Audio Slideshow Preview

The next project that you will begin is an audio slideshow project. In preparation for this project, I'd like you to preview lots of different types of audioslideshows. After watching the ones I choose, you will seek out a few of your own and answer a few questions about them. Always keep in mind these questions:

• What works? What doesn't work?
• How does this make me feel, and how did the photographer/editor set it up to make me feel that way?
• What is the story being told?

Voices from a divided Prom

Ballet at the Vaganova

An ambush and a comrade lost

The tradition of Super Sunday

The ghosts of Katrina

Now that you have viewed these, find your own and share them with the group. Please search for three different audioslideshows, copy and paste the links into the comments of this post, along with a short description of the slideshow.

Then, visit the links that others have posted, and comment on their comment if you liked it so that others will go see it, too.

A few news sites that have audio slideshows are the New York Times, The Times-Picayune, and the San Jose Mercury News, among lots and lots of others.

After you have viewed and commented on several slideshows, begin planning your own. What story will you tell? Will it be a feature or a commentary? What images will accompany your story?

For Thursday, you should bering in a plan for your project.

OTS Editorial

Below you will find links to three different news stories. Choose one to respond to with an editorial. Remember to balance fact and opinion, and use your own wittiness to keep it casual.

Google CEO urges grads: 'Turn off your computer'

Psst! Need the answer to No. 7? Click here.

College Board to debut an 8th grade PSAT exam

If you already chose one of these stories for your news-related editorial, please select a different one for your OTS editorial.

I recommend that you use Google Docs as your word processor, though Open Office will also work.

Call to action

Toward the end, but before your conclusion, it is a good idea to make a clear and strong call to action, in which you tell the reader exactly what she or he should do or think.

Example: So the time has come to take back the tap. Rather than overpaying for a product that you don't need, invest $15 in a reusable water bottle that saves you and your environment. Then, write a letter to Congressman Mike Honda telling him why you've made the change and how he can do the same on a much bigger level by supporting the ban of plastic water bottles.

Using your own sample argument, make a clear call to action by commenting below.

Use inclusion

Beyond the editorial "We," which represents the staff of a publication, you might also want to use the sense of "we" to include the reader in your argument. Often, you can do this by bringing up points on which the majority of the audience would agree.

Example: Certainly we all want what is best for our bodies while at the same time we want what is best for the world. But in this case, what is best for our bodies is what is best for the world.

Using your own sample argument, use inclusion to relate to the reader by commenting below.

Use rhetorical questions

A rhetorical question is one that is being asked more for effect than to get a genuine answer. In essence, it's a way to force the reader to think about something.

Example: How long will we continue to sacrifice our land and waters for a simple convenience? Is this the kind of behavior that we want to teach our children -- buy now, worry later?

Using your own sample argument, use rhetorical questions to make the reader think by commenting below.

Offer a compromise

Sometimes it is necessary to show the reader that your argument is not extreme or unreasonable. You can do this by explaining how your side would be willing to compromise on the issue.

Example: With the technology that is now available, it is possible to create beverage containers that decompose at a much quicker pace than plastic bottles. A ban on plastic bottles would drive the market for decomposable bottles up, and industry would be forced to change.

Using your own sample argument, offer a compromise to your reader by commenting below.

Draw a comparison

Creating a comparison or analogy to your argument can have the effect of taking an issue that may be abstract to the reader and making it more familiar by relating it to something the reader already understands.

Example: Refusing to drink tap water and drinking bottled water instead is like being offered a sandwich for free but turning the offer down because you'd rather buy a mystery sandwich that could be worse than the free sandwich. And on top of that, the mystery sandwich damages the environment!

Using your own sample argument, draw a comparison or create an analogy by commenting below.