Related Course/s:

A unit in the Journalism Major.

Aims & Objectives:

The aim of this subject is to develop core competencies in students in digital media production that will enable students to work and learn effectively in a web 2.0 world. The ability to search, retrieve, sort and repackage materials is essential in a converged media environment. Whether it is in the workplace or the classroom, students must develop the requisite skills to enable them to become ‘digital natives’.

Teaching Methods:

Seminars and workshops

Assessment:

Class exercises (20-30%)
Contribution to production team (20-30%)
Major project (50%)

Generic Skills Outcomes:

Students are expected to develop a number of graduate attributes, resulting in graduates who are:

§         Capable in their chosen professional areas

§         Entrepreneurial in contributing to innovation and development within their business, workplace or community

§         Operate effectively and ethically in work and community situations

§         Adaptable and manage change

§         Aware of local and international environments.

§         Students are expected to develop the following generic skills:

§         Research skills

§         Logical and critical thinking skills

§         Thinking in theoretical terms

§         Appreciation of the history of ideas

§         Awareness of personal and ethical values

§         Written communication skills

§         Attention to detail

§         Competence to use library and other information sources

§         Public speaking skills

§         Teamwork skills

§         Ability to elicit information from others

§         Planning skills

§         Time management skills

§         Ability to use computers

§         Preparation for thesis work

Content:

This subject prepares students for professional activities in digital media production. This includes introducing students to the use of html, CMS, wikis, blogs and other forms of social software, basic digital video recording and editing and basic digital audio recording and editing. Students will come out of the subject with a digital production skill set and a deeper understanding of the online world that will enable them to participate effectively in digital environments.

§         How the Internet works and introduction to html

§         Web browsers and content organisation

§         Tags and folksonomy: New ways to organise content

§         Web 2.0 and openness, user generated content and community

§         Podcasting and vodcasting

§         RSS readers and feeds

§         Basic image production

§         Basic video production

§         Basic audio production

§         Putting it all together: Blogs, content management systems, wikis and media sharing

Reading Materials:

Briggs, M. & Schaffer, J. Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive.
A digital literacy guide for the information age
http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20_pdfs/

boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B., “Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship” in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11, 2007. [http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html]

Johnson, S., Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1997).

Kindem, G., Introduction to media production: the path to digital media production (Boston: Elsevier, 2005).

Willis & Bowman, We Media: How Audiences are shaping the future of news and journalism, “Chapter 1: Introduction to Participatory Journalism” [http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php?id=P36]