The Connected Classroom: Internet Applications for a Magazine Publishing Course By David Abrahamson Northwestern University FROM: Abrahamson, David. "The Connected Classroom: Internet Applications for a Magazine Prototype Course." In Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication, 7:3 (September 1997): in press. Abstract: As journalists struggle to define exactly how electronic mediums such as the Internet can assist in the research, production and packaging of news and information, so too do journalism schools struggle to incorporate the Internet into traditional courses in reporting, writing and editing. Moreover, collegiate and graduate journalism programs have a responsibility to equip the nation's next- generation journalists with all the tools of the trade, which inevitably includes on-line tools that have become so pervasive in today's news rooms and at magazines. At Northwestern University, the Medill School of Journalism is successfully incorporating the World Wide Web into its graduate magazine sequence. By weaving electronic publishing into its Magazine Publishing Project, Medill arms graduate students with a marketable knowledge of that curious tool called the Internet, a necessary complement to the fundamental skills of fine journalists. It is a combined knowledge that helps secure jobs in the short term, and benefits the journalism profession for years to come. As traditional journalism continues to embrace electronic communication, so too must journalism education. Yet just as journalists struggle to define exactly how electronic mediums such as the Internet can assist in the research, production and packaging of news and information, so to are journalism schools struggling to incorporate the Internet into traditional courses in reporting, writing and editing. Indeed, many programs are making impressive strides in this endeavor thanks to both available funding and a philosophical recognition by journalism faculty that, yes, online technology is changing the profession in a way journalism education cannot ignore. At Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., the Medill School of Journalism is successfully integrating the World Wide Web into its teaching programs. Admittedly, Medill's progress in this area is due in no small part to the nature of Northwestern University's rich technological culture. Northwestern is one of perhaps a half-dozen universities across the nation that has made an absolute and sustained commitment to technology on its campus. The 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 1,800 full-time faculty members throughout the university have extensive access to hardware and online tools, including student e- mail accounts which are assigned upon registration, space on servers to create individual websites, and wide access to multiple LEXIS/NEXIS, Dialog and other online database services. In these ways and more, Medill is blessed with the university's overarching commitment and generosity when it comes to technology. It is a blessing that extends itself to the students and, ultimately, the greater journalism profession. The application of the World Wide Web in journalism education is perhaps most pronounced in Medill's heralded graduate Magazine Publishing Project, the premier professional-training course of its kind in the nation in which the students produce both a prototype magazine and a business plan.[1] As the capstone course in Medill's magazine sequence, the Publishing Project goes beyond traditional journalism classes and focuses on the publishing process in its entirety, including the crucial interrelationships between the editorial, circulation and advertising dimensions of the enterprise. Of particular importance to the development of both research and conceptualizing skills, the class employs the start-up methodology, rather than have the students simply produce an additional issue of an existing publication. Twice a year at Medill, a class team of 18 graduate students have 12 weeks, or one academic quarter, to conceive, staff, design and produce an original magazine concept, a four-color prototype issue and fully realized five-year business plan. The magazine itself is a professional student-produced editorial product, complete with both departmental pieces and feature articles designed by students using QuarkXpress. The end-result is a 48-page prototype, as well as a number of line extension and ancillary products. Approximately 2,500 copies of the magazine are printed and distributed to Medill alumni, students, faculty and friends and to a large number of prominent editors and publishers in the magazine profession. The business plan projections are derived from "real- world" testing. These include elements such as the results of actually performed market research (focus group reports, in-depth interviews and a 400-completion market-research survey), an actually mailed circulation test (typically sent to 2,000 potential subscribers), and a telephone advertising sales campaign directed at the 250 advertising prospects that received Project media kits.[2] In the past seventeen years, the Project has produced some 34 consumer and trade magazines, including such titles as _Armadillo_, _Starting Again_, _Young Executive_, _Athletic Chicago_, _Promising Child_, _Image Chicago_, _Renovation Architect_, _Yesterday_, _Arts Chicago_, _City Space_, _Rap-Up_, _Exit Chicago_, _Caregiving_, _FIT_., _Prospects_, _Facets_, _Chicagoland Teacher_, _Side Street_, _Home Inc. _, _1000 Journeys_, _Women's Sports Monthly_, _Inside Comedy_, _Professional Catering_, _Womens Business Journal_, _Grounded_, _Basketball Coach_, _Business Link_, _The Motorcycle Journal_ and _Today's Smart Parent_. Notably, three of the student prototypes, _Contract Health Care_, _Camp Management_ and _Raising Teens_ (a publication to assist baby boomer parents with, as the title aptly suggests, raising children during their teenage years), were all purchased by commercial magazine companies and taken into actual publication. The core objective of the program is to emulate the complete magazine publishing experience. It is an attempt, from concept to delivery, to mirror the professional realities wherever possible. To that end, each member of the class assumes a traditional staff role--editor, business manager, advertising sales associate--and contributes accordingly over the course of the Project. In that same vein, the hardware and software the Publishing Project uses are chosen with the intent of duplicating the most widely applied industry tools. Each year, Medill's faculty actively surveys publishing companies throughout the country to assess what applications and computer systems our students need to be fluent in -- or at the very least familiar with - - in order to enter the job market fully equipped. In 1994, for example, we concluded that the majority of magazine publishing companies were in the process of switching to Apple Power Macintosh platforms which, we believe, have since become the industry standard.[3] Since so much actual magazine reporting, writing and designing in the industry takes place in the QuarkXpress environment, the widespread preference for the Macintosh operating system (augmented with a DOS emulation program or a DOS card for Windows applications) is certainly understandable. In response, the Magazine Publishing Project has a dedicated classroom (arranged as a magazine office) equipped with 18 Power Macs as well as several high-end design computers. Each computer has unlimited access to the World Wide Web, and students require little encouragement to dive in and surf. Similar to our hardware selection, our software of choice for Web browsing software also is the current publishing industry standard, Netscape 2.01. As of this writing, we have no plans for replacing Netscape in favor of other options such as Microsoft's Explorer software, but that, like so much in the world of technology, may change.[4] Understandably, the Project is an intense process, as students try to accomplish in 12 weeks what often takes most start-up publications one or two years. Students work eleven or more hours a day, often six days a week over the 12-week period. It follows that, given such a brief time, there is every incentive to provide and use labor-saving technology. As a result, the Web fits into the program out of necessity as well as on a need-to-know basis. With each Publishing Project class, the Web proves an ever-more-valuable resource for both the business and editorial aspects of the Project. In preparing the business plan, the Web provides instrumental research capabilities that help students locate potential advertising prospects (through proprietary sites), prospective subscribers for the magazine (via the sites of third-party list vendors) and, for the detailed contents of the five-year business plan, the names and numbers of providers of a variety of publishing services. The Web's other major contribution to the Project is on the editorial side. In addition to their staff responsibilities, students are required to propose, research and write a departmental piece and a feature article for the Project magazine. The Web plays a valuable role in this respect, and students browse websites for data and sources in all the ways today's working journalists are learning to do.[5] Likewise, the issues students encounter when conducting Web research reflect the legal and ethical issues facing journalism, most critically the accuracy of the information that resides on the Web.[6] In a way, Medill's faculty is in a somewhat precarious position -- advising in the uncharted territory of Web research. Students can be over-eager in their adoption of the Web as a journalistic source; the speed and quantity of information available with a few keystrokes is indeed appealing. The faculty finds itself curiously shading and positioning its guidance to students, simultaneously encouraging use of electronic tools such as the Web while reminding students to maintain the healthy skepticism that is the backbone of fine reporting, regardless of the medium or the source. Although each student produces two written pieces, not all of them appear in the final printed prototype version of the Project magazine. This dilemma -- surely all students involved with the Project should have an opportunity to showcase their work -- has also been somewhat solved by the Web. As of Fall 1995, each magazine created by the Publishing Project has a companion, student-developed website. Today, all student work is published on the website, where space limitations are less restricting than a print product (of which more later). When Medill originally introduced the website into the Project, it posed a prickly question that soon answered itself. In short, the faculty was concerned with just how to teach Web publishing. Professors debated whether to offer classes in the use of PageMill or Front Page or raw HTML, the coding language of Web-page design. Yet it soon became clear that, in the case of the Publishing Project, students embrace the Web so willingly that they often come to the Project knowing more than faculty. For example, many students voluntarily establish their own websites where they post resumes and writing samples -- a tremendous advantage during the job search as students often tell interviewers to simply point and click to access their credentials. For students unfamiliar with the Web, they arrive at the Project believing they will learn it by osmosis from their classmates, and they are usually correct. In effect, they teach themselves, so little formal training during the Project is required, although the faculty attempts to make it available at the students' request. The result is a somewhat free-form, self-administered learning environment, with many faculty tangentially involved but none dedicated solely to Web instruction. At times, this proved to be a very effective pedagogical format; at others, less so. As Nina Hammerling, the student responsible for the creation of the website for _Today's Smart Parent_, the Spring 1997 Project, recalls: Mostly, I would have to say, we made things up as we went along. We taught ourselves, and sometimes we had to make massive errors before we learned the right way to do something. This is, of course, a valuable learning tool (failing miserably and then picking yourself back up again). On the other hand, given how busy we were and how everybody who worked on the site also doubled in some other overloaded department, we probably would have been well-served by a faculty person of our very own who could have paved over some of those potholes for us.[7] Despite student enthusiasm for online work, the website component of the Project is another burden for them to shoulder in the very limited time frame of the course. It is, however, a burden most believe worth bearing. Without doubt, developing a website is an ideal opportunity to learn by doing, which is particularly important considering that no true industry standard for Web publishing exists. Students are faced with the same problems all magazine editors and publishers are currently trying to solve. What information should be posted online? Complete stories just as they appeared in print? Or longer, more in-depth versions? Or perhaps just an abstract of the article should be on the Web page and in that case, who is responsible for writing the abstract? Tough questions lacking received- wisdom answers, and hence best addressed in a hands-on, real-world context. Nevertheless, the students do spend much effort insuring that the online version of their Project magazine both parallels and complements the print product. This takes a number of forms. For example, prior to any actual design or coding work, the "New Media" team composes a specific vision statement for the website which not only mirrors the vision statement previously created for the magazine as a whole, but also outlines those areas where the online product will be mindful of the medium's unique advantages (e.g. the interactive possibilities of reader responses and reader survey forms, almost unlimited archival capacity, etc.) and disadvantages (e.g. the "two-screen-attention- span" problem, confusing link structures, etc.). Additionally, a conscious attempt is made not to ghetto-ize the new media effort by isolating it from the rest of the class. Instead, an organizational task-force structure of multiple roles for every member of the class makes it possible to allow some of the students who are designing and editing the print version to be part of the Web team, thus insuring a certain degree of continuity between the two products. With the cumulative experience of four Project websites, a number of interesting thematic issues have arisen which may illuminate a few broader pedagogical considerations. These include: a) Strategic Positioning Issues: The heart of the matter concerns the core appropriateness of a Web version of any particular magazine. Every magazine prototype class must ask itself a difficult question: Does this particular readership's interest in this particular topic lend itself for Web dissemination? Where are the technological thresholds, and are they sufficiently surpassed? In the case of _Today's Smart Parent_, for example, the market research survey conducted by the students showed that two thirds of families who make up the magazine's potential readership own computers, and that almost half of them are already using the Internet -- from which one might reasonably conclude that a Web version of the magazine was a viable idea. Moreover, as the managing editor of the _TSP_ home page aptly noted: "The website was a natural extension to our print magazine concept, because it fit in so well with our vision statement -- parents should know how to use all the tools available to improve their children's education and to learn themselves."[8] b) Design Considerations: The issue here does not seem to be technologically driven; that is, it is less a matter of software choices and more a matter of aesthetics. Given the wide range of presentation possibilities available with all Web-coding software (from stripped-down text-only to the hopelessly rococo whiz-bang), the issue of design appropriateness is of ongoing importance. Rather than stipulate a certain design genre, however, perhaps the best guidance to be given to the students is simply to require that sufficient time be spent by everyone concerned browsing the Web, with particular attention focused on the websites of competitive publications. c) Editorial Procedures: From our experience, it is clear that the editorial processes and procedures used on a Web version of a magazine are indistinguishable from those employed on print products. These include matters such as copy-flow routines and procedures, fact-checking, assignment and supervision of both "idea" and "line" editing of manuscripts, final copy-editing, and issues of editorial management and decision-making. Hence, the website offers an additional pedagogical opportunity for both core editorial instruction and practical application. Indeed, it has always been apparent that website creation is largely an editorial- driven, rather than technologically driven, venture. In our experience, at the start of the process less technically adept students informally but effectively learn Web production coding from those with greater technical expertise, and once they are sufficiently trained, their roles as online editorial decision-makers become paramount. One unique consideration, however, that we encounter is derived from the fact that the printed 48-page prototype does not have room for all the departments and features which the students propose and write. As a result, in the interest of insuring that every student completes the course with at least one "clip" for job interviewing purposes, priority for inclusion on the Project website goes to those articles which -- for reasons of editorial balance, not merit -- are not included in the printed prototype. However, with no "space" limitations on the website, in the end the online version of the magazines also include some articles which also appear in print. d) Building on the Past: When Web versions of our printed prototypes were first contemplated two or three years ago, it was our expectation that each successive Project would consciously build and expand on the work of its predecessors. This has not proven to be the case. For instance, when asked how much she relied on the efforts of previous Projects, the _TSP_ webmaster replied: "I have to say that we did very little of this except that we looked at the past Project sites and decided what we did not want to do."[9] Upon reflection, this is not surprising. Beyond the dictates of each Project's explicitly encouraged pride of original authorship, the world of Web conceptualization and production is evolving so quickly that it may be unreasonable to expect that online efforts completed six months in the past would have a reliable and persuasive relevance to the present. As one might imagine, Medill's students and faculty engage in endless discussions about these and related issues, and admittedly it is a challenging process. Yet by addressing the questions inherent to online journalism, students often enter the work force understanding more about it than seasoned publishing professionals. In this way, the Project once again mirrors the industry, and students are that much more valuable to employers. That knowledge also translates into higher-paying job positions -- online- related jobs typically command $3,000 to as much as $10,000 more in annual salary and afford students in-roads at publications they might not have had. Employment opportunities cannot be overstated in a discussion of integrating the Internet into journalism education. Students come to professional education, specifically journalism school at the graduate level, to secure jobs. Undeniably, online jobs in journalism are a growing, albeit new, market niche. In a survey conducted by Gerald M. Kosicki of Ohio State University and Lee Becker of the University of Georgia, for the 1994-1995 academic year, less than a dozen out of approximately 2,400 journalism student respondents reported they had online jobs. Yet it was just after that graduating class that the online "wave," as it were, hit the beach, and Web-related career opportunities became far more apparent in the job market once dominated by print and broadcast. Indeed, the Kosicki- Becker survey for 1995-1996 shows a marked increase in online job interest and potential. In this most recent survey, 147 respondents reported seeking online jobs, while 71 actually received online job offers, typically at average salaries $3,000 to $5,000 above the prevailing medians.[10] The experience at Medill is that between 10 and 20 percent of our most recent graduates secured jobs in new media, working online for publications or in positions with a serious online component. Starting salaries for graduate students in new media jobs range from $30,000 to $40,000, compared to the $25,000 to $35,000 range typical of traditional print positions. These figures suggest just how eager publishing companies are to hire people with experience and a facility for online work. They are perhaps also indicative of where the industry is going and where journalism education must follow. It is quite possible, for instance, that within the next five years Medill's publishing course will produce a paperless magazine. The publication will never be delivered to the printer, but rather be an online product. All of which seems to be leading to a decidedly unvicious circle: Better salaries and positions leading to more interest on the part of better students leading to better applicants leading to more offers at better salaries. And it is clearly something to which journalism education must respond. But beyond the vocational aspirations and professional hire-ability of our students, there is a larger, perhaps more important dynamic at play here. When asked how her online experiences provided her with "added value," Hammerling thoughtfully responds: I came into the Project expecting to learn the intimate details of how a magazine is produced from start to finish, and I did gain that experience. But I never expected that I would work on the website. As an avid Internet fan and an avowed futurist, I always believed that the World Wide Web represents some essential element to the future of publishing, so when I started working as managing editor of _TSP_, I thought it would be a good experience, but nothing revolutionary for me. I was wrong: It was both. Not only did I garner skills that are in very high demand, such as website design and production, editing for online publication, some basic code, image manipulation in Photoshop, I also learned something that in a way is much more important: a conceptual grasp of online publishing. I learned how to change my "big-picture" perspective from print terms -- limited space, physical restrictions, little opportunity for interactivity -- to online terms. Online, the space an article occupies is virtually unlimited, but it's important to understand where human limitations come into play. Online, we can add links and sounds and animation. Online, readers can choose precisely what they want to read and what they want to ignore; they can fill out a survey; they can send us e-mail. Now I can go off into the world with the clear understanding of both how a prototype magazine and a prototype website are produced, both in technical and in conceptual terms.[11] In light of the well-reported salary premiums, students with Web experience in school will find a growing market for their skills. There are, however, other issues of concern that they foresee having to deal with. For example, Hammerling is well aware of the possibility of diminished long-term job mobility: I am applying to several online publishing jobs. Although I must admit that right now my priority is in magazines, because I want to establish myself as a consumer magazine person. I do have some worries of being pigeon-holed as an online editor, similar to a trade magazine editor. Are there difficulties in making the leap from online to consumer magazines, as there is difficulty in making that leap from trade to consumer? We don't know right now. It's all still too young. [But] it seems as though many well-established publications or media conglomerates are very interested in hiring "kids" who "know this technology stuff," because they're afraid of becoming dinosaurs in the race to get online.[12] Granted, there remain some students -- indeed, there are many journalists -- who are hesitant to enter the online arena. They question the journalistic integrity of online publishing, particularly at a time when accepted standards of style, content and ethics are noticeably absent. Indeed, this is a critical discussion, and one of the central roles of journalism educators will be to attempt to ensure that the new electronic media are not abused but rather held to the highest principles. But the undeniable reality remains: The industry blinked, and the publishing world changed. Today's journalism students are a technologically savvy generation, comfortable with new media and all its potential. That alone has significant implications for the future of journalism and, thus, of journalism education. END NOTES: [1] For a summary of the syllabus and organization of the Medill Magazine Publishing Project, please see [2]] The Medill Magazine Publishing Project advertising sales campaign is a "simulated" one. Although no money actually changes hands between advertisers and the university, the Project secures signed contracts for advertising commitments from companies such as Nike, McDonald's, General Motors, etc. [3] David Abrahamson, "The Machine in the Garden: Information Technology and the Future of Magazine Editing," Faculty In-Service Program Presentation, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 18 January 1995. [4] According to recent public statements by Microsoft spokespersons, its Explorer browser may, as of late Spring 1997, have won as much as 25 percent of the U.S. Web browser market (see Ken Auletta, "The Microsoft Provocateur," The New Yorker, 12 May 97, pp. 66-77). For more information on Web usage and demographics, see and [5] Though such information can perforce be only anecdotal, a survey of Medill graduate students currently enrolled in the Magazine Publishing Project suggest that, of the websites they browse in pursuit of their editorial reporting tasks, at present approximately 20-25 percent are commercial or institutional sites and 75-80 percent are the property of individuals. The sense of the group is that, over time, it is likely that the percentage of commercial sites will increase in importance and value. [6] For an illuminating discussion of such issues, see Randy Reddick and Elliot King, The Online Journalist (2nd edition), Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers: Chapter 10. [7] For much of the anecdotal information and student perceptions included in this article, the author is deeply indebted to a number of students, most particularly, Ms. Nina Hammerling, a 1997 graduate of the Medill Magazine Publishing Project and the managing editor of the Today's Smart Parent website . Where Ms. Hammerling is quoted directly, her insights are taken from written responses to a set of questions posed by the author regarding her class's Web design and creation experiences. [8] Ibid. [9] Ibid. [10] For more detailed data about the market for online jobs for journalism graduates, see Gerald M. Kosicki and Lee Becker, "1996 Annual Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Graduates," Columbus, OH: Ohio State University School of Journalism, 1997: p. 13-14, Table 51. [11] See Endnote No. 7 above. [12] Ibid. Copyright 1997 David Abrahamson. All rights reserved.