Syllabus
Teaching Team:
Coordinator: Jonathan ZhuSupervisors: Ma Wang Wai; Jonathan Zhu
Aims and Objectives:
The project is designed to integrate both communication theory and technical skills you have learned into a new media product for a real-life project/organization, which can be a commercial company, a nonprofit institution, or a startup firm you are setting up by yourselves.
The project shall start with an analysis of the characteristics of the project/organization's objectives, competitive information environment, target audiences, and existing communication channels. The conceptual analysis will lead to the design, production, testing, and deployment of the new media product in an online, interactive, and/or multimedia format.
Teaching Pattern:
There will be two class meetings throughout the semester. The bulk of the work is carried out by groups, each of which consists of three to four students working under the supervision of a designated teaching staff. Normally, the group and the supervisor meet several times throughout the semester, with close contact in between through e-mail and other means.
Group Project:
Given the number of credits (i.e., 6) the course carries and the nature of the course (a production project integrating everything you have learned), the requirements and expectations for the scope, quality, and creativity of the project will be much higher than those for all other individual courses. A high-quality project takes time, a lot of it, to produce. As a solution to the dilemma between the high requirement and your time constraints, the project will be based on collective efforts, rather than on independent individual endeavors. In general, a group is preferred to have three or four members. Strong justifications are required for groups with a larger or smaller size.
Coursework and Grading:
Student performance will be judged based on the following elements:
- Proposal (10%, deadline): identify the content of the project and the implementation method, and discuss potential issues such as copy right, business confidentiality, privacy, content legality, etc. that may arise from the project.
- Product (70%): a new media product that integrates all conceptual and technical skills to reflect a high level of creativity, originality, and technical sophistication. While it is a group product, the grade for each student is based on both the quality of the product and his/her contribution to the project. On-time delivery is also an important criterion in judging the quality of the product.
- Report (10%): a documentation of what has been accomplished and the theoretical reasoning in the project.
- Attendance (10%): participation in class meetings, group meetings with the supervisor and among group members, and other course-related activities.
Meeting Attendance
Attendance is an integral part of the class participation and will be therefore counted toward grade.
Coursework Deadlines
All coursework should be submitted by the respective deadline. Delay in submission will result in reduction in grade.
Copyright and Other Legal Issues
- Each group owns the copyright of its project and bear full responsibility for the accuracy and legality of the project content. When appropriate, all groups are strongly encouraged to adopt a Creative Commons license.
- Each group grands the Department a permenant right to publicize the project online and offline.
- Whenever materials copyrighted by a third party are used in the project, the responsible group should seek prior permission from the copyright holder(s).
- Each project should include an "About Us" page which includes the following statement and the names of all group members and, optionally, contact information: "This website is a class project of MA in Communication and New Media, Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong."
Academic Conduct and Behavior
Students are strongly advised to consult University policy on Student Conduct and Behavior and refrain from academic dishonest behavior such as plagiarism and violation of copyright law.