Writing for Interactive Media

Journalism 122/Communication Studies 122

Course Description | Requirements & Grading | Texts & Links | Weekly Assignments

Week #3 Storytelling

It's still about journalism!

Storytelling

San Francisco Chronicle

Slate

The New York Times Safari

Becoming Human

Lawrence, Kansas

Dying Tongues

Frontline Gunrunners

Frontline Elections

Interactive narratives

Story Treatment

1. Read the story.

2. Look for ways to organize it for online treatment.

3. Chunk it up. Small independent chunks that relate to the larger entity.

4. Write subheads/labels.

5. Write summary.

6. Write headline: Subject/verb present tense, active.

7. Look for links that add to the story. Embedded links?

8. What links would you list? Keep them on site first.

Next week: The State of (Bay Area) Online Journalism, by the Online News Association in San Francisco. 6:30 - 8:30, CNet Headquarters, 235 Second St., between Howard and Folsom, San Francisco.

6:30-6:35 Welcome, Jeff Pelline, Editor, CNet News.com, and Bruce Koon,
Executive news editor, Knight Ridder Digital

6:35-6:45 THE STATE OF MARK FIORE
The groundbreaking, medium-shaking cartoonist shows off his latest

6:45-7:00 TECH TRENDS
Jeff Veen, principal, Adaptive Path

7:00 -7:20 THE RISE OF THE OUTSIDERS
Blogging and the future of journalism
Mary Hodder, Technorati,
Citizen journalists
Jackson West, Editor, SFist.com

7:20-7:50 THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF NEWS AGGREGATORS
Moderator: Neil Chase, managing editor, CBS Marketwatch.com
Panelists: Bill Gannon, editorial director, Yahoo!
Jeff Pelline, editor, CNet News.com
Tim Olson, interactive director, KQED.org
Salon (invited representative)

7:50-8:10 QUESTIONS
8:10-8:30 Closing comments and farewell

Homework due in Two weeks (Sept. 28)

READ: Writing for New Media, Chapter 1. What is Interactive Media.

SKIM: Chapter 3, Intrinsic Interactivity.

READ: Chapter 4 (Linear Writing vs. Interactive Writing) and Chapter 5 (Role of the Writer in Interactive Media).

READ: Chapter 14 (Interactive Sentences: Designing the Perfect Data Chunk)

WRITE: Take one story from the State Hornet (www.statehornet.com) and write a one page analysis (with map, if appropriate) to show how the story could have been developed more fully for online. Print out the original story and attach it to your analysis.

Storytelling examples

Week #4