Blogging the News

PLEASE email me your first posts by today. I will be marking off for late arrivals. I will send you back edits and comments by the end of this week. Please email me your rewritten posts by Wednesday, Oct. 15. I will be grading these posts.

Here is your midterm assignment:

DUE: MONDAY, OCT. 20

By the above date, all students must have completed the following work:

—Created a blog using Blogs@Baruch, including the name of the blog in the URL. The settings on this blog must be set to public. Go through the different themes that are available to you through Blogs@Baruch and choose the one that works best for your blog.

–Uploaded a unique header image that reflects the character of the blog and includes the name of the blog and a cutline. (USE YOUR OWN PHOTOGRAPH. DO NOT TAKE IMAGE FROM ANOTHER SITE)

–Created an “About” page (Condensed version of mission statement, aim for 200 words)

–Created a blog roll of related blogs and websites. (INCLUDE FIVE TO SEVEN SITES)

–Posted THREE stories to your blog each illustrated by a photo. (This number includes the post you sent to me today. Therefore, you must report and write two additional posts before Monday, Oct. 20. Each post must include relevant hyperlinks.)

–Created five categories for your blog and tagged your posts appropriately.

–Added a post to our class blog with the URL of your individual blog by class on Monday, Oct. 20.

OUR CLASS ON WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15 WILL BE A PRODUCTION CLASS DEVOTED TO WORKING OUT ANY PROBLEMS OR ISSUES WITH YOUR WORDPRESS BLOG.

Report and write your first post. You now have your mission statement. You have an editorial plan. Time to get started.

For this first post, you will find and interview a person who is doing something interesting related to your blog’s mission – or you will cover an event related to your blog’s topic, interviewing at least two people for the post.

You will write a blog post – 400 words.

You will include at least three hyperlinks.

You will take a photo to illustrate your post.

You will email me your post as a Word document before class on Monday, Oct. 6.

For your next assignment, write up an editorial plan for your blog.  Let your imagination run. What are the possibilities? Add your editorial plan to the bottom of your edited mission statement and post them to the class blog by class time on Monday, Sept. 29.

INCLUDE:

Types of content

–  Q&As

–  Coverage of events

–  Reported posts about issues/personalities related to topic

–  Break down the numbers

–  Round-up of what other people are saying on web

–  Top tweets

How frequently (in an ideal world) you would post

How much time do you envision it will take to create posts

Include ideas on specific stories you can imagine would be good for the blog.

List some people you’d like to interview.

Include a description of multimedia that would be good for your blog.

Can you think of any special, reoccurring features?

For Monday, Sept. 22, write a mission statement for your new blog. The statement must be 800-to-1,000 words long and include the following information:

1. Statement of purpose. (What is the blog about?)

2. Who your targeted audience will be.

3. Why there is a need for this blog.

3. A description of the content.

4. A statement on what sets this blog apart from others.

5. Any other information about what makes your blog special.

6. An analysis of other blogs covering the same topic.

YOU MUST EMAIL ME YOUR STATEMENT AS AN ATTACHED WORD DOCUMENT BY CLASS ON MONDAY, SEPT. 22

1) New York City’s Fall Scenery and Events.

“Falls Gotta Give”

I’d really like to blog about New York’s Fall Scenery and Events that will take place this year. Times have changed and so has New York City. Some people like to keep old traditions and visit places they’re familiar with, but others like to discover new sceneries and events that the Big City has to offer. I don’t blame them. I used to think Summer was the best season by far until last year when I became a lover of the fall. In my opinion, I think it’s the perfect time to enjoy being outdoors, reconnect, and try all kinds of things. My blog is to entertain and inspire others to see the beauty of nature, people, to go and about! “Falls Gotta Give” is like taking long soothing walks on the beach except it’s walking through red, yellow, orange leaves with a little bit of a cool breeze. Stay tuned New Yorkers!

P.s The idea of my blog is to show how we can find a place in NYC and make it meaningful to us. The name “Falls Gotta Give” was inspired by one of my favorite movies, “Somethings Gotta Give”.

Our Generation Today

Another topic that I’d like to blog about is about our Generation today. The way we think, speak, do the things that we do, and why we do it. It fascinating to know what people used to do years ago before technology was so advanced, venues that existed once upon a time,  music that had actual meaning through lyrics, the list goes on. I want to know peoples perspectives on the world, on their and others lives. I want to connect people’s experiences and find patterns. Most of all, I want my readers to question themselves and reflect. A little thought goes a long way.

For Monday, Sept. 15,  each student must post to this blog ideas for two blogs that he or she might like to start this semester. Write a paragraph of four to five sentences for each idea. Please include in each post, thoughts on why the blog is needed and what void it fills in existing news coverage. Please keep your ideas grounded in New York City (or suburbs, if they are more convenient) so that you will be able to go out and interview actual people over the course of the semester.

In class on Monday, we discussed whether a carefully curated Twitter feed can be considered a blog. I’m not sure whether we reached a consensus, but certainly it is a valid question to address in the context of our class. I want to push that discussion one step further: Is a carefully curated SnapChat feed also a blog? Editors at SnapCchat are doing just that — offering up a “live” feed from New York Fashion Week. The New York Observer has an interesting piece about this effort, saying it feels a lot fresher and more relevant than #fashionweek feed over at Instagram. Here’s an excerpt that explains what Snapchat is doing:

So what’s a live story on Snapchat? The startup did the same thing for Electric Daisy Carnival in April and the World Cup finals in July. Users could send their own videos and photos not only to their friends, but also to a team at Snapchat. Snapchat then curated the best media to be part of one massive Snapchat live story. It was pretty fun and effective, especially when the World Cup story showed revelers from around the world prepping for matches in Rio and cheering their teams on.

What I find interesting is that the Snapchat “live” feed requires editorial judgement by its employees and that it’s not just a hashtag that pulls in everything anyone is posting about a particular subject. That to me feels like some kind of journalism is at work.

NEW YORK blogs:

And for our discussion today on topics to blog about, I came across two that I thought were interesting that I want you to look at:

I Quant NY

and

The Christie Tracker

For Monday, write a three-page paper analyzing the effectiveness of an established journalistic blog. You can choose to examine one blog or compare two blogs that cover similar topics. Answer the following questions in your paper:

1. What specific topic or niche does the blog cover? How effective is the blog at clearly stating its purpose? Does it stay focused on its topic, or do you find it confusing.
2. What kind of content does the site produce? Describe in detail the types of blog posts that are published on this blog – reported stories, Q&As, reviews, videos, photo slideshows, opinion pieces, etc.
3. Who are the main competitors for this site? How does the quality of the blog’s content compare to its competitors’.
4. Try to ascertain who is writing the blog. Is it one person’s blog? Is it a blog that has many contributors? Is it part of a larger news organization?
5. How do you think the site makes money, or how do you think it contributes to the business model of the larger news organization it is a part of?
6. How active is the blog on social media? What kind of a strategy do you think it has?
7. How do you think the blog could be improved?

THIS IS A GRADED ASSIGNMENT. I MARK OFF FOR GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES.

You will be presenting your findings during class on Monday, Sept. 8

This course introduces students to the world of journalistic blogging and social media in all its diversity, from exploring complex policy, social and economic issues to offering commentary on local art exhibits, music clubs, and local food stands. Students will learn techniques for making their online writing engaging, how to make a point quickly, and how to develop ideas and find an original voice while hewing to journalism’s commitment to accuracy and clarity.