Class Syllabus, Spring 2008
JM 494: Digital Media Entrepreneurship -- Syllabus This course combines in-depth classroom study of online media development, including business issues, with hands-on experience. Students will 1) learn about major trends; 2) become fluent in a variety of digital media forms, creating individual and group blogs and multimedia postings as well as database-driven news "mashups"; 3) and work on an in-depth project, a collaborative online news site. We have two main goals. First, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the best practices, trends and issues -- including business topics such as product development and media economics -- that are challenging and redefining journalism -- all in the context of carrying traditional journalism's best principles and practices will carry over into 21st Century media. Second, you'll get a sense of why entrepreneurial thinking and activity are essential not just for people who'll create new-media startups but also employees of media companies. Note: As you'll see in the individual class descriptions, the details get somewhat less specific as the semester proceeds. This is a new area of the journalism curriculum, not just at ASU, so we'll be figuring some of it out as we go. With your work in this class, you'll be helping to invent the program. Instructor: Dan Gillmor. Dan is director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship and Kauffman Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship. More about Dan here. Contact information Email: dan.gillmor@asu.edu Mobile phone: 650.868.7528 Who may join We are aiming for a class size of no more than 15 students. Preference will be given to journalism students, and students in the schools of business, engineering, arts and design. Class meeting day/time Thursdays, 1:45 to 4:30 pm. Classes are held in Stauffer Comm A A237 (Tempe). There may be an class meeting on other days or in other locations to accommodate guest speakers or other needs, but only if all or most students are able to attend. Important note: We may schedule a course-related trip out of town at some point, but this will not be mandatory (though it'll be strongly encouraged). Course description The class will take two main directions. First, we'll have weekly lectures/conversations in which Dan, as well as guest speakers, will talk in detail about a variety of topics relating to online journalism, blogging, user-generated media and business models. Second, our other major focus will be deep hands-on experience. During the semester students will: Class blogs, mashups, video-audio work, project work, and related reading assignments will be reporting-based. Whether the journalism comes via blogs, mash-ups, and or other digital media work, students should have the same goals of other new-media journalist: Get it right; get it first; get noticed (and linked to); and get into a wider conversation. Field Trip There will likely be an opportunity to visit Silicon Valley on April 30-May 2, to attend a conference, still in the planning stages, at Yahoo headquarters. We intend to bring together journalists and technologists. We're still working on this, but if you are able to come, start planning your time well in advance. I realize this may conflict with finals or study for finals, but it's likely to be an amazing gathering. Expectations Attendance: Students should attend class and participate. Because we are meeting once a week, and because we are trying to cover wide ground, missing classes will leave holes not just in individual students' knowledge and skills but also in the class project. Blogging: In general, each student will maintain a blog with at least two postings a week of a minimum of 350 words per posting and/or 3 minutes of audio and video. Text entries should be accompanied by images such as photos or graphics. These are flexible guidelines; I want to encourage use of all kinds of media including text, photographs, video or audio, or combinations. I do expect students to show competence in each of these media formats during the semester. Because blogging is a conversational medium, students will be expected to post occasional comments on each others' blogs. Evidence of depth of thought, quality of writing, expert linking, good copy editing, and competent digital image and media editing, along with professional production values are expected by the end of the semester. News mashups: Students will create two map-based mashups -- don't worry, we'll learn about these in class. By the end of the semester each member of the class should be able to create interactive mini-sites that clearly demonstrate mastery of this important new online form. Collaborative news project work: The collaborative class project is a key component of the course, and students' efforts on it will count a great deal. Students will be expected to competitively volunteer to be a leader in some component of the project and to contribute and collaborate as members of a team. Roles available or assigned in connection with the class project may transcend traditional journalism responsibilities -- including business issues -- but will be relevant to the real world of professional online journalism and web production. Academic Integrity From the Cronkite School's Acedemic Integrity Policy, Spring 2008 : Academic dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The crux of our democracy is the ability of citizens to obtain honest, truthful and balanced information, and the credibility and integrity of the individual journalist and communications professional are crucial in that effort. As the mission of the Cronkite School is to prepare students to become journalists and communication professionals, that credibility and integrity will be fostered within the educational environment of the school. To that end, a zero tolerance policy toward academic dishonesty will be enforced within every course and educational activity offered or sanctioned by the school. Any allegations of academic dishonesty will automatically be referred to the Standards Committee of the school for review and recommendation to the dean of the school. If any student is found by the committee to have engaged in academic dishonesty in any form – including but not limited to cheating, plagiarizing and fabricating – that student shall receive a grade of XE for the class and will be dismissed from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Reinstatement will not be considered. There will be no exceptions. Grading Assignments: One third based on your blogging, map mash-up, and digital media website work. Did you meet deadlines and expectations? What has been your improvement curve and skill acquisition over the semester? Classroom: One third based on the quality of your classroom attendance and discussion: How often did you miss class? Have you contributed to the common good of your classmates? Project: One third based on your project work: How much project work did you do compared to your classmates? Were you a leader or a follower? Hardworking followers are just as valuable as lazy leaders, incidentally. Required texts Please download or purchase the following 3 texts: Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive By Mark Briggs Published by J-Lab and the Knight Citizen News Network. Download PDF. (You can also order the book for $10 from J-Lab. Recommended...) Don't Make Me Think By Steve Krug (now in bookstore). We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, by Dan Gillmor (free online download -- I'm working on my publisher to provide paper copies for everyone; stay tuned). Detailed Class Schedule Note: What follows is an early best guess about the class specifics. Count on this schedule changing to some degree, not so much in content as sequence. In particular, I'm trying to line up some guest speakers who in many cases will have to travel from out of town, and we'll adapt to their schedules as much as possible. You'll know in advance about any changes, and if it's a last-minute schedule shift -- e.g. to the evening instead of the currently scheduled time -- I'll be understanding about your other commitments. Jan. 17: Introduction to the class; a review of emerging online journalism trends; and a discussion of why (in my view) the media world needs more entrepreneurial thinking. We'll discuss plans and expectations for the seminar, our ideas - and your own - about topics to cover in class, and start thinking about the class project. We'll also talk about the focus of your semester-long journalism blogs and the blog publishing software software you'll be using. The lecture will lay out the current "media-scape" and highlight a range of new ideas and emerging trends in online journalism. Class viewing: The EPIC 2014 and 2015 videos. Important: Please note required pre-class assignments and readings are listed with the description of that week's class. All reading assignments must be completed before the start of each class. Jan. 24: The impact of technology and conversational media. Digital media entrepreneurs need to understand what's out there in the way of tools and techniques. We'll look at a variety of new media formats, and various kinds of conversational media (some of which you are, no doubt, already using), plus the empowering tools and technology and skill sets behind it all. We'll explore, for example, blogging, vlogging (video blogs), podcasting, tagging and the like are changing traditional journalism production and business models. We'll also demystify the tools and technology that empowers these new media forms and formats of conversational media. The last part of the class will be devoted to a discussion about the class project. Please be prepared to 1) discuss the focus/topic of your semester-long journalism blog. Assignments to be completed prior to this class: 1) Set up an RSS feed at NetNewsWire, My Yahoo!, PageFlakes or another news reader (this could include your desktop email software). 2) Do some preliminary research and come prepare to suggest and discuss how we can proceed with our seminar class project. 3) Create an email news alert at Google or Yahoo!. Required reading completed prior to this class: 1) Journalism 2.0 by Briggs: Chapter One: "FTP, MB, RSS, oh My!" pages 11 - 24 2) Steve Outing: What Journalists Can Learn From Bloggers; 3) Howard Rheingold on moblogs and user trust; 4) Introduction to Blogging. Jan. 31: Professional journalism meets the Web. We'll discuss how journalism pros using these are responding to the challenges and opportunities presented by new conversational media forms and formats. We'll also explore how new forms of journalism are redefining the field in at least two areas: at the neighborhood level and at the specialty beat reporting level. Important: This is the class in which you will be showing the class your own new blog, so it'll be essential that you've done at least 3 postings before we meet. We will also decide at this class what our class project will be. Tentative guest speaker (via video): Lisa Williams of Placeblogger. Assignments to be completed prior to this class: 1) Create, design, and launch your blog. 2) First blog post of 250 to 500 words filed by Jan. 28; this posting should explain why you have selected your blog topic and how you plan to cover it. 3) A second posting, to be completed by Jan. 30, should discuss how online news and conversational media has affected the journalism you personally follow. In this posting, provide at least three examples - with links, screen shots or video or audio clips (or some combination -- to illustrate. Required reading completed prior to this class: 1) Journalism 2.0 by Briggs: Chapter Two: "Web 2.0" pages 25 - 33; 2) Dan Froomkin: On Ideas for Online publications; 3) Tom Curley, CEO, Associated Press: On the future of online news. ; 4) Jay Rosen: On Bloggers vs. Journalists is over; 5) Vin Crosby: On what is new media. Feb. 7: Business issues in modern journalism/media. The business of journalism is in deep trouble, but journalism doesn't have to be. We'll discuss the way the business has changed and how new models are developing -- and ask what happens if we don't come up with business models that support great journalism. Entrepreneurship is surely one way to go. Meanwhile, traditional media organizations are looking at new models for their own survival. Assignments TBA, but will involve student interviews with journalistic entrepreneurs for blog postings. Required reading prior to this class: 1) Paul Steiger: Read All About It; 2) Terry Heaton: TV News in a postmodern world; 3) Craig Newmark: Text of a speech at meeting of alternative newspapers; 4) David Warsh: Dancing with Tycoons?; 5) Center for Citizen Media: Frontiers of Innovation in Community Engagement: News Organizations Forge New Relationships with Communities (read at least the home page and executive summary, plus at least two case studies). (Note: Start commenting on your classmates' blogs sooner than later; an assignment for next week is to have left several relevant comments on their blogs.) Feb. 14: Guest speaker: Fabrice Florin, founder of NewsTrust.net. News entrepreneurs and product development: In Internet product-development terms, the "barriers to entry" to create a viable news product have never been lower or more complex. With news feeds and open APIs and other social media tools widely available, entrepreneurs have developed a series of new news experiences that allow people to participate in ways never previously possible. This is best understood, however, in the context of how the new "digital native" (people like you) use media. We'll also look at the two primary methods of Internet product development used by start-ups and the largest Internet news organizations alike, and how you can engage in SEO (search engine optimization) and build traffic to your blog -- in other words, how to get noticed. The product development portion of this class has another goal: to get going in a serious discussion about our class project, including a) what product development methods will be used; b) identifying specific roles and responsibilities for the project; and c) creating a timeframe for the project. Required reading prior to this class: 1) Krug: "Don't Make me Think" Introduction ( page 3 - 9), Chapters 1 through 5 (page 11 - 49); 2) Darren Rowse: Building blog traffic & Search Engine Optimization; 3) Rowse: Social Bookmarking - Getting your Blog Noticed; 4) Wikipedia: On search engine optimization; 6) Web Pages That Suck: The Worst Web Pages of 2007; 5) John Palfrey: How digital natives experience news (be sure to read the comments). Required assignment completed prior to this class: 1) Visit and join newstrust.net, then rate 3 news stories and post about this on your blog by Feb. 13; 2) Go to every one of your classmates' blogs and leave at least two comments (not on the same posting). Feb. 21: Guest lecture by Retha Hill; I'll be out of town. Topic, reading, assignments TBA. Feb. 28: Data as Journalism. Databases and the visual display of information online is rapidly changing journalism. As Adrian Holovaty writes: "Journalists should have less of a concern of what is and isn't "journalism," and more of a concern for important, focused information that is useful to people's lives and helps them understand the world…" In this class we'll explore the importance and story-telling advantages of using data in a journalistic context. Guest speaker: Adrian Holovaty. Required assignments completed prior to this class: 1) Blog post of 250 to 500 words filed by March 4: Review 3 news mash-ups listed at either Programmable Web or at Mashable. Describe the value and utility of the data/news user experience. Keep your posts tight and feel free to use bullet point lists with deep linking to the sites you discuss. 2) Blog post of 250 to 500 words, in which you consider several data sources as possible information sources for your blog topic and write about how you could use or visually display this information. Required Reading: 1) Holovaty: A fundamental ways newspapers need to change 2) Holovaty's new project, Everyblock (review the site);. 3) American Journalism Review: The Mashup Man; 4) Read-Write Web: Yahoo! Pipes and The Web As Database; 5) Howard Rheingold: Maps+Databases+Internet = New Scientific, Civic, and Political Tools. March 6: Citizen media. We will discuss the enormous progress citizen media has made in the recent years, and the opportunities it has created. We'll also look at the challenges ahead. We'll examine large-scale and start-up citizen journalism efforts at various levels and discuss recent efforts in networked or crowdsourced journalism. Required reading prior to this class: 1) "We the Media," Introduction, Chapters 1, 3,4, 6 Required assignments completed prior to this class: 1) Post a minimum of 10 digital images into your blog and at Flickr with appropriate tags covering at least two separate topics; post a brief 250-word (bullet points are fine) blog item that points to these images and tags on Flickr; 3) by now, you should have gone to every one of your classmates' blogs and leave a relevant comment on at least two different posts they have made. March 13: Spring break March 20: Screencasts and map mashups As we've seen,the skillful display of news and data and the role of users in citizen journalism and data gathering spans a variety of formats, including the use of open API maps offered by Google, Yahoo!, and others. The results can create deeply compelling data-based story-telling opportunities that provide a startling new degree of context and relevancy for journalism. We'll look in this class at two other forms: screencasts and map mashups. Required assignments completed prior to this class: As noted, students will be expected to gather and bring to this class at least 10 digital images (still images, video clips, or audio clips or a combination) and the exact locations (addresses: country, state, street address) or "tag" for at least ten different locations (meaning all digital assets must be from 10 different locations) we will use to create a news map mash-up live in class. Assets can be obtained via the web or live by students taking their own digital media phots/video. Required Reading: 1) Martin Stabe: Freedom of Information, mashups and online journalism; 2) Journalism 2.0 by Briggs: Chapter 4: New reporting methods, pages 41 - 51; 3) Journalism 2.0 by Briggs: Chapter 8: Shooting and managing digital photos, pages 80 - 88. (Note: It's possible we will make a trip to Silicon Valley this week. Stay tuned.) March 27: Wikipedia and crowdsourcing. Description TK. Required assignments completed prior to this class: 1) Identify 3 news stories and rate them on NewsTrust (sign up here); 2) Visit 3 websites and tag them on del.icio.us specific to your blog topic; 3) Create or edit a Wikipedia article and post a 250 to 500 word blog post about your experience. Required reading prior to this class: 1) Jeff Howe, Wired: The Rise of Crowdsourcing 2) Wikipedia: Social bookmarking 3) Cnet interview: Jimmy Wales: Open sourcing the news.; April 3: New media and democracy: New media creators are on - and off - the bus in 2008. We'll focus on how news, information and technologies are changing the way our democracy works, the way campaigns are run, and the manner in which citizens communicate with one another and interact with their states. April 10: Legal and ethical issues A discussion on the legal, privacy, and related issues, challenges, and opportunities that face new media journalists, entrepreneurs and publishers. Guest Speakers: David Ardia, director of Citizen Media Law Project, Harvard Law School (invited), and Josh Wolf, blogger who was jailed for protecting video outtakes. (invited) Required assignments completed prior to this class: TBA. Required reading prior to this class: 1) Gillmor: We the Media - Chapters 9-10; 2) Tim O'Reilly: Draft Bloggers Code of Conduct and Lessons Learned So Far; 3) BlogHer: Community Guidelines; 4) Jon Garfunkel: Comment Management Responsibility -- a proposal. April 17: Project focus: In this class we'll most likely focus in depth on the project, finishing up the first iteration and discussing how it should proceed after the semester ends. April 24: A look back, plus student blog awards.
