October 18 2013<\/p>\n
Dear Neil: Thank you so much for asking me to give The Creative Research Center<\/a> a peek into the back-story and an update on WiredJersey.com<\/a>, a media collective of journalists, film-makers and tastemakers focused upon music, the arts, sports and culture in the Garden State that has flourished thanks to the hard work of our students and the faithful idealism and support of the visionary Director of our School, Merrill Brown<\/a>, and many other colleagues in the School of Communication and Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n When I first came up with the idea last spring, I knew that I wanted this website to be youth-oriented, funky and hip. At the same time, we would follow NBC News Standards and Practices<\/a> in reporting and presenting content in video, text, photo and audio. Such is indeed the case, I am pleased to report.<\/p>\n The site is managed by students and faculty from the School of Communication and Media and features contributions from students in SCM and throughout the University \u2013 as well as from projects developed in conjunction with the Center for Cooperative Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n The site covers campus issues as well as events and news from all over the state. If a big national or international story hits, we seek the local angle and get something up on the site as soon as possible. The site covers all University sporting teams, club activities, campus art events and shows, as well as noteworthy news events. We also feature selections from larger projects such as films produced by the Film Studies students and the TV and Digital Media <\/a>students. The site highlights the activities of the SCM such as lectures, discussions and projects by students and faculty members.<\/p>\n Our goal for this news and information site is that it be frequently updated, Monday to Friday. Eventually, we envision the operation being run from our newsroom in the new SCM building<\/a> now under construction. Launching the project now — in 2013 — enables the SCM to develop curriculum around WiredJersey<\/a> production activities and to recruit to the SCM those interested in participating in the ongoing and challenging work of a five-day, frequently updated site.<\/p>\n My Electronic Journalism class here at 精品成人福利在线, which already produces the news feature program \u201cInside MSU,\u201d<\/a> has morphed into a class to develop and maintain the new WiredJersey <\/strong>site. We call this class \u201cNews Production Lab.\u201d The focus is on editorial meetings and lessons on web design and production. A student assigned as site editor each week is responsible for updating the site during that week. \u00a0We collectively set guidelines for just how much updating will be required.<\/p>\n Students will gather, produce, aggregate \u2013 whatever content they can get their hands on — and pitch those stories at our daily editorial meetings. \u00a0Our brilliant consultant, Martin Halo<\/a>, and the rotating student editor craft this content \u2013 video, still photos, text, cartoons \u2013 onto a page that shows and links the work.<\/p>\n The class also occasionally puts together a video including one or two students sitting in front of one or two cameras telling what\u2019s happening on the site in just a few dynamic minutes. The \u201chosts\u201d actually point to the place \u2018outside their box\u2019 where content is sitting, and talk about it \u2013 maybe show a picture, roll some video \u2013 get people interested in checking out that piece of content.<\/p>\n The setting for these presentations is located stylistically somewhere between Scott Pelley\u2019s CBS Evening News<\/a> and Wayne\u2019s World<\/a> \u2013\u00a0 students design the look and feel.<\/p>\n Each 3-credit student in the class will eventually be assigned a reportage \u2018beat.\u2019 The beats will be as varied as campus news, NJ News, National and International News, Sports, and Entertainment. Other students will be assigned to check in with our SCM Media Partners<\/a> to share what they are working on for their organizations.<\/p>\n As the site grows and other classes are brought in, we are going to divide and expand the headings of the site. Eventually, we hope to encompass Campus News, NJ News, World News, MSU Sports, World Sports, Campus Entertainment, World Entertainment, and so on.<\/p>\n During this semester, we are featuring special headings to cover the New Jersey Governor\u2019s race<\/a>, the upcoming Super Bowl, and other huge events.<\/p>\n Once the class gets going, I see us increasing it to two, three, four and finally five days a week. By that time, a \u201cshelf\u201d will be established and each class will share content. And I might add that content created by any other classes in the school will be welcome.<\/p>\n Once we move into our fantastic new building<\/a>, we can have two classes a day working on updating the site \u2013 it will flow all day and into the evening with frequent updates.<\/p>\n As you and the CRC<\/a> readers can see by clicking here<\/a>, the WiredJersey.com website is off and running. The students of TVDM 455 are managing the site and have created content on everything from an immigration series to the recent and spectacular Homecoming Weekend<\/a>. The class right now consists of ten highly-motivated students as varied as our population at 精品成人福利在线 all working together and putting out a terrific looking site.<\/p>\n And as I had hoped, other students in the TVDM program taking courses with Debra Galant and David Cummings are likewise contributing articles on subjects ranging from a late-night disturbance outside a dorm to the latest 精品成人福利在线 sports game. We have even had alumni create content: recent graduates Ken Spooner<\/a> and Mike Mee went down to the tragic boardwalk fire in Seaside Heights<\/a> to file a report about a pizza shop owner who lost his store in the blaze.<\/p>\n From our newly-improvised and lively production home on the second floor of Finley South the class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays to shoot, write, plans, edit and create. There’s an incredible energy to the class that often reminds me of my days working in the newsroom at CBS News.<\/p>\n Next step: To examine our process and outreach and try to organize production into a more streamlined flow. The site will take a while to develop and find itself — but we already have a tone and style that appeals to our students.<\/p>\n