This document provides an overview of the Fundamentals of Digital/Online Media course at Texas State University. It discusses the course's origins, rationale, trends covered, and cultural issues related to digital media. The course aims to give students a foundation in digital topics and an online presence to help with employment. It covers emerging technologies, analytics, media education trends, acquisitions, and the rise of Generation Z. Recommended news sources are also provided.

1. Fundamentals of
Digital/Online Media
Course Philosophy and Background
Cindy Royal, Ph.D.
croyal@txstate.edu
cindyroyal.com

2. Course origin
• First taught as Social Media at Work, Spring 2010
• Elective, converted to required course in 2011
• Usually taught as large lecture, but sometimes taught
as smaller sections in summer, online, Round Rock,
etc.
• Now, with your help, we are excited to provide more
personalized instruction and support to students in
FDOM. This is our fourth year of using this model.

3. Course rationale
• Has been taught by Cindy Royal,
Jon Zmikly, Dale Blasingame,
Salwa Khan and others
• Found that in many cases,
students were having trouble
gaining employment if they had not
taken certain digitally focused
electives
• Wanted to bring concepts from
graduate Digital Issues course to
undergraduates
• Wanted students to have digital
foundation to bring to other classes
across their majors
• Course is updated each semester
to remain timely and relevant

4. Course rationale
• Allow students to develop a digital footprint
and explore online presence
• Highlight the opportunities and pitfalls of an
online social presence
• New course in Adv Social Media & Analytics
added as a continuation
• Other digital courses in undergraduate
curriculum Web Design, Multimedia
Journalism, Visual Communication, Digital
Storytelling, Coding and Data for
Communicators, Digital Media Ethics, short
course series on digitally focused topics
• Foundation for new Digital Media Innovation
major and Media Innovation Lab.

5. Trends in Digital
• Range of storytelling methods to generate empathy
• SnapChat and Instagram videos and stories, now stories on
WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger…
• VR and 360 video - Oculus, HTC Vive, Microsoft Hololens.
• Augmented Reality – virtual objects in real world. Be prepared
for Apple’s move into ARKit
• Use of drones for video projects

6. Analytics trends
• Pageviews and traffic
• Shares, likes, comments – see Mozilla Coral Project
• Engagement actions
• Conversion and revenue
• Brand awareness
• Video and audio metrics – time and frequency
• Trend toward developing mechanisms to measure impact
• Platforms – Google Analytics, Chartbeat, Hootsuite

7. Other Trends
• Hyperlocal and location-based campaigns – Uber/Foursquare
partnership
• Search becoming more visual
• User generated content campaigns
• Streaming – Netflix, Spotify
• Health/Fitness apps
• Food Delivery
• Clothing services
• Interactive/Live gaming
• Smart Home/Internet of
Things
• Bots and sensors

8. Trends in media education
• Data Journalism – Columbia University – new master’s
in data journalism
• Entrepreneurship - OU and CUNY
• Journalism + Design – New School
• Social Journalism programs - CUNY
• Partnerships with Google News Lab
• Code Camps – companies like General Assembly,
MakerSquare and more; UT partnership with
MakerSquare – but some have closed shop, like Austin’s
Iron Yard

9. Key Acquisitions/Leadership Changes
• Verizon/Yahoo acquisition going forward as Oath; includes Tumblr, AOL
• Marissa Mayer resigned as Yahoo CEO in June
• Amazon buying Whole Foods - $13.4B
• Google acquired Kaggle – a data science company
• Travis Kalanick removed from Uber as CEO, due to rampant sexism
reported in company
• Expect more movement into artificial intelligence in future acquisitions

10. Cultural Issues
• Google gender memo
• Fake News and other political effects of the Internet

11. The Next Generation
• Rise of Gen Z – born after 1995

16. Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
# Active Users – Aug. 2017
in millions

17. Tech news sources
• Fast Company
• TechCrunch
• TechMeme
• CNET
• Wired
• NYT Technology
• Statesman 512tech.com
• Follow on Twitter and Facebook
• Follow interesting people who share tech news from a
variety of sources - @cindyroyal, @jonzmikly,
@daleblasingame…
• SJMC Faculty Facebook group -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sjmcfaculty/
Ask to join!