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JOUR 352: Online Journalism, Fall 2007

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Instructor: Chris Harvey

E-mail: charvey@jmail.umd.edu; phone: 301-405-6256 (office) or 301-314-2696 (Maryland Newsline lab on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays).

Classes, Section 0101: Wednesdays, 1-3:45 p.m., Room 3103 Journalism Building. Office hours: 3:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the new-media lab in Room 3117 -- or by appointment.

Goals: This is not a computer class or an art class. It's a journalism course in which we'll use computers and readings and discussions to learn about online news publishing. The class will include lectures on emerging media themes, such as Internet-spawned media partnerships and mergers; the business, ethical and legal implications of publishing online; the characteristics that distinguish news Web sites and their stories from their print and broadcast counterparts; guidelines for doing research on the Internet; and the impact of blogs and other citizen journalism on mainstream media. In addition, a core portion of the class will include hands-on assignments: Students will be introduced to basic html and to Web-editing and photo-editing tools. And they'll learn about site structuring and navigation, headline and link writing, and basic page layout, while building a multi-page biography (with photos). They'll also participate in a class blog and learn how to set up their own blogs. And they'll learn how to create .pdfs from Word files and burn text and photo files onto CDs.

Prerequisites: JOUR 201 (News Writing and Reporting I) and 202 (News Editing) or the broadcast equivalents.

Assignments/Tests: More detailed instructions on some assignments will be supplied in class by your instructor. Assignments are due at the start of each class, unless otherwise noted. Please follow Associated Press style for print on all assignments.

Sept. 26: (5 percent of your grade): One-page Web resume due, built without the aid of any Web-editing short-cut tools, with text, subheads, internal (anchor) links, an e-mail address link, at least one external hyperlink, and at least one bulleted list. Background colors are optional, as are changed link colors and horizontal rules. Each factual mistake will result in one letter-grade deduction, as will each broken link. Unreadable resumes (because of bad color choices for fonts or backgrounds) will result in an automatic F. Assignments lose a full letter grade for each day that they're late.
Oct. 17: (20 percent of your grade): Midterm
Nov. 14: (20 percent of your grade) Three-page Web biography package due. This is an expansion of your resume assignment. You will create a narrative home page and a third page and link both to your resume to create a package. You may use the Web-editor tool Dreamweaver when building this assignment, but you must work independently. You may not take layouts from other students. The nonfiction narrative on the home page should be 300-700 words and include a visually strong photo or graphic. The narrative must be compelling and concise and be written in journalistic style. The third page could link to published writing or broadcast samples --news clips, press releases, audio or video clips. Please do not link to unpublished work. Or the third page could be a photo montage of friends, a page describing trips, or a page of personal likes and dislikes. The three pages, when linked together, must include lively text, external links, at least two photos and at least one graphic. The graphic could be created by you in Photoshop or come from free art on the Internet. All links must work; navigation must be consistent on all pages; all text must make sense and be written in AP style. Each factual mistake will result in a full letter-grade deduction, as will each broken link and broken image. Projects turned in late will lose a full letter grade for each day that they're late. This should be something you'd be proud to show a prospective employer. Here are examples of student work from previous semesters:
Grad students (required to build four pages): Michelle Williams, Chris Hannas, April Chan, Mary Ellen Slayter and Lisa Tossey.
Undergrads: Zak Garner, Kathy Park, Lisa Seaman, Jorge Valencia, Lisa Rassenti, Damon Curry, Lindsay Smith, Mark Pak, Kendra Nichols, Jacqueline Sauter and Yulia Khabinsky.

Dec. 14, 3:30 p.m.: (25 percent of your grade): Final paper due: News Web site analysis. This is a 6- to 7-page double-spaced paper analyzing a news Web site, selected from a list I will circulate on our class blog. You will discuss how well the site uses navigation; how clean its design is; how well it uses photos and graphics, broadcast features (including audio and video and podcasts) and interactive elements (such as chats, blogs, polls, Google map mashups, quizzes and searchable databases); how much (if any) original reporting appears to be done by the online staff; and how well stories are written and presented and make use of the medium. You should tell me about any other features you loved or hated and why. And you should tell me what changes editors and publishers might consider to better position themselves for the future. I recommend that you include an introductory paragraph or two at the start of the paper and a summary paragraph or two at the end. Subheads throughout may help you organize your thoughts. The analysis should be based on your observations of the site throughout the semester and on background research you've conducted on the site. Factual mistakes--including misspelled proper names and faulty URLs--will result in full letter-grade deductions. Information quoted from other sources should be attributed in the text and further identified in foot notes or end notes. Papers must be typed and numbered. Papers turned in after deadline will receive an F. YOU MUST PRINT IT OUT AND SLIDE IT UNDER MY FOURTH FLOOR OFFICE DOOR AND E-MAIL IT TO ME BEFORE THE DEADLINE. THE E-MAIL GIVES ME THE TIME STAMP.

Class participation (verbal and on the class blog) (5 percent) and written in-class assignments: (25 percent.) Class attendance is mandatory. You must do the assigned readings and participate in discussions to do well on the participation grade. Missed written class assignments cannot be made up. Only one in-class written grade -- your lowest-- will be dropped.

Grading: Each assignment will be graded for accuracy, meeting of deadlines, substance, presentation/navigation/links (for Web assignments), quality of writing (headlines, story blurbs, photo captions and other text), usability and style. Associate Press print stylebook rules and rules of grammar should be followed on every assignment. Factual errors will result in grade deductions, as noted on each assignment. Letter-grade deductions also will be taken for broken links, including for photos, and for navigation that doesn't work. All written and Web assignments are due at the start of class, unless specifically instructed otherwise. No excuses, other than the hospitalization of the student or the death of a member of the student's immediate family, will be accepted for late assignments. A full letter grade will be deducted for each day an assignment is late, except for the final paper, which will receive an F if turned in after deadline.

Standards, Ethics and Academic Integrity: Students are expected to adhere to the strictest journalistic and academic standards. For this class, you must do all work yourself, without collaboration with classmates or others, unless I tell you otherwise. Along with certain rights, students also have the responsibility to behave honorably in an academic environment. Academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty and plagiarism (including use of unauthorized photos, graphics, text or layout from the Web) will not be tolerated. Any abridgement of academic integrity standards will be referred directly to the campus judiciary. Confirmation of such incidents could result in the earning of an "XF" grade for the course and may result in more severe consequences, such as expulsion. Students who are uncertain as to what constitutes academic dishonesty should consult the university publication called "Code of Academic Integrity," administered by the Student Honor Council. This code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. For more information on the code or the council, please visit http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html.

Books & Materials: We will be using a combination of required textbooks and handouts (printed and online) in this course:

Richard Craig's "Online Journalism: Reporting, Writing and Editing for New Media"

an Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (for print). Please bring the stylebook to class with you to aid in lab work.

Readings: This syllabus links to various required online reading assignments under the class schedule. In addition, because the field is changing so fast, you'll be expected to do additional reading to keep up. You should on a weekly basis read relevant stories and columns in the Online Journalism Review.

Computer Access: JOUR 352 students may also access software for this class in Rooms 3102 when classes are not in session.

Students with Special Needs: Should talk to the instructor at the end of the first class.

Class Schedule:

(The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the weekly schedule to fit the needs of the class and to accommodate guest speakers. All readings should be done before class meets, except for readings for the first class, which should be done before Week 2. Please be sure to check the Web site of this syllabus every week to check for any changes to the schedule.)

Week 1:

Aug. 29: Course and syllabus overview and student introductions. Then: a brief history of the Internet, and a quick overview of why newspapers and broadcast outlets are on the Web, and a bit about the unique features news Web sites offer readers--including personalization, multimedia, searchable databases, 24-hour updates, interactive chats and blogs and in-depth special reports.

Week 1 Readings: Chapters 1 and 2 in the Craig book ("Why Is Online Journalism Different, and Why Should You Care," and "The Job of the Online Journalist"). Plus "Fear.com" by Chip Brown in the June 1999 issue of American Journalism Review.

Week 2:

Sept. 5: Begin discussing search engines, directories, RSS feeds and wikis. Plus: an in-class tutorial from John R. Henderson, a reference librarian at the Ithaca College Library, on distinguishing between reliable sources and junk on the Web. (Read down to "One More St*p*d Assignment.) You'll be given a Web-surfing assignment that will be counted as an in-class written grade. And you'll be asked to set up an RSS feed on google Reader. Please be sure to bring an electronic version of your resume to class Sept. 12. Readings: Chapter 4 in the Craig book ("Web Resources and Databases"). Plus: "A 10-Year Checkup: A Decade Into the E-Health Era, Online Medical Resources Pass a Real-Life Test," by Craig Stoltz, in the Aug. 1, 2006, Washington Post; "Non-traditional sources cloud Google News results," by Eric Ulken in the May 19, 2005, edition of Online Journalism Review; "RSS for journalists: Your own personal Web butler," by Jonathan Dube, in the Feb. 15, 2005, edition of PoynterOnline; "Wikipedia: Teapot Tempest," by Wade Roush, in the Dec. 7, 2005, issue of Technology Review;" Collaborative Conundrum: Do Wikis Have a Place in the Newsroom?" by Mark Glaser in the Sept. 10, 2004, edition of OJR; "Dot-com Still the Main Domain," from the May 6, 2002, issue of Wired News. A Web research handout from Harvey will be distributed in class.

Week 3:

Sept. 12: I will show you how to create a .pdf from your electronic resume. Then we'll have an introduction to basic html. We'll discuss font sizes and faces and instructions on creating horizontal rules, headlines and background colors. Plus: Changing link colors, creating hyperlinks, e-mail links, bulleted lists and anchor (internal page) links. We'll also discuss using html source tags to add graphics and photos to a Web page. Please bring a printed or electronic copy of your resume to class. We'll work together, using a basic html handout from Harvey as a guide.

Week 3 Readings: "The Html Basics" from Webmonkey.com.

Week 4:

Sept. 19: A basic introduction to photo scanning, sizing and cropping in PhotoShop, along with a discussion of shooting and selecting strong photos. Please bring in at least one photo of yourself for possible use in your bio package; we will scan and size it. We'll also discuss some of the ethical pitfalls of photo manipulation.

Readings: "Distorted Picture," by Sherry Ricchiardi, from the August/September 2007 issue of AJR. Plus, please view some of the award-winning photos on these sites: "NPPA's Best of Photojournalism Web Site Contest 2007" and "NPPA's Best of Photojournalism Web Site Contest 2006." The ambitious among you may also want to click through photos and galleries on The Digital Journalist. I'll have photo scanning and photo shooting handouts for you in class.

Week 5:

Sept. 26: Ethics, taste and restraint in new media. Just because a news organization can publish something doesn't mean it should. A look at how the speed of the 24-hour news cycle has affected news judgment; whether or not online sites are properly differentiating between editorial and advertising content; corrections and linking policies, and more. Plus: Legal issues in cyberspace. Among the legal questions to consider: Can news sites be held liable for comments posted on bulletin boards? Is it OK to copy source code from another site to mimic design? What about republishing someone else's text, photos and graphics? Ethics assignments in class.

Readings on ethics: Chapters 14, 15 and 16 in the Craig book ("Online Standards Vs. Journalistic Standards"; "Legal Issues Online and Offline"; and "Ethics in Cyberland."); Tish Grier's "Can we all just learn to interact?" in the June 13, 2006, edition of OJR; Robert I. Berkman's "Is It Appropriate for Reporters to Lurk in Online Chat Rooms?" in the Feb. 2, 2004, issue of Online Journalism Review; Barb Palser's "Charting New Terrain" and Michael Oreskes' "Navigating a Minefield" in the November 1999 AJR; plus Matt Welch's "What If You Couldn't Trust the New York Times?" in the April 24, 1999, issue of OJR; and Howard Kurtz's "Dallas Paper's Story: A Scoop That Wasn't," in the Jan. 28, 1998, Washington Post. Readings on copyright: A handy online guide: "10 Big Myths about copyright explained," new-media publisher Brad Templeton's wise-guy analysis of a complicated subject. Plus "Copyright Issues Present Ongoing Dilemma: To Link or Not To Link? by Robert I. Berkman, in the Oct. 1, 2003, edition of Online Journalism Review. Readings on Credibility issues: Bob Steele and Bill Mitchell's "Removing Content: When to Unring the Bell?" in the Aug. 27, 2007, issue of poynter.org; Aly Colon's "Putting Old Values to Work with New Tools," in the Dec. 12, 2003, edition of poynter.org; and Chris Harvey's "Journalists Are Still Wary of Online News," in the December 2001 issue of AJR.

Assignment: Due at the beginning of class Sept. 26: Turn in to the x drive a one-page resume, with text, subheads, internal (anchor) links, an e-mail address link, at least one external hyperlink and a bulleted list. Background colors are optional, as are changed link colors and horizontal rules. Each factual mistake will result in one letter-grade deduction, as will each broken link. Unreadable resumes (because of bad color choices for fonts or backgrounds) will result in an automatic F. Resumes should follow AP style for print throughout.

Week 6:

Oct. 3: Begin discussing writing succinctly and conversationally for the Web, session I: Narrative nonfiction. I will give you handouts of several nonfiction narratives written by other students. We'll read and discuss them, then you will begin roughing out the text for a personal, nonfiction essay for your bio package. You'll turn it in to me by the start of the next class. Your essay should be 300-700 words and should be on a topic that reveals something about your background or character: A relative or teacher who had a great impact on you; an incident that came as a turning point in your life; an anecdote about why you ended up in journalism heading toward a career as a writer. Please try to avoid being too negative or flip; this is intended to be the opening narrative on the home page of your biography package. Potential employers may be reading it. The draft will count as an in-class grade; it will be edited and returned to you for a write-through for inclusion in your bio package.

Week 6 Readings: Chapters 6, 7 and 8 in the Craig book ("Online Writing Styles"; "Hooking and Keeping Readers"; Revving Up Your Writing"). Plus Judith Silverstein Gray's "Turning Personal Experience Into Narrative"; Walt Harrington's "How Memories Become Memoirs"; and Poynter.org's Chip Scanlan on "Writing the Personal Essay" and "Tips for Writing a Personal Essay."

Week 7:

Oct. 10: An introduction to using Dreamweaver to build tables and pages. Plus: begin discussing online design and navigation issues, eye tracking studies, audience concerns and the importance of folder structure to Web building and Web addresses. You'll be asked to sketch out (or storyboard) the page layouts for your bio packages. These hand-drawn sketches will show where your navigation bar will go on each page and where photos, headlines and stories or other text will go. Navigation must be consistent on all pages. Please also note where copyright and back to top info will go (so that you will not forget to include these when you build your pages). Also, in a Word document, you'll type a brief description of the content and art that will go on each page; be explicit about the background/banner/text color schemes you will use to tie the pages together, along with the font styles and sizes for headlines, photo captions and text. If you're going to change link colors, please note that, too. This will count as an in-class grade; turn in by the start of the next class We'll review Web design tips and Web site planning in class. Review for midterm.

Readings: Chapter 11 in the Craig book, ("The Online Editor/Utility Infielder.") Dreamweaver: Getting Down to Basics, More on Tables, and Creating Links in Dreamweaver; tutorials from Internet4Classrooms. Chapters 13 in the Craig book ("Basic Online Layout"). Plus: Webmonkey's "The Foundation of Web Design" and "Information Architecture Tutorial"; and "Surfing the Web for Design Lessons," by Anne Van Wagener, for PoynterOnline, Jan. 31, 2005, edition. Plus: Webmonkey's tutorials on site design; Dan Farber's "Eye tracking Web usability" on ZDNet's "Between the Lines," March 27, 2006; and Edward C. Baig's "Survey Offers a 'Sneak Peak' Into Web Surfers' Brains," on USA Today March 26, 2006.

Week 8:

Oct. 17: MIDTERM. Students may work on photo scanning and cropping after they finish their test.

Week 9:

Oct. 24: We'll set up the skeletons of your three bio pages using Dreamweaver. More tips for using Dreamweaver: inserting links, images and tables using the tool; using font, headline, centering and bullet shortcuts. I'll also talk about text wraps around photo tables, and creating links to big pictures from thumbnail pictures. We'll also touch on using Dreamweaver's Properties/Page Properties bars (at the bottom of the tool) to set an Internal Style Sheet for your page. As time permits, we'll begin a discussion of Web headlines -- and how they share similarities but also key differences from print ones.

Readings: Chapter 11 in the Craig book, ("The Online Editor/Utility Infielder.") Dreamweaver: Getting Down to Basics, More on Tables, and Creating Links in Dreamweaver; tutorials from Internet4Classrooms. Also see the W3Schools' explanation of CSS, and for an explanation of differences between external, internal and inline CSS.

Week 10:

Oct. 31: Writing for the Web, Session II: More Web headlines, and a bit on "blurb" writing for news home pages. We'll do more in-class work. I'll also give back midterms. And I'll answer questions about linking to audio and video projects in your packages. (We'll talk about multimedia embeds next week.) Also, before our next class Nov. 7, please find a good and not-so-adept headline on one or more news Web sites, and explain why you think so on this class discussion blog: http://online-journalism-for-beginners.blogspot.com/. Please be sure to give the full URL and headline for each. Please don't write anything you don't want the world to see.

Readings: Chapter 10 in the Craig book, ("An Uphill Battle: Online Copyediting"). Also check out these headline writing tips from John Schlander, Joel Pisetzner and Wayne Countryman on www.copydesk.org. Plus: Harvey's Writing for the Web handout.

Week 11:

Nov. 7: We'll discuss different storytelling structures that work on the Web--including nonlinear ones such as photo galleries and map mash-ups and interactive ones such as news quizzes and chats. During the second half of the class, I'll quickly go over basic banner creation in PhotoShop for students wishing to incorporate a banner onto their package. For students incorporating audio or video, I'll pull you into small groups to show you how to link to or embed your files. I'll leave a few minutes to answer questions on your bio packages.

Readings: Chapter 12 in the Craig book, ("Multimedia for News"). Please also read Jonathan Dube's page on "Online Storytelling Forms," on CyberJournalist.net. Please spend some time reviewing packages on "InteractiveNarratives." Plus: Mindy McAdams' "Flash Journalism: Professional Practice Today," published on OJR on Sept. 22, 2005; and Elizabeth A. Ferris' "Rethinking the Multimedia Experience," published on Poynteronline on Nov. 16, 2005.

Week 12:

Nov. 14: I'll allow 15 minutes at the start of class to do last-minute pushes of bio package pages and photo folders to the live server. Then we'll have a discussion of interactive databases on the Web, including issues of privacy vs. the public's right to know. Where should the line be drawn? For example, is it OK to publish the salaries of low-ranking public employees, coaches, etc.? How about property records? Divorce and death notices? And, we'll take a look at using pre-made templates to create story pages and update a home page on a news Web site, Maryland Newsline.

Readings: Jeff South's "No Secrets" in the April 2000 issue of AJR.

Assignment: Due at start of class Nov. 14: Turn in your three-page Web bio/resume package, with internal and external links; at least two photos and one graphic; and text. All links must work; busted links result in letter-grade deductions. Any factual mistakes in your text will result in a full letter-grade deduction; any packages turned in late will lose a full letter grade for each day that they're late. Besides turning this in to the x drive for me to grade, you will also be required by the college to turn it in to a college assessment site, at jportfolio.umd.edu. I'll explain this in class and help you with the upload.

Week 13:

Nov. 21: Virtual class: Do not come to the journalism building for this. I'll leave information on our class blog about the proliferation of Web logs (or blogs), and their impact on emerging democracies in other countries and on politics, mainstream journalism and teens in the United States. I will also leave an assignment for you on the blog; deadline by e-mail to me will be Monday, Nov. 26, at 1 p.m. It will take a class period to complete and will count as an in-class grade.

Readings: Yuki Noguchi's "Kids Say the Darndest Things in Their Blogs; For Parents, It Can Be Embarrassing," in the Aug. 22, 2006, Washington Post; Nico Mcdonald's "Comment Is Free, But Designing Communities Is Hard," in the Aug. 17, 2006, edition of OJR; Robert Niles' "Can Newspapers Do Blogs Right?" in the April 23, 2006, edition of OJR; Mark Glaser's NOLA.com blogs and forums help save lives after Katrina, in the Sept. 13, 2005, edition of OJR; Barb Palser's "Journalism's Backseat Drivers," in the August/September 2005 issue of AJR; Plus: Plus: Mark Glaser's "Flickr, Buzznet Expand Citizens' Role in Visual Journalism," in the Nov. 15, 2005 edition of OJR; J.D. Lasica's "Citizen's Media Gets Richer," in the Sept. 7, 2005, edition of OJR; Mark Glaser's "Bloggers, Citizen's Media and Rather's Fall: Little People Rise Up in 2004," in the Dec. 21, 2004, edition of OJR; and Mark Glaser's "Will Satellite, 'Podcasting' Bring a Renaissance to Radio Journalism?" in the Oct., 12, 2004, edition of OJR. Plus: Rachel Smolkin's "The Expanding Blogosphere," in the June/July 2004 issue of AJR; Aly Colon's "Blogs and Ethics" in the April 22, 2004, edition of Poynteronline. Plus J.D. Lasica's "When Bloggers Commit Journalism," in OJR's Sept. 24, 2002, issue; Catherine Seipp's "Online Uprising," in the June 2002 issue of AJR; Staci D. Kramer's "The Perfect News Incubator" in the Dec. 18, 2002, issue of OJR. See also photoblogs.org and blog tracking sites Technorati and The Truth Laid Bare.

Week 14:

Nov. 28: usatoday.com newsroom tour and talk. We'll chat with multimedia Web producer Joshua Hatch, Deputy Sports Editor Howard Kamen, senior designer Ron Coddington and Network Editor Patrick Cooper about how storytelling, story presentation and reader interaction at Web sites can differ from storytelling in traditional media. (Cooper writes here about usatoday.com's use of reader comments.) You will be given assigned questions to answer about the visit; your typed responses will count as an in-class grade. Responses to questions are due at the start of the Dec. 5 class. We will meet at 1:45 p.m. in the lobby of the USAToday newsroom, at 7950 Jones Branch Drive, in McLean, Va.--a stone's throw from the Tyson's Corner malls. See mapquest or google maps for directions from your homes; I'll post directions from the Capital Beltway on our class blog. Please leave an hour for travel time by car to get there. You may want to carpool with friends from class. We should be finishing up by about 3 p.m. Please park in the visitor parking lot before you get to the main building. It's marked by flag poles and a guard shack. Parking is free. The guards have been given all your names; they'll have badges waiting for you in the lobby. I will meet you there. Please familiarize yourself with the Web site before our trip! You'll want to be able to ask informed questions. I'll also give you back your bio packages, so you can make final edits before the last class.

Week 15:

Dec. 5: Answer questions on final papers. Show all students' bio packages to the class, allowing time for explanations and comment. Discuss media convergence and how it affects your futures in journalism; talk about individual student career plans. Plus: I'll also explain how you can move your bio packages from the journalism server onto the university server so you can keep updating them even after you leave this class. You will need a working university e-mail account to participate. I'll show how to move, or "burn," your bio files onto a CD. Please bring a CD to class. And I'll leave time for class evaluations.

Readings: Chapter 17 in the Craig book ("The 21st Century Journalist"). Also: "How the Web Was Won," by columnist Leslie Walker, in the Aug. 3, 2006, Washington Post; "The Great Divide: Is the industry really ready for high-tech students?" by Elizabeth Birge, in the Aug. 1, 2006, issue of Quill Online; "On the Rebound: Recovery continues for journalism jobs," by Karon Reinboth Speckman, in the Aug. 1, 2006, issue of Quill Online; "Online opportunities make journalism's future bright, despite gloomy feelings," by Rich Gordon, in the Oct. 27, 2005, edition of OJR; "Growth of online ads hits high speed," by Jon Swartz, in the Jan. 16, 2005, issue of USA Today; Cynthia Gorney's "Superhire 2000" in the December 2000 issue of AJR.

Final Paper Due by 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14 (based on the university's Final Exam Table): Turn in on paper (UNDER MY OFFICE DOOR on the 4th floor) AND by e-mail to me so that I will have the e-mail time stamp. Papers turned in after deadline will receive an F. See description in "Assignments/Tests," at top of syllabus.

Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Chris Harvey. Published stories, tutorials or personal bios linked from this page are the property of their respective copyright holders. Latest version written Aug. 23, 2007; last updated Nov. 27, 2007.