J650 - Contemporary 

news media
FALL 2010 Syllabus
Staci Baird | SF State Journalism Dept | sbaird@sfsu.edu | @girljournalist

Course Objectives
This class is designed to introduce you to the world of mobile reporting and publishing. By the end of the semester you
will be able to identify challenges, recent innovations, technical trends and tools that are shaping the future of mobile
news. You will understand and have experience using mobile tools and technology to gather and publish content. 

Course assignment break down:

 Weekly beats
 Blog posts
 Feature stories (3 stories)
 Final paper and mobile product proposal for [X]press News

ASSIGNMENT DUE FIRST CLASS

Read: The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1
(Prepare answers to these discussion questions)
1. In your own words, describe the difference between the Internet and the web.

2. Keep track of your routine for a day and note how many times you use your cell phone. What do you use it
for? What websites or apps do you use?

3. Write down one specific thing you hope to learn in this class.

*If you're on the waiting list for this class please plan to complete the assignment and attend class for at least
the first two weeks. People often drop during this time and I may be able to add you to the class.

(T) Equipment inventory, intro to hardware, software, apps, carriers. Setup posterous blogs.
Aug 24
Rollcall, ASSIGNMENT DUE AUG 26:
review Read http://ericazucco.com/wordpress/?p=1039
syllabus. Blog topic - “Does mobile journalism have a future?” What does that future look like?
(R) Intro to Cool Iris and your smartphones.
Aug 26
Meet at ASSIGNMENT DUE AUG 31:
student Read http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a9435.asp
center (Prepare answers to these discussion questions)
1. Would you want a job like this? Why or why not?
2. Should journalists be allowed to post directly to a newspaper website?  Why or why not?
3. Is Chuck right that journalists who don't adopt these techniques are in danger of becoming irrelevant?
Support your answer.
(T) Cool Iris presentation. Using your smartphone to take pics. Tips and tricks.
Aug 31 Adding captions, tags. Embedding slideshows.

ASSIGNMENT DUE SEPT 2:

Read
http://www.knightdigitalmediacenter.org/leadership_blog/comments/20100812_news_for_smartphones_h
ow_to_do_it_right/
Blog topic - Choose a news organization and evaluate their mobile site. Do they meet all or some of the 15
recommendations outlined in the In-Depth News for Smartphones report? Explain.

(R) Setup social media accounts, install apps. Social media best practices. Twitter lists for our account. (SFSU
Sept 2 campus list)
Guest
ON-GOING ASSIGNMENT: You will be required to post a minimum of three times per week to Twitter and
once per week to Facebook.

ASSIGNMENT DUE SEPT 7:

Attend an event in San Francisco and post photos via your phone. Embed the gallery in a post on the class
mobile site. *Note: You may need to add the event in Facebook before you can submit pics for it.
(T) Sept The new publishing business model.
7
ASSIGNMENT DUE SEPT 9:
Read http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/mobile-first-strategy-questions-and-answers/
Blog topic - Would you encourage newsrooms to create a mobile-first culture now? What are one or two
ways a newsroom could begin thinking/implementing a mobile-first strategy?

(R) What makes a good mobile experience? What kind of stories lend themselves to mobile reporting?
Sept 9
ASSIGNMENT DUE SEPT 14:
(Prepare answers to these discussion questions)
1. Review SFGate and the San Jose Mercury News websites on your phone. What do you like/dislike about
the sites?
2. Are the sites easy to navigate on your phone?
3. What is one thing you would suggest to improve the mobile experience for each of the sites?

(T) Sept Your smartphone is now a mobile news studio. Video tips from YouTube.
14
ASSIGNMENT DUE SEPT 16:
Go to http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?sid=cbsnews&pid=videos&section=videos on your phone.
Find two video stories that you thought worked well for mobile user consumption. Was it the topic? The way
the video was shot? Why did you watch the video?

(R) Meet in mobile newsroom.

Sept 16
File three mobile stories by Sept 21.
(T) Sept Other mobile channels – Email, SMS, Voice (Cell.com, Evoca)
21 Twitter SMS. Live Tweeting.

ASSIGNMENT DUE SEPT 23:

Blog topic - Read http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/mobile-web-optimization/ and
http://raventools.com/blog/5285/mobile-seo-preparation-for-a-semantic-web
How can these tools help improve mobile website performance? Explain in layman’s terms. Why is SEO
particularly important for mobile users? Explain how you use search on your smartphone.
(R) Sept Meet in mobile newsroom.
23
File two mobile stories by Sept 28.
(T) Crowdsourcing. Flash mobs. What are they? Where are they? Tool for journalists?
Sept 28 http://www.flashmob.com/

ASSIGNMENT DUE OCT 5:

Find a flashmob event to cover and blog about the experience. What were the challenges? What would you
do different?

(R) Meet in mobile newsroom.

Sept 30
File two mobile stories by Oct 5.
(T) Android layers. Location-based apps and maps
Oct 5
Guest ASSIGNMENT DUE OCT 7:
Blog topic – Read http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=134&aid=186530
 What is one way a news site could use geo-location or GPS? Pick a specific news site.

(R) Meet in mobile newsroom.

Oct 7
File two mobile stories by Oct 12.
(T) Survey SFSU campus. Create survey.
Oct 12
ASSIGNMENT DUE OCT 19:
Collect at least 15 student surveys and 15 faculty surveys. Do NOT survey journalism students.

(R) Meet in mobile newsroom.

Oct 14
File two mobile stories by Oct 19.
(T) Don’t forget the feature phones.
Oct 19
ASSIGNMENT DUE OCT 21:
Blog topic - Mobile in the news. What are the hot topics right now?
(R) Meet in mobile newsroom.
Oct 21
File three mobile stories by Oct 26.
(T) Election coverage. Brainstrom coverage. Live opportunities?
Oct 26
ASSIGNMENT DUE OCT 28:
Meet with your team and write a 1-2 page pitch for election mobile new coverage. Also write a one page
pitch for your first mobile feature story.

Oct 28 Work on mobile feature assignment 1.

NO
CLASS.
(T) What about tablet computers? iPad and Journalism: An Early Assessment (NewsU)
Nov 2
ASSIGNMENT DUE NOV 4:
Blog topic – What are the strengths/weaknesses of tablet computers? What opportunities do tablet
computers offer news organizations?
(R) Nov Live election coverage.
4
File stories by 11:59 p.m.
(T) Tablet computers discussion cont. Mobile feature stories.
Nov 9
ASSIGNMENT DUE NOV 11:
Blog topic - Post mort of election coverage.
Nov 11 Work on mobile feature assignment 2.
NO
CLASS.
Veteran
s’ Day.
(T) Reporting live. Streaming, Tweeting
Nov 16
ASSIGNMENT DUE NOV 18:
Blog topic – Are there any potential ethical dilemma’s with live streaming content? How could you as a
reporter address those potential issues?

Write a one page pitch for an event you believe would be good to live Tweet. Can be on/off campus.
(R) Meet in mobile newsroom.
Nov 18
ASSIGNMENT DUE NOV 30:
File two mobile stories by Nov 30.
Nov 23 Work on mobile feature assignment 3.
 NO
CLASS.
TURKE
Y DAY
BREAK.
Nov 25
NO
CLASS.
TURKE
Y DAY
BREAK.
(T) Work on mobile media report. Begin student surveys.
Nov 30
ASSIGNMENT DUE DEC 2:
Blog topic TBD
(R) Meet in mobile newsroom.
Dec 2
File two mobile stories by Dec 7.
(T) Analytics: Setting goals, measuring progress and creating reports.
Dec 7

(R) Finalize mobile media paper and proposal.

Dec 9

Dec 16 – Final paper due by 11:59 p.m. Recommendations for mobile strategy.