J334 Multimedia Storytelling

Class page for J334, a multimedia storytelling class at the University of Texas School of Journalism. Professor: Robert Quigley

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Live tweeting

[theweekmagazine]

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is donating $1.1 million to study the effectiveness of a wristband that tracks a student’s level of engagement.

The wristband uses the body’s natural electricity to measure emotional arousal, says Edwin Kee at Ubergizmo. Whenever someone gets excited, for example, their electrodermal activity shoots up. When they’re bored or relaxed, that level goes down. The bracelet, which is still in its early phases, seeks to chart a student’s mood while in class. 

Keep reading

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Hopefully the results will be more optimistic than “bored”.

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Two Degrees Of Kevin Baco And The 2012-2013 TV Season

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I'm sharing this because it's cool looking!

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Guest lecture: Yul Kwon

Today's guest is Yul Kwon, the host of the four-part PBS miniseries "America Revealed," which premiered earlier this month.

 Kwon's incredibly diverse background includes receiving a J.D. in law from Yale, serving on the editorial board for the Yale Law Journal, working for Google's business operations and strategy group and winning the million-dollar prize on American Idol.

He also worked for Sen. Joseph Lieberman, and he helped draft the Homeland Security Act,  worked as a special correspondent for CNN, and became an adjunct instructor for the FBI. He also was appointed by the FCC to be deputy chief of the commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureau. 

"America Revealed" dives deeply into American culture and the networks that come together to make the nation work.

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Assignment: Group mobile project

For this assignment, you will be broken into groups of five students. You'll have class time to look over a news app on any mobile platform, and then as a group, you'll put together a  paper examining the application's strengths and weaknesses.

The paper must be at least 500 words, and include:

* An intro and a conclusion

* Key features of the app

* An analysis of ease-of-use

* Suggestions for improvements

You can divide the work however you see fit, but one person from the group must email the text (not a blog post) to [email protected] before class on Monday, April 30. All names must be on the paper. If the minimum requirements are met, everyone gets 100 for this assignment.

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Guest lecture: Chaotic Moon's whurley

On Wednesday, we're going to welcome one of the most intriguing and enthusiastic tech stars I know, William Hurley (who goes by whurley). He's the general manager at Chaotic Moon Labs, an Austin tech powerhouse that built The Daily iPad app for Rupert Murdoch, along with products for Sesame Street, Betty Crocker, Microsoft, Pizza Hut, CBS Sports, The Discovery Channel and many others.

Whurley is a past IBM Master Inventor and Apple R&D guy who has nearly a dozen patents. He also has been chief technology officer at a handful of other companies. 

Chaotic Moon builds mobile apps, but it also builds Boards of Awesomeness. I'll let him explain.

I think you all should pay attention closely and let his enthusiasm and love for tech rub off on you. You are all very creative, and perhaps you'll be the ones who save journalism some day .... or at least build something awesome.

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Storify assignment

For this assignment, I'm asking you to put the "story" in Storify.

 Anyone can use Storify, which is a great tool for gathering content from across the social web. What I want out of you is to give that content a narrative and a purpose.

 To that end, you're to find a topic or event related to your beat and put together a Storify project that not only fits your blog, but informs your readers with great content and a narrative flow.

 This will be due April 30. As usual, you must email a link to the [email protected] no later than before class on that day.

Here's how you will be assessed:

50 percent: Storytelling. I'm looking for a smooth narrative and interesting, rich transitions, strong headlines and interesting content choices.

50 percent: Meeting the minimums. You must have: A headline, introductory text, at least one photo, at least one YouTube video, at least three tweets, at least one Facebook post and at least one link to a blog post or news story. You must also write at least three paragraphs' worth of transition/explanatory text.

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How to publish your podcast on iTunes

Here are some simple steps to get a podcast posted on iTunes (if you're going to do it regularly).

* Create a separate Tumblr just for your podcast

* Only post links to your audio files as entries. The headline you write will become the title for the episodes

* Create a free FeedBurner account.

* Follow the directions on Feedburner to set up a podcast from your new Tumblr. Be sure to fill in all metadata (it will work you through it)

* Open iTunes, click on "store," and then go to the Podcasts menu. On the right side, you'll see a link for submitting your podcast.

* Once approved, your new podcast updates will automagically appear in iTunes.

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Assignment: Recording a podcast

For this assignment, you are to record and produce an audio podcast that is at least 10 minutes long. It must include an interview with at least one other person. The podcast must be related to your beat and linked to as an entry in your Tumblr. Before class on April 13, a link to your Tumblr entry must be emailed to [email protected]. No exceptions. If you turn it in on time, meeting the minimum requirements, you will get a 100 for this assignment. Anything less will get a 50 (or a zero if not turned in at all within a week of the due date).

Here are tips for recording/publishing your podcast. You can do this a different way if you'd like, but this method works:

1. Record your podcast on an audio recorded, directly to your laptop using a mic or even onto your smart phone.

2. Upload the audio into Audacity or Final Cut Pro (or another editing program). Add intro and outro music, if you'd like.

3. Save the file as a an m4a file.

4. Upload your completed file to Dropbox.com (a free account required).

5. Make the dropbox folder public and get a link to your audio file.

6. Create a Tumblr post and write a short introduction to your podcast. Link to the audio file with words like "Listen now."

7. Email the link to [email protected]

8. Ask me or Kang if you need help.

9. Don't wait until the last minute (just advice).

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Assignment: Producing a photo series

As Trey Ratcliff said in class on Monday, the Internet is an increasingly visual medium, and he even said the next Mark Twain might be somebody who can tell great stories with images. 

For this assignment, you are to tell a story related to your beat with a series of photos. You must produce at least five original photos (it can be more). Each photo must have a unique caption.

Here's how you will be assessed:

Captions - worth up to 20 percent of your grade. You must identify people in photos, use good grammar, style, punctuation, sentence structure, etc. 

Composition and quality - worth up to 20 percent. You will be judged on: Composition, focus and lighting.

Storytelling - worth up to 60 percent. You will be judged on whether you tell an interesting story with your photos. I will look for compelling stories that follow a logical sequence.

Note: The syllabus originally said this would be due on March 30. I am pushing the due date back to Monday, April 2. Please turn in your assignments on time.

As usual, the assignment is due before class that Monday, and you must email a link to your blog post containing the photos to [email protected] to be counted as one time. No exceptions.

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Photographer/blogger Trey Ratcliff visits Monday

I'm thrilled to have Trey Ratcliff of StuckInCustoms.com visiting Monday to talk about photography. He's probably the most creative photographer I know, and he is a powerhouse blogger, social media user and entrepreneur. Austin is lucky to have him, and we're incredibly lucky that he has agreed to spend some time talking to our class.

Trey blog is the No. 1 travel photography blog in the world, and his photos get more than 1 million views per week. One of his photos is hanging in the Smithsonian, and he produces one outstanding, visually amazing photo per day (at least). 

He has given speeches to Google, has won Bloggers' Choice Awards and has been a Smithsonian Magazine award winner. He even has his own iPhone and iPad app for photographers. More than 1.6 million people have put him in circles on Google Plus.

He once worked with Getty, but left them, saying they took 80 percent of his revenue, but his work has appeared just about everywhere.

His specialty is HDR (high dynamic range) photography, which allows for a great range between the lightest and darkest areas of a photo (basically, greater contrast). I'll let him explain how he shoots and processes such amazing photos. 

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Guest lecture: Sara Robertson, KLRU

As we continue to push deeper into producing quality videos for our blogs, we get a special treat on Monday: KLRU's Sara Robertson will be visiting.

Robertson, who is the director of on-air marketing for the public television station, is a veteran TV news journalist who has been in the field since graduating with a degree in broadcast television from the University of Georgia in 1999.

She has worked in various roles at Austin's KXAN and KEYE before joining PBS. At KXAN, she helped produce the morning show before moving into promotions at KEYE, where she later became news promotions manager.

At KLRU, Robertson maintains the stations brand using social media and other channels, produces live television shows, raises money, shoots and edits video, directs on-air talent, administers the station's Flickr and YouTube sites, writes scripts, creates graphics ... everything.

She also is a freelance video producer and videographer.

Please leave questions for Sara on this blog post.

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Assignment: Shooting a video for your blog

For this assignment, you are to shoot a 30 second to 2 minute video related to your topic and embed it on your blog. 

You are to host the video on YouTube or Vimeo (do not use the Tumblr video player).

How you will be assessed:

Storytelling: 20 percent

Lighting: 20 percent

Audio: 30 percent

Extras (b-roll, interesting angles, interesting interviews, etc): 30 percent.

You must email a link to the blog post that contains your embedded video to [email protected] before class March 5 to be considered on time. Anything turned in late will receive a 50 percent, and must be emailed within 1 week of the due date to receive that half credit. No exceptions.

Note: Your videos will be critiqued in class, but that will not affect your grade.

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Texas Tribune's Thanh Tan visiting on Wednesday

Thanh Tan is in a unique position of having been a traditional TV news reporter and producer who now works at an online-only publication. She'll be in our class on Wednesday to talk about the challenges and opportunities she has faced throughout her career and as a leading-edge journalist at the Texas Tribune.

Thanh, who graduated from USC with degrees in broadcast journalism and international relations, had worked for both commercial and public TV stations before joining the Tribune.

At the Tribune, she blogs, curates and edits multimedia projects (including video and data interactives) and coordinates content partnerships with news organizations.

Thanks to the Tribune's partnership with the New York Times, Thanh contributes to the Times' website and southwest print editions. She also helps contribute and produce stories for KUT and curates the Tribune's content for Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

Please leave questions here for Thanh.

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Assignment: Live tweet an event

For this assignment, you are to pick an event related to your beat to live tweet, following best practices talked about in class. Be sure to remember to use whatever hashtag fits your event.

If you cannot find an event related to your blog, you may live tweet an unrelated live event, but that is not ideal. To get credit (all or nothing) you must have at least 10 tweets.

If it is related to your blog, you can use storify.com to show the tweets off on your blog, but that is not required.

To get full credit, you must email the text of at least 10 original tweets (not retweets or @replies) before class on Feb. 15 to [email protected].

Note: The event can be something you attend or something on TV (such as a debate or sporting event). TV events must be live or first run (if you choose a reality show).

Please ask if you have any questions. Late assignments will receive 50 percent (if turned in within one week of the assignment date).

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Meet some of Austin's newest bloggers

Yes, this is for a class assignment, but these also are some of Austin's most promising young journalists. The students in our multimedia journalism class at the University of Texas were given a chance to blog about a topic they are passionate about. Throughout the semester (which lasts until May), they will be building up these blogs. Some might continue after the semester is over. Please read their blogs, reblog them, leave comments and connect with them on Twitter.

Here they are in no particular order:

City Musings - a look at the curiosities in an odd city, by Bryce Pohlmeyer.

The Hip Humanitarian, gently used fashion meets charity, by Mossettee Lorenz.

Field Postion - coverage of sporting events throughout Central Texas, by Mackenzie Gandy.

Decorate ATX - dedicated to covering art in public places in Austin, by Kim Johnson.

Dirty Five-Dozen - an exploration of the City of Austin, and what makes it so great, by Kyle Gregory. 

Lend and Hand in Austin - a blog about the Austin nonprofit world, focusing on individual action, by Diana Dawson.

ATX Mex - a blog about Tex-Mex in Austin. Delicious. By Rachel Platis.

Diversity Disconnects - documenting the hidden gems of East Austin, by Priscilla Pelli.

La Chola Bloga - art, culture and fashion, from a chicana feminist perspective, by Andrea Zarate.

Video Geak - all about the art and love of film, by Ashley Dillard.

Urbanization in Austin - an Austin transportation blog, by Marlene Beldin.

La vie en rosé - a wine blog from a serious Francophile, by Abby Johnston. 

Latinidad - a Latino-focused blog on culture, politics and more, by Lynda Gonzalez.

Austin Explorer - The must-see places in and around Austin, by Nadia Macias.

MicroAustin - a blog dedicated to the small, until-now uncovered stories in Austin, by Cali Bock.

Stylize - dedicated to stylists, who prepare models for photo shoots and runway shoots, by Andie Salazar.

Kicks and Giggles - A blog about football (the soccer variety), by Aaron Vega.

Time is Mine to See - A lifestream blog, by Jordan Bagel.

College Houes Cooperatives - A blog about affordable student housing, by Janet Herrgesell.

Doll'n Around - A collector's guide to Barbie dolls, by Kaitlyn Williams.

Latino in Tejas - "Capturing the voices of South American, Central American and Caribbean latino immigrants in Texas," by Melissa Macaya.

Hello, My Name is Awkward - Yes, a blog all about being socially awkward, by Allicia Garza.

Ronette's - A blog about modern feminism, by Veronica Porras.

The Lone Star Gamer - Covering Austin's thriving video game development scene, by Efren Salinas.

Austin Calling - A live music blog, in the Live Music Capital of the World, by Paul Carrubba.

Design Decadence - A blog about architecture and design, by Gabriella Fontes.

Run Austin - A blog about Austin's jogging community, by Julie Bissinger.

Hipsters and Hadokens - A blog for the passionate video game player, by Grayson Hamilton. 

35 and East: A Foray into East Austin - A look into the historically segregated section of the city, by Carlos Morales.

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Natanya Anderson visiting Monday

Whole Foods has not only taken over the natural foods market (worldwide), but it knows better than most how to use social media to reach customers, build its brand and share company news.

We're lucky enough to have one of the chief strategists coming to our class on Monday, Natanya Anderson, who is the senior social program manager at Whole Foods.  Anderson is a UT grad who has been a high-ranking employee at Powered Inc., Dell, Dachis Group and other high-tech oriented companies.

Anderson is going to talk about Whole Foods' engagement strategy, particularly when it comes to Twitter, and she's also going to explain what the company is doing on Pinterest and where she sees this all going.

Please leave questions on this blog entry for Natanya to answer.

Thanks!