"Tell

 me,  and  I  will  forget.  

Show  me,  and  I  may  remember.  
Involve  me,  and  I  will  understand."

JOMC 491: Public Affairs Reporting for New Media

Fall 2010 Syllabus

Assistant Professor Ryan Thornburg

Office: 219 Carroll | Phone: 919-962-4080
E-mail: ryan.thornburg@unc.edu

Google Talk: thornburgr | Twitter: @rtburg | Mobile Phone: 919-667-5613

WELCOME

  “If  you  don't  know  the  answer,  where  can  you  4ind  the  information  you  
need?”
  News  consumers  and  college  students  often  4ind  themselves  facing  the  same  
challenge.  It  is  not  lack  of  knowledge.  We  all  have  that.  It’s  that  they  don’t  know  what  
they  don’t  know.  And  if  they  did  know,  they  wouldn’t  know  where  to  turn  to  4ind  the  
answer.  
  For  decades,  newspapers  have  been  the  place  to  which  millions  of  North  
Carolinians  have  turned  to  tell  them  what  they  don’t  know,  but  probably  should.  And  
newspapers  were  often  the  4irst  resource  for  people  looking  to  4ind  answers  to  their  
own  questions.  What  was  the  score  of  the  game?  What’s  the  weather?  Why  did  I  hear  
sirens  last  night?  Are  tomatoes  on  special  this  week?  Which  friends  are  celebrating  
births  or  deaths?  
  But  where  will  your  generation  turn  to  answer  those  questions?  Google?  
Facebook?  Craigslist?  If  so,  what  does  that  mean  for  the  watchdog  and  agenda-­‐
setting  roles  of  professional  journalists?  
  The  communities  of  Whiteville  and  [Little]  Washington,  N.C.,  are  facing  these  
questions.  Following  on  research  and  analysis  funded  by  the  McCormick  Foundation  
and  performed  Penny  Abernathy,  the  Knight  Chair  in  Digital  Media  Economics  at  
UNC,  the  newspapers  and  editors  there  believe  that  they  must  rede4ine  their  role  as  
the  4irst  stop  for  community  news  and  information  in  order  to  protect  the  role  as  
watchdog  and  agenda-­‐setter  in  the  community  (and  the  4inancial  health.)
  During  the  service-­‐learning  experience  of  this  class,  you  will  help  design  and  
prototype  a  new  online  editorial  product  that  can  be  used  by  these  news  
organizations  and  others.  Today  you  do  not  know  how  to  do  that.  You  probably  don’t  
even  know  how  to  4ind  out  how  to  do  that.  That’s  not  OK,  that’s  good.  For  the  value  
of  this  class,  in  addition  to  serving  the  people  of  these  communities,  is  that  it  will  
prepare  you  for  the  unknown  future  of  journalism  by  teaching  you  how  to  de4ine  and  
solve  problems.  And  great  than  any  technical  skill,  it  is  this  ability  to  4ind  creative  
and  ef4icient  solutions  within  a  diverse  and  pioneering  group  of  peers  that  American  
journalism  needs  from  you.

version  1.1;  Update  9/24/10

OUR  PROBLEM
  We’ve  been  given  a  general  direction:  Create  an  online  database  of  current  
and  relevant  community  information  in  a  way  that  will  protect  these  newspaper  
businesses  from  competitors  who  are  not  as  deeply  invested  in  the  community  and  
will  soon  generate  additional  revenue  to  support  further  public  affairs  reporting.
  Believe  me.  That  ain’t  much  direction.  
  Like  all  journalistic  enterprises,  we  have  a  lot  of  questions  to  answer.  “How?”  
is  an  obvious  one,  but  not  as  important  as  “Why?”
  To  answer  these  questions,  we’re  going  to  have  to  understand  a  little  
something  about  technology,  the  audience,  public  records  acquisition,  social  media,  
newsroom  culture,  and  advertising  and  subscription  sales.  
  All  by  Thanksgiving.  

Here’s  how  we’re  going  to  do  it  ...

Design  Thinking
  “Design  Thinking”  is  an  innovation  process  that  was  developed  and  
advocated  by  IDEO,  a  design  company  in  Northern  California.  Some  of  the  tenets  of    
design  thinking  are  radical  empathy  for  the  customer,  radical  collaboration  between  
diverse  views,  generative  brainstorming  and  rapid  prototyping.  All  things  being  
equal,  it  favors  action  over  inaction.  You  can  read  more  about  design  thinking  in  The  
Art  of  Innovation  by  Tom  Kelly.
  In  many  classes,  you  may  have  been  asked  to  write  or  create  one  big  4inal  
project  that  demonstrates  your  knowledge  of  what  you  learned.  But  in  this  class,  
you’ll  practice  the  art  of  “fertile  failure”  —  trying  a  lot  of  ideas,  making  a  lot  of  
mistakes  and  learning  from  them.  You  will  be  rewarded  for  failing  fast  and  failing  
smart.  We  will  use  everything  from  toothpicks  to  MySQL  to  build  our  prototypes.  
You’ll  start  by  using  the  materials  with  which  you’re  comfortable  and  end  the  
semester  by  using  tools  that  terri4ied  you  just  three  months  earlier.  These  will  be  
different  tools  for  each  student.
  Prototyping  will  be  30  percent  of  your  grade.  Participation  and  collaboration  
will  be  another  30  percent.

Service  Learning
  This  is  an  APPLES  service-­‐learning  course  in  which  you  are  required  to  
complete  30  hours  of  work  with  one  of  our  partners.  Much  of  that  time  requirement  
will  be  met  by  visiting  the  towns  with  which  we  are  working  and  observing  “real  
life”  there.  You  will  also  be  in  frequent  contact  with  our  “clients,”  the  news  
organizations  and  the  people  they  serve  to  develop  something  they  can  actually  use  
long  after  this  semester  is  done.  

  A  key  part  of  service  learning  is  the  re4lection  process.  You’ll  launch  your  own  
blog  and  update  it  at  least  twice  a  week  with  your  thoughts  and  observations.  Some  
weeks  I  will  give  you  speci4ic  assignments  (write  a  descriptive  report  about  
Whiteville,  discuss  the  readings,  etc.)  but  most  of  the  time  you’ll  simply  write  about  
your  experiences.  

version  1.1;  Update  9/24/10

   In  your  re4lections  I  will  not  be  as  interested  in  reading  about  the  facts  you  
learned  as  I  will  be  in  your  ability  to  each  week  come  up  with  a  new  question  or  a  
new  problem  to  which  you  do  not  know  the  answer.  The  blogs  will  be  worth  30  
percent  of  your  grade.  And  participation  -­‐-­‐  a  key  component  of  service  learning  and  
one  that  I’ve  mentioned  before  -­‐-­‐  will  be  another  30  percent.

Problem  Solving  
(Lifted  from  the  CHEM  342  syllabus  created  by  Hal  White  at  The  University  of  
Delaware)
  Probably  you  will  4ind  PARNM  unlike  any  course  you  have  taken  before.  In  
most  courses,  the  goals  are  primarily  on  learning  content.  While  certainly  that  is  a  
signi4icant  goal  in  PARNM,  it  alone  will  not  assure  success.  In  fact,  some  students  
who  are  used  to  excelling  academically  4ind  this  course  dif4icult  because  the  “rules  
are  different.”  Successful  students  in  this  course  can  be  compared  to  decathalon  
athletes  who  depend  on  a  variety  of  skills.  Students  who  excel  in  this  course  work  
well  with  other  students,  communicate  effectively,  have  or  develop  good  information  
searching  skills,  remember  what  they  learned  in  prerequisite  courses,  can  relate  and  
integrate  information  from  various  sources,  are  able  to  de4ine  what  they  don’t  know  
and  need  to  learn,  and  know  how  to  manage  their  time.  Society  values  these  traits.  
PARNM  provides  the  opportunity  to  practice  and  enhance  these  traits  in  a  low  risk  
environment.
  Successful  students,  like  successful  journalists,  recognize  and  manage  their  
ignorance.  What  don't  you  know?  What  do  you  need  to  know?  What  would  you  like  
to  know?  What  is  most  important  to  learn  4irst?  These  are  learning  issues.  While  
knowing  facts  may  help  you  on  an  examination;  understanding  concepts,  so  that  you  
can  apply  them  to  new  situations  and  appreciate  the  facts,  is  much  more  important  
in  the  long  run.  Cultivating  the  ability  to  confront  your  ignorance  is  an  exercise  in  
humility  and  building  competence.  In  PARNM,  "I  don't  know,"  will  point  the  direction  
for  your  learning.

RECOMMENDED  MATERIALS  [Updated  8/24/10]

Of  course,  you  should  keep  up-­‐to-­‐date  with  the  news  from  the  Washington  Daily  
News  at    http://www.wdnweb.com/  and  the  Whiteville  News  Reporter  at  http://
www.whiteville.com/.

RECOMMENDED  MATERIALS

You  will  need  the  copies  of  the  AP  Stylebook  and  the  UNC  Stylebook  you  purchased  
for  JOMC  153.  If  you  don’t  have  a  copy,  you  will  need  to  get  one.  

Producing  Online  News:  Digital  Skills,  Stronger  Stories,  Ryan  Thornburg.  Selected  
chapters.  Forthcoming  from  CQPress  in  October.  

version  1.1;  Update  9/24/10

Lynda.com  –  A  three-­‐month  subscription  to  standard  access  to  Lynda.com,  a  
technical  training  site  is  a  valuable  investment  for  people  who  like  to  learn  by  
watching  and  doing.  Cost:  $75.

CALENDAR

Subject  to  change.  Changes  will  be  announced  in  class,  posted  to  Blackboard  and  to  
Google  calendar  at  http://www.ryanthornburg.org/2010/08/20/jomc-­‐491-­‐class-­‐
calendar/

GRADES

30%  -­‐-­‐  Blog  Posts  due  at  10  a.m.  every  Monday  and  Wednesday.  (Yes,  I  mean  Monday  
and  Wednesday.  I  want  to  have  time  to  read  them  so  I  can  discuss  them  with  you  in  
class  the  following  day.)  During  the  course  of  the  semester  I  will  assign  you  several  
speci4ic  written  assignments.  Each  of  these  may  count  as  one  of  your  two  weekly  
blog  posts.  First  blog  post  due  on  Aug.  30.  Last  one  due  on  Dec.  7.  

30%  -­‐-­‐  Participation  both  inside  and  outside  of  class.  There  are  three  equal  
components  to  this  grade:

Attendance,  which  will  be  taken  at  the  start  of  every  class.    If  you  miss  no  
class,  you  get  an  A.  Miss  1  or  2  and  you  get  a  B.  Miss  3  and  you  get  a  C.  Miss  4  
and  you  get  a  D.  Miss  more  and  you  get  an  F.

Online  discussion  outside  of  class  means  answering  and  asking  questions  on  
each  others  blogs  and  in  the  discussion  group  on  Blackboard.  You  will  be  
graded  on  curve  that  counts  the  number  of  questions/answers  you  post  as  
well  as  your  colleagues’  assessment  of  the  value  of  your  comments.  

Service:  This  will  be  calculated  simply  as  a  percentage  of  the  30  hours  you  are  
required  to  work  with  your  partner.  Your  partners  will  be  asked  for  their  
feedback  to  ensure  that  you  contributed  30  quality  hours.  10%  -­‐-­‐  Data  
management/Public  records  -­‐  10%

30%  -­‐-­‐  Prototyping  will  be  a  group  grade.  It  will  be  based  on  the  number  of  
prototypes  you  create  during  the  second  half  of  the  course,  as  well  as  your  
re4lections  upon  them.  Presuming  the  prototypes  steadily  increase  in  quality  and  
your  re4lections  are  thoughtful,  the  grades  for  this  portion  of  the  class  will  be:  7+  
prototypes  =  A;  4  to  6  =  B;  2  to  3  =  C;  1  =  D;  0  =  F.

10%  Data  management/public  records  research  exercises  that  you  will  both  do  in  
class  and  on  your  own.  I  anticipate  working  on  three  of  these  exercises  in  early  
October.

version  1.1;  Update  9/24/10