The Fundamentals of Digital & Online Media

CINDY ROYAL, PH.D.CROYAL@TXSTATE.EDU@CINDYROYAL

JON ZMIKLY, M.A.JZ18@TXSTATE.EDU@JONZMIKLY

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 about the opportunity to provide more personalized instruction and support to students in FDOM. This is our third year of using this model.

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

Course Rationale• Allow students to develop a

digital footprint and explore personal brand

• 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, Digital Entrepreneurship, Mobile Development.

• Foundation for new Digital Media Innovation major and Media Innovation Lab.

Trends in DigitalVideo• Periscope being unseated by Facebook Live• House Democrats used Periscope to broadcast sit-in on gun

control• SnapChat and Instagram videos and stories• Rise of VR and 360 video – Oculus, Microsoft Hololens• Use of drones for video projects

Key Acquisitions • Yahoo sold to Verizon – $4.8 B• Gawker.com closing/Gawker Media Purchased by Univision

for $135M; Univision bought Disney’s stake in Fusion • Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn $26.2B

Analytics Trends • Pageviews and traffic• Shares, likes, comments – see Mozilla Coral Project• Engagement actions – purchases and sign ups• Video and audio metrics – time and frequency• Trend toward developing mechanisms to measure impact• Platforms – Google Analytics, Chartbeat

http://www.poynter.org/2016/50-ways-to-measure-your-analytics-with-apologies-to-paul-simon/422003/

Trends in media education • Data Journalism – Columbia/Stanford U report• Entrepreneurship - OU and CUNY• Journalism + Design – New School• Social Journalism programs - CUNY• Partnerships with Google News Labs• Recognition of product management role – Am Press Institute

report; New School panel; Superpowers report – Tow-Knight Center

• Code Camps – companies like General Assembly, MakerSquare and more; UT partnership with MakerSquare

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

Source: http://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/

# Users

New Entrants• Pokemon Go – 100 million downloads/ > 20 M active users• Musical.ly – 70 million downloads; 10 M active users

Other Trends• Bots • Drones have new FAA exam• Sensor journalism• Slack productivity tool• Social media’s role in the election• Fitness trackers and wearables• Facebook Instant Articles and Google AMP• On-demand entertainment• Uber/Lyft, Instacart, Uber Eats, Favor, Amazon• Amazon Echo• Self-driving cars

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

FDOM Structure

• Two lecture sections of~200 students each week.

• Students attend in-personlab every other week.

• Online assignments delivered weekly (TRACS).• Lecture topics relate to lab and online material, regardless if

they’re in lab that week or not.• Course outline, video tutorials, and other resources will be

hosted at www.jonzmikly.com/digital. • TRACS used for Gradebook, Syllabus, Assignment

descriptions and submissions, Online Modules, mass emails, link to class site.

Course topics• History of Internet and Web• Digital Content (Web writing, strategy, digital-first mindset)• Basic Web Design - HTML/CSS, Browsers• Search Engines, SEO• Social Media and Personal Branding• Online Business Models• App / Mobile Environment• Multimedia / Online Journalism• Course topics are regularly revisited and updated to keep up

with the changing digital landscape; news and current events important aspect of the course.

Course Skills / Assignments• Semester-long Blog

Project Any topic of interest Graded 4x per semester Different requirements for each Social media promotion 100pts each

• Four Assignments Twitter Reporting Assignment HTML Assignment Build-An-App Video Interview 50pts each

Past Student feedback

Success Story

Success Story

Teaching FDOM

• Students often fail to see how social media can be used beyond communicating with their friends.

• We use social media in and outside the classroom.• Twitter and Facebook to answer questions, post news

articles, ask questions, remind them of deadlines and reinforce material, post notes, etc. I also use Snapchat for announcements, reminders

• Convenient and less intimidating than asking a question in a large lecture hall, helps build community

• Students helping students• Build your profiles now if you haven’t already!