Thursday, February 21, 2008

Review a citizen journalism site

To complete this assignment you will need to find a citizen journalism site on the web on which to base your review. A list of possible sites can be found at the CyberJournalist site.

A quick review of the Poynter Institute has a good article that is worth a quick read where the different types of sites are categorized.

Now for this assignment:
  • Find a site from the list at the CyberJournalist site mentioned above or find one on your own.
  • Write a commentary about the news considerations of the site. You will want to recheck Chapter 7 in the textbook to see the themes that were covered that can serve as a potential hook or thesis for your commentary. You might want to check this article on writing a commentary or this one about op ed pieces. Look at what the authors suggest about content.
  • Be specific and avoid generalities. If you make a point, support it from the article.
  • Avoid excessive quoting of the article. The words you quote really don't count as part of word count requirement for this assignment.
  • Have a catchy title.
  • This review needs to be between 300 and 350 words.
This assignment is due by 11:59 PM, February 29th. Post it to your blog by this time.

Better Posts...

My purpose with this post is to give you some hints on how to approach the posts on your blog so that the writing improves and the focus improves. Here's what i want you to think and do for the next assignment.
  • Don't write your post as if the only audience is the rest of the class. These are live and people outside the college can read them. When you reference me or something in class, a read has no idea of the context.
  • Think of yourself as a mass media producer. Your message is going out to (potentially) a lot of people, and your topic needs to focus on something they find important.
  • Use frequent paragraph breaks with double spaces between paragraphs. It makes for easier reading if you do this.
  • Link to information outside on other sites. If you reference information from an online source, link to it. If you mention an actor or musical artist you could link to their site or profile on Internet Movie Database.
  • An image or two proper sized makes the post seem more professional.
  • Make sure you have a point you are trying to make, a thesis that drives your post.
  • If it's helpful assume that your post in addition to showing up on your blog will also be carried on a site like TVSquad or TVGuide. You'll know immediately by reading your post if it has the proper tone if you think about this.
  • Read this review of the movie Crash that was assigned to last year's Mass Comm class taught by Mr. Weaver. It gives you the sense of how this review could appear online at a movie review site for example.
Please keep these ideas in mind as you work on the next blogging assignment for class.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Survivor is back!

Last evening on the season premier of Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites we were treated to a new twist on the show. Ten people who are considered "Rabid" fans of the show were pitted against ten "favorites" from seasons past.

During one of the early segments of the show Alexis, a motivational speaker on the Fan team said:

"I think the fans versus favorites setup is the ultimate challenge because we have the favorites who have obviously played the game before, coming in here with experience. But at the same time you have us (the fans) and we know their game. We know not only their strengths but weaknesses too. So I think that puts us at a huge advantage."

I would like you to post a response to this quote keeping in mind what we have covered to date in class.

Post a 150-200 word response on y our blog by 11:59 PM Tuesday, February 12th. Post a response to at least two other people in the class in the comments section of their post.

See the post below this for the criteria.

Criteria For Blog Entries

"A" level work. Posts and responses to posts are on time and you meet deadlines. Proper grammar. No typos or spelling mistakes. High degree of reflectivity on answers. You think critically and your post shows it. You are relating your post to ideas and concepts presented in class and you reference outside sources to support your ideas.

"B" level work. Posts and responses are on time. Proper grammar. Few if any typos or spelling mistakes. Good degree of reflectivity. You reference class concepts when needed.

"C" level work. Posts aren't on time, but are posted within a day. There may be some grammar issues. Superficial reflectivity. Mostly your thoughts and opinions without support.

"D" level work. Posts late. Extensive grammar, typo and spelling issues. Superficial responses and no degree of reflectivity.

"F" level work. Fails to post within five days of deadline.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Assignment Description: Team Media Presentations

For this assignment you will pair up with another classmate and present a 25 minute Power Point presentation on either the cultural history or current structure (how the business is today). You will be randomly paired up with another student in the class and will need to deliver your presentation on the assigned day that is indicated in your syllabus.

The presentation should feature Power Point slides rich with embedded images and possible sound and video if possible. At the very least images should be used liberally and you should do your best to scour the internet for other rich media (video and sound). You should avoid bullet point slides like they are the plague. I, and your fellow classmates, are not interested in reading your presentation. You need to use Power Point as an aid, not the entire delivery platform.

The Historical Presentation. This needs to be more than just a time line of significant events. You need to be aware of the cultural events lead to a change in the development of your medium and/or how certain developments lead to cultural and social change. It's possible to organize your presentation around specific changes in the medium, a set of technological changes, important individuals in your medium. I don't expect you to cover everything, but by the end of the presentation we should have a clear idea of the significant developments of your medium. In order to focus this a bit, I am only interested in the development of your medium in this country.

The Structural Presentation. The focus of this is to let us know what is happening in the medium today. Deal with the current business climate as well as the technological issues. Like the previous presentation you need to have a focus for this presentation. There won't be the temptation to do a linear/time line approach since this isn't historical in nature. You will also want to deal a good portion of your time on some of the significant convergence issues that your medium is facing and how newer technology is changing the face of the medium.

You will be graded on:
  • Clear, significant and easy-to-follow organization of the presentation.
  • Appropriate use of Power Point as a presentation aid including slide design and media usage.
  • Extemporaneous delivery of your material.
  • Focus on either the cultural or societal focus in the Historical Presentation or the current structural and convergence issues in the Structural Presentation.

Postman Discussion Part One

On February 15th we will have our in class discussion of Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death which is a required reading in this class. There will be both an online and offline component to this discussion.

By midnight Wednesday, February 13 I need each of you to post a comment to this blog entry and identify one statement made by Postman that you agree with and one statement made by postman that you disagree with. For each provide a sentence or two explaining why you agree or disagree.

This is worth 10 points toward your blogging grade. Not many, but you may need them later. To get the point you need to post by the deadline.