research, teaching and practice

Research, teaching and practice: why educators, students and journalists need to hold

[virtual] hands as they enter the interactive age

Lily Canter, Lecturer in Journalism, Sheffield Hallam University

Context

5 step approach

Pragmatic engagement

Cultural & economic context

Flexibility & diversity

Research based

Leading not following

Researching regional newspaper websites

Audience research tells us

• They are participating in greater numbers• They expect to be able to participate• They like to participate via different

platforms• They view participation as valuable• They like to interact with other users• They would like to interact with

journalists more

Best practice

Constraints

Censorship

Resources

Legalities

Attitudes

Leadership

Communication

Share good

practice

Interaction

Independence

Solutions

Into the classroom

QualityFirst class 70+

No spelling, punctuation,

grammar errors. Accurate,

tight copy and excellent

video/photos.

Upper second 60-

70

Only minor errors

and good

video/photo

framing and

content.

Lower second 50-60

Several errors but

adequate quality.

Third 40-50

Poor quality with many

mistakes.

Fail –40

Highly inaccurate which

may lead to a correction.

VarietyExcellent mixture of

substantial text, video,

photographs and graphics.

Posts on a wide range of

related topics without

repetition.

Good mixture of

multimedia but

may be some

overlap.

Adequate mixture of

multimedia but an over

reliance on one medium.

Lack of substantial text.

Lack of substantial

content.

Limited multimedia and

repetitive content.

No multimedia only text.

Text not substantial.

Writing styleEngaging and entertaining.

Targets a specific audience

and maintains a coherent

theme throughout.

Engaging and

mostly centred on a

theme. Written

with specific

audience in mind.

Adequate attempt to target

an audience. Some

evidence of a coherent

theme.

Bland writing style and

little cohesion. Target

audience unclear.

Poor writing style. No

theme and no attempt to

target a niche audience.

InteractivityExcellent attempt to

interact with reader via

polls, comments,

hyperlinks, user

generated content, social

media etc. Use of

innovative methods to

engage readers.

Good attempt at

interactivity with

a variety of

means.

Some attempt at

interactivity on a small

scale but limited in

scope.

.

Limited attempt at

interactivity beyond

hyperlinks.

.

No attempt at

interactivity.

Contact

Lily CanterPhD Student, The University of SheffieldLecturer in Journalism, Sheffield Hallam Universitylilycanter@yahoo.co.uk www.canterchaos.wordpress.com