An Assignment for My COMM 2423 Writing for Digital Media Class
This fall, we’ve welcomed about 600 students who are brand new to Southeastern University, either as first-year or transfer students. Many of them are still finding their way on campus, in literal and metaphorical ways.
Think back to your first semester or so on our campus here at SEU. What do you wish you had known as you began your first year? What advice would you offer students new to SEU? Share three of your best tips as a reply to this blog post. If possible, include one tip in each of these areas: academic, social and spiritual.
Then, after reading the tips from your classmates, create a top ten list of advice for students new to SEU as a post on your own blog. (You can title the post as you wish.) You can use your own tips as well as those of your classmates. Remember that if you use your classmates’ tips to give them credit for the ideas, and link back to their blogs. Also, choose an appropriate Creative Commons licensed image to accompany your post.
NOTE: Your reply can count as one of your Blog Comments if you document it, and the post you write can count as one of your Writer’s Choice posts.
Public relations practitioners are increasingly called upon to be well-versed in social media. This semester, you will blog as almost half of your grade in our class. You will add content to your blog weekly throughout the semester. Feel free to continue to use an existing blog of yours, unless you feel compelled to start fresh with a new blog for this course.
My WordPress 101 post will help you get started with your blog.
To make it easier for your readers to find what they are seeking at your blog, it’s important to use Categories. Please add a category for each type (listed below), and make sure each post is categorized appropriately. Each post for this class must have the category of “COMM 2322” along with at least one additional category.
1. TOW: Topic of the Week – Each week this semester, we will have a specific topic that all students will blog about. You should have at least 13 of these before the end of the semester. At times, you will watch a video, listen to a podcast, or read a specific blog post, and provide your thoughtful reactions. These posts must be a minimum of 300 words. We’ll keep our running list of TOWs for your class here at my blog (TOWs for PR Apps).
2. PR Connections – Provide commentary, reflections and opinions about PR issues/examples that were not addressed in class. These can be responses to other PR blogs you read, links to interesting posts or articles, embedded YouTube videos, etc. Some students like to choose a theme (such as entertainment or sports PR) and have each PR Connection be related to the theme. Though these don’t have a minimum word length, you will need to adequately discuss your subject in the post. You should write at least 10 of these during the semester.
3. Blog comments – whenever you comment on someone’s PR blog (whether it’s a PR professional or a PR student), add the comment to ONE post that you update throughout the semester so I can assess your online participation. Do this only for PR-related blogs. You should have a minimum of 10 comments by your Blog Checkpoint #2 and at least 20 (total) before the end of the semester. See Tracking Your Blog Comments for Nixon’s Classes for more information.
You may add other categories and sub-categories of your choice. Please keep in mind that when I evaluate your blog I will pay special attention to the categories listed above, but I will not ignore other posts. I will perform a holistic evaluation of your blog, looking for:
frequency: Sufficient posts in categories 1-3, posted throughout the semester. There will be at least two graded blog checkpoints during the semester. (See your syllabus for the specific Blog Checkpoint dates.)
linking: Identify other PR blogs (use PR Open Mic or my blogroll in my Diigo bookmarks as starting points) and link to them. Respond to others’ posts. Become a part of the blogosphere. Blogging should not be lonely.
readability: brief & concise writing style, use of white space, bold characters, images, bullet points
proper credit and use of images in all Topics of the Week and PR Connections. (Use Compfight to find your images; be sure they are licensed for Creative Commons use. I’ll show you how to do this in class.)
SUPER-IMPORTANT: In order for you to get credit for your blog, I need to know where it is. Tell me your blog address by completing this Google Form; I will provide time in class during Week 3 for you to do this.
Questions? Just let me know.
NOTE: Many thanks to Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu at Purdue University, who allowed me to use her blogging guidelines from her PRinciples class. They were so well-written that I made just a few tweaks for my own class. Dr. V knows that Blogs Matter.
In our Writing for Digital Media course at Southeastern University, we’ll all blog about the same general topic each week during the semester. Your TOWs of 300 words or longer should be posted by Saturday at midnight at the end of each week.
If a week has more than one topic listed; choose one of the available topics on those weeks.
If you have a topic to suggest, please add it as a comment to this blog post.
If you are unsure how to get started writing these TOWs, many times you can use this three-pronged approach:
What did you learn?
What surprised you?
What do you want to know more about?
WEEK ONE
OPTIONAL: Which types of social media do you currently participate in (such as blogging, podcasting, social networking, etc.), which platforms you use, and why? [NOTE: Since you are creating your blog after after Week One, you will go back and add this post in.]
WEEK TWO
Read at least a dozen posts at one mainstream media blog. Briefly review the blog and explain how students in this class can benefit from reading a blog such as this one.
WEEK THREE
Visit Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl’s website. Either read one of her blog posts or listen to one of her podcasts on an area of grammar that is troublesome to you. Write about what you learned (using the three-pronged approach above.)
OR
This week, you took the NewsU Cleaning Your Copy course. There were four main topics in this course: Grammar, AP Style, Punctuation and Spelling. Using the three-pronged approach described at the top of this post, describe your reactions to this course. Remember to include a hyperlink to the course, too.
WEEK FOUR
Discuss how writing for online reading is different than writing for analog reading. Offer 10 do’s and don’ts for writing for online reading.
WEEK FIVE
Why are comments such an integral part of blogs? What advice would you offer on writing effective blog comments?
WEEK SIX
Offer 10 tips for writing effective headlines for digital media.
WEEK SEVEN
What is Storify, and how can it be used by journalists or public relations practitioners?
WEEK EIGHT
This week’s topic was inspired by Adam Vincenzini’s Be My Guest month: post something by a guest blogger. Connect with another blogger (it can, but doesn’t have to, be someone in your class) and exchange blog posts for the week. (You don’t have to write something new for the other blogger . . . share your favorite post you’ve written this semester.) In your own blog, make it really clear that the post is written by another person, and link to your guest’s blog.
WEEK NINE
Address several of the following questions about infographics. What are they? How could one be useful in a story for your client? How do you go about creating one? Create one if you can, and embed it in your blog post this week.
Using the CoverItLive service, embed the live blog of an event assignment that you completed this semester. (See CoverItLive Support Center for directions on how to do this.) Provide at least one paragraph of context that will help your readers know something about the event and the organization that sponsored the event. Also, knowing now what you do about live blogging, provide at least five tips for students who may be live blogging an event in the future.
OR
Use Storify to create a story about something of interest to students at Southeastern University. Also, knowing now what you do about Storify, provide at least five tips for students who may be live blogging an event in the future.
WEEK 13
What advice would you offer students who are new to blogging? Come up with your own Top 10 list. (Note: Complete blog is due at the end of this week.)
Image Credit: "Exclamation Point (!)" by Gabriel Millos
As a public relations writer, one of the collateral pieces you are likely to be writing is a media advisory. A media advisory (or media alert) is designed to encourage a reporter to come and cover an event.
That said, with your client in mind, create a media advisory for an upcoming event. Though it’s ideal if this is for a real event, if your client does not have one planned in the near future, you can use your creativity to write about an imaginary event. (Be sure to let me know if it is not a real event.)
When structuring your media advisory, make it as simple as possible for the reporter to find the details. Keep these things in mind:
Use letterhead from your client for the media advisory (just like you would for a news release)
Include pertinent contact information (just like you would for a news release)
Write a catchy headline (just like you would for a news release)
Provide a brief opening paragraph with your story idea
Create headings including the 5 W’s & a P:
Who
What
Where
When
Photo Ops
Why (Tip: this one is perhaps the most important. This is where you will use your persuasive writing abilities to convince the reporter that the story is newsworthy. It should explain why the reporter should come, not why someone in the community should come, to the event.)
REMEMBER: This Media Advisory is written for a reporter, not a community member.
Check your syllabus for the due date for this assignment.
(NOTE: You can see many, many sample media advisories online by Googling “media advisory sample” or “media alert sample.” I cannot vouch for the content of all of them, but it would be good for you to see them to get a feel for how they look and read.)
Image Credit: "Montreal Twestival 2009 Cupcakes" by Clever Cupcakes
During Week Seven of our Spring Semester, I have the opportunity to attend the Social Fresh Conference in Tampa. (Thank you, HubSpot, for the free ticket that I won!)
So instead of class on Monday/Tuesday, spend some time learning on your own about using Twitter. Here are a few ways to learn. We’ll talk more about Twitter either right before or right after Spring Break (depending on which class you are in). Be sure to follow the directions in Step 4 so you “take attendance” for the class; you can send the required tweet/message anytime before midnight on Tuesday.
Step 1: Watch
If you haven’t seen it already, watch Twitter in Plain English, made by the folks at Common Craft:
Go to Twitter. Click Get Started, and sign up. I prefer it if you use some version of your first and last name as your Twitter ID. (Avoid putting numbers in your Twitter ID, or you may appear like a spammer.)
Upload a photo or avatar.
Write a brief (160-character or fewer) bio. It’s good to mention that you’re a PR student. Consider mentioning your university.
Send a tweet saying “I’m a student in @barbaranixon’s #COMM2322 /#COMM4333 / #COMM4633 /#SPC4350 class”. (Use the correct number for your class.) Be sure to include the #xxx1234 indicator, with no spaces between the hashtag (#), letters and numbers. It is by you sending this tweet that I will “take attendance” on Monday/Tuesday.
Step 5: Follow
Follow the people I recommend in my Starter Pack for PR Students list: — at least for the duration of this semester. I will also create lists for students in each of my classes (but I cannot do this until I have all your Twitter IDs.)
Additional Information
If you already have a Twitter account that you use primarily for social (not educational or professional) reasons, you may wish to create a fresh, new account for this class and professional reasons.
I find using the web interface for Twitter to be clunky. I prefer using TweetDeck, a free Adobe Air app that works great on PCs and Macs. TweetDeck makes it really easy to send URLs via Twitter, as it automatically shortens them for you.
I’ll occasionally post information on Twitter and use the hashtag for your class (#COMM2322, #COMM4333, #COMM4633 or #SPC4350).By using this hashtag, I’m indicating that I want students in this class to pay special attention to the tweet.
Three work samples (such as PDFs of news releases, brochures, newsletters, ads, etc.) — NOTE: If you have no client work yet, then substitute in at least two items from the Optional list below
Optional items to enhance your social media resume include:
A selection of photos you have taken, to show your photography skills. (You may wish to put these in a slideshow format using Picasa or PPT/ SlideShare.)
Plan, record, edit and create a 5-10 minute podcast about some aspect of the topic of public relations. Students will work either alone or in self-selected teams of two to three each.
If you are working alone, you just need to create this one podcast. If you are working as part of a team, create this one podcast AND provide a plan for creating at least four more podcasts; you’ll only record/create this one, however, for the assignment.
Podcasting Tips
Keep the podcast conversational. Use an outline of talking points; do not read from a script. Talk to the audience as “you” – as if you’re having a one-on-one conversation.
Establish a regular structure for your podcasts.
Unless you can edit your mistakes without the listener noticing, record your podcast in one take.
Show your own interest in the topic through your tone and by explaining why the content matters.
See Tiffany Gallicano’s additional tips that she provided to her University of Oregon students.
Structure
Introduction elements (in various order):
Theme music
The show’s name (include show number and date for subscribers)
The host’s name
Sponsors (if applicable)
Body of podcast
Create your own content. (You may wish to use one of your Topics of the Week or PR Connections as a starting point for ideas.)
OR, interview a PR professional
Potential close:
Respond to listeners’ questions and comments
Theme music
The show’s name
The host’s name
Next show
Special thanks
Farewell
Show Notes
Show notes are like a table of contents & credit for the podcast. Use them to tell listeners what you’re covering and provide time codes so that listeners can jump to a particular section. Show notes also help people find you on search engines. Also, for this assignment, the show notes are how I will know which role each team member performed. Donna Pappacosts provides tips on creating show notes.
NOTE: Many, many thanks to Tiffany Gallicano at University of Oregon, who gave me permission to use her assignment for my class. I have made only minor tweaks to her original assignment (which appears at her The PR Post blog.)
Plan, shoot, edit and create a short video with the potential to “go viral” about the topic of public relations. The client for this project is your Comm Dept (unless otherwise cleared with me), and the video will serve as a recruitment tool for the client. Students will work in self-selected teams of two to four each. Each member in the team receives the same grade earned for the video.
Students choosing not to do a “Viral” Video have the option of writing a traditional paper on some aspect of social media including, but not limited to, viral videos.
Technical Notes
Use a Flip video camera or something similar. (You *may* be able to use the video from your digital camera or phone. Send me a sample if you question whether the quality is high enough.)
Length must be between 1-4 minutes (no more, no less)
Obscene material prohibited – push the envelope but keep in mind the public relations purpose of video
Prominently mention/show the client so viewers know what the video is about if unfamiliar with the client
Credits somewhere in the video (preferably at the end) must list all the names of the team members
Bonus Opportunity
Each video will be posted on a YouTube channel. There will also a class competition, with the winners determined on the last day of class. The video that receives the most views on YouTube by the last day of class will get +2 points of adjustment to the viral video project grade. The video in second place with the second most number of views will get a +1 point adjustment to the viral video project grade.
NOTE: Many, many thanks to Kaye Sweetser at University of Georgia, who gave me permission to use her assignment for my class. I have made only minor tweaks to her original assignment (which appears at her So This is Mass Communication? blog.)
