October 30, 2010 in CICM shop talk, Training, video
The web site will be live tomorrow morning. In the meantime, here’s a “behind the scenes” video of what went on this weekend at the National College Media Convention CICM workshop.
Main Street Louisville: Behind The Scenes from CICM on Vimeo.
October 30, 2010 in CICM shop talk, Training
We’re going to have a web site rollout tomorrow morning with the stories our participants produced over the weekend in Louisville. In the meantime, below the fold are a few photos of students and pros working hard on editing their footage.
August 5, 2010 in CICM shop talk, Conferences
The CICM Story Project • Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., continues intermittently until 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 31 (schedule allows regular convention participation)
College journalists and advisers looking for an intense hands-on multimedia training experience taught by some of the nation’s most pioneering pros will have a unique opportunity during the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Louisville this October.
The CICM Story Project, a special four-day extended workshop beginning Oct. 27, will take 60 participants and outfit them with audio, video and computer gear along with support from a team of expert coaches. Attendees will receive both classroom training and field experience as they produce and launch by workshop’s end the interactive site “Main Street Stories: 12 Blocks in 12 Hours.”
This immersive workshop will allow participants to learn practical multimedia skills they can take back to their newsrooms and into the professional workplace. More than just an academic exercise, this workshop will have participants producing content that can serve as real and lasting additions to their portfolios.
The workshop will feature a dozen instructors and coaches, including David Stephenson, winner of the 2010 Pictures of the Year International multimedia news story; Seth Gitner, nationally award-winning multimedia producer/editor with Roanoke.com, now at Syracuse University; Carissa Ray, MSNBC.com multimedia producer; Lee Clontz, former New York Times, CNN web developer; Carrie Pratt, multimedia producer for the St. Petersburg Times; Jim Hayes, former TNN/CMT network producer; Meg Fenton, former photojournalist/multimedia producer for the Chattanooga Times Free Press; with additional new media experts/instructors. The final list of instructors is subject to change. Participants will work with instructors in a group setting, in small teams and one-on-one.
Workshop participants will actively learn multimedia story planning, audio and video content capture and editing, and other tools and tips for executing compelling online story packages. The workshop will begin with an intensive story development and production instruction session on Wednesday.
On Thursday, workshop participants will hit the streets in Louisville to cover character-driven stories on 12 specific blocks near the convention hotel. Content gathered by attendees will be produced and edited with assistance from the professional instructional staff throughout Friday and Saturday.
The workshop’s final product will be added to the national “Mapping Main Street” collaborative documentary media project, sponsored in part by Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NPR. The site created by workshop participants will be unveiled to all convention attendees during the Sunday morning general awards and keynote session.
The CICM Story Project workshop is an initiative of CMA’s Center for Innovation in College Media. Participants will work exclusively with the workshop Wednesday and most of Thursday, Oct. 27-28 and during special sessions Friday through Saturday, Oct. 29-31. The workshop schedule is designed to allow attendees the opportunity to also participate in most convention activities.
Workshop participation is limited to 60 individuals, with both students and advisers invited. There is a $129 pre-convention workshop fee required for enrollment. Participants will work in teams and be provided video cameras and accessories, audio recorders and access to Apple laptop computers with necessary software. Participants are encouraged to bring a personal digital still camera and are encouraged to bring other personal gear, though it’s not required.
This workshop will fill up quickly, so immediate registration is recommended. Registration will be available within a couple of weeks at the Associated Collegiate Press web site. If you want the best and most challenging ACP/CMA/CBI conference experience, you’ve found it.
June 28, 2010 in CICM shop talk
The first "home page" for the CICM.
College Media Advisers, Inc. President Sally Renauld (my colleague at Eastern Illinois U.) has announced that CMA has acquired the Center for Innovation in College Media. Read below the fold for the full press release from College Media Advisers, Inc.
June 16, 2010 in CICM shop talk, Twitter, Wordpress
I’ve added three new plug-ins to the site based on some browsing through the CoPress WordPress plug-in wiki page recommendations. I hope these plug-ins will add to the usability of the site. Please leave a comment or send me some feedback if you like or dislike them.
Print Friendly: This plug-in allows you to reformat the text in a format that doesn’t waste paper when you want to print out a blog post for future reference or handouts or whatever. Often, when I print out a blog post on someone’s blog, the header, footer and sidebars get printed as well as the actual content. This wastes paper with stuff you don’t need or want in the printed version. The button is at the bottom of the post.
Twitter Tools: I’m trying this one out to see how it works. This is supposed to integrate Twitter into your admin area of a WordPress site, so Twitter will be updated when you publish new content. It also shortens URLs using bit.ly, adds hashtags, and excludes categories.
Finally, just a reminder: At the bottom of each post is this button:
This button allows you to suggest edits, grammar and spelling corrections to the post author using Editz (formerly known as GooseGrade). Feel free to use it if I make a mistake. I will regret the error. 
April 20, 2010 in CICM shop talk, iPad, Tech Talk
Last week, I was able to talk via Skype with Dan Reimold of College Media Matters. We talked iPad, the ACU iPad app, and some news about CICM itself. hope you’ll listen. We’re thinking about continuing this, so let us know if you think we should keep talking or just shut up and blog.
March 24, 2010 in CICM shop talk, Links
Housekeeping note: I’ve changed the format of the blog back to an earlier template. Those of you who’ve been reading for a while will notice something familiar. While the Mimbo theme we were using was a pretty good magazine-style theme, there were some bugs, and until I find a magazine theme I like better, we’re reverting to a traditional blog-style theme.
February 24, 2010 in consulting, hope for the future, Multimedia views, Training
Recently, I was on a plane flying back to St. Louis from a two-day workshop at The Daily Toreador at Texas Tech. (I say 2-day – thanks to the airlines and the weather, it was a little less, but that’s a story for another time).
Thinking back on it, I just realized the feeling I usually get when I do these workshops – it’s like opening Pandora’s box. Because I never just talk about audio or video. I always walk through all the other free and easy to use online tools that are available to tell a story online.
I’m so used to seeing all these tools and seeing possibilities to use them that I guess they almost seem mundane in a way.
but when I unpack them in front of a group of students who have never seen an online timeline, or known how easy it is to create a map or edit a piece of audio, I get a glimpse of the magnitude of the vista that is out there for some young journalist who wants to explore online storytelling. It can be intimidating.
That’s why I always repeat the advice I first gave several years ago – pick one thing and learn how to do it well. Don’t worry about the entire river, just find one current to surf for a while. After you’ve got a handle on that, then move to something else.
Everyone will settle on something different, but the crucial part is to get going.
This weekend, I’ll be in Phoenix for ACP’s National College Journalism Convention preaching the multimedia gospel again.
February 16, 2010 in CICM shop talk
Please welcome Dave Hon, online editor for the Griffon News, as the Spring 2010 CICM intern. You can read more about him here. I look forward to his contributions over the remainder of the semester.
January 12, 2010 in CICM shop talk, internships
Flickr photo Creative Commons licensed via adpowers
The pitch: How would you like to learn new media skills while having a positive impact on the college media environment? Join us for a semester of new media opportunity as the intern for the Center for Innovation in College Media for Fall 2009.
Who you are: A bright, dedicated college journalist who wants to help lead the discussion of how technology and online media can improve college media. Internship is open to international students as well (i.e., those outside the United States).
What you’ll do: Help maintain the Innovation in College Media weblog by producing relevant content that highlights what college media are doing in a changing media environment. The possibilities for editorial production are limited only by your imagination and energy. Some of the possibilities:
Skills: Social media savvy (Twitter, friendfeed, etc.), video and audio (soundslides, mogulus or ustream), blogging (WordPress), college journalism (worked as a college journalist, familiar with college media environment).
Location: Wherever you are. I operate from Charleston, IL, Chris Carroll operates from Nashville, TN, but you can operate from anywhere you have a computer and Internet access.
Start/End Dates: Start date is Feb. 8. End date is end of May, 2010.
Hours: As far as hours, it’s really open-ended. You can do some awesome work with minimal hours, or a lot of hours and a minimum of ROI (return on investment). Seriously, it’s all up to you. My goal is for you to succeed.
Pay: We don’t have a lot of money, but we can offer a $500 stipend and a heckuva recommendation letter from yours truly when you’ve finished the race. We’ll make a badge available as well that you can post on your blog or web site.
About the site: ICM is part of the non-profit Center for Innovation in College Media, and is read by numerous college journalists, advisers, and industry folks.
How to apply: Send a copy of your resume and a 250-word essay (or post on your weblog or web site, even better) explaining what ideas you have for the site to me at scmurley@gmail.com. Include links to any multimedia you have produced in the past.
Be forewarned – I will be posting a poll for readers to vote on who is the best potential intern (results will be viewable only by me). However, the ultimate decision on the intern is made by the CICM directors. The winner’s name will be posted after they have been notified and accepted the internship.
Deadline for applications: Monday, Feb. 1, 2010
