Writing New Media

As new media mature, the changes they bring to writing in college are many and suggest implications not only for the tools of writing, but also for the contexts, personae, and conventions of writing. An especially visible change has been the increase of visual elements-from typographic flexibility to the easy use and manipulation of color and images. Another would be in the scenes of writing-web sites, presentation "slides," email, online conferencing and coursework, even help files, all reflect non-traditional venues that new media have brought to writing. By one logic, we must reconsider traditional views even of what counts as writing; a database, for example, could be a new form of written work. The authors of Writing New Media bring these ideas and the changes they imply for writing instruction to the audience of rhetoric/composition scholars. Their aim is to expand the college writing teacher's understanding of new media and to help teachers prepare students to write effectively with new media beyond the classroom. Each chapter in the volume includes a lengthy discussion of rhetorical and technological background, and then follows with classroom-tested assignments from the authors' own teaching.

Writing for Digital Media teaches students how to write effectively for online audiences—whether they are crafting a story for the website of a daily newspaper or a personal blog. The lessons and exercises in each chapter help students build a solid understanding of the ways that the Internet has introduced new opportunities for dynamic storytelling as digital media have blurred roles of media producer, consumer, publisher and reader. Using the tools and strategies discussed in this book, students are able to use their insights into new media audiences to produce better content for digital formats and environments. Fundamentally, this book is about good writing—clear, precise, accurate, filled with energy and voice, and aimed directly at an audience. Writing for Digital Media also addresses all of the graphical, multimedia, hypertextual and interactive elements that come into play when writing for digital platforms. Learning how to achieve balance and a careful, deliberate blend of these elements is the other primary goal of this text. Writing for Digital Media teaches students not only how to create content as writers, but also how to think critically as a site manager or content developer might about issues such as graphic design, site architecture, and editorial consistency. By teaching these new skill sets alongside writing fundamentals, this book transforms students from writers who are simply able to post their stories online into engaging multimedia, digital storytellers. For additional resources and exercises, visit the Companion Website for Writing for Digital Media at: www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415992015.

Written in a down to earth, non technical language which gives aspiring writers expert advice on how to break into this fast-growing field.

Writing for News Media is a down-to-earth guide on how to write news stories for online, print and broadcast audiences. It celebrates the craft of storytelling, arguing for its continued importance in a modern newsroom. With dynamism and humour, Ian Pickering, a journalist with 30 years’ experience, offers readers practical advice on being a news journalist, with step-by-step guidance on creating a great story and writing the perfect news copy. Chapters include: extracts from published news articles to help illustrate the dos and don’ts of storytelling; the ten golden rules for structuring and putting together a successful news article, including ‘Nail the intro’, ‘Let it flow’ and ‘Keep it simple’; instruction on writing stories for different specialist subjects, including politics, court cases, economics, funnies and celebrity; help for readers on how to write for broadcast news; tips on how to write headlines, how to use pictures, how to make the most of quotations and how to avoid common style and grammar mistakes; glossaries covering a range of different aspects of news journalism, including types of news story, online and data journalism, typesetting and broadcasting. This is an instructive and insightful manual which champions brilliant storytelling and writing with flair. It introduces a set of key creative and analytical techniques that will help students of journalism and young professionals hone and refi ne their story-writing skills.

Today we are endlessly connected: constantly tweeting, texting or e-mailing. This may seem unprecedented, yet it is not. Throughout history, information has been spread through social networks, with far-reaching social and political effects. Writing on the Wall reveals how an elaborate network of letter exchanges forewarned of power shifts in Cicero's Rome, while the torrent of tracts circulating in sixteenth-century Germany triggered the Reformation. Standage traces the story of the rise, fall and rebirth of social media over the past 2,000 years offering an illuminating perspective on the history of media, and revealing that social networks do not merely connect us today – they also link us to the past.

The Basics of Media Writing: A Strategic Approach helps readers develop the essential writing skills and professional habits needed to succeed in 21st-century media careers. This research-driven, strategy-based media writing textbook digs deeply into how media professionals think and write in journalism, public relations, advertising, and other forms of strategic communication. Authors Scott A. Kuehn and Andrew Lingwall have created two comprehensive writing models to help students overcome their problems in finding and developing story topics by giving them "starting points" to begin writing. The Professional Strategy Triangle model shows students how to think critically about the audience, the situation, and the message before starting a news story or persuasive piece and the FAJA four-point model asks students a series of questions about their story type (Fact, Analysis, Judgment, or Action) to guide them to the right angle or organizational structure for their message. Rooted in classical rhetorical methods, this step-by-step technique enables readers to strategically approach each writing task, no matter the format.

A lively, practical guide to creative writing as discipline and craft, ideal for students and teachers.

Examines the impact of social media on three writing-related themes: publics and audiences, presentation of self and groups, and pedagogy at various levels of higher education.