Category Archives: Week 2

Week 2

Student Discussion and Presentation

  • Present your three Design Process websites to the class and compare/contrast two of these examples.

Midterm Project Discovery and Research (Design Process Step #1)

  • Spend 15 minutes with your peers brainstorming about a topic you are interested in. If you were to have  your own talk show, what information would you like to provide for your listeners- what would be the main focus? (Since all of you enjoy music, perhaps consider something in that area.)
  • Talk about what activity or concept you would present in the form of an audio podcast. Think about who your audience is, what knowledge do they have about your topic, their age,  etc.
  • Once you have a general idea for the type of podcast you’d like to create, search for similar ones on a podcast directory (search ‘podcast directory’ in Google). Is your podcast concept unique? What angle does it bring that is special?
  • Designate 1 member of your group to document the ideas that have been discussed and the resources (webpages, images, sketches, photographs) that will be collected. All of the research for your Midterm project will be documented on the project wiki, to be introduced next week.
  • Some things we will be discussing in the next few weeks: Storytelling, effective communication, and the organization of information. We will be using our Design Process to produce  an audio podcast– starting today with Discovery and Research.
  • Present your ideas to the Professor for feedback.

Lecture: Blogs/Social Media/Podcasting

Web 2.0 The Machine is Us/ing…Us video

The History and Impact of Blogs

Social Media

Podcasting

Podcasting References

Lab

Setting up your Emerging Media blog on WordPress

The WordPress Dashboard and an XHTML Overview

  • The Dashboard is where you can create posts, pages and make any edits to any part of your blog.
  • Knowing some basic XHTML will help you create a better information hierarchy when writing your blog posts.
  • Please refer to this tutorial for a basic XHTML overview. We will just be using some basic tags, but it’s a good idea to get a sense of the BIG picture.
  • Customize your blog by modifying your demo posts, comments, links, pages and categories. You may also change your template (look and visual layout of your blog), add widgets, etc. at any point during the semester.
  • For help with your blog outside of class go to: http://support.wordpress.com/

Creating your first post (SEE HOMEWORK)

  • Your first post will be the first topic you plan to discuss on your blog. You will do this each week (at anytime during the week, but at least 2 days before the next class meeting to allow time for your peers to comment on your post). Refer to the Emerging Media Blog guidelines in the Projects section for more information about posting and commenting requirements.

Week 2 Homework

Midterm Project Discovery and Research

Goal: Come to class next week with a well-written description of your project and a rough storyboard or narrative of your podcast. We will have a visiting lecturer next week who will discuss online Research and Documentation methods. Come prepare to do some research related to your project.

Actions: Based on the brainstorming session with your group, designate ‘next actions’ for each member.*

References:

* Make sure you have the contact info for each of your group members.

Post your first Emerging Media blog post and comment.