Thursday, May 7, 2009

Visual Journalism

VISUAL JOURNALISM A GUIDE FOR NEW MEDIA PROFESSIONALS

Introduction

Words and images combined in equally respectful ways will always be vital for telling stories, whether for a handful of spectators through a printed flyer or millions through a World Wide Web presentation. With new technology and practices, story telling has never been so complicated and at the same time so filled with potential for readers, viewers, and users to fully understand the context of any journalistic story.

This printed instructor's manual combined with a version of it on a website and, of course, the textbook itself, offers instructors and their students an opportunity to more fully explore the potential to tell stories in unique and more interactive and integrated ways. 

Visual journalism, a term that expands the professions of photojournalism, reporting, writing, and graphic design, is a challenge to teach and a challenge to perform. Combining words in the form of text and audio, images in the form of still and moving messages, informational graphics, and graphic design for print and interactive multimedia presentations for the World Wide Web is a great challenge. 

It is a challenge for anyone to learn well all the tasks necessary for new media design and production within specific courses of study and even throughout the career of a mass communicator. It is hoped that by the introduction of this manual, the website, and the textbook it will help advance the field of visual journalism. Consequently, the skills necessary for its production will be made easier and second nature for its practitioners.

Within this manual are sections that should help the task of learning this new field. The first section contains three syllabi that are useful in teaching visual journalism: a visual journalism design and production course, a photojournalism course with emphasis on visual journalism production, and a World Wide Web design and production syllabus. Included with each syllabus are assignments, exams, and other materials to help ease the transition from traditional journalism courses to visual journalism courses. Feel free to adjust the assignments and deadline requirements as you see fit. For example, it is probably necessary to teach the elements of visual journalism production over several semesters, rather than in only one. Use the syllabi as a guide for your thinking about teaching this new field. Additional sections include writings by the authors concerning visual communication, photojournalism, and the World Wide Web. These essays and articles can be used as additional readings for your students. At the end is a collection of websites that may be of interest for additional information. The website for this textbook will contain the websites and other materials in an interactive format.

The authors would personally like to thank you for adopting this textbook for your classes. Welcome to the brave new (visual) world. We are all on this journey together. Please keep in touch.

Christopher R. Harris
crharris@mtsu.edu


Paul Martin Lester
lester@fullerton.edu 
ab_webmaster@abacon.com
©2001 Allyn & Bacon
A Pearson Education Company
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