Are you interested in Community Journalism?  Cardiff University are offering a free, on-line course starting on April 14th lasting for 5 weeks and taking up just 4 hours of your time each week.

Community Journalism is a growing area of interest for professional journalists, academics and the wider public. With the decline of local professional media and the low cost of publishing online there are more community and hyper-local sites being launched to take the place of local newspapers and radio. For both those seeking to launch and support a site and for those wishing to study this new media sector there are practical skills and theory to be mastered. It is an area which combines elements of traditional journalism with the new skills of digital journalism and community focus.

Cardiff University launched the UK’s first academic Centre for Community Journalism last year to help nurture and study this growing sector. Over five weeks, this course builds on that expertise and experience to offer insight and practical skills for all those interested in community and hyper local journalism. The course combines practical skills in setting up a community website, identifying and building an audience, creating content, establishing a workflow to sustain a site, managing an online community, media law and ethics, with a broader understanding of this new sector, how it has developed and the experience of those operating community sites. It will also explore different forms of community – whether geographic, professional or personal interest.

  • Starts on 14 April
  • Duration: 5 weeks
  • 4 hours per week

Educators

                       

Richard Sambrook

Requirements

The course is open to anyone with an interest in journalism and in connecting their communities online. No prior qualifications are required. Core essentials of journalism principles, skills and practice are covered as part of the course as are hands-on skills in creating and sustaining hyper-locals. Practicing journalists or more experienced students will be particularly interested in learning about current developments in hyper-local journalism in the digital environment.

If you are interested you can sign up here:

http://www.communityjournalism.co.uk/news/worlds-first-community-journalism-mooc/