Submitted by Brian St. Denis on Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 21:33

E-Journalism

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This morning we had a short discussion about the definition of the word 'practice,' and by the afternoon it was clear why. We practiced a lot today. If our class can't upload content by now, they never will.

As we kicked off publication project, our class learned about CMS (content management systems), such as this fine website we've all been diligently posting to these past six weeks. The framework is already in place, and all we need to do is type in our content to the correct fields, and voila. It's efficient, it's consistent and it's simple.

Looking at this website, the section you're reading right now is called the core. To your right is the menu, 'who's online', and 'who's new' modules, or widgets. At the very top is the header, and at the bottom is the footer. There are other modules off to the left, such as the most recent blog posts. These are all sectioned off into blocks. What you see is the front end of the site - conversely, the administration side that you don't see is the back end.

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Submitted by Monique Glenn on Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 19:01

E-Journalism

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Today was the first class of Publication project with Rob. Within the first hour of the class we discussed internship possibilities, what we were doing next year, and what idea we have stemmed up for our project.
It was helpful to have the talk that some were dreading. Then we got into web design again- how to upload things onto the web was the main theme.

There are many factors to a website. It consists of a header and a footer and a core which is the centre of the page. Deciding what kind of website that you want to have has proven difficult time and time again for the E-Journalism class.

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Submitted by Kelly McKinnon on Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 15:27

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A website is kind of like the human body. It has a head(er) at the top, a foot(er) at the bottom, we have a front end and a back end, and our center is the core… though we don’t usually call our arms navigation bars.
Unfortunately constructing a website is a little more complicated.
Before you even start building your site you need to decide what type of website you want to have.
Today we looked at and discussed what is known as open source, or freeware websites.
These websites are possible through a collaboration of efforts. This means multiple people act as administrators for the web site and can alter or change it as they wish. Drupal is an example of this type of web site.

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Submitted by Michelle Newlands on Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 15:17

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Learning about the internet can be a little mind boggling. When you sit down in your comfortable chair in your living room or office and you start typing keywords into Google or Yahoo and then click through multiple sites- you never stop to think where it all comes from or where it is stored. You never wonder what the difference between this page and that page are or what type of software they used to create different banners or this or that- Not until your making them too.
Since we began online training I have been consciously aware of these types of things well searching the web. “I wonder if I could make this?” “How did they do that?” “ I’ve never seen this before.” “I wonder what that stands for in the address.”

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Submitted by Keri Sculland on Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 14:21

E-Journalism

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Reality sinks in… today marked the first day of the downhill slope to the end of this program. Being introduced to the publication project took quite some time. After being handed multiple sheets covering the next five weeks in this program, it is easy to see that they are going to be a very busy five weeks.

Getting into the publications project was fun to start. Throwing ideas around helps gain a handle on what is coming up. Knowing the direction to take for the publications project brings peace to mind.

Practicing and honing journalistic skills provides methodology, much like a doctor. Journalism practices are based off of principles, standards, normality, and ideology.

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Submitted by Monique Glenn on Thursday, May 7, 2009 - 07:22

E-Journalism

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Broadcast journalism is something that can be quite terrifying for a group of print reporters. We are all so used to being away from the camera, or at least behind it, that it can cause some to become extremely uncomfortable- but what other choice do we have?
Print, unfortunately is on its way out, and newer forms of media such as multimedia pieces are what the industry is looking for. Therefore, the six print reporters in E-Journalism are going to all have to suck it up and do what we got to do in order to get us a job/ career at the end of school..
Today class was again, pretty fun, like yesterday. We incorporated the voice techniques for audio into the lesson that was brought forth today-broadcasting.

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Submitted by Keri Sculland on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 23:08

E-Journalism

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Switching places from behind the scenes into the limelight of the camera. It was strange at first to be peering straight into a viewfinder, instead of someone else.
As journalists, it is easier to be speaking face-to-face with a person, or an audience. Standing in front of the camera brings a face-to-camera-to-face feel.
Upgrading attention from solely the sound of voice in the news clip, the class stepped up a notch. Paying special interest in the eye expression and movement of mouth and head, there was also importance in make-up, clothing, and gestures.
Switching up the role from being in the background where nobody pays attention to bylines to being in front of something which could be publicly broadcasted with your face on it, was overwhelming to start. The worst part of all was memorizing what needed to be said. Integrating voice and actions into the script wasn’t hard.

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Submitted by Brian St. Denis on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 19:04

E-Journalism

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Tension was high in the classroom today as it became clear why our little group initially chose print journalism instead of broadcast: To stay out of the camera's way.

Yesterday's lessons were all about using your voice, and today was about presenting that voice on camera. After the hours we spent watching CBC anchors enunciate and make hand gestures, this author did his best to emulate them. The two years of callcentre employment may have also lent itself to how to carry my voice.

So what's next? Good question.

The rest of the week will be rounded out by moving from this blog and making a more personal one for our stories for the final four weeks. It's crunch-time for deciding a topic to research. Geographically there are a few areas to cover. Home is in Chatham, while my internship is in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. It's been a while since working on a journalistic endeavor (the writing for the magazine was either already done or was delegated) so it's more difficult than expected to nail down a focus.

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Submitted by Kelly McKinnon on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 12:03

E-Journalism

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Talk about Multitasking to the max.
Doing a newscast in front of a camera is not as easy at it seems.
For some people it takes a lot to become comfortable in front of a camera, and for others its second nature.
In Either situation, a lot of work and effort goes into the standup besides talking into a camera.
Today we got a little taste of what its like as we filmed a closing standup for a news package.
The piece we had to present was only a few seconds long, but when you factor in that you also have to be thinking about your voice (projection, enunciation, and inflection) your movements (are they natural, are you moving too much), your facial expressions (are you capturing the audience and being expressive) and now you have to count yourself down, it becomes more complicated than you think.

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Submitted by Michelle Newlands on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 12:03

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Putting your skills to test is quite an interesting thing. It means you have to take all of those fundamentals you have been practicing over the last few days and make them work together. Remembering everything about lighting, background, angels, proposition, audio, volume, articulation, is all a must. Now, however, you must also be on camera yourself. This means you have to consider facial expression, accessories, hair, makeup, posture, eye contact AND you must remember what your script says you must be saying. AS WELL as everything previously mentioned. There are a lot of things going on and it is easy to get distracted and forget multiple of these fundamentals. If even one aspect is forgotten, lighting, for example, or facial expression, the shot will probably be unusable and must be re-shot.

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