Birthday Greetings

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Final Project Guidelines Fall 2011

For the final multimedia project in the class, please choose two (or more) of the forms we have worked on during the semester and tell a fresh story.

You may work in teams or solo.

The only form that is off-limits is the blog, though you will post your project on your blog.

You may combine interactive maps, podcasts, slideshows, audio slideshows, and videos.
Examples: a podcast, slideshow or video that plays out of an interactive map; or a video that combines still and moving pictures.

Write a 300-word story to complement your project.


Deadlines:
Monday Nov. 28: Post a description of your project on your blog.
Wednesday Dec. 7: Project is due at the start of class.

Video Projects Spring 2011

Create a video package that runs 1:30 to 2 minutes, and a 400-word text to accompany it.

As with the audio slideshows, create a journalistic narrative with a beginning that introduces the subject, a middle, and an end.

Post the project on iReport.com, and embed the video on your blog.

Include sound. This can be natural sound or an interview, or both. It can also include your own narration; however, the project must include sound created outside of your group. Do not interview family members or significant others.

Any music needs to be royalty-free.

The text and the video package should complement each other and not simply repeat what the other says. For instance, a team could put together a video about rehearsals for “Lend me a Tenor,” and the text could review the play.

Intermediate deadline Wednesday Nov. 9:

-- Post the topic of your video project on your blog, along with the sound source or sources you plan to use.

-- Bring to class a minute or so of video from the video camera you check out. We will look at editing options.


Final deadline Wednesday Nov. 16:

-- Upload the project to iReport and embed the video on your blog, along with the 400-word text that accompanies it.

Soundslides Hosting Test

Hey, Soundslides hosting works!
Farewell Divshare. It's been fun knowing you.
But you just can't handle audio slideshows.
The key to Soundslides hosting seems to be the Export and Zip command, which was not available on the version of Soundslides I had on my computer originally.
It creates the publish_to_web zip file with no muss and no fuss.

Boy, is my face red

Those long, involved instructions for uploading your Soundslides project to Divshare and unzipping the folder and embedding the project on your blog?

The instructions won't work!


For some reason, Divshare won't let you unzip an uploaded folder.

Soundslides to the rescue!

Soundslides offers hosting -- free for a month -- and includes these helpful instructions for uploading and embedding.

I created an account that everyone can share.
go to host.soundslides.com/admin
The login is danielwms
The password is Lyndon

Good luck, and sorry for the confusion!

CNN iReport critique for Oct. 31

Please check out the offerings at iReport.com.
This is CNN's effort to get viewers to submit multimedia pieces.
Some are used in news shows.
Critique at least three submissions that have not aired on CNN.
At least two need to be video submissions rather than slideshows.
Criteria:
Is it interesting?
Why or why not?
Is it news?
If you were a CNN producer, would you put it on the air?
Could you do the same thing as well or better?
Post the critique on your blog by the start of class on Monday Oct. 31.

Soundslides Tips

You’ll need the following ingredients to create an audio slideshow using Soundslides and post it on your blog:

The Soundslides program (available for free from Soundslides.com).
A folder containing jpg photos.
An mp3 audio file.
An account with Divshare.com.
A bit of patience.


Getting started:
Open Soundslides.
Ignore the Registration page by clicking Later.
Select NEW Create a project.
Give your project a name and give the computer a place to save it.

You’ll come to a page that asks you to load your jpg folder and mp3.
First, select an Output size on the left. Try “small” because you’re putting it on a blog.

Now load your jpg folder.
Then load your mp3.

You can change the order of your photos, and change the amount of time they stay on-screen.

You cannot alter the mp3 file once it’s loaded.

To change the order of your photos, drag and drop them where you want them. If that doesn’t work – it didn’t work well for me – you can specify the time at which they appear. This is done in the Slide Info tab.

You can adjust the length of time a photo stays on-screen by clicking the side of a photo in the timeline and sliding it left or right.

Put captions on your slideshow by using the Slide Info tab. Give your slideshow a headline (and give yourselves credit) under the Project Info tab.

When you’re happy with your audio slideshow, click export.
This creates a folder called publish_to_web.

You must highlight all of the items in the folder and create a zip file of them – go to File, and select Create Archive. You will need the zip file when you upload the slideshow to the Web, so find out where it resides (I had trouble finding mine).

In Divshare, create a new folder and give it a name. Upload your zip file to that folder.

Unzip.
(If it asks, allow it to overwrite files.)
Delete the Archive zip file in the directory; you don't need it any longer.

Click Current URL to view the soundslide.

Copy the URL and paste it into:
www4.soundslides.com/apps/utilities/

This generates an embed code that you can place in your blog.

You can modify the width and height of your slideshow at this point. If you change them, click Modify. That generates a new embed code.

Audio Slideshow Project

You may work in teams or independently on this project.

Due dates:
Oct. 24: Post synopsis on blog.
Nov. 2: Post completed project on blog.

Guidelines:

Create a 2- to 3-minute audio slideshow using Soundslides.

Tell a story with this project.
Consider it a journalistic narrative, with a beginning, middle and end.
Include sound from an interview with someone outside of your team (and family).
You can mix the sound with your own voice(s), or just use the interview sound.
You can include a music bed.
Figure out how to identify the project at the top so the viewer will understand what is going on.
Change photos every 4 to 5 seconds.

Write a 400-word feature story to accompany the slideshow. The story should not be simply a transcription of your audio slideshow. They should complement each other.

Ideas:

Messy professors
Sporting event:
Rugby, soccer, intramurals, high school football, etc.
Campus tour
Cooking lesson
Concert or performance
Public meeting
Interview
How to…
Prepare for the upcoming ski/snowboard season
“Button up” a house for winter

Synopsis: Post a 200-word summary of your project on your blog. Explain what your slideshow will be about, which sound sources you plan to use, who the intended audience is, and what makes this an interesting story for that audience.

Evaluation:
Narrative: 50 points
The slideshow and the accompanying story engage the intended viewer. The photos are an interesting mix of wide, medium and close-up shots that exhibit good composition.
Mechanics: 30 points
The audio approaches professional quality; the writing is free of grammar, style, and spelling errors.
Format: 20 points
The project is posted correctly and meets the guidelines for length, sound sources, shot changes, etc.

A missing synopsis loses 40 points. Late work is assessed a penalty of 10 points per day (including the synopsis).

Slideshows

Here's an audio slideshow about a tug-of-war championship from the Guardian, a British newspaper. Notice how often the image changes. (Fyi, the first reader comment is hilarious.)

Here's a silent slideshow from the Washington Post about a shofar class. It would have worked better as an audio slideshow. I mean, come on, it's a SHOFAR class!

The Caledonian-Record and its sister paper, the Orleans Record, run a lot of photo galleries, especially from high school sporting events. Can you figure out why?

Assignment for Oct. 24

Assignment for Monday Oct. 24:
Find two slideshows and one photo gallery on separate Web sites and critique them on your blog. One of the slideshows must have audio; the other should not. Photo galleries don't ordinarily include sound.
Include the URLs so we can find them.
Criteria: Do the slideshows and photo galleries function well as storytelling tools? Which does the better job? Why or why not? What difference does sound make?

Here's a slideshow created in about 5 minutes (and it looks it!) using Photobucket.

Embed test

Podcast Project Guidelines

- Create a 5- to 10-minute audio project and make it available on your blogs as a podcast.
- Use at least two voices.
- Write a 400-word story to accompany it. Grammar and spelling count.
Deadlines:
- Submit project outline via blogs Oct. 5
- Submit project via blogs Oct. 12
Some ideas:
How-to
Dorm cooking tips
Wash your own clothes
Play rugby
Interviews
LSC’s interim president
LSC’s longest-serving prof
International students
Reviews 
Lyndon’s Asian restaurants
Lyndon’s pizza restaurants
A musical band at LSC


Advice
Relationships
Best teachers Coolest GEU classes
Other
Public Safety log
Dead North
Evaluation criteria:
-Audience engagement
-Audio and editing quality
-Sound sources (voices, natural sound, music)
-Length requirements
-Mechanics

Embedding maps: There's a guy in my yard!

Once you've got your Google map laid out just right, click "Done." Then go to the link icon to the upper right of the map itself (next to a printer and an email icon). Click the link icon and you'll get a couple of options: a URL you can email to someone, and an HTML embed code. You want the embed code. Copy it and paste it into a blog post:
View A guy in my side yard in a larger map (Notice the numbers for frame width and height. You can alter them to change the size of the image. )

All2MP3 > Audacity > Divshare !

Here is an mp3 player created with Divshare. It will play an mp3 file that was converted from a WMA file via All2MP3, then edited in Audacity, and finally exported as an mp3, then uploaded to Divshare. Phew.

Embedded MP3 Player Test

Podcast critique assignment

Between now and Monday, subscribe to three podcasts. You can do this at the iTunes store – they are free. Write a post on your blog that explains
- why you picked each one,
- what you liked and disliked about each one,
- whether you think you will continue listening to them,
- and whether you put them on an iPod or other player.

Fox 44

New assignment for Wednesday: On Wednesday we are due to talk via Skype with Nick Merlo, an LSC alum and the social media producer at Fox 44 in Burlington. Please go to Fox44now.com and compare its offerings to those of CBSAtlanta.com. Which one does a better job with writing? Video? Slideshows? Local news? Can you tell which site has the larger staff just by looking at each? Please post your comparisons – 200 words at least – on your blogs by the start of class on Wednesday. Ask Nick questions based on your observations.

BBC College of Journalism

We'll check this out on Wednesday.

Map Project Guidelines

Deadline: Wednesday Sept. 28

Create an interactive map with accompanying text to tell a story. This is a group project that will require work outside of class.

Here is a list of ideas:

High school basketball (Team C)

Schedules for boys and girls teams from Northeast Kingdom.

For a list of schools, go to nsnsports.net/nek,

Click the High School tab,

Then click NEK.

Restaurant health grades

Go to the Vermont Health Department’s website

Look for Restaurant Scores;

Select Lyndon from the drop-down menu of towns;

Locate your favorite restaurant;

Lose appetite

Talk to owners/managers of lower-scoring places;

Ask what’s been done to fix the problems.

Ask Health Department what score would force a closure.

Ski areas

Where are the best ski areas within easy driving distance?

Info could include:

Lift ticket price

How many trails/skill level

Terrain park features

Food

Apres ski

Ask people about their favorites.

Campus crime

Public Safety maintains a log of incidents on campus.

Go back several weeks and plot the incidents.

Group incidents by type or location.

Interview the public safety director about “hot spots”

Town crime

The Lyndonville Police would also maintain an incident log.

Go back a week (or two) and plot the incidents.

Interview the police chief: Is crime increasing, decreasing?

Dorm demographics

Find out all you can about each of the dorms on campus

How many rooms?

How many students?

How many men vs women?

What percentage of freshmen, sophomores, etc.?

Who is residence hall director?

Where did the name come from?

When was it built?

The “balloons” on each map should include at least one photo taken by a team member, a text description, and other information as appropriate (numbers, prices, dates, addresses, phone numbers, etc.).

One person in each group needs to take the lead and “own” the map in his/her Google account. Post the maps to each team member’s blog by embedding.

Evaluation:

An “A” map will include eight or more locations; each location will feature at least one photo and appropriate text; the accompanying story will be at least 300 words, will contain very few mechanical errors, and will include at least one quote from a person.

A “B” map includes at least five locations, but each location still features at least one photo and appropriate text. The accompanying story might contain a few mechanical errors but is still 300 words and includes at least one quote from a person.

A “C” map includes at least three locations, but each location still features at least one photo. The text for each location may be insufficient. The accompanying story might contain several mechanical errors or may be shorter than 300 words, but it still includes at least one quote from a person.

A “D” map falls short in several categories. An “F” map does not exist (the assignment wasn’t submitted).

2155 Project Teams

A: Justin Chenette Kirstie Venne B: Taylor Cota Morgan Forester Richard Joseph Heather Perkins C: Mike Howard Kevin Lessard Tyler Schofield Jackson Stewart D: Brian Davis Jill Grenier Julianne Walshaw

Wall Street Journal goes for video in a big way

Wall Street Journal Adds to Live Video Programming By BRIAN STELTER Operating a bit like a stealth business news network, The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday announced a major expansion of its video unit, which is now producing three and a half hours of live programming each weekday and will soon produce even more.

Writing for the Web

Here are links to three stories about the same event, the Republican presidential debate on Monday. The Associated Press story appeared on the Bennington Banner's website but was clearly written for newspapers. How can you tell? MSNBC's treatment of the debate combines elements of the AP piece, but there are differences. Can you find them? CNN's story also differs from the AP piece. Note the less formal tone and the super-short paragraphs.

Pimp My Blog

Project Guidelines:This is due on Monday, Sept. 19.
Create the coolest blog you can.
Play with design.
Wander around backstage and find gadgets and other features to try out.
Write a blog entry explaining the process and why you chose the things you did.
Best blog wins a prize.
Grades:
A – Blew me away. Fun design, cool features.
Added photos, audio or video
B – Good blog; includes a few features.
C – Looks like most of the other blogs out there, but it’s okay
D – It’s there
F – It’s not there

Human writers? Who needs 'em?

New York Times article about artificial intelligence and sports writing (or is that redundant?).

15-year-old blogger makes big

The Style Rookie is a blog maintained by 15-year-old Tavi Gevenson. It became so popular she has launched an online magazine, Rookie.
It has 40 employees.

Blog critique

Go out on the World Wide Web and find a blog. Any blog will do, but I would encourage you to avoid the super-popular ones. Technorati.com can help guide you to blogs on any topic.

I used it to find a blog about chickens!
In your critique, please tell us:
what you like and dislike about the blog;
how often it is updated (avoid "dead" blogs);
whether the Comments indicate anyone is reading it;
what media elements beyond text it uses.
Post your critique here as a Comment.

TV cooperation

Staffing and Profitability
2011 TV and Radio News Staffing and Profitability Survey
The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey found that 2010 marked a
turnaround year for local TV news. Stations added 750 jobs last year, recovering all the
losses of 2009 (400 jobs lost) and making a dent in the 1,200 jobs lost in 2008. In fact,
the survey found that anticipated hiring in 2011 could bring the industry back to its precrash
peak by the start of 2012.

Total local television news employment is now 26,522. That's an increase of 2.9 percent
in the last year. That's still 1,295 behind the 2007 peak of 27,817. The American
Society of News Editors (ASNE) reports that newspaper employment rose by 100 in
2010 (up 2/100 of a percent) to 41,600. That's down from 55,100 in 2007.

Overall, there are now 745 TV stations originating local news, running that news on
those stations and another 223 stations for a total of 968 stations airing local news.

10 free programs journalists need

For your downloading pleasure... click here.