Online News Packages

This document available at: http://bit.ly/sp15-onp

In this course, students will design and build online news packages for desktop and mobile web from the ground up. The course will be a mix of concept and practical application of digital news design. Students will learn to develop prototypes, iterate design concepts and code the HTML, CSS and JavaScript to implement their vision.

This course is to be taken concurrently with Advanced Visual Journalism. The visual narratives created in that class will be the basis for much of the design and production work in this course.

This syllabus is fluid and will change. You are responsible for checking for updates regularly.

Professors:

• Jeremy Rue, jrue at Berkeley (Office Hours: Wednesdays from 1-4pm by appointment preferred)
• Josh Williams, sjwilliams at Berkeley (Office Hours: By appointment in downtown SF)

When/Where

Mondays, 6–9 p.m. Lower Newsroom.
(Class will officially begin at 6:15 to allow for time to get some food before we begin. 6:15 is the cutoff, please don’t be late.)

Required Software

• Google Chrome
• Sublime Text 2 Editor (not version 3)
• Cyberduck FTP Client (Recommended. Also: Transmit, Fetch, many others)

Required Reading

• HTML & CSS by Jon Duckett (via Amazon)

Suggested Resources

• Designing with Web Standards (Third Edition)
• Don’t Make Me Think
• Sitepoint Reference (+ Basic Structure)
• Codecademy
• Data Journalism & Graphics Internships
• News Nerd Jobs

Attendance and Class Policies

We cover an enormous amount of material during each class session, and every session builds off previous sessions. For this reason, attendance during every class is required (university-approved exceptions will be allowed.) Students who believe they are likely to miss sessions should seek approval to audit instead.

Additionally, during class, please refrain from activity not directly related to the class, including email, web surfing, reporting for other classes, calls and text messaging. These activities are distracting to your instructors and classmates, and will result in you being asked to leave and marked absent.

Assignments and Grading

Individual assignments may have more specific instructions but, generally, most documents and discussion will be submitted to bCourses. To allow for instructor review, unless stated otherwise, assignments are due 24 hours before class begins. Late assignments are not accepted.

The assignments are graded in four parts:

• 20% — News Package Critique
• 20% — Weekly Discussion & Attendance
• 20% — Midterm
• 40% — Final

Access the bCourses website at https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/

News Package Critique (20%)

In pairs — with dates and groups assigned by lottery — do an analysis of an existing news package or product that you find innovative in some way. The “innovation” can be design, technical, editorial or social in nature.

This assignment consists of two parts:

1. A 10 to 15 minute presentation of the package or product.
2. An 800 to 1,000 word report of your findings, which is due the Saturday before you present by 8pm. This report should be the basis of your presentation.

To successfully complete this assignment, you must:

• Interview at least one journalist directly involved via phone, video or in person. This can be an editor, reporter, designer, developer, social media producer, photographer or videographer.
• Succinctly communicate why the project is innovative.
• Discuss how the story or product exists on various social, mobile and desktop platforms.
• Be able to discuss any tools or techniques that helped make the project possible.
• Highlight any missed opportunities. For example, the project works well on desktop but fails on mobile.
• Help the class understand how we might apply these lessons to our projects.

Weekly Discussion in bCourse & Attendance (20%)

On bCourse, we’ll discuss relevant projects that we stumble on during the week. These mid-week discussions may generate more in-depth dissection and analysis the following Monday. Please submit interesting work you’d like to discuss, and be prepared to talk about the projects with the larger group. We will also include attendance as a portion of this grade.

Midterm (20%)

Due: Sunday April 5, 11:59pm

Individually, each student will design and build a stand-alone single page story. This assignment is designed to demonstrate your competency in the mechanics of constructing a digital news package. The details for the midterm are available on bCourses. The midterm is due Sunday April 5, 11:59pm.

Final (40%)

Due: Thursday, May 7 11:59pm

In conjunction with the Advanced Visual Journalism course, students will work in groups to design a presentation for an original, well-reported visual narrative. In terms of project scale: the form will be open ended, based on your group’s story and needs. We’re looking for portfolio-ready, professional-level work. The final project is due Thursday, May 7 11:59pm. The instructors will review the projects in order to prep them for the showcase the following Monday on May 11.