Journalism, Mass Communications, & New Media Web Sites

A collection of journalism, mass communications, and new media programs with links to new media projects.

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New Media Course Syllabi

A collection of new media syllabi that includes such courses as advertising on the web, computer-assisted research and reporting, general overview, graduate seminars, photojournalism/photography, web design and publishing, and writing for the web.

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Resources |

Engaging the News: Rethinking Journalistic Presentations
New media journalistic presentations are largely extensions of a familiar model from newspaper traditionsóproducers of content are separate from users of the news. Social constructivism identifies four types of news users. The paper identifies innovations that each type of user might respondóuser and database augmentations, game playing, and trans-media simulated experiencesóthat can show how producers and users can work together to formulate ways of story telling that help promote excellence and engagement.

Institute for New Media Studies
"The Institute's goal is the creation of new knowledge and new understandings in the still uncharted world in which content must find its place. The Institute will work to anticipate the impacts that new technologies will have on the industries and organizations which create content. We hope that the activities we sponsor, the resources we create, and the research we generate will help in this understanding and anticipating." The Director of the Institute is Nora Paul.

Media Visions Journal
Media Visions Journal features articles, essays and interviews by media journalist Ken Freed about new media and the social effects of interactivity itself, featuring the essay "Deep Literacy."

The Spring Point Media Center
"Home to Southern Maine Technical College's Video and Multimedia Department, the Media Center was first established in 1985 as a Public Access Cable Center for the City of South Portland. During this period over 1000 hours of programming was produced through the facility. In 1995 a new Public Access channel was established in South Portland's City Hall and SMTC focused it's efforts on developing a two year associate's degree program in Video Technology. Since then the Media Center has steadily expanded adding a new program of study, "New Media" as well as additional equipment such as a digital fiber intranet, new computer graphics and digital editing workstations and a complement of location equipment including digital cameras and lighting gear."

AJR Newslink Search Results for "new media"
From the American Journalism Review--one of the best websites to learn about the journalism profession.

Computer-Assisted Research
A guide to tapping online information from Nora Paul of the Poynter Institute.

The Digital Journalist
A multimedia magazine for photojournalism in the digital age. Since our inception, THE DIGITAL JOURNALIST has wanted to take maximum advantage of all the multimedia capabilities of this medium. In order to obtain our narrative clips, we personally interview our subjects using digital camcorders. As the broadband capacity of the Web improves, you will see most of the audio clips become video. Presented by world-respected journalist, Dirck Halstead.

Interactive Design Forum
Ideas, resources and commentary about interactive multimedia, digital & web design, and new media. For designers, artists, students and educators. Edited by Al Wasco, who teaches interactive digital design at the Herron School of the Art, Indianapolis.

Forum: Does Technology Change the Curriculum?
E-mail, Virtual Office Hours, chat lines, bulletin boards -- as these technologies proliferate, and are implemented, how do they change your course curriculum?

From the AEJMC/ASJMC Task Force on Mission and Purpose
The AEJMC Curriculum Task Force concluded that ". . . the purpose of media education is to produce well-rounded graduates who have critical-thinking skills as well as practical skills, and who have an understanding of the philosophy of the media and a dedication to the public service role that the media have in our society" (AEJMC Curriculum Task Force, 1996, p. 106).

Universal Design Laboratory
The National Universal Design Laboratory at CAST is a collaborative effort to advance the state of the art in the development of universal access tools and media. Universal design of new media that provides content and learning supports accessible to all students, regardless of their disability, cognitive style, cultural, or economic background. The Laboratory includes professionals in the fields of neuropsychology, speech-language therapy, augmentative communication, occupational therapy, special education, sensory and learning disabilities, and multimedia design.

Winds of Change
Read Winds of Change: Challenges Confronting Journalism Education, prepared for the Freedom Forum by former San Francisco State University Journalism Department chair Betty Medsger.

Writings on New Media
A collection of writings related to new media professional and academic applications with a strong emphasis on the ethics of what we teach.

WWW Virtual Library
A massive collection of journalism, new media, and other sites created and edited by John Makulowich.

Case Study

During the Fall semester of 1997, I began an experiment in new media communications. Students from two separate classes--photojournalism and interactive multimedia production--worked together to produce pictures for the World Wide Web.

The results, outcomes, and lessons from that initial collaboration can be viewed this link: case.html.

Creating a New Program

It is impossible to come up with a plan for creating a new media program that will work for every journalism or mass communications entity. There are necessarily differences between programs based on their history, professional orientation, student and faculty needs and interest, whether accreditation is established or desired, and so on. With this link it is hoped that you will learn some ideas that can applied at your shop.

Email Feedback

Any website that involves a topic of concern as vital as the future of mass communications education is bound to attract a certain amount of email responses, comments, and questions. Click this link: email.html to read some of the messages received from those seeking or giving advice. Feel free to contact the email respondent with your answers or questions.

Some Observations on Curricular Change

After grappling with curricular challenges throughout my academic career with a moderate degree of success, certain facts become obvious:

Get as much feedback on your ideas as possible.
Email and conferences are necessary for bouncing ideas off others. If at all possible, avoid spilling your hand too early on a faculty that might not be totally supportive of any new idea. Wait until you are sure of your idea by talking to others outside your department before springing the proposal publicly to your faculty. There are also many management books on changing corporate culture that may be useful. Do a search in amazon.com for details.

Make sure you're right.
It takes time to be sure about any proposal. If you're new to a faculty, there may be historical and political forces that are unknown to you that prevent change. Be observant at faculty meetings. Work on many drafts of your proposal before introducing it to the faculty.

Understand that change never occurs as fast as you want.
Don't be frustrated too much by the pace of change. There's no need to be in a hurry. you can always change your existing courses. That plan will keep you interested and busy until the time comes to forge a new program.

Try to get a computer literacy requirement passed.
A university-wide course that explains basic computer operations including email, the Internet, the Web, and computer and program operations will save a tremendous amount of time for you in the lab.

Earn credibility with popular new media courses and website interaction.
Nothing like practicing what you preach. Put all your course syllabi and other materials on the Web. Update it regularly. Conduct searches occasionally to discover any sites that have a link to your online work. Keep a print-out of all email regarding your site. Don't be hesitant to let others know the work you're doing.

Get students involved with an online newspaper/magazine.
One place to get technical/staffing support and positive publicity is to work through the online version of your school's newspaper.

Get as many friends on the faculty on your side as possible.
Obviously, you will need their votes. Attend social functions, buy rounds of their favorite beverage, and don't hide yourself away in your office or at home.

Prepare for misunderstandings and resentment.
Starting a new course is risky, especially if you don't have tenure or you want a promotion. Student evaluations matter. You are always much more organized the tenth running of a course compared with the first. Anticipate some student dissatisfaction with unfamiliar equipment, software, and teaching methods.

Convince administrators it's their idea.
The one sure-fire way to have your proposal considered seriously is to have it introduced by your Chair or Dean. Although most ideas come from the bottom-up, most change occurs from the top-down.

Introducing new media is a four-stage process:
1) Incorporate within existing classes (email, Web searching)
2) Create a new class with a concentration (reporting, html design/production)
3) Collaborate assignments with other instructors
4) Create a new program

Once new media courses are in place, you must go the next step--collaborative projects involving instructors within your program, within your university, and throughout the world. Imagine the culturally enriching experience you and your students will have by sharing ideas, stories, and presentations with students on the other side of the world. The Web makes such possibilities possible.

In this era of digital convergence brought about by the rapid changes in computer technology, traditional journalism skills and sensibilities must be combined with forward-thinking ideas. Courage.

The author or contributors of this non-administrative Web site are solely responsible for the information and opinions posted here, which do not necessarily reflect the views of California State University, Fullerton.