If you want to sock away some extra points while learning about the future of journalism, I hereby announce two extra credit opportunities, worth up to 10 points each. The assignment is simple: write a one-page speaker summary (up to 250 words) with your reactions and reflections to the speaker.
OPPORTUNITY #1:Evan Smith, CEO of the Texas Tribune, has been invited by the Northwestern University Club of D/FW to speak on “The Future of American Journalism” on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. The event is just a few minutes away from campus at The Richards Group, 8750 N. Central Expressway. The registration fee for non-members is $20. Register here.
Free alternative to the Evan Smith event: Listen to the audio of the Online/Convergence Panel at the Feb. 6 SPJ Career Conference at UT-Arlington. I moderated the panel, which featured Kent Chapline, executive producer of CBS11tv.com, along with Matt Stiles and Elise Hu of the Texas Tribune. Special thanks to student Brooks Powell for recording the session.
OPPORTUNITY #2: The spring O’Neil Lecture in Business Journalism will be delivered by Michael Ramirez, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for Investor’s Business Daily. It will take place on Tuesday, March 2 from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Crum Auditorium, Collins Executive Education Center.
As I mentioned in lab today, send me your practice beat blog item via e-mail by noon Monday. MS Word works fine for the practice blog. Before you write your blog item, be sure to look over the blog item gradesheet on Blackboard to familiarize yourself with the criteria I’ll be looking for.
Next week we will focus on how news organizations are using social media for journalistic purposes. For Tuesday’s class, please read Briggs Ch. 2, Foust Ch. 9 (pp. 180-85) and the American Journalism Review article “Networking News” on Blackboard. See you Tuesday.
Dallas Morning News staff writers Ted Kim and Matthew Haag visited our class on Thursday, Feb. 4, to discuss their approach to beat blogging for the DMN’s highly successful Plano Blog. Student Brooks Powell captured the session on video.
Be sure to check out the DMN Plano Blog to prepare for our guest speakers on Thursday. And between now and Friday’s practice blog lab, keep your eye out for the blogs and Twitterers you’ll want to routinely follow to stay on top of your beat.
Speaking of which, if you weren’t in class Tuesday, check out last semester’s beat list on Blackboard (under Course Documents) and shoot me an e-mail letting me know your top three beat choices.
The first week in February is “Beat Blogging Week” in Digital Journalism. Read Chapter 5 in the Briggs book. Meanwhile, in the Foust book, read Chapter 4 (pp. 69-70) and all of Chapter 8. On Thursday we’ll have our first guest speakers of the semester: Dallas Morning News reporters Theodore Kim and Matthew Haag, the tag-team duo behind the hugely successful Plano Blog.
For Friday’s lab, you will convert a broadcast script into an AP style Web news story. Bring those AP stylebooks! To prepare for the lab, you may want to reread Foust Chapter 7 (particularly exhibit 7.2 on page 138) and Briggs Chapter 6 (particularly the first two pages of the chapter). You’ll also want to read Cory Bergman’s tips on Converting TV Scripts to the Web.
Today’s Twitter Lab assignment is posted on Blackboard under “assignments.” Please read it carefully before starting. Here are the goals of today’s lab:
1. Join Twitter if you haven’t already.
2. Follow at least 50 people or organizations. (If you’re already on Twitter, follow 50 more people/organizations than you already do.)
3. Post your first tweet. (If you’re a Twitter veteran, retweet an intriguing item from one of the new folks you follow.)
See the assignment for suggestions on whom to follow.
Please read chapters 1 and 4 from the Foust textbook. Please also download Journalism 2.0 by Mark Briggs (it’s a free PDF — click here for the download page) and read the intro chapter, as well as chapters 1 and 2.
Congrats to these six Fall 2009 students for getting their Digital Journalism audio slideshows published by professional media outlets! Spring 2010 students, it’s your turn.
