Each program has a set of 8-10 labs associated with the in the module. Check the course schedule in the right sidebar for rooms, dates and tutors for your program. The number of labs and specific topics for each program are determined by the overall course outline and individual visiting lecturers delivering labs.

Combined with the online journalism , the labs are aimed at helping to give students a thorough understanding of the cultures, precedents and technologies of the whole web edifice, and how and why this knowledge is becoming increasingly important for journalists of all disciplines. The labs will focus on giving the students the knowledge, skills and confidence to make the best uses of that technology, understand its limitations, and communicate effectively as part of a team where others are employed to use these skills.

The online journalism labs are in computer rooms and encourage students to practice online journalism techniques and skills towards publication on a multimedia portfolio for .

Lab 1: Setting up and configuring your portfolio

In Lab 1, each student sets up their own WordPress blog and begins configuring their blog using FTP. Students are given two handouts, Getting Started in WordPress, and Getting Cozy With FTP, to help them get started. In Lab 1 we establish the purpose of each student’s blog: a portfolio of journalism work that will be assessed in the Spring.

Lab 2: HTML and CSS:

In Lab 2, we’ll discuss the language of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and how they can be applied to students’ blogs.

Lab 3: Review and Technology Catchup Session

Lab 4: Writing for the Web

In the Writing For the Web labs, we’ll discuss how people tend to read online content, and how you can tailor your online content creation to meet those needs.

Lab 5: Widgets – Maps, Interactivity and Tagging

Why tagging is important, and how to tag posts in your WordPress blog. How and why to use internal WordPress widgets on your blog, and how to upload external widgets onto your blog.

Lab 6: Mobile Tools and Techniques

Using Flip mobile cameras, we’ll be preparing reports, collecting footage, and editing and preparing video packages, and then uploading them to our websites – all in the space of a single class. NOTE: Students are encouraged to bring headphones and memory sticks to this lab.

Lab 7: Multimedia Bootcamp 1 – Photography

This lab will focus on creating, preparing, cropping and exporting your own images for use online. We’ll give you a general familiarity with the industry-standard tool Adobe Photoshop and a rundown of the legal implications of image usage, including Creative Commons. NOTE: If possible, bring photos with you on a memory stick, or bring a digital camera or smartphone to take some photos with during the lab.

Lab 8: Multimedia Bootcamp 2 – Audio and “podcasting”

We’ll edit and export audio for use on our websites, using Audacity. If you have ideas/recordings for audio packages you’d like to make and put online, please bring them to class if they are relevant to your portfolio’s topic. NOTE: Please bring some audio files with you on a memory stick, or bring a digital audio recorder (or smartphone with audio capabilities) with you to class, if possible. Students are also encouraged to bring headphones and a memory stick to this lab.

Lab 9: SEO/2.0 tools and techniques, social networks, promoting your work

How can you be sure your signal is found amongst all the noise? Marcus and Gary will show you all the tricks that will mean your stories get picked up.

Lab 10: Review and Portfolio Help

Questions, comments and general help with your portfolios before your final month (April) of finishing off your portfolios outside of class.

Students in the Writing & Editing for Electronic Media class on the MA in Electronic Publishing should click here.