Getting Linked

You’ve been experimenting with some form of social media for the past couple of weeks, and written about that experience (I hope!) for this week’s blog post. Now I’d like you to add one more social media experiment to the mix: a Linked In page.

Some of you brought up the potential problems posed by MySpace and Facebook accounts for people who may be looking for a job soon: these pages tend to focus on the fun side of your life and may not create a good impression on potential employers. Linked In offers a solution to that problem. It’s a more professionally oriented social networking site…more like having your resume and potential jobs network online.

So this week, please establish a Linked In account and set up a page on the site.

Also, if you haven’t yet created a link list on your blog, now’s the time to do it. Here’s what you should have in a links list in your blog’s sidebar:

1. A link to this blog
2. A link to your class web page
3. A link to your Linked In page
4. A link to your social media page of choice (your MySpace, Facebook, Twitter or Flickr page, etc.)
5. Links to the blogs you’ve been following for this class
6. Links to a few of your classmates’ blogs (optional)
7. Links to a few web sites that you find useful and/or interesting (optional)

Here’s how to do it in Blogger: In your dashboard, click on the Layout tab, then click on “Page Elements.” You should see an “add an element” link on the upper right side. Click on that and select the “link list” option (and any other options that sound good).

Also, please make sure you’ve got links to your video project on your class blog (in a blog post) and on your class web page.

Reflective writing assignment

As you work on your Final Multimedia Project, I’d like you to blog about it. Over the last few weeks of class, please write three blog posts reflecting on the process of completing your project, as follows:

1. Getting started: Near the start of this process, reflect on your expectations for this project. For example, what do you expect to accomplish? Do you think it will turn out to be a worthwhile effort? How is this project different from working on in-class lab projects? If you’re part of a team, how do you plan to divvy up the work? How much time do you think it will take? (Due 4/24)
2. Checking in: Partway through the project, assess how you’re doing and what you’re learning. What new things have you learned so far? Is your project turning out like you thought it would? How much more time do you think it will take you to complete this project? (Due 5/8)
3. Assessing the project: When the project is completed, assess how it went and what you learned…and maybe, what you unlearned. How do you feel about the project and what you’ve done? Did it turn out as expected? What parts of this project did you enjoy the most? The least? What were you best at? What skills do you need to improve? Did it change your outlook or expectations in any way? Would you recommend a project like this to another student? Why or why not? (Due 5/16)

This assignment is worth 30 points — that’s 10 points per post. Since it’s subjective, it’s mostly ungraded. That means if you complete all three parts, you’ll get full credit (unless you publish a post with a bunch of typos and errors – I’ll still take off points for that). That makes it a low-risk, high-reward assignment.

Hot topics for blog posts

Looking for a topic for this week’s blog post? Here are some candidates:

• An Ad Age article on Web 3.0 and the dearth (and perhaps the death) of original reporting
• Blogger Mayhill Fowler reflecting on her reporting of Obama’s “bitter” comments
• The Churner Prize web site/blog, focusing on examples of “chournalism”
• Actor Tim Robbins’ rabble-rousing speech at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas

If you have some other hot media-related topics you’d like to suggest, please add them in a comment to this blog post.

Two online tutorials

The last two classes have focused on two News U tutorials — Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling and Telling Stories with Sound — in preparation for your podcast project and your final multimedia project.

If you missed either of these classes, you’ll need to complete the tutorials on your own.

To complete the tutorials, you’ll need to register on the News U website — set up a username and password — and log in. Here’s the link to the News U website: http://www.newsu.org/.

Once you’ve logged in, click on the “Courses” tab, select the “Online/Multimedia” category, and select these tutorials: Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling and Telling Stories with Sound. Allow 45-60 minutes to complete each tutorial.

When you complete a tutorial, click on the “Course Report” tab and send me a report. That will be my cue to give you credit for completing the tutorial. If you completed these tutorials in class, you’re all set…and you can proceed with the two final projects for this class.

Some sample multimedia projects

Here’s a link to a group of multimedia projects created for this class by Spring ‘07 students. Take a look around and see what they did. It might give you some ideas for your final project.

• Direct link to S’07 student multimedia projects: http://www.jmc.sjsu.edu/student/jour163/projects.html
• Be sure to check out these examples: 
  • Percussion, a multimedia project created by Josh Peterson and Jason Freer, spring ‘07)
  • Burning Water, a multimedia project created by Eleanor Capili, Karie Lingg and Julie Cheng, spring ‘07)
  • San Jose Beer and Food, a multimedia project created by Brett Gifford, Khalid Jivani, Mike Wright and Ramon Hernandez

Video storyboarding: the next step, the next assignment

You’ve been playing with iMovie, creating a short video using stills and video clips recorded with the built-in iSight camera on your Mac.

The next step is to actually plan a video — that is, to come up with an idea for a simple story, develop a storyboard that outlines the story and the shots you’ll need to make it work, and then shoot your video and edit it into a 2-3 minute piece. This will be your video project. (And if you’re really on the ball, you’ll think ahead and create a video that can also work as part of your final multimedia project…thus killing two birds with one stone!)

Your storyboard for your video project is due Tuesday, April 1.

What’s a storyboard, you ask? Here are a couple links to information on storyboards and storyboarding:

• Storyboarding – Resources and Vlogging Assistance, from a BlogHer presentation by Gena Haskett
  • If you missed class on 3/18 and/or 3/20, and did not pick up a storyboard template in class, you can download a sample from this web page. Just scroll down to “Analog Storyboarding” and download one of the two storyboard samples listed…or scroll down to “Digital Storyboarding” and download the (free) software for the Atomic Learning Storyboard Program.
• Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling – Step 2/Storyboarding, part of an online tutorial developed by News U (click on Dancing Rocks Case Study to see a sample)
• Sequencing: The Foundation of video storytelling – a blog post on the Mastering Multimedia blog, another good resource

UPDATE: To create a video, you need to shoot video…and not just in front of an iSight camera in the computer lab. Some of you are planning to use the video mode in your digital cameras. Some of you are planning to borrow a camcorder from the DBH equipment room after spring break (we’ll hope they survive the Mexico trip).

However, if you’re interested in acquiring a camcorder of your own, here’s one possibility: I just watched NTY Tech Writer David Pogue’s video review of the Flip Ultra video recorder, a low-cost, easy-to-use, “point-an-shoot” version of a camcorder. It’s under $200, and it looks pretty neat. I think I may get one.

Direct link: http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=5599bfb498ac8619a79065bc71eb9549b8620db3

Parsing the future

JMC grad student and blogger Ryan Sholin spends a quite a bit of time thinking about the future of journalism and online news. In a recent blog post, Links that redefine news, he gives several examples of “online news sites and projects that stray from the traditional definition of news” and offer intriguing ideas about the future direction of online journalism.

Your assignment (due Thurs., Feb. 28) is to check out a few of these links, then write a blog post (250 words or so) on the one (or two) you find most interesting. Pick a link that you think offers potential for online journalism, or for the media field you hope to work in. Briefly describe why you find it interesting and what you see as its potential. Might it change even the media as we know it? (You never know!) In your blog post, I’d also like to see you relate this to your class readings, either The Cluetrain Manifesto and Dan Gillmor’s We the Media.

Also, be sure to look at the comments section for this blog post — you’ll find more links to interesting experimental news-related sites and online mash-ups for your consideration.

You might also want to read Sholin’s previous blog post, Inventing Journalism. It includes some additional links and discussion that could work well as a jumping-off point for this assignment.

Your Cluetrain Manifesto blog post

I’ve gotten a couple questions about the Cluetrain Manifesto assignment. No, I’m not asking you to read all of it. Yes, I am asking you to read the 95 Theses. And I’m suggesting you might want to look over some of the rest of it, such as the “Elevator Rap,” Introduction and Chapter 6: EZ Answers.

Once you’ve read some of it, I want you to think about it and write a blog post about it. It’s due tomorrow.

Some suggestions: What’s the most interesting thesis, idea or concept you found in the Cluetrain Manifesto? It was written about a decade ago…do you think it’s still relevant today? Does it offer worthwhile ideas about the Web for people in business and the media? Do any of the 95 Theses apply to the media field you hope to pursue?

Dueling videos…courting the youth vote

Forget the debates…the Democratic presidential candidates are going direct to potential voters…via video (virally, they hope). Here are two videos posted on You Tube that clearly target young adults, one in support of Clinton and one in support of Obama.

Please take a few minutes to view these videos and offer your comments/observations. Do you think they work? Why or why not? Post your comments here by clicking on the “comments” tag at the end of this post.

“Hillary and the Band” video created by the Clinton campaign organization:

Direct link to video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA8Wy51Ionk

“Yes We Can” video created by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas in support of Barak Obama:

This video is also available at http://www.dipdive.com/

By the way, I looked for similar online videos targeting young adults from the Republican candidates, but mostly found clips from campaign speeches, debates and TV show appearances, and television campaign ads that had been repurposed and posted online.

If you’re interested, you might want to compare one or two of these Republican videos/ads to the Democratic candidates’ videos listed above.

Here’s a link to the results of a YouTube search for “Mike Huckabee” videos.
Here’s a link to the results of a YouTube search for “John McCain” videos.
Here’s a link to the results of a YouTube search for “Ron Paul” videos.

Photoshop 3 exercise

I’ve posted the Photoshop #3 handout that we used in today’s class. This tutorial illustrates how to use Photoshop to combine multiple images and text in layers to create a banner header.

Here’s a link to the online version of that tutorial: http://mccune.screenstepslive.com/lessons/431

Here’s a link to a downloadable pdf of that handout: http://www.jmcweb.sjsu.edu/mccune/63/ps3_create_header.pdf