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Knight Center to offer course on web-based journalism

MOOC Knight CenterIn an effort to promote the creation and development of sustainable and quality digital journalism projects in Spanish, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, with the support of Google, will offer this month the Massive Open Online Course (or MOOC) “Development of Journalistic Projects for the Web: an Introduction to Entrepreneurial Journalism.”

This new massive online course in Spanish will be offered for free and last four weeks, starting on Nov. 18 and concluding on Dec. 15. The instructor will be U.S. journalist Janine Warner, an expert in digital technologies and author of 25 books on the topic.

The course will focus on how to create business plans for digital platforms, attract audiences and develop sources of income. It will feature case studies and guest experts who will share with participants real-life examples, success stories and firsthand accounts of the challenges and opportunities that digital publications face.

At the end of the course, the participants who are journalists or journalism professors and students in Latin America will be able to apply for the Google-Knight Center scholarship. Six course participants will be chosen to travel to Austin, Texas, all expenses paid, to attend the International Symposium on Online Journalism and the Ibero American Digital Journalism Colloquium in April 2014.

“Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world today, but only 5 percent of all web content is in this language. It is imperative to train and create incentive models to promote the production of digital content for the cultural, economic and social development of Hispanic America,” said Ana Paula Blanco, Google’s communications director in the region. “We want a web that is increasingly relevant for Spanish speakers. That’s why we create and support initiatives like these.”

This will be the seventh course that the University of Texas’ Knight Center offers through its MOOC program since it was created a year ago.

“Development of Journalistic Projects for the Web” is designed to teach students practical skills to launch a news website or any other journalistic project based on digital content. The course seeks to promote the creation of news sites in Spanish and increase the number and quality of digital publications available in this language.

“We are very thankful for Google’s support in carrying out this unprecedented online training program for Spanish-speaking journalists, mainly in Latin America. We’re also lucky to have Janine Warner, an excellent instructor with ample experience teaching journalists how to use digital tools,” said Professor Rosental Alves, founder and director of the Knight Center.

Janine Warner

Janine Warner

The Knight Center has organized ISOJ each year since 1999. The conference has become one of the most important events in the world to discuss trends and developments in the field of digital journalism. The Colloquium takes place immediately after ISOJ and offers journalists in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula a forum to discuss the specific challenges of the region.

Warner, a specialist in the use of digital technologies and author of 25 books on the topic, will offer the course. She is a well-known instructor with ample international experience who was taught at the University of Miami and the University of Southern California. She was director of operations at MiamiHerald.com.

“It is a great satisfaction to have the opportunity to collaborate with the Knight Center, particularly in this course on entrepreneurial journalism focused in Latin America,” Warner said. “In my many trips to the region I’ve always been impressed by the fighting spirit and creativity and their willingness to learn about new technologies. I hope that this course will help stimulate this growing and necessary interest.”

Although the course will be free, if participants need to receive a certificate, there will be a $30 administrative fee, paid online via credit card, for those who meet the certificate requirements. Click here to register.

Author Details
Author Details
Business reporter with 30 years of experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers, as well as trade publications in Puerto Rico. My list of former employers includes Caribbean Business, The San Juan Star, and the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, among others. My areas of expertise include telecommunications, technology, retail, agriculture, tourism, banking and most other segments of Puerto Rico’s economy.
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