling in Comedy, too?
4. CNN is supposedly the most trusted name in news, but check out this topic on the message board. What do you think of the direction of news in general? Is The Daily Show closer to the right direction than CNN? Is CNN still better for actual news? Is Jon Stewart right to be critical, or should be save his criticisms because he operates with a different set of rules?
5. Make your own response! Please!

Due: Sunday, April 17

Your task this week is to create something totally unique. You don’t have to link anything, find any outside sources, or process. Your job is simple, but it’s the most consistently challenging task for great journalists.

Go out and find a person with a story to tell and get a story from them. Pass that story along on your blog in the form of an extended quote. Challenge yourself to keep your post to only the quote and descriptions of their speaking.

You’re not allowed to do internet/IM reporting. This should be a quote you get as a result of a conversation.  Think about relatives, teachers, siblings, bosses, or just interesting people who will let you talk to them. You do not need to put the person’s name in your post if they aren’t comfortable with you using it.

The story could be sad, funny, nostalgic, powerful, or mundane. The most important thing is that you’re finding it and getting it down to share. Use your best judgment about what is appropriate to publish online and protect the identity of your source if the story is sensitive.

I can’t wait to read what you guys come up with.

If you want an example of people getting stories from people who they care about, listen to these excellent examples on StoryCorps.

If you want to know what StoryCorps is, check this out. There’s also a great NPR story/audio about it.

If you would like to do your update an an audio file or video file, go ahead. I can help if you need it.

Throughout this week, you’ll hear from a variety of perspectives that are based around journalism, social media, communication, and traditional media ownership. You’ll have a chance to hear range of opinions, and this blog is your chance to formulate your own.

Stay tunded to this space for more details and questions as the week develops.

Monday: Katie Cary speaking on Social Media and Protest efforts around the world

Thursday: Brad Palmer on Media Ownership, gatekeeping, and bias

Friday: Dani Krolak on Communication’s role in our society

Due: Sunday, March 20
Words: At least 400
Links: At least 3 of your own

Requirements:
Due: Wednesday, March 16
More than 400 words
At least three links to sources with Synthesis included
At least 1 original design (the one we’ll do in class on Tuesday counts)

During class this week, we spent most of our time talking about the importance of Play and Design in our lives, our society, and especially in Journalism and media. The presentations we looked at to base some of our discussions on are below.

Here are some questions to consider as you think about your blog:

1. How do design elements affect a reader’s experience with a publication?
2. In what ways are you a designer?
3. In what ways has design influenced decisions you have made?
4. Write about a time that design has changed your behavior or your way of thinking.
5. Write about a time when you solved a problem with design.
6. How could you design a  solution to a problem you’ve seen.
7. What have you realized about design that you hadn’t before?
8. In what ways does awareness relate to journalism?
9. What rules have you constructed for yourself without knowing it that may be limiting your ability or awareness?
10. How has the role of play changed throughout your life?
11. What do you enjoy about school or your work?
12. Explain how play influences motivation.
13. What have you come to realize about the relationship between work and play?

Optional reading for smart folks:

• MediaShift: Idea Lab – Why Design is so important for journalism projects (Tons of great sources inside of a good blog post).
• Visualizing Data
• Places to get design inspiration
• Does Design Influence Behavior
• How Designers Influence Behavior
• Classroom Design and how it influences behavior
• Training your Customers

Optional viewing for smart folks:

Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see

The Beauty of Data Visualization

Stunning Data Visualization

Due: Sunday, March 6

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 27.
Minimum words: 400
Minimum links: 3 (Try to link to at least one other blog)

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:

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

Include visuals if possible. Take pictures of your designs, export your InDesign project as a jpeg, or save your Illustrator or PhotoShop files for the web and upload them to your blog.

Reflection:

• 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?