New Media Master's Project Workshop 2018-2019

Instructors:

  • Jeremy Rue
  • Richard Koci Hernandez
  • John Temple

Office Hours - By appointment

Description

This two-semester class is for students who want to do a New Media master’s project and specialize in digital media or multimedia reporting after graduation. In the class students will:

  • Participate in critical discussions of best practices in multimedia storytelling and topics in new media publishing so students are prepared to work in and take on leadership roles at digital news organizations.
  • Learn about investigative reporting/use of public records/data, and working in a group.
  • Develop their narrative skills.
  • Get detailed critiques of their master’s project work from instructors, other students, and outside experts during regularly scheduled progress reports. Students also get regular one-on-one sessions about their master’s projects with their advisers in the class.
    • Gain some specialized skills relating specifically to the reporting and production of their master’s projects.

The topical discussions and presentations will be either group discussions of subjects presented by instructors or guest lectures by people working in digital media or expert in the subject area the class is working on. By the end of the course students will master how to report and produce a sophisticated online story using a variety of different media formats and have a deep understanding of digital media so they can become leaders in the digital news industry.

Objective

Every master’s project produced from this course will require the creation of a web presentation or other digital product that will utilize multiple media forms such as video, audio, text, photographs, graphics, interactive databases, data visualizations, mobile applications, social media and/or animations.

GRADING

The grade will be determined by three factors: 1) Attendance; 2) Class engagement; 3) Effort on group projects; 4) Effort on assignments like pitches and reports. We will keep attendance for all classes. Missing more than two classes for unexcused purposes will drop you half a grade point (A to A-, or A- to B+, B+ to B).

  • 25% — Attendance
  • 25% — Class engagement
  • 25% — Effort of group projects
  • 25% — Pitches and other assignments

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Note: Simply notifying the instructor of an absence is welcome, but does not automatically make it excused.

Only legitimate excused absences per California Education Code (CEC) include: Accommodation of Religious Creed, accommodation for disability, pregnancy, approved CEC situations like funeral services or jury duty, and lastly due to minor illness with approved note from the UHS or other medical professional. Other excused absences will be issued at the discretion of the instructor(s).

MAKING UP MISSED CLASSES

It is the responsibility of the student—not the instructor—to make up missed courses. As stated in the UC Berkeley guidelines on absences:

Students are responsible for material covered during missed classes whether or not they have been formally excused; therefore it is the student’s responsibility to inform him/herself about the material missed....it is not the instructor’s or the GSI’s responsibility to tutor students in missed material. For this reason it is recommended that students absent from class for any reason make timely contact with several other students in the class to arrange for thorough briefing on the material they missed.

The instructor will make material available on bCourses as much as possible, and will attempt to help students when possible. However, it is the ultimate responsibility for students to make-up missed work on their own.

CLASS START TIME

This will follow "Berkeley Time." Please arrive by 4pm, but class will officially begin promptly at 4:10pm Tuesdays and Thursdays Anyone showing up after 4:10pm is considered late. In order to be on time, students are encouraged to arrive to class 5–10 minutes early everyday to account for unexpected delays. Students may be released early on some classes to accommodate other courses that start immediately after this course.

Three tardy classes equates to one unexcused absence and will be docked on their grade accordingly.

CLASSROOM DECORUM POLICY

Students must turn off the ringers on their cell phones before class begins. No calls may be taken during class; this is enormously disruptive. If it is an emergency, then the student must leave the room to take a call.

Students should not check e-mail, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit or other websites during class. Anyone caught visiting these sites will be publicly admonished, and will be given marks against their attendance grade at the discretion of the instructor.

Laptops must be shut during the discussion portions of the class, but may be used during the exercise and workshop portions. The instructor will notify students when it is OK to use their laptops.

Academic dishonesty and plagiarism:

The high academic standard at the University of California, Berkeley, is reflected in each degree that is awarded. As a result, it is up to every student to maintain this high standard by ensuring that all academic work reflects his/her own ideas or properly attributes the ideas to the original sources.

These are some basic expectations of students with regards to academic integrity: Any work submitted should be your own individual thoughts, and should not have been submitted for credit in another course unless you have prior written permission to re-use it in this course from this instructor.

All assignments must use "proper attribution," meaning that you have identified the original source of words or ideas that you reproduce or use in your assignment. This includes drafts and homework assignments!

If you are unclear about expectations, ask your instructor.

Disability accommodations:

If you need disability-related accommodations in this class, if you have emergency medical information you wish to share with the instructor, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please inform the instructor as soon as possible by seeing him after class or making an appointment.

If you are not currently listed with DSP (Disabled Students’ Program) but believe that you could benefit from their support, you may apply online at dsp.berkeley.edu.