Case study: Low participation rate raises question about effectiveness of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Mu Lin

The plummeting participation stats of a MOOC course in basic website design offered by University of Massachusetts may raise questions about the effectiveness of MOOC as a learning solution.

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Posted in Social media marketing | 4 Comments

How to write for the web: Writing guidelines and sample rewrite

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Mu Lin

Participants in my free online course in Writing for the Web are asked to rewrite sample online articles following writing guidelines discussed in class. I want to share with my readers a rewrite by a course participant, Keith Perch, who is a freelance UK writer. Continue reading →

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Academic researches are being wasted if the article is not optimized for online readers

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Mu Lin

Some comments by participants in my ongoing online course in “Writing for the Web” highlight the necessity for academic researchers to optimize their writings for the web audience.

In Week 2 of this course, based on guidelines in the reading materials, course participants need to critique “readability” of five sample online articles. Few people, if any, managed to read an article, Was antebellum America secular? which is a long, academic style article. Continue reading →

Posted in Writing for the web | 4 Comments

How to maintain an interactive data chart with infogr.am

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Mu Lin

If you need to create an interactive data chart for your site and periodically update the chart, a simple solution is to create the chart with infogr.am and embed it on your site; when it’s time for updates, go edit the chart in your infogr.am account, and it will refresh automatically on your site.

Infogr.am is a free web-based data visualization tool, and I’ve been using this method to maintain an interactive chart showing monthly traffic to my blog. For each month, the chart needs to be updated with two numbers: pageviews and unique visitors; here’s the chart I have on the About page: Continue reading →

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“Digital journalism” should be the name of choice for new journalism programs and courses

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Mu Lin

Journalism schools are creating new programs and courses that incorporate digital skills; such programs/courses come with a large variety of names. “Digital journalism” is the best name based on a three-part evaluation: popular, self-explanatory and precise.

As I wrote in a blog post surveying titles of new journalism courses, some popular names, among others, are “online journalism,” “multimedia journalism,” “digital journalism,” “multiplatform journalism,” and “convergence journalism.”

In this post, I want to use Google Trends reports and my own observations to argue that in comparison with other names, “digital journalism” is the name that best meets all three criteria. Continue reading →

Posted in Digital journalism education | 6 Comments

A 3-step content marketing strategy for nonprofits, in partnership with J-schools

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Mu Lin

In a win-win arrangement, a nonprofit organization can work with a journalism program to develop a content strategy, and have j-students help execute the strategy in the form of internships. A content strategy may consist of three ingredients: topic research, content production and social media promotion. Continue reading →

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A massive online master’s degree in digital journalism?

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Mu Lin

The Georgia Institute of Technology announced yesterday a plan to offer a $7,000 online master’s degree in computer science to 10,000 new students over the next three years. Being the first online degree that can be earned completely through the MOOC format, Georgia Tech’s model may be adapted by a journalism school to offer a similar online program in digital or multimedia journalism. Which J-school will be the one to try it?

Georgia Tech answers in an FAQ some questions people have regarding this online program and the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) format. Their rationale, market analysis and operating plan are of direct relevance to a similar massive online program in digital journalism. Continue reading →

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Colleges and universities may use “brand journalism” for marketing and j-schools can help

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Mu Lin

Like any other product and service, higher education is a product that needs marketing and promotion. The explosive growth of digital and social media brings with it a new marketing opportunity that has not been fully explored by colleges and universities – brand journalism. Continue reading →

Posted in Social media marketing | 1 Comment

New model of online teaching: A learning community for digital content training

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Mu Lin

As a summer project, I have started working on an “online learning community” for people seeking free training in digital storytelling skills. This project may prove to be a new way of online learning that is different from, or maybe better than, online college courses and other web-based trainings. Continue reading →

Posted in Digital journalism education, Social media marketing | 4 Comments

New York Times’ video initiative calls for changes in broadcast journalism education

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Mu Lin

To be hired as a video producer at New York Times, one needs to “have a little more of a specialized perspective of the content and make it excellent,” and that content is not just news section subjects such as crime, politics and foreign policy.

New York Times recently launched an ambitious initiative to bring more videos to the newspaper’s content lineup. In a recent interview, the newly appointed video director talks at length about NYT’s video content strategies. A few points the director made caught my attention, that if NYT’s video strategy becomes industry practice, then it calls for changes in how j-schools teach (broadcast) journalism students.  Continue reading →

Posted in Digital journalism education, Industry observation | Leave a comment