Three Ways to Impress Me With Your Final Project (COM 130)

First, let me say how excited I am about your final project ideas! I cannot wait to read your blogs! They will actually make grading fun, to say the least. Since we only have one more day together, :( I wanted to write a post that gives you a little more advice and information about your project, in particular, what will impress me.

Use Your Voice - the YOU Factor

The hardest part for any media creators like you is to find your own voice. There is no shortage of information available to you online about your given topic, but what do YOU have to say? What can YOU contribute? What knowledge do YOU have to give your classmates? And don't say, "none", because we all are experts on something! Don't sell yourself short.

Many of you wanted to do a fan-type blog, and that is fine too, tons of people have chosen that route in the blogosphere today. I'd like to reiterate that if you do make a fan site, be sure to add a disclaimer somewhere, and be very careful about using copyrighted content. But most importantly, what can YOU add to the conversation? What about YOU makes you the right person to provide commentary on the television show or musician you have chosen?

Using Lists in Your Posts

One way to jazz up a blog entry is to include a list. For example, "Seven Ways to Impress Professor Falk" could be a title of a post, followed by numbered examples and information in your blog. This does two things for you. First, it makes your content easy for your readers to quickly digest. Second, it helps you organize and hone in on your blog topic for that day. Of course, while this is a great idea for some posts, be careful not to overdo it. Your readers may get annoyed. Here are a few other examples off the top of my head:

"Ten Ways to Avoid the Freshman 15"

"Five Things I Learned My First Semester in College"

"Six Ways to Help You Wake Up for 8:00 Classes"

You get the idea...

Multimedia Elements

You've heard me rant about these all semester...audio, photographs and video!  Anytime  you can incorporate these elements and add to your discussion, it only enhances what you are trying to say.  It shows me you have done research on your topic to see what else is out there.  I can always tell who is going to earn an "A" on a blog post--I typically end up spending forever checking out their links!

Just a reminder, on Friday (our last class day), I will explain how to add a LinkedIn badge to your page, as well as how to use Google Analytics.  There will also be some time to work on any technical issues you may be having.  See you then!

Can You Identify With Gen Y?

COM 130 students, Friday in class we discussed your generation, "The Millenials" or "Generation Y". Here are the links from today's presentation:

What generation are you? Take this media test from Penelope Trunk, blogger for the Gen Y network, The Brazen Careerist. I would encourage all of you to visit their site, and check out the bloggers.

In class, we also watched these two segments about The Millenials from 60 Minutes. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.

I'm sure all of you have opinions about your generation. So, here's what I'm curious to know and read about in your blogs:

•Is this you?
•Do you agree with these assumptions made about your generation?
•What do you disagree with?
•What advice would you give older generations to effectively reach out and communicate with you?

The Millenials blog post is due on Friday, September 5th. As for how long it needs to be, I say make it a full page (double-spaced) in Microsoft Word, for example. Don't forget to jazz it up with hyperlinks, video or photographs that may pertain to your post. This should also be submitted to TurnItIn by 9/5.

Also, now that your blogs are linked to this page, take time this weekend to visit your classmates and comment on their passionate posts.

How To Set Up Your New Blog - Due Friday, August 29th

I bet you can't wait to start blogging, COM 130 students! I've set up some links here, and created a video to help you get started. The first thing you'll need to do is decide which blogging platform you want to use. There are three free blogging sites I can recommend for you:

Blogger
Wordpress
Vox

All three offer free and easy set-up. Check them out and decide which one you like the best. Personally, I find Blogger to be the easiest. For those in the class a bit intimidated by setting up the blog, I recommend they use Blogger. It's the platform I'm most familiar with, and the one I'll be able to help students troubleshoot the most.

For those experienced bloggers in my class, feel free to use another blogging platform besides the three listed above (like if you already have a Typepad account, for example).

Here's a short 3-minute video I made to demonstrate how easy it is to create your first blog. (Please forgive the video quality here, you'll be able to see the layout of the set up pages, but the typing is out of focus)




After you've set up your new blogging account, experiment with the layout and design. Here's a link with info to help you as you start out. Add information to your profile. Remember, you are not required to use your last name. Have fun! Change things around until you feel comfortable managing the content on your blog. It's probably a good idea to change the time zone from "Pacific" to "Central".

Finally, it's time to type your first post. You'll have to type it first in Microsoft Word, because that's how you'll submit it to Turn It In. The topic of your first post is to write about something you are passionate about. Anything. The Olympics, quilting, checking your Facebook account...just make sure it's a topic you can write plenty about, and find hyperlinks pictures and video for. It's up to you, this is mostly a post to get you familiar with blogging, and with Turn It In.

Type a post equal to the length of this one. When you're done typing your content in Word and submitting it to Turn It In, copy and paste your words to the "posting" area of your new blog. Be sure to add hyperlinks, pictures and even video, just to play around. If you can't figure out how to do these, try using the "Help" menu, or Google it. Any help you need managing your new blog is available on the web somewhere. I also request that you add a "subsciptions" option to your blog, so I and your fellow classmates can get regular updates about your work. Check out the first item on the right side of this page if you need an example of what a subscriptions button looks like.

When you've completed all of this, e-mail me the web address of your brand new blog. I'll link it to this home page. Check my profile and the class syllabus for my e-mail address.

Happy blogging!