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J202 Spring 2012

Week 10:

Week 9:

Mandatory Online Training for the Week

The following are required trainings that must be completed by Lab 1. You'll notice that you have less homework and reading this week. This is specifically to compensate for completing these trainings. They are not optional.

  • Video: Editing with Audacity, see the Audacity section of the Video Tutorials page (about 50 min. of video, more for you to do the training)
  • Video: Creating slideshows with SoundSlides, see the SoundSlides section of the Video Tutorials page
  • Video: Software Troubleshooting Wiki Instructions, Video Tutorials page
  • Apple iMovie training
    If you already know iMovie, terrific. If not, complete all the tutorials and videos here: http://help.apple.com/imovie/interface/index.html#button-0
  • Again, none of these trainings is optional. I predict they will take you 5 to 6 hours to complete in total

Week 8:

IS Info for the Week

For your IS assignment this week, you turn in an interview story and a complete set of typed notes. Details on this are available in the assignment sheet. We also would like you to submit a typed, one-page outline of how your story is shaping up to this point. The outline should be brief and include:

  • specific angle your story will take
  • structure you expect
  • information in roughly the order you think makes sense
  • other angles you find interesting but may not fit in your main story (this will be of use for your audio, slideshow and video pieces)

You are not locked into this outline permanently. It's merely a prompt for you to keep your thinking organized and a guide for your TA to help point out potential problems.

Week 7:

Tip Sheet: Choosing and Using Quotes

Alternative story forms info

This week your Individual Story assignment involves creating "alternative story forms." Please refer directly to the assignment sheet for full details. Please note that your work must be original. You can draw data from sources, but you cannot do things such as simply recreating a chart in a previously published piece.

Some resources that might be helpful:

One great place to start is looking at examples out there in the world. Here is an alt story form on social media when Anthony Shadid died. It was done using a free tool called Storify, that I mentioned in class.

You have many options for creating the forms allowed in the assignment sheet.

Don't forget the importance of attribution. Your audience needs to know where your information came from. For instance, if I were creating a chart on how Dane County residents voted in the presidential election by age, I might put a label beneath the chart, reading "Data Source: Dane County Clerk Voter Analysis Fact Sheet, November 2010."

Please remember that you are just beginning. Do not attempt things that are too complicated because you'll spend a lot of time on the technology. You are graded on substance, more than you are on style. Think first and foremost about the content you want to provide. Then find an interesting way to display it.

Midterm Stories

You have a packet to prepare for next week's midterm stories. Please read it before lecture Monday, so we can discuss. At least one quiz question will cover the packet.

Background materials for midterm stories (please note dates and all the caveats we've discussed with previously published material)

Week 6:

Week 5:

Individual Story assignment

  • All final story ideas must be posted to our shared Google doc by the start of lecture Monday (if you are refining or repitching, just overwrite your original)
  • Don't forget to list UW sources of interest and go back in to see replies from the handful of media relations people helping us out this semester

 

Other helpful items

Week 4:

Materials related to lecture Monday and lab assignments

Individual Story Assignment

I will return your IS story pitches in lecture Monday. If you have a checkmark, you're ready to start working. If any other notation, see me in the office hours I send out via email.

All final story ideas must be posted to our shared Google doc by the start of lecture in Week 5 (just replace your old pitch).

You'll also notice a column in the Google doc regarding sources within UW administration. If you'd like to talk with someone from the chancellor's office, Division of Student Life, etc., please enter that info now. University Communications has generously agreed to help speed the process for you. This doc will help all of us enormously.

Week 3:

Story samples for lecture:

 

Story pitches for Assignment: Individual Story

Weekly Tip Sheet

Weekly quizzes

Sample J202 quizzes and quiz keys: These will help you study for our quizzes, which begin Monday

Keys for group assignments

(these are only posted after the last lab of the week has completed them)

Week 2 Materials

Personal Engagement and Participation Sites

Enter information and a link to your site in our shared Google Doc.

Please remember you are encouraged to make this public, but that is not a requirement. If you choose to make it private, you must add Katy and your TA as users. Katy's WordPress login is kathleenculver and email is kbculver@wisc.edu.

 

Materials for lecture

Weekly Tip Sheet

Weekly quizzes

Sample J202 quizzes and quiz keys: These will help you study for our quizzes, which begin in lecture, Week 3. Also remember the Grammar and Style Tip Sheet

Keys for group assignments

(these are only posted after the last lab of the week has completed them)

Week 1

Added Info

Link to the slideshow for Lab 2.

Course Intro – Welcome

The J202 TAs and I would like to congratulate you on your admission to the J-School. You succeeded in getting into one of the toughest and best mass comm programs in the country. Now for the real work!

We'll do our best to guide you through all the challenges this course brings. You'll find yourself pedaling fast, but think of us on the back seat of the tandem, helping you climb when the hills feel insurmountable.

Tell Us About You

  • fill out the J202 student survey – This is not optional. It really helps us get to know you and help the class run smoothly. Complete by start of lecture Monday, Jan. 23.

 

Course Materials

Administrative stuff

The work in 202 builds week upon week. We'll use this course site to post PDFs of items you'll continually need. Here's a good first set:

Grading stuff

These guides should help you better understand how you're graded and how you can improve on your next assignment. A copy will accompany each assignment sheet.

Quiz stuff

Tip sheet stuff

We provide tip sheets to help you in your writing.

Advice from past students

I often find past students' experiences help you succeed in your own J202 work. Sometimes it helps to know how people tackled the class. Here is how a set of students answered the question, "What is the one thing next semester's class should know coming into J202?"

 

Questions?

Always feel free to stop in my office (5146 Vilas) or email me when you don't understand something or you have a suggestion. If you come to my office, I usually have a pretty great selection of music going, fueled by cool 202er suggestions in the past. My favorite? Ben Folds. In fact, I'm sitting right behind him at the :22 mark of this video, shot in part in Madison.