Mashable.com recently published a post on the essential digital skills all college students should master before they graduate, including branding yourself and monitoring your online presence.
To read the rest, check out: Don’t Leave College Without These Ten Digital Skills.
I don’t know about you, but it’s so gorgeous out today that I’ve got a bad case of spring fever. So I’m changing things up … again. We’re going to visit the Japanese-American Internment Memorial today, instead doing it next Wednesday.
The visit to the memorial usually takes about 45 minutes, which will leave some extra time at the end of today’s class session. If you need to visit with me about your grade, and haven’t yet done so, you might want to use that spare time to stop by my office (DBH 125) after the field trip.
P.S. The due date for the Internment Memorial blog post will not change — it’s still due Monday, April 22.
I’ve adjusted the class schedule to make up for last week’s missed class. The biggest change: The midterm exam is now scheduled for Wednesday, April 3, our first day back from spring break.
I’ve shuffled the April class schedule quite a bit, so please review it for updates. Pay particular attention to assignment due dates because several of them have changed. For example, your second scholarly journal article summary is now due Monday, April 15, and the final 10 points of Copy Edit the World is now due May 1.
You may also note that I’ve eliminated the class session on opinion writing (originally scheduled for 4/29) and the accompanying in-class writing assignment, a letter to the editor, to help us stay on track. Instead, if you’re interested, you can submit a 125- to 175-word letter to the editor for extra credit. It will be worth up to 10 points, and is due by Monday, May 6.
Since I’m still under the weather, I’ve asked you to review my PowerPoint presentation on Feature Story Structure, the pdf version of which you’ll find posted on the Resources page of this blog.
I’ve asked you to pay careful attention to the section on feature story leads, and to find an feature story with an engaging lead to post on your blog. When you post your example, be sure to identify what type of feature lead it is. Also, as I’ve done below, please include the source information — and/or a link to the full story, if it’s online.
As examples, here are a few good feature story leads I’ve run across lately:
A) “Two volunteers trudge uphill through poison oak and past stretches of grassland and gnarly blue oak trees. A dot on the screen of their hand-held GPS unit shows they have hit their target.
“Hunched over at Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, Matthew Bahls and his partner scour the ground for tiny, six-legged creatures. They see one. Then another, and another: small and brown and moving en masse.”
~ Diaz, Ryder. “Argentine Tango.” San Jose Mercury News 12 March 2013: A1+.
B) “Amid the lush green hills off Tesla Road, near the San Joaquin County line, is a serene area of sycamores and buckeyes with a secret past, and a controversial plan for its future.
“It once was home to the bustling coal-mining town of Tesla, its dusty roads filled with horse carriages. Now California is looking at a proposal to expand the off-road vehicle area next door into portions of the 3,500-acre Tesla parcel, which State Parks officials say can be done while respecting the area’s history.
“The idea has sparked a vigorous debate ….”
Thomas, Jeremy. “Off-road park near Livermore: Expansion opposed by low-impact advocates.” San Jose Mercury News. 11 March 2013: A1+.
C) “As high school prom season approaches, Huong Nguyen found the perfect gown in less than 20 minutes Sunday, saving her precious time and a lot more.”
Rodriguez, Joe. “Operation Prom Dress for San Jose teens draws a big, happy crowd.”San Jose Mercury News. 11 March 2013: B1+.
D) “On a recent Monday, Gary Ginsberg, a senior executive at Time Warner, walked into an unremarkable office building on the corner of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue and took the elevator to the eighth floor, entering a windowless door for a 2 p.m. appointment. A couple of hours later, Kenneth Lerer, a founder of The Huffington Post, followed.
“They were there not for some mysterious media convention….”
Chang, Bee-Shyuan. “The New seats of Power.” The New York Times. 7 March 2013: E1+.
So how would you categorize these leads? Scene-setting? Character? Narrative? Suspense? (Of course, a lead can be a combination of more than one “type.”)
Please offer your opinions as a comment to this blog post.
Extra credit opportunity: Lou Covey, a 1974 SJSU Journalism graduate and former member of the Spartan Daily, will speak at JMC at 12 noon, Tuesday, March 19 (Room TBA).
Covey will discuss his newspaper and online career, and reflect on working with his JMC mentor, Dr. Dwight Bentel. Covey served as Dr. Bentel’s teaching assistant while attending SJSU.
For up to 15 points extra credit, you can write either: 1) a news story about his presentation or 2) a reflective essay on the media industry trends he discusses and how those trends could impact your planned career path. Your news story or essay should be 250-350 words; it is due by the start of class on Wednesday, March 20. (Yes, tight deadlines are a fact of life in the media fields.)
Read more about Covey and explore his website, Footwasher Media. You might want to get started by watching ”Journalism is Dead,” a recent video commentary by Covey:
Can a Facebook post be more memorable than a professional news report? What makes a FB post memorable? The content, the social connections … or a combination of both?
That’s just one of the research studies highlighted in the blog post “What’s new in digital scholarship?” on the Nieman Journalism Lab blog.
Other recent research summarized in this blog post includes studies on:
The Nieman Journalism Lab, a project of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, is focused on the future of journalism in the Internet era. The Nieman Foundation is also home to the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism and the Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project, which encourages reporters and editors to monitor and hold accountable those who exert power in all aspects of public life.
Did you know that 92 percent of employers reported using social media for recruiting potential new hires last year? That’s up from 89 percent in 2011.
Here’s an interesting news brief and really well-done graphic explaining why you may need a “social resume” — and how to create one.
You might want to pay particular attention to the tips on what employers want to see when they look you up online, and what they don’t want to find. (Hint: profanity and poor grammar and spelling are at the top of the “don’t want to see it” list.)
Thanks to Taylor for sending me this link of things not to include in a resume cover letter: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-phrases-dont-belong-cover-144251632.html
The SJSU Student Learning and Research Commons, a new student-only study space in the MLK Library, is now open.
The entrance to the SJSU Student Learning and Research Commons is located on the first floor of the library adjacent to the Children’s Room. Tower Cards are required for entrance into the Commons, which features laptops and iPads available for checkout, wireless internet, and a pay-to-print station.
During the spring term, the new Commons area will be open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday 1-5 p.m. Staff will be available during open hours to assist students with research.
A Grand Opening and Dedication Ceremony, with complimentary coffee, snacks and hourly prizes, will be held Thursday, Jan. 31, starting at 1 p.m. Provost Ellen Junn and the University Library faculty and staff will be on hand to welcome SJSU students to the new space.
Welcome to the class blog for MCom 100w, sections 1 & 2, for Spring ’13.
Here you’ll find links to the class schedule and descriptions of assignments, as well as information about grading and what it takes to pass this class.
Please review the syllabus and other information posted on this site. In particular, check out the Resources page — it contains a variety of helpful resources, including links to samples and examples.
MCom 100w is a lot of work, but it can also be fun. This semester you’ll need to write at least 8,000 words (that’s the required minimum to pass this class), and work at improving your media writing skills. You’ll write news stories, opinion pieces, reflective essays, memos and summaries, and you’ll hone your proofreading skills.
The ability to meet deadlines is a critical skill for those who plan to work in media-related fields. To succeed in this class, you’ll need to keep up with the assignments and hand them in on time. Don’t let yourself fall behind — that’s the surest route to a failing grade in this class.
If you get lost or don’t understand something, please speak up. You’re probably not the only one who’s pondering that question. And if you find you need some help, please ask … just ask early in the semester, not at the end, so there’s time for me to help you.
See you in class.
