We’re launching a $10 fundraising campaign and asking a select group of alumni and friends to assist.

Please donate $10 and ask 10 friends to do the same.

And encourage your friends to ask another 10 friends.

Our students are doing great things and your donation could help make their work more visible.

Help us with the SFSU Newswire $10 Campaign —> DONATE NOW.

If you’d like to here more about the SF State Newswire proposal, please feel free to contact me.

On Twitter: @girljournalist
Via e-mail: sbaird [at] sfsu [dot] edu

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Don’t get me wrong, I think it was a fun (albeit frustrating at times) to be the pioneers. In the end, I think we all learned a little something.

Yo Noguchi, a student in my Digital Newsgathering class at San Francisco State University works on his final project. And no, he’s not crying his eyes out because of Final Cut Express, he’s just being dramatic.

I asked my students to blog about their final projects and reflect on the time they spent in the first Digital Newsgathering class. Here are a few highlights from their blogs…

• Sharon Lim writes, “This has been a great semester. My classmates were awesome. I feel like going through all our assignments has helped us bond with each other in ways that no one else can understand!” (Reminds me of the Multimedia Reporting class at KU.)
• Amanda Elliot writes, “As someone who has been writing for years and has only recently been introduced to the largely intimidating world of multimedia storytelling, the production aspect is without a doubt more stressful than the reporting aspect when I am working on a multimedia story package.”
• Kelsey Avers writes, “A piece of advice that I would give to future Digital Newsgathering students… speak with the (person you are interviewing) ahead of time (more than once) and make sure they are aware of what you need for the assignment (BE VERY SPECIFIC!)”

I’m so glad I asked the students to blog about the process of putting together their final projects. It provided me with some valuable insight into their thought process and the challenges they faced.

So now, I’ve got some ideas for next semester and how I can improve the class:

1. Students (and teacher) agree that meeting 2-3 times a week would be better than one long class. But the schedule is what it is for now, so maybe there are some better ways to break up the class time? Team exercises, more hands-on labs. More reviewing and critiquing multimedia stories.

2. What if students were assigned a shift or three in the newsroom as part of class? They could report to the multimedia editor and be assigned to work on a story. The more they practice this stuff, the more comfortable they will get doing it.

3. Shorter, more frequent assignments. More MOS type audio and video assignments to get them familiar with the technology. It’s a great way for them to practice shooting and editing and helps them get over their fear of shoving a camera in someone’s face.

Eddie Hernandez, a student in my fall 2009 Digital Newsgathering class at San Francisco State University edits video for his final project using Final Cut Express.

4. More photo slideshow assignments. I’ve been using SoundSlides Pro (they can use a free trial for 30 days) but it’s great if you can get the app installed in a lab. Totally worth it, I think. It’s easy to create professional-looking slideshows with this tool. The only catch is that students then also have to learn how to SFTP files to a Web server (but personally, I think this is a good lesson and something they need to know anyway).

5. We definitely need to be teaching students where to find data, how to massage it and use it to tell a story. I am by no means and expert with this, but it’s become of big part of my job at BNET and it’s becoming even more important with the all the data that is being distributed via the Internet these days. I contacted Nicole Allensworth, the SFSU Assistant Librarian for Law, Journalism & Communication Studies and asked her to give students a lesson on finding data sources. She is a GREAT resource and has already hooked me up with some valuable information. @nallensworth on Twitter.

6. There was way too much I wanted to cover in this class. In the end, I feel like Digital Newsgathering should cover: basic HTML, basic audio/video recording and editing, photo slideshows and how to find and use content that is licensed via Creative Commons, as well as basic video recording and editing and something about managing a blog or CMS.

Kelsey Avers, a student in my fall 2009 Digital Newsgathering class at San Francisco State University, always cheerful and optimistic, told me that she grew to LOVE Audacity (well, compared to Final Cut Express).

7. Blogging, creating maps, charts/graphs and working with data should probably be part of the online class instead.

I had every student maintain their own blog and required them to post twice a week, but I wouldn’t do it again. To be honest, it was a lot of extra work for the students on top of all the multimedia assignments.

However, I think for an online class, blogging needs to be mandatory. As I’ve said before, it’s a great way for them to practice writing and it’s a good introduction to managing a Web site/CMS.

Sharon Lim, a student in my fall 2009 Digital Newsgathering class at San Francisco State University posts her video on YouTube.

One thing I think worked well this fall was letting the students choose their own themes for their blogs. They had to write about the same topic every week. Quite a few of them chose to write food blogs. It was fun for them because it was a topic they enjoyed and allowed them to easily capture and post multimedia.

One other idea that I considered, and I think would work well, would be to setup a blog under the XPress site and have the students post to it once a week. I would pick a theme for the semester and let them all contribute stories based on the theme. Perhaps a food blog would be a good one to do first? You could possibly even recruit some other food bloggers to read the student’s blogs and comment on them. Although, people tend to commit to commenting but never do. As far as grading the blog goes, I would just give them credit/no credit and not worry about editing them. We might even be able to find a student who would volunteer to be the blog’s editor and keep track of the posts for me and even do some basic editing to clean them up.

Or, SFSU could join ICONN and get a brand spankin’ shiny new CMS for Xpress that could also be used by all the classes.

Another thought, have the students write reviews on Yelp. A great way for them to find their “voice” and practice opinion writing.

Ideally, students would create a basic blog in Digital Newsgathering and post their multimedia projects to it and then continue to utilize the blog for other classes. At the end of every semester, they could decide which projects/stories they want to keep published or categorized under a section of their blog created as an online portfolio.

7. Once again, instead of a book, I would ask them to buy a digital video recorder. I still think for the money, the Flips are great. However, if I were teaching in the spring, I would probably have them get the Kodak zi8 instead. The Wired review of the zi8 is worth reading.

The only reason I would recommend the zi8 over the Flip is because the zi8 has a mic jack.

The big downside is the fact they will also need to purchase a mic, which means they will likely end up spending $200 + for gear. But I would tell them to look at it as a long-term investment, something they will use the entire time they are in school and probably even after they graduate. However, you could also just make the mic optional. I think it would still work good enough for most interviews without a mic, actually, I think the Flip does fine without a mic in most situations. But the mic is a nice upgrade/add-on.

You can get the zi8 on Amazon and maybe even find a used one.

***Disclaimer, I do not have a zi8 YET, but I have talked to other people who have used it and love it. And most of the reviews give it a thumbs up.

So, those are my final thoughts on the fall semester. I thoroughly enjoyed the students and the faculty at San Francisco State.

Feel free to check out the student’s final projects on the class blog at www.digitalnewsgathering.wordpress.com. I plan to leave the blog up and running for the spring semester.

Ashley McDonald, a student in my fall 2009 Digital Newsgathering class at San Francisco State University explains how, “tada, it all comes together in the end.”

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I realized that these are words for all of us journalists to live by.

In a sky full of people, only some want to fly. Isn’t that crazy?

In order for journalism to survive, and for the greater good of society, I might add, we, as journalists must want to fly.

I’ve always been sorta on the fringe of journalism, or so I felt. I’m not a reporter, a copy editor or a page designer, I’m just someone who’s interested in computers, the internet, social media and telling stories. My enthusiasm for the future is based on my crazed desire to experience “the next big thing” brought to us by technology. I created a profile on Facebook in 2004 and fell in love with social media. I’m sorta addicted to it, in a good way. The point is, I love change, thrive on it really, and I am excited about the future possibilities for journalism and journalists.

In 2006, I moved to Knoxville, Tenn. and met an amazing man at the University of Tennessee. Professor Jim Stovall and I immediately hit if off. Our interest in online journalism and the future of journalism education led us to develop an online-only news Web site for the journalism department at UT. Stovall had launched a similar site at the University of Alabama before joining the faculty at UT.

For roughly 45 days, Johnny Dobbins (a political science student at UT) and I worked on the very first version of The Tennessee Journalist. It was a crash course for me in CSS and Django. My contribution was mostly to the front-end, but I also provided Johnny with a blueprint for building my “dream” content management system.

Three years later, tnjn.com has become the cornerstone of the UT journalism program. More than 30 students are part of the staff that manages the site and almost every journalism class posts content via the CMS. Professor Stovall and I had a dream… we hoped that some day we would be able to share the tnjn CMS with other universities and build a network of college news Web sites.

And now, that dream is starting to take shape.

Last year, Professor Stovall organized a group of faculty, students and professionals and formed the Intercollegiate Online News Network, in order to “foster and encourage good journalism and high standards of journalism education through campus news web sites where students are free to learn, experiment, fail and succeed in constructing the future of journalism.”

In January, UT will host the second annual ICONN Building a Better Campus News Site conference in Knoxville. We’re hoping to have version 2.0 of the Ochs CMS ready to deploy to universities. My husband graciously agreed to help us and is currently working to port the project to Django 1.0. (Thanks honey!) I’ve also recruited super-start Johnny to give us a hand. Johnny has become quite the Django stud.

Professor Stovall has applied for a Knight News Challenge grant to help support the continued development of Ochs in an effort to give other universities (and even high schools) the ability to work with a flexible, dynamic content management system and build a network that allows students across the country to collaborate.

This is a chance for journalism departments across the U.S. to pick up where local news media may be cutting back. Perhaps academia can provide a much-needed service to the community by involving universities and their students in local news coverage. Former Washington Post editor Leonard Downie Jr., who is on the faculty at Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, thinks so.

ICONN can be a resource for academia, an opportunity for faculty and students to connect, innovate, experiment and share ideas about the future of online journalism and content management. Won’t you join us?

If you’re interested in joining ICONN, (membership is free) you can sign up on the ICONN Web site now. We’d love to have you.

Be sure to check out the ICONN Facebook Group too.

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This week, students are meeting with me one-on-one to discuss their final projects. I asked them to complete a story planning form before meeting with me.

I’ve started thinking about the spring syllabus and how I would like to revise it. I learned a lot this semester about lab time management and technology tolerance. The biggest lesson? More hands on lab time, less of me blabbing. I plan to start each lab with 30-45 minutes of hands-on exercises (using FPO content) to get the students familiar with the software. Next, I will show them some examples of best practices. Their assignment will be to go out and digitally gather content to bring back to the next class. They will spend the next class in lab, editing their projects. Then, I will assign another project where they will be asked to gather, edit and post a story outside of class.

In addition to the audio/video gathering and editing I would like to incorporate some lessons about social media. Specifically, how to use it to find sources and how to use it to promote content. If you have any suggestions on how I can do this, please leave me a comment below.

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1. You must convert Flip video to a standard Final Cut format BEFORE importing it into FCE.

Install the 3ivx codec (which happens to come with the Flip. Look in the System folder > Install > Mac or Windows 3ivx Installer. You can also download a trial version of 3ivx.). This codec will allow QuickTime to play and export your Flip videos.

Open QuickTime, import the Flip videos and then export them (details below after the video).

2. Reboot the lab computers before getting started (and delete unnecessary leftover files from the hard drive (if you can).
3. Lead the class through some FCE basics: importing video, arranging the work area layout, shortcuts for setting “In” and “Out” points, shortcuts for the blade and arrow tools, how to create basic transitions, how to create basic text titles, how to render selected clips, how to export for the Web.

Here are the steps you should follow for a more sane video editing lab:
1. File > Export
*Make sure the Export drop down menu says “Movie to QuickTime Movie”

2. Click on the OPTIONS button.

3. Under VIDEO, click on SETTINGS.
Set the following:
Compressions Type: H.264
Set the Frame rate: Current
Keyframes: Automatic
CHECK Frame Reordering
Optimized: For Downloading
Compressor: Best
Close the dialog box.

4. Under SOUND, click SETTINGS.
Set the following:
Format: AAC
Channels: Mono
Rate: 44.100 khz
Render – Quality: Normal
Mpeg 4 AAC LC Encoder Settings – Target Bit Rate: 128 kbps

5. Once you have exported all your videos from QuickTime, open FCE and Import these .mov files.

The good news is, after all this, you shouldn’t have to render your clips as you’re editing.

*I should also note that having a computer with the minimum system requirements is a must. Apple recommends the following:

• A Mac computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Xeon processor
• For AVCHD: A Mac computer with an Intel processor
• 1GB of RAM or more. (The more the better, I say.)

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