The "Thing" Feature

In honor of Halloween, it's time to read a feature focused on a thing. We've done person, place (next is issue/idea). WIRED is a great magazine to go to for examples--because it is largely about things, tech things--though of course there are others. Today we read two stories. The first is about 2000 words, exactly the length you are going for in your feature, and it is about a web site called TaskRabbit. The second is shorter, about a computer program used to help Vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Use the in-class assignment sheet to analyze these two pieces.

A Web Feature ABOUT a Feature

This is so very cool: a few years ago, WIRED magazine published a web feature about the writing of a feature story. In other words, they broke down the process of a magazine feature, from idea to pitch to draft to interviews to fact-check to final proof. (It's the equivalent of the DVD extra "Behind the scenes") You, students of web writing working on your semester project/web feature, get a two for one: you can read a great feature story--a profile of film director Charlie Kaufman--AND get an inside look at how this process goes at a professional magazine. Take some time and have a look.

Q&A Interview Assignment: Due Thursday, 10/27

It's time to get out there an interview someone. From this point on, almost all of your assignments (aside from your weekly blog post--don't forget that!) will feed into your web feature/semester project.

The interview is the building block of feature writing and news reporting in general. But when you're interviewing for feature writing you're not just getting the facts; you're getting the story.

Your assignment is to choose one of your sources from your web feature worksheet and interview them in person (or on the phone if you must, but not over e-mail). Then, you are going to compose a 600 word "Q&A". There are many examples of this format in magazines both print and online. What this means is that you are going to pick and choose the best, most enlightening, most interesting questions and answers. The Q&A form is an edited interview. You will not actually post this on your blog: you will turn it in on paper.

My advice for interviewing:

1. Set your goals: What are you hoping to get from this interview? What kind of information? What stories/anecdotes? What are you hoping to learn about the person?
2. Make a list of questions: Write/type a list of questions, making sure you hit all of your reporting goals. Think about the order of the questions so the conversation unfolds easily. Don't ask hard questions first. Put those in the middle.
3. Be ready to go off-script: The ideal interview flows more like a conversation, and an answer may lead you to ask a different question, pursue different information. That's great. Don't be afraid!
4. Get/use/borrow a recording device: You won't regret it. Not having to furiously take notes will free up your brain to think and listen and come up with different questions if you need to. Take notes, sure, but record also.
5. GET PERMISSION: Journalists have enormous responsibility to their sources, since what they say becomes mass communication, read by many. You must be clear with your interviewee that you are interviewing them for a class in which you will post the article online. If they have any problem being quoted see if you can negotiate to use just their first name or initials. If that doesn't work, e-mail me.
   

Commentary: Being Persuasive on the Web

Writing commentary for the web allows us advantages that don't exist in paper. What are they? Let's read this Salon opinion and think about whether the author utilized these advantages and whether he is persuasive.

Assign. Due Thursday: Read an Opinion, Give an Opinion

Homework is to find an opinion piece on the web--it can be on a Newspaper's web site or on a web-based site. (Look to the op-ed section of a paper, or anything called "commentary" "views" etc.) Read it, think about it, and post a comment on the site. Yes! You may have to create an "account" to do this, but that's OK. You don't have to use your full name or even your real name. Join the discussion! Your comment may pertain to the piece as well as others comments. Finally, re-post your comment on YOUR blog, with a link to the original opinion piece.

Reading Feature Stories, This Time Focused on Place

Last week we read a feature story focused on a person, a paparazzo. This week we are going to turn to a feature focused on a place, published, appropriately, in National Geographic, by the award-winning writer Cynthia Gorney. It is about a place that is often in the news, a place that is not too far away from here: Mexico.

In case you are interested, here is another feature from Guernica magazine, also about a place that is often in the news, but probably one that we've never been to: Libya. Also in Guernica you will find that feature on Disneyworld that we mentioned in class.

Here is another great "place" feature that focuses on nearby Havasu Falls, in the Grand Canyon. It is both about the place (and its people) and a murder. We can't read them all in class, so if you're interested you'll need to do some reading on your own!

What makes a good review?

There were some strong opinions on the paparazzo feature story we read last week, and that's good, because we're turning now to reviews, which also rely on opinion and analysis. First we are going to read this one in class, about the film Contagion. Then, you are going to search the web for the good, the bad, and the snark. (What is snark? See this book about it).

In class activity instructions: Search online for a review of a film, book, album, or video game. For ideas, try sites like Amazon, RottenTomatoes, and Pitchfork, and then search for a web magazine or blog review (not user-generated). Alternatively, you could start your search at an online magazine or blog. Once you've found a review, determine whether it is good, bad, or too snarky, using the following criteria:

Summary: the review gives you a good description of the film/book/album/game.

Point of view: the reviewer has an opinion/thesis and supports it with examples. You can easily tell whether the reviewer likes or dislikes the film/book/album/game and why.

Balance: There's a good balance of summary v. point of view (about half and half).

Authority: the reviewer has a strong, knowledgeable voice that makes the point of view persuasive.

Tone: Is the strength of the point of view in the argument/thesis, or does the reviewer rely heavily on “snark,” which is snide, mean-spirited, and often lacking substance.

Homework: write a review of the review and post to your blog (linking of course!). You may or may not be familiar with the book/film/album/game that is being reviewed.

Upcoming Live-Blogging Assignment

I gave a heads up in class Thursday about your upcoming "Live blogging" assignment, which I'm moving up on the syllabus to be due Tuesday, October 18.

For this assignment, you are going to choose an event that lasts between 1 and 3 hours and "live blog" it. What this means is that instead of writing up a paragraph or two or three about the event after the fact (in which you wouldn't necessarily describe it in chronological order) you are going to write about the event as it is taking place. See this example from the blog Gothamist, about a protest last week in New York in which 700 people were arrested. See how the reporting is "timestamped" (3:50, 4:15, 4:35 etc.) and the event is described as it is happening.

How will you do this? What event will you cover? This is entirely up to you. I suggest getting a copy of the local paper (like the Tucson Weekly) or scanning TucsonSentinel to see what's happening around town. Maybe it's some sort of meeting or lecture or tour. Maybe it's a performance. Maybe it's a food or retail or sporting or political event. (No movies though--it's got to be a live event).

If you have a laptop and it's feasible, take it with you and type as the event is going on. If not, take notes, constantly noting the time. Later, you can recreate the live blog with timestamps. Make sure your live blog consists of at least 5 "updates," each timestamped. As always, link, use photos, video, any multimedia you can. And make sure you begin the live blog by telling us clearly where you are and when the event took place.

The reported web feature: it's time to read one. Homework: comment on this story in a blog post (of course reference writer's name, publication, and link). Make sure your post, written in paragraph form, answers the following:

• What is this story about?
• What is the central conflict?
• Who is the central character?
  
• What did you think of the story? Should your readers click on it? Why/why not?
  
• What are the larger human themes this story touches on?
• What questions or issues does this story make you think about?

Also for homework: Read the "Semester Project-Reported Web Feature" document saved in the Files section on your My Pima course page.

My Homework: Why Aren't Your Blogger Blogs Searchable on Google?

"Google sends out bots," explains Jeremy, a friendly customer service rep at GoDaddy*, which is the web hosting service I use for my own blog (which you will find via Google, but please don't look to it as a model. It isn't a true blog, but more of a promotional tool). Basically, the bots only report back the sites when they see the site info in the domain's main folders, and your blogger blogs do not have their own dedicated hosts. "Easy-to-set-up blogs on Blogspot, or the old Angelfire accounts, they're not going to show up on Google. It's the way they're coded. If the bot is sent into subfolders, subdomains, it doesn't recognize it as a site," says Jeremy.

Here's one way to understand it, I think: Google's bots are sort of snobby. When they go to a party (the Internet), they only pay attention to the people (sites/blogs) who make themselves the center of attention, who seem to be the ones making the introductions, who act like they own the place. If you're a friend of a friend (a "masked" domain, or a blogspot.com), snobby Google bot may wave a hello, but it's not going to ask for your number.

Jeremy then makes it clear to me why I pay for a domain name and hosting: "When you have what's called a shared hosting account, Google bots don't see your site as a subdomain. We make it look like you have your own little server."

*note: your instructor is reasonably satisfied with GoDaddy but this post should in no way be seen as promotion. There are many, many web hosting services out there if you someday want to upgrade. At the very least, you can probably find one that has a more user-friendly web site!

Homework: Explain How Bloggers Make Money

In a post no more than 400 words, explain how blogs make money. Include examples of profitable blogs, how they rose to that level, and what elements they share. You should do some web research to formulate your explanation, and make sure to quote, credit, and LINK to your sources. To get you started, here are a couple of good posts on this topic: Slate's Blogging for Dollars (though a little dated--from 2008) and this post from the blog WriteChangeGrow. Make sure you look beyond these posts. Due Thursday, October 6.

Blogging Advice from the Pros

What makes a blog great? You can turn to Slate and Problogger for advice.