Class Syllabus, Fall 2008
Dan Gillmor - August 22nd, 2008
JMC 494-1001 -- Digital Media & Entrepreneurship
This course combines in-depth classroom study of online media development, including business issues, with hands-on experience. Students will 1) learn about major trends in the business and practice of media; 2) become fluent in a variety of digital media forms, creating individual and group blogs and multimedia postings as well as database-driven news "mashups"; 3) and work on an in-depth project, a collaborative online news site.
We have two main goals. First, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the best practices, trends and issues -- including business topics such as product development and media economics -- that are challenging and redefining journalism -- all in the context of carrying traditional journalism's best principles and practices will carry over into 21st Century media. Second, you'll learn why, and how, entrepreneurial thinking and activity are essential not just for people who'll create new-media startups but also employees of media companies.
Students will have a great deal of hands-on activity in this class. Everyone will create a blog, making regular postings. Students will experiment with several other kinds of media forms including podcasting, video, mapping, tagging, mashups and social media.
The class project is a key element of this course. We will create and launch a media product/service in which the class works as a team. This potentially high-visibility project will involve politics and the 2008 general election.
Class meeting day/time
Thursdays, 2:00PM - 4:50PM. Classes are held in Cronkite 355. We may have an occasional class meeting on other days or in other locations to accommodate guest speakers or other needs, but only if all or most students are able to attend.
Who may join
We are aiming for a class size of no more than 15-18 students. Preference will be given to journalism students, and students in the schools of business, engineering, arts and design.
Instructors
Dan Gillmor is director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship and Kauffman Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the Cronkite School. Gillmor also directs the Center for Citizen Media, a project to enhance and expand grassroots media and its reach. A nationally recognized leader in new media, Gillmor is author of “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People,” a book that explains the rise of citizens’ media and why it matters. Dan spent almost 25 years in the newspaper business, including a decade as a columnist at the San Jose Mercury News, where he created what's believed to have been the first blog by a daily newspaper journalist. (More about Dan here.)
CJ Cornell is Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the Cronkite School, and Entrepreneur- in-Residence at the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship. CJ brings over 20 years experience as a veteran media industry executive and entrepreneur, with a long history of creating and marketing products in cable television, broadband, and other consumer media platforms. He has worked with companies such as Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, Canal+, Universal Television, Sony, Microsoft and Sun. A founder of four ventures in interactive television and video-on-demand, he's an advisor to Silicom Ventures, LLC., one of the largest Angel/Venture funds in the United States, and sits on the board of 6 high- tech companies. (More about CJ here.)
Contact information
Dan Gillmor
Office: Room 362
Email: dan.gillmor@asu.edu
Office phone: 602.496.7293
Office hours: Wednesday, 9 am -12 pm, and by appointment
CJ Cornell
Office: Room 364
Email: cj.cornell@asu.edu
Phone: 602.496.5164
Office hours: Wednesday, 1-4 pm, and by appointment
Academic Integrity
From the Cronkite School's Acedemic Integrity Policy, Spring 2008 :
Academic dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The crux of our democracy is the ability of citizens to obtain honest, truthful and balanced information, and the credibility and integrity of the individual journalist and communications professional are crucial in that effort.
As the mission of the Cronkite School is to prepare students to become journalists and communication professionals, that credibility and integrity will be fostered within the educational environment of the school. To that end, a zero tolerance policy toward academic dishonesty will be enforced within every course and educational activity offered or sanctioned by the school.
Any allegations of academic dishonesty will automatically be referred to the Standards Committee of the school for review and recommendation to the dean of the school. If any student is found by the committee to have engaged in academic dishonesty in any form – including but not limited to cheating, plagiarizing and fabricating – that student shall receive a grade of XE for the class and will be dismissed from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Reinstatement will not be considered. There will be no exceptions.
Grading
The course will have 4 components with the following contributions to the final grade
30% - Blogging and class assignments - 30 (quality of writing and basic tech abililty)
30% - based on the student's contribution and performance on the class project
20% - based on the student's contribution and participation during the classes
20% - based on the grade from the Mid-term exam
Expectations
Attendance: Students should attend class and participate. Because we are meeting once a week, and because we are trying to cover wide ground, missing classes will leave holes not just in individual students' knowledge and skills but also in the class project.
Reading: Please do the reading. It's useful. We're also going to have a mid-term test that will let us know whether you've done it.
Blogging and media assignments: In general, each student will maintain a blog with at least two postings a week. We will describe the nature of these postings in class, but the purpose of the blog is to help students appreciate online creative work. We'll be encouraging wide exploration in the blogs, in various media including text, photographs, video or audio, or combinations. Because blogging is a conversational medium, students will be expected to post occasional comments on each others' blogs. Evidence of depth of thought, quality of writing, expert linking, good copy editing, and competent digital image and media editing, along with professional production values are expected by the end of the semester. In addition, students will create at least one news-based mashup -- don't worry, we'll learn about these in class.
Collaborative news project work: The collaborative class project is a key component of the course, and students' efforts on it will count a great deal. Students will be expected to competitively volunteer to be a leader in some component of the project and to contribute and collaborate as members of a team. Roles available or assigned in connection with the class project may transcend traditional journalism responsibilities -- including business issues -- but will be relevant to the real world of professional online journalism and web production.
Required texts
Please download or purchase the following texts:
Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive By Mark Briggs Published by J-Lab and the Knight Citizen News Network. Download PDF. (You can also order the book for $10 from J-Lab. Recommended...)
We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, by Dan Gillmor (free online download -- I'm working on my publisher to provide paper copies for everyone; stay tuned).
We strongly recommend, but don't require, that you get a copy of Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days, a wonderful book about some famous Silicon Valley startups. The link goes to an Amazon page for the paperback, which is being released next month.
This course combines in-depth classroom study of online media development, including business issues, with hands-on experience. Students will 1) learn about major trends in the business and practice of media; 2) become fluent in a variety of digital media forms, creating individual and group blogs and multimedia postings as well as database-driven news "mashups"; 3) and work on an in-depth project, a collaborative online news site.
We have two main goals. First, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the best practices, trends and issues -- including business topics such as product development and media economics -- that are challenging and redefining journalism -- all in the context of carrying traditional journalism's best principles and practices will carry over into 21st Century media. Second, you'll learn why, and how, entrepreneurial thinking and activity are essential not just for people who'll create new-media startups but also employees of media companies.
Students will have a great deal of hands-on activity in this class. Everyone will create a blog, making regular postings. Students will experiment with several other kinds of media forms including podcasting, video, mapping, tagging, mashups and social media.
The class project is a key element of this course. We will create and launch a media product/service in which the class works as a team. This potentially high-visibility project will involve politics and the 2008 general election.
Class meeting day/time
Thursdays, 2:00PM - 4:50PM. Classes are held in Cronkite 355. We may have an occasional class meeting on other days or in other locations to accommodate guest speakers or other needs, but only if all or most students are able to attend.
Who may join
We are aiming for a class size of no more than 15-18 students. Preference will be given to journalism students, and students in the schools of business, engineering, arts and design.
Instructors
Dan Gillmor is director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship and Kauffman Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the Cronkite School. Gillmor also directs the Center for Citizen Media, a project to enhance and expand grassroots media and its reach. A nationally recognized leader in new media, Gillmor is author of “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People,” a book that explains the rise of citizens’ media and why it matters. Dan spent almost 25 years in the newspaper business, including a decade as a columnist at the San Jose Mercury News, where he created what's believed to have been the first blog by a daily newspaper journalist. (More about Dan here.)
CJ Cornell is Professor of Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the Cronkite School, and Entrepreneur- in-Residence at the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship. CJ brings over 20 years experience as a veteran media industry executive and entrepreneur, with a long history of creating and marketing products in cable television, broadband, and other consumer media platforms. He has worked with companies such as Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, Canal+, Universal Television, Sony, Microsoft and Sun. A founder of four ventures in interactive television and video-on-demand, he's an advisor to Silicom Ventures, LLC., one of the largest Angel/Venture funds in the United States, and sits on the board of 6 high- tech companies. (More about CJ here.)
Contact information
Dan Gillmor
Office: Room 362
Email: dan.gillmor@asu.edu
Office phone: 602.496.7293
Office hours: Wednesday, 9 am -12 pm, and by appointment
CJ Cornell
Office: Room 364
Email: cj.cornell@asu.edu
Phone: 602.496.5164
Office hours: Wednesday, 1-4 pm, and by appointment
Academic Integrity
From the Cronkite School's Acedemic Integrity Policy, Spring 2008 :
Academic dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The crux of our democracy is the ability of citizens to obtain honest, truthful and balanced information, and the credibility and integrity of the individual journalist and communications professional are crucial in that effort.
As the mission of the Cronkite School is to prepare students to become journalists and communication professionals, that credibility and integrity will be fostered within the educational environment of the school. To that end, a zero tolerance policy toward academic dishonesty will be enforced within every course and educational activity offered or sanctioned by the school.
Any allegations of academic dishonesty will automatically be referred to the Standards Committee of the school for review and recommendation to the dean of the school. If any student is found by the committee to have engaged in academic dishonesty in any form – including but not limited to cheating, plagiarizing and fabricating – that student shall receive a grade of XE for the class and will be dismissed from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Reinstatement will not be considered. There will be no exceptions.
Grading
The course will have 4 components with the following contributions to the final grade
30% - Blogging and class assignments - 30 (quality of writing and basic tech abililty)
30% - based on the student's contribution and performance on the class project
20% - based on the student's contribution and participation during the classes
20% - based on the grade from the Mid-term exam
Expectations
Attendance: Students should attend class and participate. Because we are meeting once a week, and because we are trying to cover wide ground, missing classes will leave holes not just in individual students' knowledge and skills but also in the class project.
Reading: Please do the reading. It's useful. We're also going to have a mid-term test that will let us know whether you've done it.
Blogging and media assignments: In general, each student will maintain a blog with at least two postings a week. We will describe the nature of these postings in class, but the purpose of the blog is to help students appreciate online creative work. We'll be encouraging wide exploration in the blogs, in various media including text, photographs, video or audio, or combinations. Because blogging is a conversational medium, students will be expected to post occasional comments on each others' blogs. Evidence of depth of thought, quality of writing, expert linking, good copy editing, and competent digital image and media editing, along with professional production values are expected by the end of the semester. In addition, students will create at least one news-based mashup -- don't worry, we'll learn about these in class.
Collaborative news project work: The collaborative class project is a key component of the course, and students' efforts on it will count a great deal. Students will be expected to competitively volunteer to be a leader in some component of the project and to contribute and collaborate as members of a team. Roles available or assigned in connection with the class project may transcend traditional journalism responsibilities -- including business issues -- but will be relevant to the real world of professional online journalism and web production.
Required texts
Please download or purchase the following texts:
Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive By Mark Briggs Published by J-Lab and the Knight Citizen News Network. Download PDF. (You can also order the book for $10 from J-Lab. Recommended...)
We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, by Dan Gillmor (free online download -- I'm working on my publisher to provide paper copies for everyone; stay tuned).
We strongly recommend, but don't require, that you get a copy of Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days, a wonderful book about some famous Silicon Valley startups. The link goes to an Amazon page for the paperback, which is being released next month.
Class Schedule
What follows is an early best guess about the class specifics. This schedule may change in some small ways, not so much in content as sequence. In particular, we're lining up several guest speakers who would have to travel from out of town, and we'll adapt to their schedules as much as possible. You'll know in advance about any changes, and if it's a last-minute schedule shift -- e.g. to the evening instead of the currently scheduled time -- we'll be understanding about your other commitments. There will be other readings than the ones listed here, but you'll know about them at least a week ahead of time. We'll also spend time in each class session on the project.
August 28th: Introductions; a look at the digital media landscape; entrepreneurship
Digital media entrepreneurs need to understand what's out there in the way of tools and techniques. We'll look briefly at a variety of new media formats, and various kinds of conversational media (some of which you are, no doubt, already using), plus the empowering tools and technology and skill sets behind it all. A portion of the class will be devoted to an introduction to entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on the aspects of creating successful new ventures in digital media
We'll be creating our blogs in this class, and we'll also spend time discussing the class project. As noted above, this will involve politics and the 2008 elections.
September 4th: Journalism meets the Web
We'll discuss how journalism pros using these are responding to the challenges and opportunities presented by new conversational media forms and formats. We'll explore how new forms of journalism are redefining the field in at least two areas: at the neighborhood level and at the specialty beat reporting level. We'll look at citizen media's growth and some business issues, namely the crumbling of the traditional journalism business. We'll also look more closely at the new tools for doing journalism.
We'll continue the discussion on aspects of entrepreneurship, with some focus on the marketing issues surrounding digital media, online communities, social networks and related conversational media sites.
Significant time will be spend on the planning and discussion of the class project - refining the approach, objectives, and next steps for each sub-group within the class.
Assignments to be completed prior to this class: 1) Create, design, and launch your blog. 2) Discuss with Dan or CJ the topic of the blog so we are sure it's appropriate for the course. 3) Write first blog post of 250 to 500 words. (Feel free to write more than one! Blog posts don't have to be long; sometimes a one-liner is perfect.) Required reading prior to this class: 1) Paul Steiger: Read All About It; 2) Craig Newmark: Text of a speech at meeting of alternative newspapers; 3)
September 11th: Business & Entrepreneurship in media
A portion of this class will be devoted to discussing in some detail the business and economic issues related to digital media: Business Models, the difference between a feature and a product, and a product and a company. We'll explore several past and present digital media ventures, and discuss startup issues related to product development, deployment/distribution, teamwork and marketing.
Required background reading assignments will be posted the week prior.
We will discuss RSS feeds - video, audio, text - their role in blogging and digital journalism, and experiment with the most common tools and techniques. Students will be expected to incorporate RSS feeds into their blogs for next class.
And we will spend a significant portion of the class discussing the class project -- its progress, issues and problems, so we can make course corrections based on topics covered in class and peer review. Note: students will be contributing journalism to the project from the outset, as we'll discuss in class.
September 18th: Tools of Digital Journalism
Digital media entrepreneurs need to understand what's out there in the way of tools and techniques. We'll expand on our earlier looks into new media formats and various kinds of conversational media (some of which you are, no doubt, already using), plus the empowering tools and technology and skill sets behind it all. We'll also go more deeply into entrepreneurial issues, and continue to work on the class project.
Assignments to be completed prior to this class: 1) Set up an RSS feed at NetNewsWire, My Yahoo!, PageFlakes or another news reader (this could include your desktop email software). 2) Create an email news alert at Google or Yahoo!, and turn it into an RSS feed. Required reading completed prior to this class: 1) Journalism 2.0 by Briggs: Chapter One: "FTP, MB, RSS, oh My!" pages 11 - 24 2) Steve Outing: What Journalists Can Learn From Bloggers; 3) Howard Rheingold on moblogs and user trust.
September 25th: Class Project Review & Working Session
This entire class will be devoted to reviewing the progress of the class project, and a working session to prepare for all aspects of the project for a public launch - scheduled for the following week.
October 2nd: Community Role in Digital Journalism
In this class we'll look at the role of communities in digital media. If conversation is replacing lectures, as we believe is the case, then we have to appreciate the nature of these conversations in all their forms. Collaboration is the key in online media, and it takes all kinds of forms such as tagging, commenting, and much more. We'll look, for example, at Wikipedia and an audience-participation method called "crowdsourcing," and how grassroots journalism is emerging to supplement, and in some cases replace, traditional organizations. We'll also ask if community-driven information can be reliable or trustworthy, and if so how?
Required assignments completed prior to this class: 1) Identify 3 news stories and rate them on NewsTrust (sign up here <http://beta.newstrust.net/partners/uc />); 2) Visit 3 websites and tag them on del.icio.us specific to your blog topic; 3) Create or edit a Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org /> article and write a blog post about your experience. Required reading prior to this class: 1) Jeff Howe, Wired: The Rise of Crowdsourcing <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html>.
During this class we'll also look at our project site and immediately start working on improvements.
October 9th: Data as Journalism
Databases and the visual display of information online are rapidly changing journalism. Adrian Holovaty writes: "Journalists should have less of a concern of what is and isn't "journalism," and more of a concern for important, focused information that is useful to people's lives and helps them understand the world…" In this class we'll explore the importance and story-telling advantages of using data in a journalistic context. We'll also discuss whether such kinds of information projects can be turned into businesses, and how.
Required Reading: 1) Holovaty: A fundamental ways newspapers need to change 2) Holovaty's new project, Everyblock (review the site); 3) Read-Write Web: Yahoo! Pipes and The Web As Database.
October 16th: Media and Democracy
The flow of information in a self-governing society is crucial, but we have many issues to figure out especially in a digital age when people are media creators, not just consumers. A key one is credibility: What can we trust? What is authentic? This class will examine some of the issues surrounding trust and credibilty, with a look at establishing a new kind of media literacy. We'll also examine some of the legal issues that are cropping up.
Readings: 1) Gillmor: We the Media - Chapters 9-10; 2) BlogHer: Community Guidelines; 3) Jon Garfunkel: Comment Management Responsibility -- a proposal; 4) a paper by Dan that will appear online this fall.
October 23rd: The Venturing Process (part 1)
This is the first of two classes where we will explore the growth company "venture process" common to Silicon Valley types of high tech growth companies, starting with "listening" to the market and determining the right opportunities. We'll explore the approaches successful (and unsuccessful) ventures take in creating viable solutions for customers - and how this relates to creating a successful company. Readings to be assigned.
October 30th: The Venturing Process (part 2)
This is the second of two classes where we will explore the growth company "venture process" common to Silicon Valley types of high tech growth companies. Here we will focus on two major "bookends" of the venturing process: Initial Funding, and Sustainability. Aspects of the venture capital, angel funding, bootstrapping will be discussed as well as how the initial funding of the company affects the product, business and long term strategy. Then we'll discuss "sustainability" - success factors and metrics: Revenues, Profits, Business Modes, Growth and "Exits" and how this affects the early formation of the company. Readings to be assigned.
November 6th: Class Project Review: Midterm Test
In this class we'll focus in depth on the project, finishing up the first major iteration and discussing how (if) it should proceed after the semester ends. We especially want to be brutally honest with ourselves about what we did right and wrong.
Mid-Term Exam will cover many of the aspects taught in this course - particularly concepts and techniques of digital media, essential concepts of citizen journalism, online commuties and social media, entrepreneurship, the new venture process.
Class project teams will prepare final synopses of the project, with recommendations for hypothetical "next steps" and/or different approaches that might have been taken. Project teams will present the review and recommendations at the next class.
November 13th: Community information needs
In this class, we'll invite people from the Phoenix area -- from government, neighborhood organizations and nonprofit groups -- to discuss what they have in the way of information sources, and more importantly what they need. One point of this is to give students ideas on what kinds of information needs are unmet.
Pitch reorganization of class project: Students in 3 teams of 5 pitch to class the way they'd redo it -- a reformulation of the idea with a specific approach on how it would work.
Finally, we'll discuss a key assignment for the end of the semester. Each student will start developing a new idea -- based on the media and entrepreneurial concepts learned in the course, plus the information needs community people have defined as well as -- for presentation during our last class. The idea may be for a potential new product, new venture or for an Independent Study Project (or all three).
November 20th: Cronkite Week
Instead of the formal class this week, however students will be required to attend specific panels at ASU's "Cronkite Week" -- along with a post-panel interview/meeting with one or more of the featured speakers or panelists.
November 27th: Thanksgiving - No Class
December 4th: A Look Back, and Ahead
Student teams will present their review and recommendations based on results of the semester's class project.
We may have students from the Knight Center's "Independent Study Project" course, present on the results of their projects for that semester.
Students will then present their "elevator pitches" or ideas for their potential next new digital media project - either as a new venture or as a proposed Independent Student Project.
We'll take a look back on the topics and activities of the course, and reinforce the major concepts covered. Finally, we'll present awards for best student blogs.
A portion of this class will be devoted to discussing in some detail the business and economic issues related to digital media: Business Models, the difference between a feature and a product, and a product and a company. We'll explore several past and present digital media ventures, and discuss startup issues related to product development, deployment/distribution, teamwork and marketing.
Required background reading assignments will be posted the week prior.
We will discuss RSS feeds - video, audio, text - their role in blogging and digital journalism, and experiment with the most common tools and techniques. Students will be expected to incorporate RSS feeds into their blogs for next class.
And we will spend a significant portion of the class discussing the class project -- its progress, issues and problems, so we can make course corrections based on topics covered in class and peer review. Note: students will be contributing journalism to the project from the outset, as we'll discuss in class.
September 18th: Tools of Digital Journalism
Digital media entrepreneurs need to understand what's out there in the way of tools and techniques. We'll expand on our earlier looks into new media formats and various kinds of conversational media (some of which you are, no doubt, already using), plus the empowering tools and technology and skill sets behind it all. We'll also go more deeply into entrepreneurial issues, and continue to work on the class project.
Assignments to be completed prior to this class: 1) Set up an RSS feed at NetNewsWire, My Yahoo!, PageFlakes or another news reader (this could include your desktop email software). 2) Create an email news alert at Google or Yahoo!, and turn it into an RSS feed. Required reading completed prior to this class: 1) Journalism 2.0 by Briggs: Chapter One: "FTP, MB, RSS, oh My!" pages 11 - 24 2) Steve Outing: What Journalists Can Learn From Bloggers; 3) Howard Rheingold on moblogs and user trust.
September 25th: Class Project Review & Working Session
This entire class will be devoted to reviewing the progress of the class project, and a working session to prepare for all aspects of the project for a public launch - scheduled for the following week.
October 2nd: Community Role in Digital Journalism
In this class we'll look at the role of communities in digital media. If conversation is replacing lectures, as we believe is the case, then we have to appreciate the nature of these conversations in all their forms. Collaboration is the key in online media, and it takes all kinds of forms such as tagging, commenting, and much more. We'll look, for example, at Wikipedia and an audience-participation method called "crowdsourcing," and how grassroots journalism is emerging to supplement, and in some cases replace, traditional organizations. We'll also ask if community-driven information can be reliable or trustworthy, and if so how?
Required assignments completed prior to this class: 1) Identify 3 news stories and rate them on NewsTrust (sign up here <http://beta.newstrust.net/partners/uc />); 2) Visit 3 websites and tag them on del.icio.us specific to your blog topic; 3) Create or edit a Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org /> article and write a blog post about your experience. Required reading prior to this class: 1) Jeff Howe, Wired: The Rise of Crowdsourcing <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html>.
During this class we'll also look at our project site and immediately start working on improvements.
October 9th: Data as Journalism
Databases and the visual display of information online are rapidly changing journalism. Adrian Holovaty writes: "Journalists should have less of a concern of what is and isn't "journalism," and more of a concern for important, focused information that is useful to people's lives and helps them understand the world…" In this class we'll explore the importance and story-telling advantages of using data in a journalistic context. We'll also discuss whether such kinds of information projects can be turned into businesses, and how.
Required Reading: 1) Holovaty: A fundamental ways newspapers need to change 2) Holovaty's new project, Everyblock (review the site); 3) Read-Write Web: Yahoo! Pipes and The Web As Database.
October 16th: Media and Democracy
The flow of information in a self-governing society is crucial, but we have many issues to figure out especially in a digital age when people are media creators, not just consumers. A key one is credibility: What can we trust? What is authentic? This class will examine some of the issues surrounding trust and credibilty, with a look at establishing a new kind of media literacy. We'll also examine some of the legal issues that are cropping up.
Readings: 1) Gillmor: We the Media - Chapters 9-10; 2) BlogHer: Community Guidelines; 3) Jon Garfunkel: Comment Management Responsibility -- a proposal; 4) a paper by Dan that will appear online this fall.
October 23rd: The Venturing Process (part 1)
This is the first of two classes where we will explore the growth company "venture process" common to Silicon Valley types of high tech growth companies, starting with "listening" to the market and determining the right opportunities. We'll explore the approaches successful (and unsuccessful) ventures take in creating viable solutions for customers - and how this relates to creating a successful company. Readings to be assigned.
October 30th: The Venturing Process (part 2)
This is the second of two classes where we will explore the growth company "venture process" common to Silicon Valley types of high tech growth companies. Here we will focus on two major "bookends" of the venturing process: Initial Funding, and Sustainability. Aspects of the venture capital, angel funding, bootstrapping will be discussed as well as how the initial funding of the company affects the product, business and long term strategy. Then we'll discuss "sustainability" - success factors and metrics: Revenues, Profits, Business Modes, Growth and "Exits" and how this affects the early formation of the company. Readings to be assigned.
November 6th: Class Project Review: Midterm Test
In this class we'll focus in depth on the project, finishing up the first major iteration and discussing how (if) it should proceed after the semester ends. We especially want to be brutally honest with ourselves about what we did right and wrong.
Mid-Term Exam will cover many of the aspects taught in this course - particularly concepts and techniques of digital media, essential concepts of citizen journalism, online commuties and social media, entrepreneurship, the new venture process.
Class project teams will prepare final synopses of the project, with recommendations for hypothetical "next steps" and/or different approaches that might have been taken. Project teams will present the review and recommendations at the next class.
November 13th: Community information needs
In this class, we'll invite people from the Phoenix area -- from government, neighborhood organizations and nonprofit groups -- to discuss what they have in the way of information sources, and more importantly what they need. One point of this is to give students ideas on what kinds of information needs are unmet.
Pitch reorganization of class project: Students in 3 teams of 5 pitch to class the way they'd redo it -- a reformulation of the idea with a specific approach on how it would work.
Finally, we'll discuss a key assignment for the end of the semester. Each student will start developing a new idea -- based on the media and entrepreneurial concepts learned in the course, plus the information needs community people have defined as well as -- for presentation during our last class. The idea may be for a potential new product, new venture or for an Independent Study Project (or all three).
November 20th: Cronkite Week
Instead of the formal class this week, however students will be required to attend specific panels at ASU's "Cronkite Week" -- along with a post-panel interview/meeting with one or more of the featured speakers or panelists.
November 27th: Thanksgiving - No Class
December 4th: A Look Back, and Ahead
Student teams will present their review and recommendations based on results of the semester's class project.
We may have students from the Knight Center's "Independent Study Project" course, present on the results of their projects for that semester.
Students will then present their "elevator pitches" or ideas for their potential next new digital media project - either as a new venture or as a proposed Independent Student Project.
We'll take a look back on the topics and activities of the course, and reinforce the major concepts covered. Finally, we'll present awards for best student blogs.
