See “Web Reporting Project” file on the course blog. Web Reporting Project

Overview  Class reporting project on current UW professor  Assigned beats  Interview professor and second source  Take photos  Insert story and photos into Dreamweaver template  Due Mon. 11/28  Examples:

Website Template  Home page:   Discipline page template:   Story page template 

Your Job!  No such thing as an uninteresting person!  Your job:  Research and interview the professor to obtain most interesting tidbits  Present to readers a ‘snapshot of a life’ using interviews, observations and creative writing  Convey importance and uniqueness of professor

Personality Profiles - Hints Include a quote every three paragraphs or so Don’t bury quotes in the middle or end of a paragraph. Use active voice Have you answered the readers’ possible questions about this person? End with a strong quote or paraphrased statement that reflects the person well

GOAL Method The secret to writing a good profile is getting to know the person Use the GOAL Method G = Goals: What were your original goals? What are your next goals? O = Obstacles: What obstacles did you face in accomplishing your goals, and what new problems loom? A = Achievements: What pleasure or problems have these achievements brought? L = Logistics: What background (logistics of who, what, where, when) led to your current situation?

Example Interview Questions 1. How did you get involved in this…? 2. What made you decide to…? 3. What’s been your best experience? 4. What’s been your most difficult, disappointing, upsetting experience? 5. Explain a typical ______ (insert theme of story). 6. What advice would you have for someone who is interested in…?

The Word Still Dominates Storytelling for the Web

Writing Style for Online Stories  Still newswriting, but with these exceptions…  We don’t read, we scan.  Include short subheads that “chunk” the story  Example:  Hybrid Writing  Tight, punchy, and colorful like broadcast news  Subject > Verb > Object (active voice)  More detail like newspapers

Purpose of Links  Background and related information to professor  Example: Former universities (Colorado State University)  Where you got your story information or sources  Example: UW faculty member’s homepage  Web sites of people or organizations you mentioned in the story  Example: UW faculty mentions a professional organization (National Communication Association)  News stories published about faculty member  Example: Laramie Boomerang quoted this person or did a story on them before

Linking Issues  Be specific about your links  Within the story, highlight the word or phrase you want to link to (not the whole sentence)  Ensure the word or phrase is exactly what the user will expect to appear  Limit linking to a handful of VIPs  Don’t want to lead users away from your story

Sign Up for Beats

1. Art 2. Music 3. Theater & Dance 4. Agriculture (pick one) 5. Engineering (pick one) 6. English 7. American Studies 8. Women’s Studies 9. African American Studies 10. Anthropology 11. Psychology 12. American Indian Studies 13. Religious Studies 14. Philosophy 15. Botany 16. Geology 17. Chemistry 18. Biology 19. Atmospheric Science 20. Comm. & Journalism 21. Political Science 22. Statistics 23. Sociology

HTML Tutorial See the handout “Basic Website” and/or download the handout on our course blog.