Work Book

13 May Work Book

Week 1: Jan 28th-Feb 1st

• The first Monday back we were introduced to the module and what was expected from us throughout the term
• On Wednesday, we were in the class with Rebecca and discussed the competition entry module. We went through ideas and previous examples of competitions people have done and what we were interested in. Then the second half of the group had voice coaching with Vanessa for 2 hours
• After this class, I started researching different ideas of what I could do as my competition entry. Back in the summer of last year, I wanted to apply for the Edinburgh film festival. I wrote out my application and then soon discovered I had to be a graduate to do so. So I was thinking of redoing my application but as part of my competition entry.
• On Thursday, we did a refresher session on the newsroom, inception and the radio studio. We then did a live tv and radio show to get back into it after having a lot of time off, in which I spoke as a guest on the radio.

Week 2: Feb 4th-8th

• On Monday we had voice coaching in pairs with Vanessa. I and George sat with her for about an hour going through news scripts. She taught us how to project our voices and make the stories sound more interesting by using our voices correctly
• Wednesday we went through a few powerpoint presentations on what people have researched on competition entries, which gave me some more ideas on what I could do for mine. I was still unsure what I wanted to do and was struggling slightly with an idea.
• Thursday we did another live show with Michael to get our skills up to scratch in finding people for a sofa discussion and having panel discussions. We came into class with no stories so it was all on the day

Week 3: Feb 11th-15th

• No class Monday as it was the second half of voice coaching in pairs
• Wednesday was a workshop for the competition entries, so going through our ideas and working on them
• Thursday’s class we made audiograms to post on our websites and social media. I and George had time, in the end, to make a news page for Snapchat. We made it on an app that we downloaded and managed to create a short news story on it
• Started to research more ideas during and after lessons. LJ also posted a competition on Slack that I’ve been interested in
• Mencap, a charity that focuses on children with learning disabilities was a competition that I was looking at. They want someone to produce a piece of work basing it around younger people with learning disabilities. One of my friends works in a school for people with learning disabilities ranging from ages 3-19 so I knew I had someone in the back of my mind I could try and get through too in regards to interviews and case studies

Week 4: Feb 18th-22nd

• Monday we did some mobile journalism by going out into groups of 4 and 5. We had a choice whether to stay and do a live mobile journalism show or go out and get some interviews for the question time show in a couple of months and ask the students around the university what they would ask any member of staff about the university or what they would change. My group managed to get around 5 interviews.
• Wednesday was another lesson just working on our competition entries, doing more research and trying to get an idea of our final idea
• Thursday we filled out the NSS forms and went on the treasure hunt around London

Week 5: Feb 25th-March 1st

• Decided on my final idea for my competition entry. I will be choosing to do the Mencap Awards. Focusing on children with learning disabilities. I want to try and see if I can actually speak with someone with a learning disability and get their side on it and if they face any difficult obstacles on a day to day basis. I want to look into if they are treated correctly and if their disability has affected their lives.
• Thursday we had a lady come in to talk about Shorthand which was actually very interesting. I considered using it in my final project as I liked how it told a story visually. With short notice, I wasn’t able too but I’d like to use it in the future

Week 6: March 4th-8th

• I wasn’t in the country this week

Week 7: March 11th-15th

• Monday was the student choice live show, not enough people turned up to class so had to reschedule and the class sent home early
• Thursday’s class was meant to be a Wikipedia talk but again, not enough people came to class so was rescheduled to the following week

Week 8: March 18th-22nd

• Monday was our assessed live news day, some were a part of the tv live show and some were a part of the radio live show. I and Shola had to work on a story for the radio show which was about a man who created a short film about London’s Fire Brigade that had been taken down and he wanted to show the younger generation the history of the Fire Brigade and what it meant to him. We had to get into contact with him to get his permission to use a clip of it during our radio show. I made a short package on it and used a quote of what it meant to him that he told us via Twitter direct message. The show went smoothly and everyone did their role’s well.
• Wednesday we came in to prepare for the migration live show. Not many turned up so we had to make do with the people who came in. I had to gather the statistics on Brexit as we were going to use them during the show.
• Thursday we were working on podcasts and what kind of style podcasts are and how to produce one. George, Delina, and Barbara started off a podcast and have successfully followed it throughout the weeks and are making a weekly thing from it.

Week 9: March 25th-29th

•  On Thursday John Lubbock from Wikimedia came in to talk with us on how to work Wikipedia and showed us how to edit entries and verify information through Wikipedia. He talked us through the importance of it and how useful it can be.

Week 10: April 1st-5th

• I wasn’t present this week due to being ill, I discussed this with Vanessa, Rebecca, and Michael

Easter Break:

• Spoke to one of my friends who is a teacher at a school for young children with learning disabilities. She said she’s going to speak with her manager to see if I can come in and chat with the teachers and the students and potentially get some interviews.
• Waiting for her to get back to me as she would be my starting point for interviews. If not one of my friends’ brother suffers from a learning disability so I’d ask her if I could use him as a case study.
• She said that her students wouldn’t understand my questions enough to be interviewed and would have to go through a parents permission process which would take too long to do with my short time scale. She was happy for me to interview the teachers/carers so I’m going to go into the school later this week to talk with them about how the students are and if they see any issues regarding their disability.
• Managed to get interviews with 3 people, a family member of someone with autism, one with dyslexia and a family member of someone who has down syndrome. 3 very solid interviews, very pleased with the outcome as I didn’t think I would be able to do it in time.
• Got an interview with a lady who works at a learning disability school

Week 11: 29th April-3rd May

• On Monday, it was our first lesson back from the Easter break so we spent time going over the assignments we had to complete and began to prep for the symposium
• We had a talk from a freelance journalist
• It was very interesting to hear from a different side of journalism and how she goes about her everyday life and what it’s like living as a freelancer
• Wednesday we focused on our symposiums and was given a guide to what we need to include when we present our projects
• We were given a 5-15 minute slot so we had to prep what we were going to say if we were going to include any of our audio/video pieces, any difficulties we faced, what worked/didn’t work and what we would change if we could go back
• Thursday was our symposium day, we were all in order from out of a hat and I was first
• I was very nervous but once I started I felt like I was calming down as it was going along. I felt like I did well considering I’m usually terrible at standing up in front of people
• It was a good chance to see how everybody else did in their projects and what subjects they chose to do

Week 12- 6th May-10th

• No class on Monday as it was a bank holiday
• Wednesday we prepped for our end of year show, went through what everybody wanted to do on the day
• I chose to be floor manager, I’ve not taken on this role yet throughout my time at university so I thought I’d put myself up to a challenge and do something different to me
• We went through what content was going to put at each time throughout the show to get an idea of what the reporters need to go out and find
• Thursday was the BJTC panel which I wasn’t a part of so didn’t attend class, I worked on the written piece for my competition entry instead

• Completed my competition entry, managed to get everything I wanted when I thought at one point I wasn’t going to get any audio interviews. Very pleased with the outcome and also pleased with the contribution I’ve made in class this year with the live shows and all round taking part.