This document provides suggestions for overcoming challenges in teaching online journalism and mainstreaming new media in environments with limited resources. It proposes hardware solutions like refurbished computers and utilizing students' mobile phones. It recommends free or low-cost software alternatives and online tools that can be used for classes, research, publishing, and production. The document emphasizes that principles of journalism are more important than specific technologies and encourages sharing resources through open communities.

1. NMTs for teachin and
NMT f t hing d
learning digital j
journalism
Jude Mathurine
Coordinator New Media Lab
Rhodes University
j.mathurine@ru.ac.za

2. What are your challeng to teaching ‘
ges ‘online
journalism’ and mainsstreaming new media?
• Low bandwidth/No ba andwidth
• Electricity
• Too few computers
• Expensive software
• Trainers/educators ne d t i i
T i / d t eed training
• Digital evangelists vs luddites and
obstructionists in your department
r
• Generational, ideologi
, gical differences

3. What are your challeng to teaching ‘
ges ‘online
journalism’ and mainsstreaming new media?
• Carry capacity (class size)
• Gender in class vs gla ceiling
ass
• Attention economy

4. Hardware solutions?
• Students purchase netbo computers (Linux or
ook
Windows OS) as a prerequisite for enrolment (most
books, documents and te eaching materials could be
provided electronically an cut down on printing
nd
costs [although copyright remains an issue])
t
• Get Microsoft , Nokia Ap
Nokia, pple
to subsidise costs based on bulk
sales
• Keep a lab of high end computers
for more advanced prod
p duction

5. Hardware solutions?
• Refurbished computers from international NGOs,
s
e.g.
e g Computer Aid; also bbusiness,
business state agencies
• Find out what mobiles yo students use
our
• S t up your labs t allow student mobile phones t
Set l b to ll t d t bil h to
connect to computers (uppload and share podcasts,
video,
video documents via bluuetooth,
uetooth cable)

6. Hardware solutions?
• Virtualisation
• S t up dumb t
Set d b terminals net
i l etworked to a server which
k dt hi h
sees each keyboard, mouse and screen as a
separate user
• Fewer actual computers needed

7. Hardware solutions?
• Students use cyber cafe to complete
es
assignments
• Assignments are emailed in or submitted on other
d
platforms like Google Do
ocs
• OLPC (one laptop per chhild)

9. What can you do
y
• Get students to set up Google Account
e Account.
• Gmail username and passwor offers doorway to:
rd
• Blogger (bl
Bl (blogging)
i )
• Google Docs (Editing/Proofingg)
• Google Spreadsheets (data an y )
g p ( nalysis)
• Google Calendar (Timetable/SSMS reminder)
• Google Reader (RSS feeds)
• Google Alerts (filters)
• Google Groups (listserv/discus
ssion groups)
• Google Analytics (Analysing your website performance)
• Google Maps (Geography and geo spatial distribution of
d
information)
• Youtube (online video bookma arks)

10. What can you do
y
• Share subject related website links with your colleagues
and students through delicious
s;
• To d
T do with students:
ith t d t
• Set up new media account for your class
r
• Get students to bookmark, summmarise and tag web
g
pages that they stumble acros in particular categories
ss
relevant to your teaching
• Get students to review pages and services and tag
content to optimise for search (SEO)
h

11. What can you do
y
• Produce research assignment documents and
ts,
ts documents,
reports on Wikis
• Use Wikis like WetPaint, Wikip
pedia etc. for collaborative
research projects and essays f generation of
h j t d for ti f
indigenous knowledge and da ata
• Use for participatory
p p y
research (crowdsourcing)
and storytelling

12. • Use blogs for teac g &
g ching
learning
• Comment writing
• Expert blogging (in depth reseearch in field)
• Online writing and editing skills
• How to use a Content Manage ement System
• Use as an online newspaper
• Rudimentary HTML, CSS (Blo ogger)
• Search engine optimisation (categories, tagging)
• Social
S i l media optimisation (li k
di ti i ti (link klove, seeding,
kl di
shepherding)
• Discuss citizen media and ope journalisms, p
pen j premises
of blogging
• Follow bloggers to keep up to date on your field.
Use an RSS reader Blog rea
reader. ading becomes habit.
habit

13. What can you do
y
• Wordpress
• LiveJournal
• Blogger
• Ning (keep your student/staff b
Ni (k t d t/ t ff bl
blogs t
together b
th by
• creating a blog social network)
• Build a website?
• Yola
• All these sites allow the user to export their work onto a
hosted solution. Start with blog and migrate later
g
• Teach coding by getting students to alter blog and
website templates

14. Mobile website
• Use your blog RSS feeds to crreate a mobile website
(without programming)
• Introduce students to the mobile web and
writing and editing f th ‘ all screen’
iti d diti for the ‘small ’
• Put African content onto the m
mobile web
• Graduate to own mobile platfo
p orms when
you have the time, money, cappacity
• Use Mofuse (allows some cus stomisation of
your pages. Limited free versio and paid
on
for version)
• Use Wapple

15. Video
• Youtube
• Capture and share video mate
erial that can be used for
training, illustration
• Capture Y t b video on you h d d i using
C t Youtube id ur hard drive i
Vixy.net or Zamzar etc.
• Convert video to 3GP or
MP4 (can be played on
your student cellphones

16. Online economics
s
• Create an Adwords account – enter your students on
the Google Online Marketing C Competition 2010
• Distinguish between traditiona and emerging online
al
advertising models
d ti i d l
• Get students to understand ho to build better web
ow
p g
pages to maximise revenue generation
ge
• Gets students to consider techhnical and cultural factors
affecting the success of online advertising
e
• Discuss online marketing and media planning
• Explain concepts used in onlin marketing and
ne
advertising

17. Data security
• Teach students to take an inteerest in managing data
(creating systems for organisin and storing data) and
ng
data security (virus guards, protecting your identity
online)
li )
• Download and distribute free v
virusguards like:
g
• Clamwin
• Or AVG

18. Photo-editing
Educators complain about high pr rice of software
Photo-editing software is available for free
e
Photoshop is now online
Upload i t
U l d picture and retouch th
d t h them at Ph t h
t Photoshop.com
Or install the GIMP Open Source programme
p p g
Once again – no need for expens
sive photo editing tools
photo-editing

19. Classes
• Subscribe to educational new media/journalism
podcasts, videos
• Share podcasts on university s server or through free file
sharing services lik B
h i i like Box.net t conserve bandwidth
t to b d idth
• Show students how to upload podcasts cellphones (via
Bluetooth or cable))
• Make own podcasts of classes for your students to
s
download
• Share your Powerpoints through Slideshare;
• Learn, read, rate, rank
• Control access (share only wit your students)
th
• Use other users slideshows BUT ALWAYS ATTRIBUTE
• SHARE contents with colleagu using file sharing
ues
space

20. Research
• Create basic research instrumment using Surveymonkey
• Collect, collate and analyse da (though limited to ten
ata
questions in free version)

21. What can you do
y
• Use Free Open Source Softw ware as replacements for
expensive proprietary tools
• The PRINCIPLES of productio and editing within a
on
particular communications di cipline (f example,
ti l i ti dis i li (for l
journalism, advertising) are MOORE important than what
software is used

22. What can you do
y
• MS Moviemaker – video-editin
video editin
ng
• Audacity – audio editor
• Gimp – photo editing
• Inkscape – vector creation
I k t ti
• Scribus – Desk top publishing
• Notepad2 – HTML editing,
p g
• Soundslides Pro
• Nouveau – WYSWIG web edit (Dreamweaver
tor
Knockoff)
• Ardour – audio editor
• Open Movie editor – duh?
• Kino – digital video editor

23. Open Office
p

24. Flash animation o widgets
or
• Teach and learn Flash animat
tion or get students to use
•Dipity (animated timelines)
•Mindmeister (mindmapping for web development, story
development
planning)
•Google Maps – (geo spatial di istribution of media and
information)
f )
•Polls – (students learn to prod
duce microform for online
interaction))

25. The Commons
•Contribute and use Creative C
Contribute Commons Material
•Always attribute
•Teach students to contribute a respect the commons
and
•Build an African Digital Commons
•Students must understand inteellectual property rights
•Use Flickr/Compfight to get Creative C
/C f Cr Commons Images
for slideshows
•Use CCMixter to get Creative Commons sound
g

26. Communications
•Use Twitter to publicise JIT inf
Use formation on the course,
share links to new documents, video etc.
•Engage in dialog with your stu
udents
•Encourage students to microb
blog
•Assess microblogs – Alerts (si imilar to headline and
blurb writing) will be the first draft of history
g) y

27. Web Pub
blishing
• XHTML and CSS
• U Bl
Use Blogger
• Blogger allows users to s up own blog and
set
manipulate th bl t plate and stylesheets t
i l t the blog templ t d t l h t to
change the layout, look a feel of the blog
and
• S
Same code and skills need d t d
d d kill eded to develop and
l d
redesign of templates on database websites run on
Wordpress, Joomla,
Wordpress Joomla Drup pal,
pal

28. Production softw
ware
• You don't need expensive e
don t equipment
• Many students have cell ph
hones that can shoot low
end photos (2MP)
• And output video (3GP or M
MP4)
• The school just needs the ccables, software (generally
free)
f ) and card readers that will enable students to
output their mobile material (sound, pictures, video)
onto a laptop or desktop be
p p p efore editingg
• Low-end cameras or mobile phones for video
e

29. Does this mean w don’t
we
need high end eq
quipment?
• NO
• Industry will probably insist o having some high end
on
equipment and you will need to produce some high
d
quality work
• It just means you probably n need fewer high end units
than you think if you think s smart
• Find out what equipment your students have in their
pockets, what laptops they h
k t h tl t th have, what software they
h t ft th
run
• Build your course around that
y
• Teach the principles not the technology
• The technology will change; The principles remain
the same

30. Free Books t download
to
Examples
We The Media by Dan Gillmor
Convergence Culture by Henry Je
enkins
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
Journalism 2.0 b M k B i
J li 2 0 by Mark Briggs
Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig
Get your class to read chapters fro books for free from
om
http://books.google.co.za

31. “This is a time …for new ped
This for dagogical experiments
to see what works and wha doesn’t in the new
at
millennium…But
millennium But we should also resist the hype,
d hype
maintain a critical attitude and pedagogy and
e
continue to combine print l literacy and classical
materials with new literac and materials.”
cies
(Douglas Kellne 2002)
er

32. Database of Af
frica J-Schools
http://journalismsch
hools.unesco-ci.org