ENG 2710 Syllabus

English 2710: Special Topics: New Media
Spring 2007 Lyndon State College
T-Th 1:30 to 2:50 p.m.
LAC 409

Instructor: Dan Williams
Office: Vail 468 Office Hours: MW 1-3 p.m.; TThF 9-11 a.m.; or by appointment
Telephones: Office 626-4866; home 626-4608; cell: 404-272-6742

Course description: The class will explore the rapidly changing and expanding universe of news on the World Wide Web. Students will launch the first online version of the Lyndon State College student newspaper, The Critic.

Objectives: Students who successfully complete this course will:
- gain hands-on experience creating and maintaining a news Web site;
- increase their understanding of the World Wide Web as a news medium;
- explore the differences between journalism for “New Media” and “Old Media”;
- gain skills in “cross-platform” storytelling, with words, photos, video and sound.

Required text: “Telling The Story: The Convergence of Print, Broadcast and Online Media,” by The Missouri Group. 2007.
Supplemental text: Associated Press Stylebook

Materials: USB flash drive, rewritable CD or rewritable DVD to save work.

Class Requirements and Policies:

Assignments: During the first third of the semester, assignments will focus on comparing different media. Students will submit the assignments as postings to blogs they create. As we get closer to the launch of the online version of The Critic, assignments will focus on rewriting or “repurposing” print or television material for the Web. Once The Critic is online, most assignments will involve reworking Critic stories for the Web site and posting updates.

Quizzes: Periodically, I will give announced or unannounced quizzes about readings and discussion topics. The grades will become part of your participation grade.

Format: The class takes place in LAC 409, a Mac computer laboratory. We will spend a large amount of time on the computers. Please resist the temptation to IM friends – unless assigned.

Communication: Check your Lyndon State e-mail and the class Blackboard site on the LSC Portal at least once a day. Sorry, but I will not send e-mail to a Hotmail, gmail or other address. Feel free to call me at home or on my cell phone until 10 p.m. any day, including weekends.

Attendance: Your success in this class depends on active participation. Attend every class meeting. Under LSC rules, five absences are grounds for failing a twice-weekly course unless there are extreme, documented circumstances. Please inform me if you know you will be absent. You cannot make up any quizzes given on days you miss class.

Late work: Assignments will be due at the start of class unless otherwise noted. If you are unable to attend class on the day an assignment is due, make arrangements to submit it anyway. Late assignments will lose one letter grade for every day beyond the due date.

Academic honesty: We will discuss the difference between plagiarism and reworking someone else’s material for the Web. Plagiarism is a major offense at LSC. Deliberate acts of plagiarism will result in failure of the course. See the Academic Honesty section on page 16 of the LSC 2006-2007 catalog. Talk to me if you have any questions.

Disabilities: Students with disabilities who request accommodations should provide a certification letter. Students should contact Mary Etter, Learning Specialist, in the Academic Support Office (Vail 325) to arrange for the appropriate letter to be sent.

Grading weights:
Assignments, activities 50%
Final project 30%
Participation 20%


Grading scale:
A: 94-100 B-: 80-83 D+:67-69
A-: 90-93 C+: 77-79 D: 64-66
B+: 87-89 C: 74-76 D-: 60-63
B: 84-86 C-: 70-73 F: 59 and below

Disclaimer: This syllabus is subject to change with notice.

Weekly Schedule:

Week 1 – Jan. 16, 18
Tuesday:
Introductions
Syllabus
Highlights:
Critic goes online mid-semester
Make heavy use of blogs
Activity: Create blogs
Assignments for Thursday:
Create an Internet timeline and place on blog.
Read Chap. 1 in “Telling the Story”
Thursday:
Activity:
Introduce blogs to class and show off timelines
Practice posting to each other’s blogs (critique timelines)
Discussion of Chap. 1:
What is news?
What is journalism?
What is citizen journalism?
Where do you get your news?
Assignments for Tuesday:
Watch a network news program and compare to next day’s NYT
Watch a local news program and compare to next day’s Free Press
Blog about the differences you find and their significance
Read Chap. 2, Convergence and the Changing Media Industry

Week 2 – Jan. 23, 25
Tuesday:
Activity:
Show off comparison blogs.
Post critiques to each other’s blogs.
Discussion of Chap. 2
What is convergence?
What was the dot com boom?
How do newspapers work? TV? Online?
Examine TBO Online
Examine WCAX’s scripts
Assignment:
Compare a local television station to its Web site;
Blog about how well it works.
Thursday:
Activity:
Meet Chad Grant
HTML practice
Assignments for Tuesday:
Investigate and then blog about this: “How does anyone make money?”
Compare a newspaper to its Web site; blog about how well it works.
Read Chap. 4, Computer-Assisted Reporting

Week 3 – Jan. 30, Feb. 1
Tuesday:
Activities:
Show off blog comparisons
Explain how people/companies make money on Internet
Parse a simple Excel spreadsheet
Discuss final projects:
Conceive and design a community news site for Lyndon or hometown
Examine iBrattleboro and other sites
Discuss problems at Backfence
Discuss Chap. 4
Thursday:
Discuss:
High-tech hardware
Backpack journalism
Guest: TBA (Radio Shack?)
Assignments for Tuesday:
Find a blogger you disagree with and post to his/her blog
Drudge.com has a long list of bloggers
Read Chaps 6 and 11 on newspaper and television writing styles

Week 4 – Feb. 6, 8
Tuesday:
Activity:
Practice writing newspaper and broadcast leads
Assignment for Thursday:
Read Chap. 13, Online Writing
Thursday:
Discuss Chap. 13, Online Writing
Activity:
Practice online writing styles
Assignment for Tuesday:
On blogs, post URLs of examples of good and bad online writing.
Blog about what makes it good, bad
Read Chap. 7 section on Service Journalism, pp. 141-144

Week 5 – Feb. 13, 15
Tuesday:
Discuss blog posts about good and bad writing
Activity:
Re-purpose stories for the Web from:
Caledonian-Record
Times-Argus
Free Press
Littleton Courier
Assignment for Thursday:
Polish two re-purposed stories.
Thursday:
Activity:
Re-purpose News 7 stories for the Web
Re-purpose WCAX stories for the Web
See scripts under Local News
Assignment for Tuesday:
Polish two re-purposed stories.


Week 6 – Feb. 20, 22
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Practice re-purposing Critic stories for the Web
Homework for Thursday:
Polish re-purposed stories.
Thursday:
Status update for final projects

Week 7 – Winter Break
Winter Break, no class

Week 8 – March 6, 8
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Practice re-purposing Critic stories for the Web
Homework:
Polish re-purposed stories.
Discuss:
Web design

Week 9 – March 13, 15
Tuesday:
Launch online version of The Critic
Thursday:
Activity:
Update online Critic with fresh stories from server
Friday, March 16: last day to drop course without academic penalty.

Week 10 – March 20, 22
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activities:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Sidebars
Graphics
Thursday:
Status update for final projects

Week 11 – March 27, 29
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activities:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Update one story
Photo gallery

Week 12 – Spring Break

Week 13 – April 10, 12
Tuesday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Audio
Podcasting
Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added value elements:
Audio
Podcasting
Assignment for Tuesday:
Write story for Web that should also appear in next week’s Critic
Status update for final projects

Week 14 – April 17, 19
Tuesday and Thursday:
Focus:
Web-to-print copy flow
Activity:
Work on Web stories
Maintain and update online version of The Critic

Week 15 – April 24, 26
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Video
Vlogs

Week 16 – May 1, 3
Tuesday:
Submit final projects

Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Discussion:
Wrap up semester

Week 17 – Final Exam
The final exam is 12:30-2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8.