Projects Required

1. Find a good example of online journalism.
2. Write an explanation why it is a GOOD example, comparing it to other media such as TV and newspapers. How does your example demonstrate how online media differ from other news media?
3. Format your explanation as a Web page. Include a link to your example.
4. Upload your Web page to the server.
5. E-mail the URL of your live Web page to before 9 a.m. on the day class meets.

Use your own tape recorder or MiniDisc recorder and mic to complete this assignment.

1. Interview two people about how they use the Web (not e-mail, and not IM -- the Web). One person must be older than 30. The other person can be any age.
2. Record the interview. Keep it short, but make sure you get some interesting statements.
3. The goal is to let an audience hear other people describe what they do online. That will only be interesting if your interviewees say something specific, not general. You will be graded on this aspect of your interviewing skill.
4. For each person interviewed: Get first name and last name, and how to SPELL them; age; occupation or student status.
5. Bring your recording device and the tape or disc with you to class.

The grade for this assignment is based on your final sound bites, which come from the NEXT assignment.

1. Complete your editing on your two (or more) sound bites from your interviews. (You must have at least one good bite from each of your interviews.) Save the files as .wav files. Each final bite should be between 30 sec. and 2 min. long (roughly).
2. Create a table page in HTML (Week 2) with separate cells for (a) heading and (b) text block and (c) two (or more) embedded audio players. Use the table cells to control the page layout and make it attractive. Use CSS (Week 3) to control all colors and fonts.
3. Use Cool Edit Pro to save your .wav file in either the .rm format or the .mp3 format. See which format produces the smallest file. (Adjust the settings for sampling rate, resolution and channels.)
4. Copy the code for the appropriate embedded player from this page (View Source there to see the code).
5. Paste the complete OBJECT code into your HTML table layout (to show the players).
6. Include text near each embedded player to show the name, age and occupation (or student status) of the speaker in the bite.
7. Write 100 to 200 words in a feature-story style summarizing what your interviews revealed about how people use the Web. Do not be obvious. Say something the reader does not already know.
8. Write a compelling headline for the page.
9. Upload your Web page to the server.
10. E-mail the URL of your live Web page to before 9 a.m. on the day class meets.

1. Rewrite two radio news stories (supplied) for the Web. Extract good quotes from the bites, and include the quotes in the story, as text.
2. Write a headline for each story.
3. Put each story on a separate Web page, and upload the two pages to the Web server.
4. E-mail the URLs of your TWO live Web pages to before 9 a.m. on the day class meets.

> See the files for this assignment.

Create an attractive, professional-looking Web page that contains at least two different images that you created yourself in Photoshop.

1. One image must be a line or block of text, with a width between 500 and 700 pixels, saved in the GIF file format. The text must fill the width specified. The text must be anti-aliased and must not have jagged edges.
2. The other image must be an animated GIF. The content must be different from the first image.
3. You may include other images also, and text, and links -- or you may create a page with just the two images described above.
4. Your grade will reflect the level of professionalism in the appearance of the page AND the two images. Use tables and CSS to control the page layout.
5. Upload your Web page to the server.
6. E-mail the URL of your live Web page to before 9 a.m. on the day class meets.

So far you have built five Web pages for this course. For this assignment, you will rebuild four of those pages to make them look consistent and similar. You will also create a new home page that links to all four new pages.

1. Choose a background color, text color, font family and link colors that you will use for all your pages. Edit the style sheet (basicstyle.css) you were given in class to use those colors and font.
2. Using Dreamweaver MX, create a new home page for your work from this course. The filename must be index.htm. Create an original graphic logo in Photoshop and use it on this page. Apply the external style sheet to this page.
3. Rebuild your pages from assignments 1, 3 and 4 (four pages), using Dreamweaver and the same style sheet. The pages should look like they all belong to one Web site. Include a link back to your home page on each page.
4. Put links to all four new pages on the new home page.
5. Upload your Web page to the server.
6. E-mail the URL of your live Web page to before 9 a.m. on the day class meets.

The example: The Enemy Within

Purposes: (1) Study and think critically about the presentation of this story in this medium. (2) Use your conclusions to make good decisions about how to tell your story for the final project in this class.

Execution of this assignment: You will watch and read every part of the package linked above and write an analysis of all its components. Your written analysis must be double-spaced, printed and handed in at the beginning of class, or you will not receive credit for it (your grade will be zero). Late papers will not be accepted.

Additional instructions will be provided on a printed handout.

Your written component(s) for your part of the final project:

Each student must write at least one component of 500 words or less, including a short, clear headline. A student may write more than one, but no component can be longer than 500 words, and components must not be redundant. Remember what you thought about the text stories in The Enemy Within! Avoid a dry newswriting style. Tell a story in an interesting way. Remember how important the first 20 or 25 words are!

Each student must also write a brief biographical note about him- or herself, 50 words or less.

E-mail the plain-text files as attachments to before 9 a.m. on the day class meets.

> Excel spreadsheet: Homelessness resources

• Week 9-10: Research the problem.
• Week 11: Planning. How will you report this story? How will you find and gather information? Who will do what?
• Week 12: Planning. Assign specific reporting and writing tasks for the project.
• Week 13: Sketch plans for Flash presentation. Report on audio, video and photos in hand. Assign specific production tasks.
• Weeks 14-16: Build in Flash.

Further details to come.