MULTIPLATFORM JOURNALISM

COM 343
Fall 2016
Department of Communication Studies
State University of New York Cortland
Class:
TTH 2:50-4:05pm, Cornish 1310
Instructor: Sung Woo Yoo, Ph.D.
Office: Van Hoesen B-125E, (607) 753-5425
Email: sung.yoo@cortland.edu
Office Hours: MW 9-11:30 a.m. and by appointment
Class blog: MPJCortland2016.tumblr.com/ Class hashtag:
#MPJCortland
Course Description
The focus of Multiplatform Journalism course is reporting.
Reporting requires critical thinking, ability to research, and
storytelling skills. This class teaches these skills across digital
platforms. Students will also learn to take advantage of news
audience who wants to create information and to interact with
media. Thus, students will learn how to acquire quality
information from social media, use them as storytelling tools and
to build personal brand in the network.
Course Objectives
The key objective of Multiplatform Journalism is to strengthen
students portfolio of work on a variety of platform. By the end of
this course, students will:
Establish information channel fits their area of interest in
the social network
Build up and measure their personal social presence
Instantly publish social media news stories
Understand the strength of different digital platforms and
know how to use them
Acquire skills to shoot and edit photos and video for digital
storytelling projects
Have proficiency with software packages for photo, audio,
video and webpage
Lear how to organize digital storytelling works to
strengthen portfolio
Required Textbook

Mark Briggs, Journalism Next: A Practical Guide to Digital

Reporting and Publishing, 3rd ed., SAGE: NY, 2015. ISBN-13: 9781483356853
The Associated Press Stylebook. (2012). Associated Press.
-Three copies in the LAB.
Evaluation
You will be assessed on your multimedia story projects, topic
discussion and participation. Following are the measures based
on a 1,000-point scale:
Letter grade equivalents:
1. Project 1: 100 points: Storify
A+=970-1000
C+=770-799
2. Project 2: 150 points: Blogs and feature story
A=930-969
C=730-769
3. Project 3: 200 points: Audio slide story
A-=900-930
C-=700-729
4. Project 4: 150 points: Video story
B+=870-899
D+=670-699
5. Project 5: 200 points: Web page
B=830-869
D=630-669
6: Quiz: 50 points
B-=800=829
D-=600-629
7: Topic discussion: 50 points
8: Class participation: 100 points
E=599 or below
Total:
1,000 points
Assignment description and rubrics
Project 1 (News curation with Storify) due September 15:
In the first week of class, we will discuss different areas of news
stories and examples of news curation. They are lifestyle,
politics, sports, entertainment, international, and activism. You
will each select two areas of interest, start tweets, and gather
online stories. You will curate your own tweet and other online
stories with Storify.
Project 2 (Blog) evaluated on October 4: Next, we will set up
a blog post using Wordpress (other platforms like Blogger is also
welcome). You will be assigned a blog beat from a list provided or
from a suggestion you make. This blog is to be maintained for 13
weeks of class. See blog grading criteria.
Project 3 (Audio slide) due October 13: You will produce an
audio slide story that combines image and audio elements. Audio
can be any of narration, interview and/or music. But diverse
sources are valued. For editing Adobe Photoshop, Premiere and
Audition are used.
-Image quality, image pacing

-Relevant image
-Audio quality
-Value of audio information
-Overall journalistic value
Project 4 (Video) due November 8: Video projects will go
through in-class story stampede discussion. Planning stage of
script and storyboard will also be graded. Adobe Premier will be
used.
-Planning
-Information Presented-source choice, story balance
-Video quality
-Audio Quality
-Journalistic Value
Project 5 (Writing) final due December 6: You will be asked
to write about your chosen story topic regularly. There should be
at least 3 blog posts on Tumblr. Finally, you will write a feature
story of 700-850 words. AP style is required for writing project.
-Focus
-Style
-Organization
-Journalistic value
-Blogs
Project 6 (Webpage) also due December 6: As a final
project, you will organize your stories and publish them online. A
webpage using Adobe Muse is recommended as we will go over
how to use it in lab. But other applications are also permitted if
you are more comfortable. At the end of the semester you will
present the project in class.
-Design
-Contents
-Consistency
-Journalistic value
-Presentation
Topic Discussion: In class, you will serve as lead discussants for
specific topics and advance conversation. Discussants are
responsible for proposing a topic. Topics can range from critique
about a journalists professional digital story, classmates work,
or media trends.
Class participation: Evaluation is based on the instructors
perception of your engagement in class discussion under the
following guidelines. Twitter discussions are evaluated as

important as class discussions.

A: Regularly initiates and engages in relevant discussion of the
material being studied, but does not dominate the discussion to
the exclusion of others. Behaves in a respectful manner towards
other opinions even if not in agreement.
B: Regularly engages in relevant discussion of material being
studied, but does not dominate the discussion to the exclusion of
others. Behaves in a respectful manner towards other opinions
even if not in agreement.
C: Occasionally engages in discussion relevant to the material
being studied. Behaves in a respectful manner towards other
opinions even if not in agreement.
D: Rarely engages in discussion relevant to the material.
Behaves in a respectful manner towards other opinions even if
not in agreement.
E: Never engages in discussion relevant to the material.
Attendance
Absences are for legitimate illnesses or emergencies. Students
with more than two excused absences will be penalized
according to university policy of one-third letter grade per class
hour of absence. Also, if you come to class late, it will count as
an absence unless you inform me at the end of class of your
arrival. Your late presence will be entered as late, "L," and three
late arrivals equal one absence. If you are late to class half way
through the class (or more), the absence remains recorded in the
grade book.
Disability policy
If you are a student with a disability and wish to request
accommodations, please contact the Office of Student Disability
Services located in B-1 VanHoesen Hall or call 753-2066 for an
appointment. Information regarding your disability will be treated
in a confidential manner. Because many accommodations require
early planning, requests for accommodations should be made as
early as possible.
Academic integrity
Academic dishonesty will be prosecuted vigorously. This includes
cheating and plagiarism. We will discuss the colleges policies on
academic integrity in class.

Special Credit
Extra credit opportunities will be given based on the online class
discussion using Twitter. Students are asked to update Storify
project for extra credit.
Semester Schedule
Week 1

(August 30)

Class introduction.
What is news? The elements of newsworthiness.

Week 2

(September 6) New curation & aggregation.

September 7) Witness journalism and roles of journalists.
Assigned readings on class blog.
LAB: Launch Storify. Twitter & Blog (Tumblr)

Week 3

Week 8

(September 13) The blog.

*First project Storify stories due on September 15.
LAB: Image retouching with Photoshop.
Assigned readings on class blog
(September 20) Visual storytelling. How to develop your story.
LAB: Photoshop.
(Textbook) Chap. 4
(September 27) Making audio visible. Evaluate slideshow examples.
LAB: Slideshow Production. Adobe Audition.
(Textbook) Chap. 6
(October 4)
Planning video story. Video shooting.
LAB: Adobe Audition & Adobe Premier.
(Textbook) Chap. 7
*Blog assignments evaluated on October 4
(October 11)
Video editing.
LAB: Adobe Premier
adCMS-HTML
*Audio slide story due on October 13.
(October 18)
Fall Break

Week 9

(October 25)

Week 4

Week 5
Week 6

Week 7

Video production.
LAB: Topic discussion. Adobe Premier
Week 10 (November 1) Social media analytics: How to assess your presence.
Introduction to tools.
Lab: Adobe Premier
(Textbook) Chap. 9
Building portfolio websites.
Week 11 (November 8)
Mobile journalism
Week 12
(November 15)
(
Lab: Adobe Premier
LAB: Snapchat tips
*Video story due on November 8.
Week
(November
Data Journalism. Thanksgiving break
13
22)
LAB: Topic discussion
Week
(November
Digital ethics and future of news.
14
29)
LAB: Topic discussion
Week
15
Week
16

(December 6) Final Project Presentation

*Website and Feature story due.
(December 11) Final Project Presentation