Assignment #5

Some of you have already been including some original reporting on your blog - whether it was a Q&A with your podcast, a review of something related to your topic, etc. For this assignment, I want everyone to do a post that is based on your own reporting work - if you've already been doing this, try to do a different format. For example, if you've been writing lots of reviews, then do a Q&A with someone talking about your blog topic (doesn't have to be audio/podcast) or include some photography - but something that tells a story - not just one picture.

Clearly label your original reporting post as fulfilling Assignment #5. Also, if you've already been doing a lot of this, you can send me an e-mail noting other examples of original reporting on your blog. You have until the final blog deadline of Nov. 30 to do this.

Assignment #6

For your last weekly blog assignment, write one final essay that should be posted on your blog by Friday Nov. 30 about your blogging experience – what did you get out of it, if anything. What would you do differently? What did you enjoy? Dislike? Do you think you will continue your blog? Were there any surprises? What do you think of blogs in general? Did you share your blog with family and friends and what did they think?

Finally!

Boston.com has redesigned its Website - hurray! I've been complaining about it forever. Have not had the time to really explore it yet, but anything has to be better than before.

Indy Star writer fired for blog posting

A columnist for the Indy Star newspaper was fired for comments he made in a blog on the newspaper's Website. You can read about it here.

This/Next Week's Assignment #4

Support your classmates! This week's blog assignment is simply to peruse your fellow classmates blogs and post a comment in at least two of them. This way you will see what others are writing/podcasting/photographing about. Sometimes you get ideas from seeing what others are doing.

Breaking News and Mulit-media

A good example of how multi-media can be put to good use can be seen on the LA Times Website - with the coverage of the wild fires that are wreaking havoc in Southern California right now. There are static and interactive maps, constantly updated photos, a place for residents to post their stories, lists of who should be evacuating and what is closed, etc. This is all organized and easy to find on the homepage.

Testing Podcast host site

Test

This/Last Week's Assignment #3

This went out in an e-mail last week, but I wanted to post it here also.

Making a podcast for your blog. Record some audio with your recorder.
We will edit the audio and make the podcast in class next week.
So what should your podcast be? You could write a long post
and then read it. You may find you make a few recordings of
yourself saying the same thing, because you don't
like how you sound, you make mistakes, etc. You could
be a bit more creative and combine you talking with some
other sounds related to your topic. You could do a brief discussion
with someone else that is topic-related.  (Last semester,
one student did weekly podcasts of him and a friend discussing the
latest in baseball.)  The time length should be anywhere from 2 – 5 minutes. 
You may have multiple audio files that we will combine into one audio
track for the podcast. You should have your audio file ready to
go for Tuesday Oct. 23.