JOMC Website Renovations by Catherine DiPaci

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The School of Journalism and Mass Communication: Website Communication Revamped Presented by: Team JOMC

Table of Contents

Homepage Prospective Students Current Students Alumni Visual Aids/PPT

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Homepage Virtual Cork Board Description:  At the top of the homepage will be an interactive cork board much like the real cork board that is present in the J-school. We found that it was beneficial to move this cork board to the digital world so that it could get much more exposure and students would be able to interact with it.  The cork board feature will be similar to the one on UNCstudentlife.com in that it will showcase fliers, events, magazines and the like that can be clicked upon for further information. o The information included on the cork board should welcome but not be limited to:  Flyers, job postings, newsletters, spelling & grammar dates, magazine publication, new semester classes and timely information.  The information will be all submitted by students, faculty and if approved, by the greater community.  To post something, you would need to send your information to the administrator in charge of approving it and posting it on the board. The information can stay on the board for up to 3 days but it should be encouraged that the information posted would be relating to the current day so as not to cause clutter. Twitter Feed

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The Twitter feed will be displayed on the home page of the UNC Journalism web site o will present 10 tweets at a time o a way to aggregate news in the form of tweets In addition, a hash tag will be a method for prospective students, current students or alumni to have their tweets displayed on the Twitter feed o #uncjomc  The use of the hash tag will be important in creating a community and creating two-way communication between the UNC Journalism School and former, current and prospective students Will be monitored and managed by: o A staff member in the UNC Journalism School

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o Group of interns or o Student ambassadors The feed is a tool to inform the UNC Journalism community, past, present and future, of current news and journalism related information

Event Calendar

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An interactive calendar, located on the home page, will allow users to customize events and activities they want to see on their calendar A panel of events/clubs/activities/ options will be displayed on the right side of the calendar o Each event or activity will be color coded o Only those events that are personally selected will be displayed on the user’s calendar  In order to learn more about a color coded event, simply click on the event  Detailed information will appear in the form of a colored box once the event is selected on a particular date  Some events will take the user directly to a link, such as the ad club web page or the advising web site To ensure events are monitored and controlled, an email address will be provided for any user to submit an event they wish to be displayed on the calendar o A group of student interns or ambassadors will manage this email address and select which events to add to the event panel

Feature Articles

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The feature articles section of the JOMC site is an attempt to create unique content that will increase student traffic to the site These articles will be written by: o Alumni o Professors o Current students  will be placed on the home page alongside a relevant photograph Interns for the Journalism School will: o delegate articles on specific topics and current events o edit posts Examples of feature articles include: o an alumnus spotlight o industry updates o advice These articles will be able to be: o commented on

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create an online community discussion easily accessed from the homepage of the JOMC site, with the most recent articles being prominently featured

Forum

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The forum will be used to create and foster an intellectual online community with: o prospective students o current students o alumni The forum will be divided into various sections: o What's Happening on Campus o Current News Topics o Advice for incoming students o Advice for current students o Journalism o Advertising/PR/Marketing o Alumni Different sections organize discussions and helps keep them on-topic and relevant

JOMC Mobile Description: Easier access to JOMC through mobile devices using format similar to Website.

Prospective Students Homepage 4 Images shown with links:    

“Take a virtual tour of the J-school” “Have a question? Ask a student” “See where our students intern!” “Learn about the different tracks and curriculum offered”

Virtual Tour of Carroll Hall Description:  

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Brief (no more than 2 minutes) video blogs providing prospective students an inside look at the amenities and features of Carroll Hall. Video Blogs would be filmed and hosted by student ambassadors within the school and would allow prospective students the opportunity to actually see all that the School of Journalism and Mass Communication has to offer. Video Blogs could be posted on YouTube and as a collection on the website. Locations: 1. Mac Labs 2. Charles Kuralt Learning Center 3. Reese Felts Digital News Room 4. The 2 media studios (one on the first floor, one on the third floor) 5. Park Library 6. Advising office 7. Dean’s suite 8. The Halls of Fame room on the first floor 9. Entry way in Carroll Hall (with the big tv and first amendment on the wall)

Internship Database Description:

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We will aggregate all the information from current and former student interns throughout every tract in the journalism school to create a searchable database of available internship and job opportunities. Internship-seekers will be able to search via industry (i.e. marketing, advertising, public relations, editorial, copyediting, web design, etc.) as well as by company (i.e. News and Observer, McKinney, Fleishman-Hilliard, etc.) Results will include contact information for the companies and a description of the positions as well as links to the companies.

Videos for Prospective Students Description:  Videos would feature students who talk about their experiences in their specific sequence in the program.  They would primarily target students who want to come to Carolina and students are freshmen and sophomores who are not yet in the journalism school.  The students would represent each sequence: Advertising, Editing and graphic design, Electronic communication, Multimedia, Photojournalism, Public relations, Reporting and Strategic communications. o o o o o o o o o  

Advertising - Interview, talk about internships, show some ads created / assisted with Editing and graphic design - Interview, show same things created Electronic communication - Interview, Carolina Week must be shown Multimedia - Interview, Photojournalism - Interview, Show a student taking photos in the quad and around campus Public relations - Interview, talk about campaigns worked on, internships Reporting - Interview, show some clips of stories Strategic communications - Interview, same process as AD and PR students, highlight the merge of the two Videos would be between 1.5 - 2 minutes

These videos will either be on the JOMC homepage or on the future students main page The JOMC website needs to cater more to students who have not yet came to Carolina and those who are planning on enrolling in the J School.

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The website currently does not cater enough to students who want to major in JOMC and needs an uplift to be more welcoming An electronic communication major could film these students

„Ask a Student‟ Feature

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This section of the website will allow students interested in the J-school (both first-years and sophomores at UNC and high school-ers) to communicate with students who are currently admitted and taking classes in the J-school. These chats will be via video chat and responding to questions asked. We foresee questions about J-school tracks, specific classes, resources available to use, personal experiences and many other areas being covered between prospective and current students in this feature. Implementation: In order to maintain consistent and regular conversations between students this should be set up as an internship opportunity or independent study for current students within the Jschool. The fall, spring, and summer sessions should each feature several students who have designated hours throughout the weekdays to be available for prospective students. There should be several current students who each represent separate tracks possible in the school (ie; 1 news writing, 1 photojournalism 1 ad/pr, 1 strategic communication etc.) although it may not be necessary for every track to be represented each semester. These students will be perceived as something along the lines of “student ambassadors.” Video Chats: In order to communicate with students, ambassadors will be made available via video chats. Each semester when new students are selected to represent the J-school to prospective students there should be a brief training seminar that covers different facets of the J-school. Important aspects of the school that faculty, staff, and students see as essential for prospective students to know should be explained in this seminar. Rather than creating listed and limited responses that the student ambassadors must say, we believe there should only be a list of subjects/topics that should be avoided or not used in chats. These students should be comfortable chatting with prospective students, be able to communicate clearly, and have a passion and excitement for what the UNC Jschool is doing for students.

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Example: Fall semester there are 4 students in different tracks designated as ambassadors. Each student spends a minimum of 3 hours/week online video chatting and responding to questions and comments. The hours each student is available should be designated at the beginning of each semester and posted on the J-school website online for prospective students to see. This could manifest itself so that Student 1 is available M/W/F from 3pm4pm, Student 2 is available Tuesdays from 5pm-8pm, Student 3 is available T/TH from 10:30am-12pm, and Student 4 is available M/F from 4:30pm-6pm etc. During these hours students should be available to chat and are also responsible for updating and responding to students.

Current Students Homepage -

JOMC for your desktop JOMC News 4 Images shown with links:  “Academics”  “JOMC Programs”  “Get Involved”  “Internship and Job Postings” Blog

JOMC for your desktop Description: Create a downloadable widget that allows students to stay up-to-date with JOMC without going to website.

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Include aggregated Twitter feed, weather in Chapel Hill, J-School Calendar where you can hover over for a list of that day’s events but the events displayed will be timely, Academic Worksheets, Alert Carolina notifications o Build RSS feed for each individual option. It will automatically update o Build a widget that aggregates all options o Allow individual to personalize widget (remove items they won’t check often, etc) o Has to be updated daily (connect it to Website to automatically update)

JOMC News  Provide link for JOMC News so that students can access it at all times without searching for emails “Academics” Description: Once the student scrolls over the image a list pops up including all academic related areas that would be of interest to current students. List would include options such as:       

Advising Academic Worksheets Registration JOMC Curriculum Professors Spelling and Grammar Test Etc.

Advising  

Information on advisors, advising hours and contact information Offer chat/Skype with an advisor or hold chat hours (similar to Park Library)

Interactive Academic Worksheets   

Students want easy access to their worksheet This will: reduce stress on JOMC advisors, allow students to track the classes they need, keep students on a 4-year track You can choose your intended major and the worksheet will fill in:  Classes you have taken that fulfill general education requirements

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Classes you have taken in the Journalism School that fulfill your major In another color:  Other classes (based on need and availability):  Mandatory classes  Optional classes to fulfill major requirements (electives, etc.)  What semesters the classes are available (Fall, Spring, Summer) Columbia’s Journalism School has a really great website that we could possibly get some ideas from. Here is the link:  http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/page/11-current-students/11

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An easy to search list of classes being offered that semester A forum where students can recommend classes they enjoyed – post must be approved before going live on site Implement Twitter  School can promote a hashtag for finding courses during registration  Course information to be posted during registration by:  Advising  Professors  Students  All using the forum and hashtag

JOMC Curriculum 

A list of requirements and testimonies from each track in the Journalism School

Professors  Easy access to our biggest education tool  Their information should include:  Office locations and hours  Biography  A Photo  Email, Blog, Personal Website, Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn etc Spelling and Grammar Test  

Allow students to sign up online Provide upcoming test dates, practice tests, grammar tips

“JOMC Programs” Description: Provide up-to-date information on programs offered through the Journalism School. Include:    

Study Abroad Fall/Spring Break Networking Opportunities Certificate Programs Etc. Study Abroad 

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List the placement choices first  (ie. Brisbane, London, Paris, Buenos Aires, Pamplona, Mexico City and Shanghai)  Include aggregated Twitter from students who agree to document their study abroad through Twitter  This will allow students considering this opportunity to see what the experience could be like Each location should have a page including:  Student’s experiences, blogs, Twitter Use @UNCGlobal and #UNCGlobal

Fall/Spring Break Networking Opportunities      

This opportunity is overlooked by many students who are not subscribed to JOMC News or miss the announcement Have students on the trip blog about every aspect of their trip like a diary – this will generate interest in the program Show all the tweets that students on the trip have sent out over the course of the trip Integrate YouTube and have videos that showcase the experience that these students had on the trip in addition to photos Have alumni of this trip that secured jobs because of this trip give testimonials to the significance of this trip. Put current biographies of the alumni students will be meeting on the page so others can see who they could potentially meet if they apply next time

Certificate Programs

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Few students are aware of certificate programs like Latijam, Interdisciplinary Health Communication, Sports Communication, etc  Provide each of these their own page including:  Course information  Professor contacts  Links for those programs (Website, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc) Consider:  Put Business Journalism under the sequences so students know they can major in it.  Carolina Community Media Project is more of an outside opportunity related to the JOMC school rather than a program in the JOMC school – it should be included in the “Get Involved” section  Keep the graduate programs separate from the undergraduate. That should be a theme on the whole website.

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Journalism students have opportunities to be involved in various types of Journalism organizations on campus The Website should celebrate and inform students of these opportunities It will be a database that provides general information, allows editors/presidents to post when they are taking applications/hiring  Envision – “Get Involved”  Choose from “publications,” “production,” “clubs,” etc  Students should be able to click and find a list of campus publications and organizations  Who to include?  Publications/Productions  ReeseNews  Carolina Week  DTH  Scope Magazine  Rival Magazine  Patchwork  Blue & White Magazine  Bounce Magazine  Heelprint  Carolina Passport  Carolina Production Guild  Carolina Quarterly  Carolina Sport Business Club

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The Hill Student Television The Well Being Magazine WYXC Chapel Hill The Yackety Yack Her Campus

Clubs 

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PRSSA  BSBA Marketing Club (Carolina Marketing)  CAFME  Carolina Creative Writing Association  Ad Club  Carolina association of Black Journalists Click on the image of that publication or the link and find updated contact information, including:  General info: website link, Twitter, Facebook, blog, how often they publish, how long they have been on campus  If students choose to seek more information they can use the provided links to the organizations Website and social media  Also include PDFs of past issues/photos/examples of what the club does (ie. CAFME NYC Networking trip) How can we easily attain information for all of these clubs? 

Send out blast on JOMC News asking all interested official student organizations to respond with the lists information  once they do, note to them it is the responsibility of the organization to send updated information each year/semester or 

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allow students to submit information through the backend of the site (it can be approved before it is posted)

Email all of those in charge of these organizations  Use a current intern or proposed student ambassador to contact/seek out organizations Anything else?  Use applicable articles on JOMC Website  they can be posted as PDFs under the blog featured on the homepage and on the current student page

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this shows off UNC students to alumni and prospective students, shows current students how to get involved

“Internship and Job Posting” Description: Students are always seeking internships. Provide easy access to archived internship information. 

Internships job/postings can be from : 

The Journalism School  Professors  School related  Personally owned businesses or family/friends/colleagues  Students  Student run organizations  Current employers of students who need extra interns or are interested in hiring  Alumni  Who know their companies are seeking interns How to inform the current students in the most efficient way?  Internship/Job postings should be posted and updated frequently, readily accessible and easily viewable.  Professors, Alumni, Students and J School employees should have access to posting internships/jobs through the backend of the site  Methods  Internship search- where you choose what aspects you are looking for and it generates those applicable  List that allows students to skim through all internship postings (see Internship Finder in Prospective Students)  Twitter- an aggregated Twitter feed featuring all jobs/internships with contact information and how to apply  Facebook- page dedicated to only internships/jobs o Tweets informing Twitter users of Facebook posts o links to job/internship Twitter on Facebook  Blog- occasional posts by employees both to give an insight into what “the real world” is like and what their company looks for in interns/employees

Blogs 

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Use the Poynter Blog as an example o Does good job covering news of the news industry o Provides analysis and columns We could ask for contributions from alumni, current professors and students. o

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Alumni would discuss their sector of the industry, new things their companies have done thoughts on the industry. o Professors would look at the same topics and try to spark conversations within the journalism community. o Students would discuss work for local media organizations, internships and general thoughts on where they see the industry going as well. This engages all three targets and provides a fresh resource exclusive to the journalism school that could play well in the social media sphere. o

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How can we get students and professors interested in providing blogs?  Internships  Of course, this could be a better aggregate for Jay Eubank. Instead of just posting links and retweeting internship opportunities on Twitter, Eubank could post the links to the blog. Also, Eubank could bring back the “email forwards” that he used to give the JOMC Internships listserv. The original message from intern seekers could be posted o the blog along with links. A blog would be a good way for students to go back to older posts and even archive past posts.  Faculty requirements?  J School professors and adjuncts are all very enthusiastic about helping their students.  Can’t really make a requirement for professors, per say. But faculty could be strongly encouraged to post. Ask them to update within each sequence once a week. One professor per week would be efficient. Two sequences featured each week.  Also, open the blog to be available for alumni to post information/ background information about themselves (where they are at now, how the j school helped them get there) o Maybe this function could be done by an intern. Finding alumni and asking them to post. All those contributing to the blog should be able to email the blogs in and they can automatically update o Include title in the “subject;” text in the body

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This will reduce manpower needed to update blogs Professors and alumni can connect their personal blogs to the school blog when applicable

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Use text notifications for registration and for graduation applications as reminders

Alumni Page Alumni Bulletin Board

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A bulletin board will be showcased on the alumni page o This bulletin board will look similar to the home page bulletin board and will function as a creative, information display o Certain aspects of the board will be permanent and unchangeable  However, multiple widgets will be available for the user to customize the board to their liking. o Unchangeable elements of the board include:  a sign in now link for alumni to create their profile  link to donate  alumni forum  event calendar  alumni news to stay connected  alumni monthly newsletter link  link to the alumni directory (J-Link) o A wide-array of widgets such as weather, Facebook, Ad Age, The New York Times, YouTube and the Washington Post will be available to personalize the bulletin board

Alumni Finder (J-Link)

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The Alumni Finder will mimic the internship finder available to current students on the current students’ page o This device will ease the alumni contact and search process Search options will include o Location o Employer o Occupation o Journalism sequence Through this search process , students will filter information they want in order to contact a specific alumni based on one or all of the above categories

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The Alumni Database will then direct the student to the alumni profile(s) that reflect(s) the student’s search criteria o This profile includes information pertaining to the alumni and provides multiple means of contact and communication for the student Students will use their onyen username and password, rather than a separate account, to access the Alumni Finder and search for alumni

Alumni Profiles

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The alumni mini social network is a way for alumni to keep in touch with the UNC Journalism School, each other and current students Each alumnus will be sent a welcome email that will feature a video (made by current students) inviting them to join the network and explaining the benefits of joining the network The profile will include the o alumni’s picture o Twitter handle o Facebook link o Linked-In o Contact email o current and past employers o their most important tip for current students o a short biography o published articles or works they have written This will be a useful resource for both current students and alumni It will not only make it easier for students to find alumni in similar career paths and contact them, it will also make it easier for alumni to contact their peers if they are ever interested in switching occupations or changing careers Alumni profiles will also create a sense of community from the blog posts and news aggregators present on the alumni page itself

Notable Work of Alumni

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The Alumni page will feature a virtual book case displaying notable publications of alumni

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o This online library will catalog every work published by alumni and will allow the user to select and view the publication Similar to the Park Library display case, the online library will include: o Books o Artwork o news clips o other published media A search will be included allowing the user to search by: o Title o Author o Publication date  Once the work has been selected, the user can learn more about the author and alumni by selecting a link to the alumni’s profile

Alumni Twitter Feed

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The Twitter feed from the home page will transfer to the alumni page as well The purpose of exhibiting this feed on the alumni page is to keep alumni and students informed and updated while they search the alumni page for notable alumni works or the alumni directory Unlike the home page Twitter feed, a separate hash tag will be used and only featured on the alumni page Twitter feed o #uncjomcalum

Phone Application Potential

The most useful application for a phone that a student would want to download would be an interactive academic worksheet, on the go.    

Student would be able to sign into the application with their Onyen. The academic worksheet displayed would feature all of the classes you have already completely that fill in the columns as well as electives taken. You would also have the feature to pick a different track and see what other options you have if you want to compare your sequence to another. This would be really helpful for current students, especially around registration time where it is very hard to keep referencing the online blank academic worksheet.