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.

Promoting Your Blog

Where is everybody? It can be a bit discouraging, when you are writing post after post on your blog, but don’t see anyone commenting on your prolific witty and knowledgeable writings. There are many blogs out there that got off to an enthusiastic start, but slowly fizzled because the writer wasn’t sure if anyone was reading and gives up. The best course is to just to keep plugging away. Write and write and write. It is good discipline and you will grow as a writer, even if no one, but your best friends or parents, are reading you. If you feel you are starting to find a voice, and you are writing regularly, you might want to think about getting your blog “out there” a bit more. There are a few ways to plug in to the blogosphere. One is to link to other blogs on your site and then read them on a regular basis. When you click on the link from your blog into theirs, they may notice you if they are following their referrer links (some blogging programs allow bloggers to see how much traffic they have and where it is coming from). Some of these blogs, may in turn, put up a link back to you, driving their readers over to your site for a visit. To be more involved, start commenting on these other blogs to join the conversation. To find other blogs in your topic area, see below **

Another option is Google. Share your url address with Google and they may add it to their vast index. This means when people type in certain words during a search, your blog may turn up as one of the links. Go to this page to learn more about this: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl.

But the purpose of our assignment is not to become the most popular blog or build high traffic. The point is to be "out there" with your voice, improve your writing, and possible connect or tap into a community that exists in the blogosphere. Good luck!
** Finding other blogs. There are a few blog directory/search engines out there. Google has one and Tecnhnorati

This week's Assignment #2

This week's assignment for your blog is to include an original photo/s with a post. Some of you have already been doing this, which is great. Some of you have blog topics that are really suited for this, and you may have to get a bit creative to figure out what will work. It doesn't need to be award-winning photo work - I just want you to add an original visual component to your blog. If you haven't been using any photos/visuals on your blog, you will see how it can really add to it. Let me know if you have any questions, etc.

The death knoll of journalism?

The above headline is a bit extreme - however, we can talk all we want about the important role media plays in society, but without advertising dollars to support the industry, we are sunk. (There are a few exceptions that aren't dependent on advertising such as public radio and television, but the majority of the industry is ad dependent). The New York Times has a piece on changing advertising practices with Nike as the main example - they are relying less and less on traditional print and TV ads - using there own Website and broadcasting most of their ads online. They are also reaching out to consumers with community-based strategies - running advice, runner's groups, etc. It's an interesting piece and anyone going into journalism needs to stay informed on what is happening in the advertising world as well.

This week's Assignment #1

On your blog, write a review or summary of another blog or Website related to your topic. Don't forget to link to it. If you need some suggestions, ask me.

Audio Slide Show examples

For your final project, peruse some of these to get ideas. As I was putting this list of links together, I realized how hard it is to find some of these on news Websites. For example, I know that Boston.com has done some of these but just try finding them. They don't have a main multimedia page. The poor organization and navigation on some news sites still amazes me since some of them have been in existence for at least 7-8 years if not more.

New York Times Audio Slide Shows

The Christian Science Monitor

Minneapolis Star Tribune
On this one - look at the Long Commute - and how they incorporate the basic sounds in background into the piece.

Blogs I like/read

This week's selection for blogs I like/read is Buzz Machine, a blog that is related to the topic of our class - new media. It's written by Jeff Jarvis, who has worn many hats in the media business and is currently associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism. He is extremely enthusiastic about new directions/changes in the business and keeps tabs on all the latest happenings, gadgets, debates, etc.

Sourcing Facebook and My Space

The American Journalism Review has a piece about how journalists are starting to use Facebook and MySpace for background information on people - their hobbies, likes/dislikes, etc. One interesting use the article mention was reporters tracking the pages of U.S. men and women serving in Iraq.