profile paper

Greetings from Japan, where everyone is awaiting the arrival of the eighth typhoon of the season. I hope you have an enjoyable Labor Day, and look forward to seeing you all next week.
Your first assignment is an 8-12 page paper profiling an individual who has had a significant impact on the development of online media, analyzing the scope and importance of their role and contribution. Your subject can be a journalist, a media executive, a producer/developer, a researcher or otherwise connected to the rise and development of the online medium. Be prepared to defend your choice — that is, to demonstrate convincingly whythis person is important, what they accomplished and the scope of their impact on the development of the medium and/or of online news specifically. In addition to your written paper, you will be assigned a date for a 10-minute oral presentation to the class about your subject.
You will need to submit your proposed subject to me in advance, to make sure it’s appropriate and to avoid the rest of the class having to sit through multiple presentations about the same person. (No more than two students will be allowed to research the same subject.) The deadline for submission of your candidate is Sept. 24. We will discuss the assignment further in class, but you should also feel free to set up a time with me and/or Sam to discuss how to approach the assignment. If the person is still living, reach out to them for an interview — preferably in person, but via phone or email interview if necessary. (Be prepared to share your source materials as well — citations of articles, transcripts of e-mail interviews, recordings or transcripts of in-person or phone interviews etc.) But even if you do reach the person, it is very important that you conduct additional research as well, to be able to put their role into as broad a historical and professional context as possible.
This project may take the form of a traditional research paper, a web site or other mechanism, though please consult with me ahead of time and gain approval if you are planning to do something other than a traditional written submission.