7/28/2019 COM 382 Digital Publishing in Italy

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Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

To borrow a phrase from Fathom,a travel inspiration site ~

 This course celebrates“all the reasons why we pack our bags, get on a plane, hitch a ride, and

explore beyond ourbackyards.”

Have you dreamt of being a NationalGeographic photographer? Ever wondered how travel writers get their start ? In this courseyou’ll learn to become the digital storyteller you 

 want to be. You’ll spend an unforgettable monthdiscovering Italy’s treasures; its people, art,architecture, history, culture, museums, walking 

tours (and, of course), local foods. Along the way, you’ll gain hands-on experience designing digital magazines which feature your discoveriesabroad. You’ll also learn how to connect with anaudience for your work through social media.

 Aimée Knight, PhD July - Summer - 2013

COM 382 Digital Publishing Rome, Italy and on location

digital publishing  

Course Objectives

• Gain real-world content creation andproduction skills in text, image, and video while

acquiring practice in team work, creativeproblem solving, collaboration, brainstorming,communication, and project completion

• Explore how story and design elements work  within different types of digital publications(e.g., typography, images, layout, color, video)

• Examine the persuasive effects of story anddesign elements on different audiences andlearn how to analyze and justify designdecisions

• Speak with local content creators who aretaking the lead in the emerging field of digital

publication

Course TextsWalking Rome: The Best of the City - a Step by Step Guide by Katie Parla. National Geographic. (2012)Excepts from: Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writer's Guide from the Neiman Foundation , Kramer and Call(2007), The Magazine Writer's Handbook: For Writers Who Want to be Pros , Peterson and Kesselman-Turkel(2006), Reporting an d Writin  g in the 21st Century , Scanlan ( 1999)Blackboard: variety of articles from New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, MeSweeney’s Tutorials: Glossi, Issuu, iBooks Author, Zeen, Joomag, Pages, InDesign, BookCreator app (for iPad)

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Course Itinerary*subject to some last minute changes* 

 Jun 30 (Sun) Depart Philadelphia at 6:15(USAir #718)

 Jul 1 (Mon)  Arrive Rome @8:50am; check intoapartments at American University of Rome (AUR); welcome dinner @7:30pm

Jul2(Tue) Capitoline Museum (Admission@9:30am)

 Jul 3 (Wed)  Ara Pacis (  Admission @9:30am); Class AUR at @2:00; late afternoon walking  tour of Trastevere

 Jul 4 (Thu) Colosseum (Admission @9:20am - saveticket); guest speaker/writer/residentfoodie Katie Parla AUR @2:00

 Jul 5 (Fri) Roman Forum and Palatine HillColosseum ticket is valid for 48hrs/includes Roman Forum; afternoon walking tour

 Jul 6 (Sat)

 Jul 7 (Sun)

 Jul 8 (Mon) Individual conferences @9:00-12:00; Guest speaker Elizabeth Minchelli, author of Eat Rome/Eat Florence/Eat Venice apps AUR @ 2:00; Project 1 due

  Jul 9 (Tue)

 Jul 10 (Wed) Bus departs AUR @8:30am; Pienza and Casali de Bibbiano tour and lunch; check inHotel Adler Cavalieri in Florence (3 nights)

 Jul 11 (Thu) Breakfast at hotel; Accademia Gallery/Michelangelo’s David (Admission at@9:30am ); Bargello @11:30; optional afternoon: Gucci Museum

 Jul 12 (Fri) Breakfast at hotel, walking tour of Florence and tasting + shopping with local guide

 Jul 13 (Sat) Breakfast at hotel, tour of Santa Croce @9:30; depart Florence @11am; bus

excursion to medieval town of Assissi - 2 hours free time; return to AUR 

 Jul 14 (Sun)

 Jul 15 (Mon) Individual conferences @9:00-12:00; Project 2 due

 Jul 16 (Tue)  Tour of Vatican Museums (Admission @9:15am)

 Jul 17 (Wed) Class AUR at @2:00

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

  B e n  v e n  u   t  o !

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 Jul 18 (Thu)  (Optional) Cinecitta Studios- OutdoorSet tour (Admission @10:00am)

 Jul 19 (Fri) Bus departs AUR @7:30 am toPompeii; 2 hour tour of Pompeii(10:00-12:00); continue to Sorrento;check into hotel (2 nights)

 Jul 20 (Sat) Breakfast at hotel; optional: Capri

 Jul 21 (Sun) Breakfast at hotel; return to AUR 

Jul 22 (Mon) ! Individual conferences @ 9:00-12:00

 Jul 23 (Tue) Project 3 due

 Jul 24 (Wed) Galleria Borghese @11:00am

 Jul 25 (Thu)

 Jul 26 (Fri)

 Jul 27 (Sat)

 Jul 28 (Sun) Project 4 due

 Jul 29 (Mon) Flight to Philadelphia USAir #719 departs @11:50am (arrives 3:50pm)

 Aug 5 (Mon) Project 5 due

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

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EvaluationIn this course, students experience a range of projects to build skills in digital publishing.

• Mini-assignments (10 total) 10%•  Active participation and journal (ongoing assessment) 30%

• Magazine Projects (5 total) 60%

Mini-Assignments - 10% (Pre-departure due-date June 29th)

 These “mini-challenges” posted on Blackboard and designed to offer insight into the world of digital publishing.  These responses are not sequential and may be completed in any order. They areun-timed and un-dated, meaning that you may complete them at your own pace - as long as they arecompleted before we arrive in Italy. Each assignment is worth 10 points and should take about anhour to complete. These mini-assignments prepare you for your work in this course. Many assignments depend on a decent internet connection. Completing them before our travels will allow us more time to savor the good things while in Italy (Fast, reliable Internet may not be one of thosethings). 

100-90% Exceptional. The response features independent thought and the synthesizing of ideas. The entry is focused and coherently demonstrates notable effort, thinking, andinvolvement. The response is thoughtful and considers multiple perspectives when appropriate. Theentry reflects in-depth engagement with the material.

89-80% Proficient. The response is reasonably focused and explanations or analysis aremostly supported with evidence. Connections are attempted between ideas, and though new insights might be offered, they are not fully developed. The entry reflects satisfactory engagement with the material.

  79-70% Underdeveloped. The response is mostly description, summary, or anecdote without

substantive engagement with the text, consideration of alternative perspectives, and/or few connections between ideas. The entry may not meet the word count requirement or may containgrammatical errors. The entry reflects passing engagement with the material.

  69-60% Limited to low credit. The response is unfocused, or simply rehashes previousresponses and displays little evidence of sustained engagement with the material.

  59-0% Low to no credit. The journal entry is missing or consists of a few disconnectedthoughts or sentences. The journal entry will receive a “0” and action will be taken if thereading response resembles, in any way, the thoughts, ideas, words, or intellectual property of others, without proper citation.

 

Participation - 30%

 This class abroad requires your active participation. Each member of our learning community needsto be actively engaged in the learning process. Each student is here to contribute to the exchange of ideas. Ask questions. Be curious. As a student in this course you will create your own communalcontext for learning by engaging in conversations with others. As such, being prepared to participatein discussions and activities is paramount. This entails having read, annotated, and thought about therequired materials carefully before class starts.

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

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 Journaling is another important aspect of yourparticipation grade. This may be low-tech (ajournal) or hi-tech (a blog). *Plan ahead: buy ajournal or set up your blog prior to our arrival. 3entries per week are expected. Activeparticipation also entails showing up on time forall planned excursions and activities. If you missthe bus, train, etc. you must make otherarrangements on your own to meet up with thegroup. As a courtesy to the rest of the group, we will not wait for you. If you are unable to catchup, your participation grade will be deducted oneletter grade. Assessment of your activeparticipation and journaling is ongoing and willbe 30% of your final grade for the course.

*Bonus participation points may be earned for

ongoing group leadership and organizationalplanning.

  100-90% Exceptional. The student is actively engaged in the course and leads discussion of the exchange of ideas. Exceptional contributions may also include making connections between the weekly readings, considering multiple perspectives, encouraging thecontributions of others, validating other’s ideas, bringing in outside materials that are of interest tothe collective whole, and habitually engaging in reflexive dialogue with peers in the course.

  89-80% Proficient. The student is reasonably engaged in the course and regularly participates in the exchange of ideas. Satisfactory contributions may also includefrequent contributions to class discussion, valuing other’s viewpoints, asking questions,

collaboration, offering reasoned arguments, new insights, and demonstrating engagementwith the course and its content.

  79-70% Underdeveloped. The student indicates comprehension of course material in classdiscussion. Contributions consist of description, summary, or personal anecdote.Participation indicates little substantive engagement with the course materials, considerationof alternative perspectives, and/or connections between larger ideas in the course.

  69-0% Limited to no engagement. Participation is limited. Student repeats other’sresponses and displays little evidence of engagement with the day’s material. The completionof the reading assignment is questionable. When a student indicates a lack of interest in thelearning community by tardiness, distracting others, or not bringing necessary materials to class,they will receive a low participation that day, guaranteed.

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

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Magazine Projects (60%) You will make five digital magazines in this course (each worth12% of your total grade). Each magazine will incorporatemultimedia elements, including text, image, links *audio, and*video (*optional). Each magazine will have a unique, focused

theme/angle. Each project may be individual or collaborative(except the final project, which is individual). Groups no largerthan four.

Details:• Create your projects in Adobe InDesign, Pages, Zeen, Joomag,

 Word, iBooks Author, BookCreator app (for iPad), Glossi,Pressbook 

• Important! Get to know the software you are using before we arrivein Rome (See Resources)

• Publish your completed projects via Glossi, Zeen, Issuu, or iBooks Author, etc. A Wordpress blog is a great way to host your work.

• Every student must submit a url/link to the project in Blackboard

• Each student writes an original reflection and submits toBlackboard, even if the project is collaborative

• Late projects will be deducted 1 letter grade for each late day 

Knowledge Integration100-90 Connects ideas and synthesizes diverse perspectives to create something new 89-80 Analyzes and applies learning; critically examines ideas, concepts from course79-70 Comprehends and applies learning from course (uses ideas to convey, express)69-0 Comprehension of course material is not demonstrated

Storytelling100-90 Project employs narrative elements to communicate a powerful sense of significance89-80 Project employs narrative elements to communicate a sense of significance79-70 Project employs narrative elements to communicate a vague sense of significance

69-0 Project unsuccessfully employs narrative elements

 Assembly100-90 Multimedia elements of the project come together toexhibit mastery of technique89-80 Multimedia elements of the project come together toexhibit proficiency of technique79-70 Multimedia elements of the project exhibit limitedtechnique69-0 Multimedia elements of the project exhibit questionabletechnique

Creativity100-90 Project creates a new idea (or method) that provesuseful, timely, and engaging 89-80 Project re-conceptualizes; devises a new observationabout a larger concept or idea79-70 Project modifies or relates or extends a concept for anew situation69-0 Project summarizes or routinely deploys tropes

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

At t e n  z i o n  e !

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Guidelines for Reflections: • Describe your goals for this project. What, specifically, is this

piece trying to accomplish–above and beyond satisfying theminimum requirements outlined in the task description? Inother words, what work does, or might, this piece do? For whom? In what contexts?

•  What specific rhetorical, material, methodological, andtechnological choices did you make in service of accomplishing the goal(s) articulated above? Catalog, as well,choices that you might not have consciously made, those that were made for you when you opted to work with certaingenres, materials, and technologies. Why did you end uppursuing this plan as opposed to the others you came up with?

• How did the various choices listed above allow you to

accomplish things that other sets or combinations of choices would not have?

• What skills and techniques did you useduring the course of this project? Whatcan you do better now than you coulddo before? How has your thinking about digital publishing changed orgrown during the course of thisproject?

• Detail all the actors, human and non-human (coffee? computers?), thatplayed a role in helping you toaccomplish this project.

Thank you to Jody Shipka  for help in shaping these guidelines 

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

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Project descriptions

Project 1: Ancient RomeIn our first week we are touring the Capitoline Museum, the Coliseum,

the Roman Forum, and Ara Pacis. Your job: Work in your assignedgroup to create an online magazine which features ancient Rome (yourapproach is open to interpretation). Spend your time wisely at the sites

in order to collect unique images andcompelling stories. Projects due inBlackboard on Monday July 8.

Project 2: TuscanyIn our second week we are touring theregion of Tuscany. Your job: investigatethe secrets of a life well lived and create a digital magazine thatexplores this region. Your approach/angle is open to interpretation.

Projects due in Blackboard on Monday July 15.

Project 3: Sorrentine Peninsula This weekend we are headed to the Sorrentine Peninsula. Your job isto collect the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of Pompeii, Sorrento,and Capri in an aesthetically pleasing online magazine. Possibletopics include: beaches, harbors, boats, people, fishing, sailing, localflora/fauna, Mt. Vesuvius, temples, ceramics, cathedrals, artwork.Projects due in Blackboard on Tuesday July 23.

Project 4: Italian Recipes This week your job is to create an Italian recipe (from scratch) and document the process. You might

also document how you purchased the ingredients at an open-air market, such as Campo de Fiori.Pay attention to mood, aesthetics and the quality of your photography or video. Projects due in Blackboard on Sunday July 28.

Project 5: Individual FeatureIn this individual research project, you will feature one unique aspectof your time in Italy. The entire magazine will focus on one thing.Final projects due when we return to the U.S. in Blackboard onMonday August 5. Some possible examples:

• “Tiny and baroque: small - not to be missed - churches in Rome”• “Five American foodies living la dolce vita in Italy”• “How volunteers are saving Rome”

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University 

Receive an automatic “A” forthe project if your originalmaterial is accepted for publication.

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Resources

Great writing(article examples) 

 The Wicked Coast TimbuktuMy Monet Moment A Girl’s Guide to Saudi ArabiaIn the Kitchen with Grandma Blood and Chocolate

Online magazines(design examples)  WayfareRusshLonny 

RueHigh GlossMatchbook Edible Communities

Publications (submit your work)MatadorFathomDestinations50 other venues

 Tutorials Glossi, Issuu, iBooks Author, Zeen, Joomag, Pages, InDesign

 Apps for the course Eat Rome, Eat Florence, Rome for Foodies, Best Travel Apps

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Policies

ExpectationsI expect you to arrive to class and excursions on

time, fully prepared to engage in the exchange of ideas. It is your responsibility to bring the necessary materials to class each w eek. On all excursions andsite visits I expect you to bring a camera and areporter’s notebook. We are always working!

 Attendance You are expected to attend every class andexcursion. We will often critique projects, watch videos, conduct group work, and other activitiesduring class time. There is no substitute for yourpresence during class. If you miss a class or

excursion, your participation grade will suffer.Lateness or leaving early is consideredunprofessional and will also affect yourparticipation grade; please show respect by being on time.

Group work Group work is often assigned. This is yourresponsibility as a student and as a member of ourlearning community. If you are having a significantproblem in your group, (e.g. a member cannot findtime to meet, etc) be proactive and talk to me assoon as possible.

Late work Late work for major projects is deducted 1.0/day (24 hours). This means an "A" project will becomea "B" within 24 hours. This includes days we do not meet in class, since you may always turn thingsin digitally. This policy stands, even when your technology crashes. (Always back-up your work.) That is not an excuse. The only excuse from this policy is a note from your doctor., the Pope,Barack, etc.

DressDress in Italy is more formal and sometimes more modest than in the States. When we are on

university business (class & excursions), please opt for more respectable “Business Casual” attire.Please leave your flip flops, baseball hats, shorts and short skirts back at your apartment. If you weara sleeveless blouse, please bring a shawl or sweater to enter churches, etc.

Office hoursOffice hours are Monday mornings and other times by appointment. If you have questions or wantto talk, let’s arrange a meeting sooner rather than later. Email aknight@sju.edu.

Department of Digital Media and Communication, Saint Joseph’s University