Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Flat Plan

Final flat plan

Here is a photo which I took of the style sheet (with the articles) on the board:




Shown below is a list of the page layout within the flat plan itself

page 1 - Front cover
page 2 - Question 1A of the exam (Mike)
page 3 -
Time to turn off TV for good? (Tara & Matt)
page 4 -
Is Wikipedia an online blessing? (James)
page 5 - Lincoln advert and activities (Alex & Sam)
page 6 - Media tube map (double page spread) (Tim)
page 7 -
Media Tube map (double page spread) (Tim)
page 8 - Lincoln advert and activities (Alex & Sam)
page 9 -
Wikipedia world tour (activity) (Tim)
page 10 - Has Twitter changed communication? (Alie)
page 11 - Zeitgeist forecast (Hayden)
page 12 - (back page) Online gaming communities (Ash & Dave)


Here is what people needed to change within their articles and what needs doing collectivily with some points:


Pete & Nick subbed and changed the articles (final drafts)
  • Change footer and headers to look the same
  • In the footer there MUST be exam tips (1 sentance) from Mikes article (So mikes article will now be spread throughout the newspaper)
  • In the header there will be bits from Sams practitioner articles
  • Question 1a needs to have question 1b added to it
  • Repetition of colour needs changing needs different eye catching colours
  • MUST be same style (ALL articles)
  • OCR / JUNCTION / LINCOLN adverts need putting into place (style sheet / articles)
  • Underground map needs changing (Writting / structure)
  • The offical london underground information / logos need taking out (copy right infringment)
  • Ash and daves article needs putting into one full article and needs re-writting
  • The front page at the moment looks un profesional and needs changing asap! the paragraph / editorial needs to take up most of the front page and descibe in DETAIL what the newspaper is about and who we are etc
  • The people involved with the project neede to be creditied on front page (e.g Jenny Grahame, newspaper club etc)
  • ALL articles must have at least 2 pull out quotes


Overall the main issue is that there are not enough pages as after cutting down articles we now have 11 so of course there will have to ba another page added (1 idea was to have an activities page) which I believe will be the best thing to do at this late stage of production as it is quick and easy to complete within a short space of time

Final flat plan session (Constructing newspaper)

In todays session we have discussed and created the final flat plan for our newspaper. People who have written articles have also amended any erros within their articles and made corections where need be.

Here is a video / slideshow I created which shows the session today (in photos) and also has an audio recording from the session

( keep in mind that some bits of audio had to be cut out due to sound quality )


Tuesday, 30 March 2010

Feedback on Article


In this afternoons session I have given some feedback on Matt, and Taras article about TV and the internet, I found that their article was very well written, with some very good and valuable statistics which people could easily use within their exams, there were only a few minor changes such as format of sentences and changing a few words due to repetition, but overall its a very good article and I will be happy to se it within the newspaper. 

Here are some photos of me writing the feedback and also the article itself: 


Plan - Completion of articles


Due to the lack of time, we where unable to create the flat plan due to the simple fact that people were unable to complete their articles in this mornings session (10.50 - 12.20) so therefore people are working on them now in this session (2.40 - 4.10) Once the articles are complete they will be proof read by Pete & Nick at 4.10, and they will then be ready for tomorrows session, whereby we will start creating the final flat plan then instead of this afternoon. We have received feedback from Jenny (which is shown below) and based on her feedback a few people within the group have to change allot within the article and this has forced them to place their articles online rather than within the newspaper itself. 

Here is the exact plan for the (2.40 - 4.10) session: 

James and Mike are working on writing a brief article relating to question 1a & 1b they have been advised to include the following things: 
- Long road media blog g325 (Links) 
- Revision cards (brief notes on exam etc) 

Some articles may have to be placed online rather than in the newspaper due to time constraints and also based on the feedback from Jenny people cannot change their articles on time in order to reach the print deadline, so therefore their articles will be placed online. 

The articles need images and links to websites also need editing and cutting down based on Jennies feedback

Sam needs to re-do his articles (Gauntlet article) And also limit himself to the amount of written material within his article due to the limited amount of space within the paper itself. 

Petes media blog needs to be addressed some where within the newspaper 

At 3:50 today Pete has requested that EVERYONE who is working on an article should send them to him in a pages document so that himself and Nick can work on subbing peoples articles 

The adverts need sorting out (physical adverts) - Bournmouth, Junction, Media Magazine 

The front page of the newspaper needs sorting out (Names, thanks to.., Introdcution)  




Finalizing images / Articles


Everyone who is working on an article are now finalizing their articles and also touching them up, as in adding colour, images, correcting font, and making them look more professional / stylish. 

The images which people are using must be copy right free and also if they are from an external website then the website must be acknowledged within the article itself as an italicized link.

which will look like this: 

http://www.flickr.com/ 

We are also making sure that the format of the articles are correct and are closely linked to the specification and house style guide, this is the task which the quality control team will take on board. 
  
  
Due to Jenny receiving the PDF's of everyones final draft articles (After cutting) she will unfortunately will not be able to give us feedback until this afternoons session, so of course the plan has been slightly effected by this, but hopefully we will still be able to get a flat plan complete this afternoon based on peoples articles and how complete they are. 

The quality control team will work on putting all the articles into one PDF file, which in turn will work as our digital flat plan for the newspaper. 


Monday, 29 March 2010

Flat planning / Completing articles


Myself and Tara have discussed the flat plan draft with Pete and have changed it (due to people changing the length of their articles) Pete pointed out to us that we should keep in mind that we will not be able to complete a full flat plan because people are still working on their articles and are still cutting them down, another reason why this flat plan is only a draft, is due to the fact that the articles will be sent to Jenny for further feedback so therefore she may mention to people that they may have to be cut down further, which in turn means that the flat plan may need re organizing.

Here is the finished draft Flat plan for the newspaper:






I have also given some feedback to loz today for his article in order for him to get it completed and sent to Jenny in time, I found that the main thing for him to change was a few spelling mistakes etc but overall it was very good!

Here is a photo of Loz's article (with my written feedback on it):


Feedback on blog (Mike)


I have received some feedback from Mike (Reflection - Quality control team) The feedback which I received was very positive and from the feedback I received it appears that I do not need to make any changes and I just need to carry on with the work as I am doing at the moment

Here is a screen grab showing the feedback I received from Mike (regarding my blog progress / work)

Schedule for week (29th - 1st April)


I have created a plan for the rest of the week after a brief discussion with Pete (Teacher)

Here is the plan for the final week of this project:


Monday 29th March (Colridge & Long Road - B102)

9:00 - 10:00: Proof reading of articles / improvements (Alex to write intro article)

11:00 - 12:20: What is missing from the articles? (Exam related material, images etc)

1:50 - 3:20: Get PDFS of revised articles (Including copyright free images) Images must by CMYK not RGB! (DPI = 150) (FULL page)  Articles then must be sent to Alex BEFORE 2:50 then Alex will email Jenny with PDFs of articles (Jenny MUST have the articles by 3:00 at the latest!) Me, Tara & Alex will work on the flat plan


Tuesday 30th March (Long road - B102)

10:50 - 12:20: prepare articles and get feedback from Jenny, then make the appropriate changes to articles

2:40 - 4:10: Mock - Up of WHOLE paper (including adverts, front and back page)



Wednesday 31st March (Long Road - B102)

9:00 - 12:20: Preparation for investigation project and finalize the paper


Thursday 1st April (Long Road - Conference room)

1:05 - 4:10: Finalize ALL material and WHOLE paper


Friday, 26 March 2010

Style Sheet - Rough / Draft


Myself and Tara have looked through the articles during the subbing stage whereby people were adjusting and cutting down their articles in order to fit the newspaper / flat plan space. We soon found that the articles did not fit within the flat plan and this was a major problem, so myself and Tara went around each group and individually set people a target of how much they should aim to cut their articles down by, for example Phillippa and Alie had to cut their articles down from 1 and a half pages to one page in order for the articles to fit into the style sheet itself.

Flat planning session / completion of articles


In todays session every one who is working on articles are completing their articles and placing them into the house style sheet and also completing their articles with the house style guide in mind. 

Once people have completed their articles I will send them the images if they wish to place them into their articles in order to make them more visually captivating towards the audience. 

Once they have completed their articles as far as possible then they will print them off and the will then be passed around every member of their group for 'subbing' basically to spell check and ensure that everything is correct, once this is completed they will then be passed onto the quality control team (myself, Tara, Alex, and Mike) who will then double check every thing and ensure that it is all correct and referring to the style guides, also another thing to check is that everyones articles look the same to avoid different styled articles, which of course is vitally important to the overall success of this newspaper 


Copy right free images


I have researched and sourced some copy right free images for people to use in the production stages of their articles

The first website which I looked at was 'Creative Commons', I soon found out that the official website does not have any images actually on the site, so unfortunately  I of course could not source any information from this site. 

Here is a screen grab from the website: 



My other searches was on a few other websites which were as follows: 



1) copy right free photos.com 

I did not use this site as there were no images which where not fitted for the themes of the articles 



2)  Think stock.com 

I found some good images on this site but unfortunately you have to pay to use the images so of course I could not source any images from this site for people to use within their articles
 


3) Flickr.com 

I used the creative commons search on this website in order to source some images  for peoples articles, and found that this website worked best out of all 3 as it has some good images which are copy right free and also fit to peoples articles very well 


Thursday, 25 March 2010

Things to be completed


I have created a list of materials / tasks that need completing within the new plan / schedule 

Here is the list of the things which need completing BEFORE the final deadline on Wednesday 31st March

*Visual style guide / style template (Thursday 25th / Friday 26th
* House style guide (Thursday 25th
* 'Subbing' of articles (Friday 26th - Tuesday 30th
* Logo designed and finished (Friday 26th)
* Gain adverts from confirmed advertisers (friday 26th
* Place articles into the style sheet (Friday 26th - Tuesday 30th)
* Get photos for every ones articles (Friday 26th


Change of plan / schedule

In todays session we were informed about what was happening and what needs doing in the last few days of this project.


Shown below is the changed plan for the rest of the week / next week:



Monday 29th March (AM) - Colridge (9.00am-12.20)

Minutes from meeting (Style sheet)

We have held a meeting to discuss the final design / style sheet for the articles for ournewspaper
Attendees:

Ash ( Gold team member )
James ( Blue team member )
Hayden (Red team member )
Myself (Quality control team )


Here are some photos which I took from the meeting today:



In the meeting we discussed about the 3 style guides which we had to hand the style guides which we had to hand where as follows:

Haydens article / style guide
James article / style guide
Matt & Taras article / style guide

The following things where brought within the meeting:
  • Hayden suggested that we should only have ONE text wrapping image within the articles and it must be a BIG sized image

  • James stated that the titles should be BIG and BOLD compared with the rest of the font within the article

  • I suggested that 3 collums within each article is a good amount to have as 4+ collums creates to much on one page and makes it look crowded

  • Hayden suggested that box outs should be shown in the bottom right of the articles

  • We all thought that 12pt font would be the best to use for the main content within the articles

  • James said that the best idea would maybe to centre the title on the articles

  • I suggested that it would be a good idea to make full use of the colour printers at the newspaper club and include as much colour as possible within our articles

  • We all suggested that the introduction should be in bold and set at a slightly bigger font than the other font within the article such as (14pt)

  • James said that there should be NO gaps with the articles as it looks as if it is 'unfinished'

After the meeting Ash, Hayden, and James set to work on creating an overall style sheet / guide for the group to use during the production process of their articles

Wednesday, 24 March 2010

Style Sheet - draft / ideas


In todays session we are producing a draft style sheet which will allow us to gain a better view of what the completed newspaper will look like once all the articles are put together within the style sheet itself, or-though I am not personally producing an article, I still believe that it will help the other members within my group who are producing articles for our Media Me newspaper


A style sheet is a form of presenting the content within the publishing process, for example applying and formating text within the style sheet 


Shown below is some general points that I must keep in mind when producing the stye sheet draft: 

Typeface / font style 
Bold / italics (Bold facing) 
Underlining of text / titles etc 
Justification (left, right, center, etc) 
Space before and after paragraphs 
Tab stops and indentation  
Colour  of text 
Borders 
Letters (capitals and non capitals etc) 
Strike through style 

Shown below is a screen shot from the editing process of  my style sheet

 
I started working on my style sheet but due to time constraints I was unable to complete it, so I decided that since I am a member of the quality control team that it would be a good idea to concentrate on other tasks such as plans for the deadlines and letters for the group leaders

Also I was informed by my teacher that it was not my job to create a style sheet so this is another reason why I unfortunately did not complete my style guide document 

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Interviews with target audience


Shown below is the video from the audio recordings that I gained in todays interviews, and also including the photos that myself and Tara took during the time that the interviews were taking place


Interview video - Extended project from cmdiploma on Vimeo.



This is the video made up of the recordings and photos taken from the interview session on the 23rd March for the extended project (Newspaper - A2 Exam)



Video produced by: Kirk

Interviewers: Kirk & Tara

Audio recorded by: Kirk

Photos taken by: Kirk & Tara



Thanks to every one involved with the interviews!

Interviews with target audience

In todays session Me, Tara & Alex (Quality Control team) were asked to interview students from the level 3 media group in order to gain some further research . data for our articles in order to boost up our draft aricles for our newspaper, it was also a chance for us to gain an insight into what they thought of our articles so far

Shown below are the transcripts which I created after todays interviews

Tom


1) What social networking websites do you currently use if any?
Have you ever deleted your social profile online and why?


I actually don’t use any, I cant be bothered with continuous updating

2) Do you use the internet to watch TV programs as opposed to physically watching
TV? For example BBC I-player, 4OD etc …

Yeah TV programmes, I use streaming sites such as TV dome occasionally use BBC-I player, I don’t really use 4 OD, TV dome is better as it has all the American TV shows and also does pirate films

3) Have you ever produced a video and posted it online?
What websites have you posted your video (s) on ?


No, but I have during the course, I use vimeo but only for the course, Vimeo has better quality above you tube, as you tube has a low audience

4) In what format do you view the news? For example Internet, newspaper, TV?
What format do you prefer?

I get a little up date on my computer, when I go on my computer I get a little news update with important news, I cant be bothered to buy newspapers

5) Do you download music from the internet?
What websites do you use in order to download your music?


I use lime wire

6) Are you currently using any of the following websites to upload your own
material?

- Deviant Art
- Flickr
- Youtube
- Myspace

If so then why? And how often do you upload material to the websites?



I use flicker for photos and you tube as its what we are pointed at during this course




Tom & Sven


1) What social networking websites do you currently use if any?
Have you ever deleted your social profile online and why?


Tom - Facebook, I still have myspace but don’t do any thing with it

2) Do you use the internet to watch TV programs as opposed to physically watching
TV? For example BBC I-player, 4OD etc …


Tom - Yeah I sue 4 OD
Sven - I use you tube to watch new shows and use bbc I player

3) Have you ever produced a video and posted it online?
What websites have you posted your video (s) on ?

Sven - I mainly create animation videos and stop motions then place them on you tube
Tom - Me and my friend have an account so we upload videos, he does like magic videos and stuff

4) In what format do you view the news? For example Internet, newspaper, TV?
What format do you prefer?


Tom - I watch the TV in the mornings and I get the free newspapers off the train
Sven - I watch the news on TV in the afternoons

5) Do you download music from the internet?
What websites do you use in order to download your music?


Tom - My dads got a subscription to napster so I use that sometimes and ive used lime wire before but it takes too long so I don’t use it any more and id rather own CDS
Sven - I don’t download any music


6) Are you currently using any of the following websites to upload your own
material?

- Deviant Art
- Flickr
- Youtube
- Myspace

If so then why? And how often do you upload material to the websites?

Tom - I use flicker for college and that’s about it, maybe if I was creating a project I might use deviant art and I use it because its what we have to sue during this course, I upload photos about once a week



Tilly & Lewis


1) What social networking websites do you currently use if any?
Have you ever deleted your social profile online and why?


Tilly - Facebook, I did have a myspace but I don’t use it anymore but nobody uses it and everyone has a face book so I use that
Lewis - Facebook


2) Do you use the internet to watch TV programs as opposed to physically watching
TV? For example BBC I-player, 4OD etc …


Tilly - I did use BBC - I player before I got virgin TV and also I used 4 OD I prfer watching things on TV, but sometimes catch up online
Lewis - I use online TV to catch up


3) Have you ever produced a video and posted it online?
What websites have you posted your video (s) on ?


Tilly - I use youtube to watch videos now and again, I prefer youtube than vimeo as its easier
Lewis - I watch music videos on you tube Ive made videos of me and my mates mucking about, youtube is better than vimeo as Its harder to use vimeo as we have only just been using it in our course


4) In what format do you view the news? For example Internet, newspaper, TV?
What format do you prefer?

Tilly - I watch news on TV, I don’t like reading newspapers
Lewis - I watch news on the TV

5) Do you download music from the internet?
What websites do you use in order to download your music?

Tilly - Yeah, I use limewire and I-tunes to listen and download music
Lewis - Yeah

6) Are you currently using any of the following websites to upload your own
material?


- Deviant Art
- Flickr
- Youtube
- Myspace

If so then why? And how often do you upload material to the websites?


Tilly - I use fliker every two weeks and upload photos
Lewis - I use fliker and upload photos every two weeks





Max & Yasmin


1) What social networking websites do you currently use if any?
Have you ever deleted your social profile online and why?


Max - Just face book, used to use myspace and bebo, stll somewhere on the internet but not active
Yasmin - Just face book, used to use myspace and bebo


2) Do you use the internet to watch TV programs as opposed to physically watching
TV? For example BBC I-player, 4OD etc …

Yasmin - Yeah I do I use BBC iplayer, its more convenient watching TV on the internet
Max - Ive used bbc iplayer once or twice

3) Have you ever produced a video and posted it online?
What websites have you posted your video (s) on ?


Yasmin - Ive uploaded videos on youtube in this course
Max - I use youtube and have done since the age of about 12, Vimeo is more streamlined but ill probably still use youtube Just the fact that you have to get an account and everything just on youtube its easier

4) In what format do you view the news? For example Internet, newspaper, TV?
What format do you prefer?


Max - I don’t watch the news at all but I do see pop ups now and again on line and I would check the internet if there was some major important news
Yasmin - Its usually just on in the background and when I sign into hotmail the news pops up and I look at the metro on the train


6) Are you currently using any of the following websites to upload your own
material?

- Deviant Art
- Flickr
- Youtube
- Myspace

If so then why? And how often do you upload material to the websites?


Max - Yeah ive used deviant art once or twice for an old art project and I have friends that have flicker sites but I don’t have one myself I upload material about once a month
Yasmin - I use fliker to upload photos on my own personal profile I upload material about once a month




Hannah & Emma

1) What social networking websites do you currently use if any?
Have you ever deleted your social profile online and why?


Hannah - Facebook and used to use myspace
Emma - Facebook used to use picso and bebo I never use them now as no ones on them apart from face book always on facebook

2) Do you use the internet to watch TV programs as opposed to physically watching
TV? For example BBC I-player, 4OD etc …


Hannah - Sometimes use BBC I player
Emma - I use sky plus and record programmes but I sometimes use BBC - I player I prfer watching TV as its easier


3) Have you ever produced a video and posted it online?
What websites have you posted your video (s) on ?


Emma - we put our videos from college projects online
Hannah - We put our videos from college online, like the music videos etc


4) In what format do you view the news? For example Internet, newspaper, TV?
What format do you prefer?

Hannah - I don’t really watch the news or anything really
Emma - I watch news on the TV if its on and nothing else is on, its not that important to me


5) Do you download music from the internet?
What websites do you use in order to download your music
?

Hannah - I use limewire for downloading music as its free
Emma - I use I-tunes and limewire as its free I convert MP3s from youtube now and again as its free and easy to do


6) Are you currently using any of the following websites to upload your own
material?

- Deviant Art
- Flickr
- Youtube
- Myspace

If so then why? And how often do you upload material to the websites?

Emma - I use flicker to upload photos but I use face book as well but I do like flicker, I use myspace now and again
Hannah - I use flicker for college photos

Overall I believe that the feedback we recieved today was maybe not as constructive as we would of hoped for due to lack of time but it was a good range of feedback and will feed very well into peoples articles as extra information and graphs, it will also allow people to see clearly what our target audience require as far as information goes, due to their internet useage etc

House style guide

Shown below is the house style guide which basically shows and informs everyone who is producing an article how it should look like and also how they should structure their articles.

Elements such as: Font, Titles, Paragraphs, Indents, Collums, etc are all addressed within the house style guide to ensure that our newspaper is looking the same (articles must look the same) otherwise it will not look professional and will look very much like a 'slap - dash' quickly produced paper and that is what we must avoid without question, so therefore to avoid this Mike has produced this house style guide, which you can see a photo of below.



Monday, 22 March 2010

Plan for the week


Here is the plan for this week (22nd - 26th March)

Monday 22nd March (9.00 - 12.20) :

Questionnaire for audience / peer research
Get style sheet from Jenny Grahame (from english media centre) - Nick to organize

Tuesday 23rd March (10.50 - 12.20) :

Questionnaire session with level 2 students for audience feedback

Tuesday 23rd March (2.40 - 4.10) :

Evaluate audience feedback session (with photos from it)
Work on style sheet

Wednesday 24th March (9.00 - 12.20) :

Work on style sheets
Photography for articles Example: (exam question article - photos of students working etc)

Thursday 25th March (1.05 - 4.10) :

Final style sheets
Adjust articles (with photos!)
Collaborate and review final articles then place into style sheet

Friday 26th March (1.30 - 4.10) :

Organize final material / articles for paper
Get paper ready for printing
Further research into other papers etc (for blog)
Quality control team to check everyones blogs and make sure everyone is on target

Friday, 19 March 2010

Logo for newspaper

After a group discussion we have decided that a good logo for our newspaper would be a simplistic one with a simple deisgn which links to the media magazine logo.

Shown below are some ideas which people came up with in todays session:

Monday, 15 March 2010

Reflection on articles

The quality control team (Myself, Tara, Mike & Alex) have looked through peoples draft articles and discoverd that many things need changing within them.

Shown below are some notes that where made on peoples articles:

- Very formal maybe to formal for the readers?
- Need to have more examples!
- MUST link to exam (That is the idea for the WHOLE paper!)
- Spelling and Grammar is an issue and needs amending
- Wording and structure of the articles need re-thinking / doing
- Where are the sources from? (website / book / film / music etc)
- Needs MORE personalisation towards the audience / readers
- Too vague needs more explicit writting and information to help other students
- Need to keep to the target audience in mind (AT ALL TIMES )
- Add facts and figures so that peple can use them within their exams
- More quotes are needed within the articles!


Overall we have discussed a list of parts / pieces that need changing within the articles

Shown below is the list of things which need amending asap:

  • Address the reader as a student of our age (16 - 20 )
  • Ensure that they all link directly to the exam paper / questions
  • Include images / diagrams / etc (VISUALS)
  • Refer to the exam criteria!
  • Use the wording from the exam questions or even use the WHOLE question!
  • Use facts and figures
  • Suppy references to sources you have used
  • Check and Change (spelling / gramma etc)
  • Use footnots for referencing sources
  • Make it personal to the reader and use a professional tone within your writting
  • Anotate images used (EXPLAIN AND ILLUSTRATE)
  • Target specific exam questions relating to your article (MIX & Match) be brief yet informative
  • Infomation on its own is not enough (explain every detail and be explicit with your writting!)

Sunday, 14 March 2010

Ideas for article

I have thought of a possible article or layout / format for an article.

I took into account what Pete, Jenny and Nick were saying that it would be good to have an interview within the newspaper somewhere so that the students can take quotes from it for their exams etc, so therefore I decided to expand apon this idea and came up with a possible layout for an interview style article.

Shown below is a photo showing the idea which I came up with:


My main idea was to have the questions from the 'interview' which would most likely be conducted over the internet due to time constraints etc. The questions would be set out as individual paragraphs, with an introduction, middle and a conclussion.

The papargraphs will be acompanied by polaroid style photographs of the person in question, I believe that this style of photo will relate to our target audience whom are students much like myself and my fellow class mates

I also thought that a simple colour scheme would work best and to not use too many colours as this would distract students from the main content, and considering that this is a revision newspaper I believe that to be distracted from the main content within the article would mean that that student would not be able to focus on the actual revision itself

Saturday, 13 March 2010

Newspaper Club - (Printers)

Shown below is the price guide from the newspaper club website:

Newspaper Club (Printers)


Shown below is a video showing the printing process at the newspaper club printing press:


the most fun Ben's had all year from russelldavies on Vimeo.

Newspaper Club - (Printers)




I have researched into the newspaper club website / company  

( who will be printing our newspaper ) 

I have found out the following information about the newspaper club: 

What newspaper club actually is and what they do
The page / newspaper specifications (Page dimensions)
Pricing 
Past newspapers what have been printed 



So, what is newspaper club and what do they do? 


Newspaper club was set up and made by a  organization know as: R.I.G - Really Interesting Group. Rig  is a multi disciplinary organization who work in post- digital designs. 

Projects which RIG have been involved with other than newspaper club are as follows: 
Apple, Umbro, BBC, Dopplr, Six to Start and Penguin

The newspaper club is funded by Channel Four (4IP) 

As it states on the website they are NOT about news or any particular form of content. they mainly concentrate on printing newspapers or as they say (Ink & newsprint), they will basically print anything and everything which is sent to them, but with obvious limitations

Here are some direct quotes from the website: 

"We think the web is wonderful and printed newspapers are a tremendous, highly-evolved way of reading stuff." 

"Whatever you think would be good to print that way; we think you're probably right."


Shown below are some screen grabs from the newspaper club website which clearly show the guidelines they set for when producing a newspaper for them: 



Here is a screen shot showing the pricing guide shown on the newspaper club website: 



For our newspaper we are producing a set of 500 full colour copies so that will of course cost us £500 



Here is an example of the kind of material (newspapers) which newspaper club have printed in the past 

BBC - Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy (Penguin) 

Newspaper club printed the hitchhikers newspaper for the BBC as a sampler to show people a taster of the new installment of hitchhikers guide to the galaxy  ( the 6th installment) 

Here are some photos showing the newspaper itself : 



Thursday, 11 March 2010

Lesson activity and letter

I have created and handed out 2 letters to the group leaders today which basically state a reminder of the deadline for the draft articles and also on the other sheet of paper is an activity which is as follows:


To work colectivly as a team in order to produce some ideas for the content for the flyer which will be handed out at a london teachers meeting whereby we then hope to gain some customers to buy the newspaper


I set a time on this task as I believe when there is a time set for the activity then people usually work more effectivly and get the work done in a resanoble time and usally people tend to *beat the time* by getting it done 10 mins before the final deadline, so overall by setting the time of 20 mins max for the activity I believe people will hopefully work effectivly and fast and get the activity done on time!

I also decided to introduce a prize into the activity to hurry people along and also ensure that people produce some serious ideas for the flyer, as silly ideas (which have been coming up in discussions quite a bit) are not going to appear within this activity and if they do then the teams will have to re-think their ideas! So I believe the prize aspect is a great way to motivate the teams and ensure that they produce some constructive / serious ideas which will speed the process of creating the flyer up dramatically.




Here are some photos of the 2 documents:



- Letter to remind people of the friday draft deadline -







- Activity sheet -



Friday, 5 March 2010

Minutes from Meeting / Notes from session

These photos show the notes I took in todays meeting / session:


Discussion with Pete Fraser


In todays session myself and the quality control team (which I am a member of) had a group discussion with Pete Fraser, we discussed the following things:

- Exam paper (A2 media)
- Exam specifications
- Presentation from Rhygate college
- Tips and Content for articles / pages in newspaper
- Mark scheme for exam paper
- David Gauntlette

The main things which we discussed were mainly relating to sources of information which we needed in order for everyone to complete their articles, whilst relating 100% to the exam itself.
The main documents which we were given by Pete where:

The exam specification, and a past media exam paper, these two documents are vital to us as research and also will help everyoneto write their articles and will ensure that everyone is on track with what they are doing and rember to relate what ever they write within their articles to the exam itself.

Here are some photos of the exam specification which we recieved today:







Pete informed us that it was best for us to focus our articles on just 3 aspects of the exam specification and they are as follows:


1) Media in the online age
2) Post-modern media
3) 'We media' and Democracy


So these are the aspects which we as the quality control team will make sure that everyone who is producing an article will keep very much at the front of their mind, so that they can concentrate their content around these 3 catagories in order for other students to revise them


Thursday, 4 March 2010

Question Box (Activity One)

This is a screen shot showing the production stage of the activity / letter for each of the group leaders

This photo is showing the letter (Left) to the group members which basically informs them of the activity itself and the 2nd document (right) is a written expination of what the activity is and what they need to do etc

Here is what the 'Question Box' activity is about:


Questionnaire

Part one:

Could you please ask the members of your group to each work individually, and create one question each for the final questionnaire to hand onto Pete

(Please write your questions on the bits of paper provided)

(questionnaire will be created to gain information from students about possible content for the newspaper)

Once the questions are completed, please can you place them into the question box

(The question box will be brought around by a member of the quality control team)

Part two:

Once the questions are collected up from each group, they will then be shuffled

The box will then be passed around each group, could you pick out a question from the box (1 for each member within your group) don’t worry if its your own question (s)!

Once each member of your group has a new question to hand, can you please then instruct your group that you now must work together in order to combine the questions into one single
question


Final part:

Once you have created your final one question please can you pass it on to the quality control table / team

Once All questions are colleted by the quality control team they will then be put into a
final question sheet which will then be passed onto Pete for Friday

Activity one: 'Question Box' activity

For friday we need to come up with a questionaire as a group in order to gain some valuableinformation for the content for our newspaper, the questionaire will also help us to gain some information on what it is that students of our age group what within the newspaper itself.

On friday our teacher 'Pete Fraser' will be heading off to Rhygate college which is where he will conduct our questionaire and ask the students there to asnwer it.

In order for the questionaire to be completed by friday I have devised a simplistic activity whereby the whole group can get involved which the questioanire by brainstorming their ideas together, my 1st thought for this activity was how to combine everyones knowledge into one and then create a questionaire while taking everyones points into mind, so as I said I decidded that this activity would be the best idea as to how we could all work together and ensure that the questionaire is completed by friday and emailed to Pete.

Shown below is a photo which shows me preparing the activity at home:

Question Box activity - evaluation


I strongly belive that todays activity was a huge success, as it achieved my main goal, which was at the end of the acivity to have a questionaire completed and ready for Pete for friday, which is exactly what occoured at the end of todays activity, so overall it went very well!


Shown below are the questions that the quality control team recieved during todays activity from the groups:

The photo below shows the finished questionaires which were created after this activity took place, as you can see the questionais have been filled in by students at Rhygate, because this photo was taken after friday when Pete took them along to the rhygate college in order for us to gain some peer feedback on some ideas for are articles / newspaper

I believe that the majority of the feedback which we recieved was actually unhelpful as it seemed to be rushed and not done acuratly which is a great disapointment to both myself and my team as we worked hard to create a questionaire which involved everyones envolvemnt with the questions etc, but overall we did recieve a few good points, such as the ideas for possible content and revision tips etc but apart from that as i said before the feedback was unhelpful, but we could stil extract some valuable points from the feedback here and there




Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Feedback from the client

Today Alex (liason) has recieved feedback from our client based arund the questions which he had sent to her via email, shown below is a photo of the email Aex recieved from our client:

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Schedule

After completing the schedule poster / letter etc I then placed the poster up on the wall along with the letter and inspirational poster, Which all together I belive will give people the chance to keep up to date with what they are doing and will allow them to forward think into what it is they need to do in the next coming weekes / days.



Here is a photo of the schedule, letter, etc up on the wall within the class room:

Schedule / 1st letter

My job role as schedule manager is to keep everyone on track so therefore I have created a letter which I have passed to the group leaders (red,blue & gold) which basically outlines to them and their team mates about the actual deadlines for each key point / stage within the project itself.


Shown below is the schedule itself and also the letter I wrote for the leaders of each group:




I believe that by creating the diagaram of the schedule it gets people looking at it now and again which is great, because of course it will mean that the deadlines will hopefully stick in peoples minds and will also hopefully mean that people will take down notes / times from the schdule which will help them to keep to the deadlines set on the schedule poster


I strongly believe that by writting a letter to the leaders of each group makes the project that much more professional and also creates a positive, well informed atmosphere whereby people understand exactly what is going on when and when things need to be completed by etc. I also believe that people work alot better in a well constructed, organised enviroment, because as I stated before they understand what is going on and when

Monday, 1 March 2010

Final role structure for the project

Here is a video I created
It is a video showing the structure tree for this project with Nick (Our Teacher) explaining each of the areas



Here is the final decided role structure for this project:
Liaison: Alex


- QUALITY CONTROL TEAM -

Evidence: Tara

Schedules: Kirk (Myself)

Reflection: Mike


Red leader: Loz

Red team: Dave

Red team: Matt H

Red team: Hayden


Blue leader: Phillippa

Blue team: Joe

Blue team: Alie

Blue team: James


Gold leader: Sam

Gold team: Tim

Gold team: Matt L

Gold team: Ash

Structure for roles (Personal choice)

I have selected members of my group for certain roles for this project

Shown below are a list of the roles and the students which I believe will fit best within the roles and why that is

Liaison: Alex
I strongly believe that Alex will be perfect for this role as he enjoys comunicating with other people, and this is the main comunication role within this role structure

- QUALITY CONTROL TEAM -

Evidence: Kirk (Myself)
I believe that I can personally be in charge of evidence within the project as I have a keen interest in photography, and in past project I have taken photos of the class working on the projects, so therefore I think I will be good within this role as I can supply some hard evidence for the group to use within their blog work etc

Schedules: Tara

I believe that Tara will be great within this role as she is genrally really good at sticking to schdules and will manage to keep the team on track with what they are doing (deadlines etc)


Reflection: Sam

I believe Sam is very good at giving people feedback, but could do with a slight boost when giving people constructive feedback and I believe this is a great role for him because it will invole comunicating with others within the group and giving them some constructive verbal feedback on their work during the course of this project


Red leader: Phillipa

I believe that Phillipa is a great leader and will make a great job of keeping her team on track!

Red team: James

Red team: Matt H

Red team: Mike


Blue leader: Alie

I believe that Alie has not had the chance to lead in past projects so this is the chance for her to shine! Therefore give her the chance to have experiance of being the leader of a group

Blue team: Hayden

Blue team: Loz

Blue team: Joe


Gold leader: Ash

Ash can be very energetic and confident about the projects, and I believe if he focused that down onto the leadership role then he would be a great group leader!

Gold team:
Dave

Gold team: Tim

Gold team: Matt L