Turning in Glass assignments

We're nearly done with the Glass phase, although most of you are still working on your Glassumentaries.

I haven't told you how to turn these in completely because your time with the device is so staggered. Plus the process video is subject to revision. So here's what I'm requiring to get this finished.

1. Glass process video revisions are due May 8. When you've uploaded your revised version, I want you to tweet out that link with a social media optimized pitch and link.

2. When you finish your Glassumentary, do the same - SMO pitch and link.

3. Once you're done with #1 and #2, I want you then to create a post on this blog that puts all of your Glass projects together as embeds (including your stuff from Phase 1). Also include your Glass tweets. In that post, I also want you to write about 500 words. We know the Glass project has been put on hiatus but wearables with cameras are not going away. Answer some of these questions and anything else that comes to mind.

• What was the process like?
• Where do you see this fitting into our journalism of the future?
• Is Glass viable for journalism as is, or would it need changes to work better? 
• So Glass is on hiatus. Can you think of ways this experience translates to other technology, gadgets or products on the market and used by journalists now? Where could you apply these skills in your work?

Get these posts up by May 11.

Google Glass Schedule

Here is the Google Glass schedule for parts 1 and 2. Please note the person coming after you on the schedule, as you are responsible for handing it off either late the night before their day or early morning the next day. Please be considerate of your classmate who has projects to complete just like you do!

If you want to switch days with someone, I need to be notified in advance so I can adjust your deadline expectations accordingly.

PART I

March 19: Ali
March 20: Kelley
March 23: Danielle
March 24: Kelsey
March 25: Emilie
March 26: Austin
March 27: Sam
March 28: Gaby
March 29: Madison

PART II

March 30 to April 1: Gaby
April 2 to April 4: Kelley
April 6 to April 8: Emilie
April 9 to April 11: Kelsey
April 13 to April 15: Austin
April 16 to April 18: Ali
April 20 to April 22: Madison
April 23 to April 25: Sam
April 27 to April 29: Danielle

Week 4 Assignments

Summary of upcoming deadlines and the next few classes

Feb. 9: Livetweet assignment (see last week's post for instructions)
Feb. 11: Liveblog assignment (see last week's post for instructions)
Feb. 14: Scavenger hunt assignment

For the next three classes, we're going to finish with social and dive into video storytelling.

• On Monday we're going to either do an introduction to video if we have class, or we'll do a Snow Day blogging event if class is canceled. For the latter, I sent an email on Saturday with instructions.
• On Wednesday, we'll do the #JRLWeb scavenger hunt. Several college journalism classes all over the country will be participating with us. The assignment will be tweeted out at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
• The following week, we'll be going deep on video technique and editing

Scavenger Hunt assignment

Due by the end of the day on Feb. 14

On Wednesday, I'll tweet out the assignment to the class hashtag at 10 a.m. You'll have the entire class period to complete it. Be sure to follow the instructions completely. After you're done, there's a Storify assignment attached to the link. You'll have until Saturday to complete that one.

To turn this in: Embed your Storify on the class blog and write a 150-word recap of the experience with an original post on this blog. The goal was to connect your tweets to a common hashtag discussion, not just with classmates but with other journalism students at other schools. Reflect on that experience. What is it like to report in real time? How does it compare to livetweeting or liveblogging, or even to producing a story for the newspaper?

Video overlay assignment

This is an assignment that will take several parts:

Before class on Feb. 18:

1. You'll need to interview a staff member at Lehigh about their job (nobody in Coppee Hall, please). Have some questions you ask beforehand, and let them talk uninterrupted as much as possible. You need at least 3 minutes of footage
2. In addition to that interview, you'll need to come with about 7 minutes of action (b-roll) footage of the person you interview. Get them in a variety of shots doing a variety of things from a variety of angles. 
3. In class on Feb. 18 we will product overlay videos during lab time, practicing editing techniques. and producing tighter, 2-minute stories. We will leave some time on Feb. 18 for watching.

By Feb. 25, you'll need to produce another overlay video. Same type of assignment, but I want you to tell a 3-minute story about a faculty member, what they teach and what their research/expertise is. You'll need to gather, edit, and upload your video by the end of the day. You should show improvement from your class-time video. Better questions that mean your voice isn't on the audio, and the speaker repeats the question as part of their answer so you don't need artificial ways of introducing the question.

• For this video, I expect you to practice solid composition learned in J24 and added to in this class. Well framed shots that account for lighting and audio quality. Test your lighting and audio beforehand!
• Be sure to get permission from everyone featured on camera. Very important! This is a class rule. Follow the guidelines set out in the syllabus for getting permission on camera.
• I'm looking for a lot of visual variety and very little a-roll screen time (capped at 45 seconds total). Get the professor in a variety of settings - office, classroom, interacting with students. Use both scene-switching and five-shot skills to get lots of visual variety.
• Get a mix of establishing shots, medium shots, and closeup shots for both b-roll and a-roll. Don't forget, zoom with your feet and pan by changing position, not moving the camera as you record! And make use of the five-shot technique
• Use b-roll effectively. Use it to cover up cuts of "ums" and tangents in the interview seamlessly. Whittle the audio down to the essentials. Don't be afraid of silence.
• Add music appropriate for the subject of the story.
• There should be at least two sources in this video. I'd like at least one interview with someone besides the professor, such as a student. 
• Follow the style guide handed out in class for titling speakers, credits, and introduction title slides. All speakers should be identified with full first and last names and their position (if faculty/staff) or class year (if student).
• In the editing process, you need to separate clips into discernible themes. This should emerge from your interviews, so keep the notebook handy, but you also can ask questions that try to cover different areas such as the person's work/school history, their teaching, their research, hobbies they have, what they like about Lehigh, etc. Ask several open-ended questions in these areas and you'll see you get themes emerging from interviews.
• Try to think about narrative as you edit. Maybe an introduction 30 seconds about who they are and what they do, another minute or so with specifics about their work, another 30 seconds of other voices and conclusion.

To turn this in: Produce an overlay video of 2-1/2 to 3 minutes that features at least four cuts between a-roll and b-roll. Due by the start of class on Feb. 23.

Week 3 Assignments

Summary of upcoming deadlines

Feb. 2: CodeAcademy exercises must all be finished.
Feb. 7: Storify assignment
Feb. 9: Livetweet assignment
Feb. 11: Liveblog assignment
Feb. 14: Scavenger hunt assignment

For the next three classes, we're going to finish up with social and blogging basics.

• On Monday we're going to talk about livetweeting and liveblogging and what they are good for, and we'll practice livetweeting that day.
• On Wednesday, we'll do a brief liveblogging practice and then talk about Storify, a social media storytelling tool. In the following week after that, you'll be required to try all three to get some practice at it (and I'd encourage you to make one of these something you do with a Brown & White multimedia requirement for the first half of the semester).
• The following week, we'll be doing a social media scavenger hunt with classes in other parts of the U.S. to practice live reporting.

Storify assignment

Due by the end of the day on Feb. 7

We will practice Storify on Wednesday so you get the basics. For this assignment I want you to use Storify to summarize a news event using social tools. It could be breaking news or a topic of big interest during a given news cycle.

• The main criteria for what you choose is it should be something where discussion is contained to a day so you're not choosing content over the spread of a week.
• I'd like you to produce this Storify within a day of the news event day. This format works well when you're using it in the moment, not way after the fact.
• Requirements: Should have a healthy diversity of visual and text content, social media, blogs, and links. I don't want you to load up on one format.
• Tip: You can use this for the Brown & White, but it might also be useful for your curation topic if you don't have a B&W option. It can't count as one of your two weekly posts, but it might make a nice extra post worth tweeting out.

To turn this in: Embed it on the class blog and write a 150-word recap of the experience with an original post on this blog. Once you decided on a story, what challenges did you face? What kinds of stories work well with Storify? Are there certain news stories that don't work well with this format?

Livetweet assignment

Due by the end of the day on Feb. 9

After practicing once in class, you'll need to pick an event of some sort and livetweet the experience. It could be a news event, a press conference, something on television, whatever you want. Again, if it works for a B&W coverage event, great. If not, again, maybe consider doing something in conjunction with your curation assignment.

• I'd like you to pick something others are livetweeting or at least talking about. Something on TV or an event you're attending in person are obvious candidates. The reason is I'd like you to use hashtags others are using in order to participate with them, use Tweetdeck columns to monitor that discussion. 
• Try to retweet the obvious things others are talking about. Don't reinvent the wheel. Focus on what unique voice you can add to the discussion, retweet the rest!

One tip: warn your followers beforehand you're doing this so they don't unfollow you out of frustration. Invite them to mute you for an hour.

To turn this in: Embed three of your favorite tweets and write a 150-word recap of the experience with an original post on this blog. How hard was it to do this if you were doing it for the first time? Do you think you tweeted too much or too little? What do you think is a good balance between retweeting and original posting?

Liveblog assignment

Due by the end of the day on Feb. 11

Similar to the livetweet assignment, after practicing once in class you'll need to liveblog some sort of experience (real life or television). In this case I'm going to give you two options: liveblog it for a B&W assignment or liveblog it for your curation assignment (as stated in class, this is in addition to your regular two posts with the goal of giving you extra content). You'll need to cover whatever it is in real time.

• With liveblogging, you're not worried about Twitter curation.
• Create your liveblog post so that you have a URL.
• Announce on Twitter you're liveblogging the event, note the time it starts, and include the link to the page.
• Liveblog start to finish
• If you're covering an event live, I'd like you to post two original photos during the liveblog. If you're doing something on TV, I want to see a couple links to something on the web that relate to what's going on.
• After the event is over, again tweet you just liveblogged, recap any news shared, and include the link.

To turn this in: Share the link on your blog (use your HTML skills to embed it in a paragraph rather than pasting the URL!). What was the process like? Now that you've livetweeted something too, how are those two formats different? Why would you use one over the other? Do you have a preference?

Week 2 Assignments

Old Assignments

Due by the start of class on Feb. 2

You should still be working on CodeAcademy assignment, detailed in Week 1.

Curation (ongoing all semester)

Your curation assignment, worth 25% of your grade, starts today and continues all semester.
First, by Jan. 28 I'd like you to fill out this form to detail your topic and what online community you'll be joining.

The syllabus has specific expectations that I expect you to follow. Below is the highlight-version of those expectations:

• Community: Join and participate in an online community of your choosing. You should be contributing to this every day.
• Blogging: Two posts a week, separated by at least two days. One should be something you write on a topic of your choosing. The other should be a listicle, giving a link and recap of interesting posts readers might like. Remember the link sharing requirement too!
• Curation: Two tweets a day on links or stories in your topic area. These links can come from your online community, Twitter people you're following in your topic area, or blogs in your regular reading area. (TIP: one good way to do this would be to build Twitter lists of people in your topic area, that way you've got a nice feed of things people are writing and sharing). Use hashtags and social media optimized (SMO) tweets as you share links.

So, two specific things for this week in addition to the regular curation work:

1. By Jan. 28 I want you to fill out the form above.

2. In addition, I want you to let your classmates know what you're doing. Reply to this post in the comments by Jan. 30 summarizing your topic for the semester and what community you've chosen. About 100 words should do it. This will serve as the January evaluation noted in the final paragraph of the assignment page in the syllabus.

Twitter assignment

Due by the end of the day on Jan. 31

In class this week, we are going to talk about Twitter and the business of sharing online. During Wednesday's class we will cover social media optimization (SMO) and practice different types of tweet pitches for lab. This material will serve you well, because you're going to be tweeting a lot of links this semester as part of your curation assignment. More importantly, you'll be learning how to use Twitter in professional ways and incorporating some of the style and best practices used in the industry. I want you to get LOTS of practice at this during the semester, to the point that when you're sharing links the style you pick comes naturally to you; when this happens, you've found your Twitter voice.

Once you've done it in lab, you'll do it again for more practice. Between the end of that class and the end of Saturday night, you'll create and post 12 more tweets. These don't need to be done all at once. In fact, it's probably better that you pick moments when you see something that's an obvious tweet candidate and fits with one of the styles.

• 1 Breaking news style (you'll need to be in tune with the news on Twitter; don't post BREAKING several hours after the event broke!)
• 1 Developing news style to go with the breaking news tweet; should be posted within an hour of your breaking news tweet.
• 4 Standard news tweets
• 1 Upworthy style tweet - make sure to cleanse yourself afterward :)
• 2 Commentary/Analysis tweets
• 2 Atomic Sharing tweets
• 1 Question tweet

How do you turn these in? You'll create a post on this blog and embed your 10 tweets. Make sure to put headers between the different styles so your classmates and I can tell what style you're using (just in case it isn't obvious). So something like this:

-------------------

Commentary/Analysis

"Tom Brady And The Liberal War On Success” … possibly the dumbest thing on the Internet today. http://t.co/smsOQqH6gb
— Jeremy Littau (@JeremyLittau) January 25, 2015

Atomic Sharing

“As the legal system drifts further out of sync with reality, the danger slowly but surely grows…” —@quinnnorton https://t.co/tKMkJOJ58G
— Jeremy Littau (@JeremyLittau) January 25, 2015

-------------------

At the bottom of your post, write a 150-word recap of the experience. How comfortable are you with the different styles? Which comes most naturally to you, and which ones do you like best/worst?

So to sum up, by the end of the day Jan. 31 you'll create a post on this blog that has your 12 tweets and a recap summary.

Week 1 assignments

CodeAcademy

Due by the start of class on Feb. 2

We did a brief overview of CodeAcademy and how it works. In the HTML & CSS section, I want you to do both parts of all six modules (Introduction to HTML, both HTML structure modules, all three on CSS). Note that each module has two sections, and you must complete both. Completing these should take about 90 minutes per module, maybe more if you're struggling with it, so leave yourself enough time to get this done.

Blog Setup

Due by the end of the day January 24

First things first, fill out this form to detail the URL for your blog and your Twitter handle you'll be using for this class.

From there I want you to work on branding your blog:

• Give your blog a title and subtitle that reflect your blog topic
• Choose and install a theme that fits well with your topic. Take into account imagery, colors, fonts, etc. that create moods. Do these fit your topic?
• Create an About page that tells newcomers what your blog is about.
• Install the Link Manager plugin on your WordPress site. Create a blogroll with links to at least five other blogs in your area. Blogging doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's done in concert with other people writing, and certainly because you're curating as part of this assignment you'll want to let readers know what else you're reading. These must be blogs.
• Create a list of links to other interesting places you'll be reading this semester, sites relevant to your topic. You need at least five. These cannot be blogs.
• Finally, write a welcome post. Tell people to what to expect from your blog, what the focus is. Think about your audience. Why would they want to come back? What do you have to offer that is unique?

Curation assignment starts January 25

A week for your blogging assignment runs from Sunday to Saturday, so starting this coming Sunday you'll enter your first week of blogging. As the syllabus notes, you're required to do two posts a week (you can do more if you like). I would like these posts to be on different days and spaced out with at least a couple days between them. You are free to write in advance, of course, and just schedule the posts to go up automatically when they're live, but you'll need to remember to tweet them too.

All curation assignment work starts on January 25. That means community participation, link tweeting, and blogging.