Books and Required Materials

There will be no required books for this course.

However, there will be weekly reading assignments. These readings will be linked on the syllabus page for the week when due.

It is expected that you will read or view the assigned material before class so that you are prepared for the day's work.

Required Equipment

You must own your own equipment.

  1. USB thumb drive (2 GB or more)
  2. Blank CDs (I prefer CDs, because different DVD standards do not always work in every computer) -- at least 10
  3. Digital audio recorder that connects to a computer via USB and does not require ANY software for playing or transferring files
  4. Digital camera with 2 GB memory card (or larger)
  5. Headphones (or earbuds)
  6. Your own computer

The (3) audio recorder and (4) camera are described on the home page.

Software

You will be expected to download and install several free software programs on your computer. These include Audacity and Soundslides (demo).

You will be expected to use a recent version of Photoshop, but you may use it in a campus lab (Weimer Hall or CIRCA labs). You do not need to buy it.

The video editing software taught in this course is iMovie 09. If you have Windows, you are permitted to use Windows Live Movie Maker or Windows Movie Maker. You are also permitted to use another video editing program if you prefer. However, the instructor and/or teaching assistant can help you ONLY with iMovie 09 at this time.

You can use iMovie in any of the CIRCA labs.

> Video links and tutorials

Recommended Web Viewing

If you look at multimedia work on these sites, you'll have a good idea what is being done in today's online-savvy newsrooms.

There are additional links to useful tutorials and examples of multimedia journalism listed here. These links are updated throughout the year.