Letter from SJSU President to staff regarding furloughs

This was sent to all SJSU staff employees by SJSU President Jon Whitmore on August 6, 2009:

Please note our designated furlough days for this month are August 10 and 17. These designated furlough days will be observed by nearly all MPPs, confidentials and staff members. Exceptions include some public safety, auxiliary, library, athletics, housing and custodial personnel. If you work in these areas, please seek guidance from your supervisor.

Also, bargaining unit members can request alternative furlough days for August by completing the Employee Alternate Furlough Day Request Form noted at the end of this message. Please submit the completed form to your supervisor. Keep in mind that campus operational needs will determine if employee requests are granted.

With respect to the remainder of 2009-2010, we have submitted our proposed furlough plan to the chancellor's office. Once the chancellor's office approves the plan, we will share it with you. Our proposed furlough calendars were carefully constructed with much thought, consultation with employee groups, and concern for our operational and academic needs. Thank you for your patience.

Many of you would also like to know how to word absence greetings for email and voicemail on furlough days. Here is suggested language: "Due to state budget cuts, San Jose State University will offer reduced services on Monday, August 10. Most staff members will be on furlough. Please leave a message, but remember we may be unable to return your call until the next business day."

If you have questions, there are a number of resources available to you. Consider speaking with your supervisor or contacting SJSU Employee Relations Manager Cindy Delgado at 408-924-2151. You may submit your questions and comments via the SJSU budget information website. Human Resources will also offer furlough informational workshops open to all employees.

Please understand that the decision to ask you to furlough was not an easy one. However, given the magnitude of our budget shortfall, we have few good choices. Thank you for your commitment and sacrifice on behalf of our students and your fellow employees.

Sincerely,
Jon Whitmore

More Information:

• Employee Alternate Furlough Day Request Form (PDF)
  
• SJSU Furlough Workshops (PDF)
  
• SJSU Budget/Furlough Website

Podcast about Mumbai and Terrorism

SJSU Indian Student, Faculty and Alumnus Discuss Mumbai Attacks
Edupodder Podcast Episode 32
A campus perspective from San Jose State University
On December 3, 2008 San Jose State University student Ruchi Binjola, SJSU History Lecturer Rajiv Khanna and SJSU graduate Kamlesh Kudchadkar discuss the recent bombings in Mumbai, India with SJSU Journalism Lecturer Steve Sloan. Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and is India's financial capital.

The conversation begins with Binjola and Kudchadkar and continues when Khanna joins the conversation. This "open mic" podcast conveys the feelings and thoughts of members of the SJSU community. One of the speakers lost a friend to terrorism in Mumbai. The thoughts and emotions expressed here are just as they occurred in the conversation.

Click button below to subscribe to podcast:

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, Mumbai, Bombay, Mumbai Podcast, Terrorism, ssloansjca

Stacy Bond: Producing for the Ear

If you are a podcaster, you must listen to this podcast!
This Podcast Academy podcast by Stacy Bond from the Portable Media Expo may be the most important podcast for podcasters to listen to that I have heard in a long time. Podcasting is just a way to deliver content. This podcast talks about creating great and compelling audio, how to produce podcasts for the ear.

It is no longer enough to have a podcast to get an audience. There is some great compelling content that you are competing against. You need to listen to this podcast by Stacy Bond the Executive Director of Audioluxe. You need to at least consider what she is saying, even if you choose to ignore it, even if are doing video. This is a great podcast for podcasters, in my opinion. Set aside an hour and listen to it at least once!

Technorati Tags: Podcasting, ssloansjca

Justin Beck on Podcasting

SF Chronicle Podcaster Justin Beck on Podcasting
Edupodder Podcast Episode 31, 45:30 min
On December 4, 2007 San Francisco Chronicle Podcaster and Media Producer Justin Beck spoke to San Jose State University journalism students about podcasting and new media. As SJSU SJSU School of Journalism and Mass Communications professor Cynthia McCune reported in the JMC Journal Blog, "Beck talked with students about the process of developing and producing a podcast. He said one of the most important steps of the process is creating a tape log -- a rough or complete transcript of each interview -- with time codes noted so you'll be able to go back and find the clips you want to use." The audio from the class is here:

Podcasts Beck played at last night's event were:

• Saying Goodbye to Food, by Rocky Tayeh (includes a script!)
• Composing the Sounds of Science, by Carrie Sturrock
• Are Animals Creative?, by Sean Cole

Justin Beck's Handouts
Posted here with permission from Justin Beck are these two very informative handouts. The first has great information about the tools and methods of doing rich podcasts. The second focuses on how to tell great stories with podcasting. Both of these are in PDF format:

• Intro to Podcasting
• Telling Stories With Sound

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, Podcasting, ssloansjca

Justin Beck coming to SJSU

Justin Beck Coming to visit!
Justin Beck, the chief technologist and podcaster from the San Francisco Chronicle, is scheduled to speak at 4:30pm in our class tomorrow, Tuesday Dec. 4th, in DBH226.

Beck will be speaking about podcasting and how newspapers are using new media. A recent big story the Chronicle podcasters covered was the bay oil spill. Beck has a background in National Public Radio. He has a workflow that produces rich audio and has documented that workflow and shared it with Journalism students.

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, Podcasting, ssloansjca

Podcast Tech Specs

Geek RSS Stuff: What are the rules of podcast compliance?
THE TECH SPECS - According to Wikipedia, "As of September 2007, the iPod had sold over 110 million units worldwide (stated in "The Beat Goes On" conference) making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history." If you want an audience for your podcast you have to be able put your content on the iPod platform. There are plenty of tools that make it possible to do that, but to make it easier for folks to find you, and to make your podcast look more attractive in the iTunes interface, you may want to tweak that RSS feed.

If you are ready to take the leap into true XML hacking, Apple has the technical specification right here. In short, this is the podcasters Bible. Thou shalt comply! (Resistance is futile...)

Technorati Tags: apple, Ipod, RSS, RSS 2.0, Podcasting, ssloansjca

EnACT/ATI Summer Institute is here but I am not there

EnACT/ATI Summer Institute at SJSU
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, the mission of EnACT (Ensuring Access through Collaboration and Technology) is to support students with disabilities within the California State University in attaining their postsecondary educational goals. The EnACT/ATI Summer Institute is being held at San Jose State University. It started Monday, July 9 to Thursday, July 12. This morning I had breakfast with Abbe Altman of the CSU Center for Distributed Learning and a number of other folks from CSU campuses throughout the state. I really wish I could be at EnACT/ATI Summer Institute since it is so close, but I cannot as we are in the middle of an important search for a staff member to fill a vacancy at our help desk. I expect we will be hit with requests for services from faculty, staff and students for support in making their instructional materials accessible. The information being taught in the sessions at the conference would be very helpful in accomplishing that. The moral of the story, we need to find a way to record these sessions and make this information available for people who cannot attend the sessions. My suggestion, a podcast, perhaps something based a The Podcast Academy model.

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Recommended Listening: Gayl Murphy

Recommended listening: Interviewing Techniques
This podcast, from the Podcast Academy, is for all podcasters and applies equally well to broadcast journalists and even print journalists and journalism students. This audio podcast is by Gayl Murphy, the title is Killer Interviewing Tactics: Get The Most from Your Guests. This is from last year's Podcast and Portable Media Expo. According to the description of the show:

Murphy has the experience to back up what she says, having over 14,000 interviews to her credit. Most of these have been with celebrities from the entertainment world but the principles that make a good interview - and a good interviewer - are the same no matter who the subject may be.

Gayl Murphy is a veteran interviewer [bio] and author of the book, Interview Tactics! How To Survive The Media Without Getting Clobbered!

Technorati Tags: podcasts, Podcasting, J-School, Journalism, Web 2.0, Gayl Murphy, ssloansjca

Google's Purchase of Feedburner

Google + Feedburner = Hooray
I was thrilled to learn of Google's purchase of Feedburner. I learned when my friend Diana sent me sent me a text message as I was driving across rural Oregon. She knew it would make me happy, it did. This is such a perfect fit. Google + Feedburner is such a natural. Google + Feedburner is almost as good as Google + Technorati. Google + Feedburner makes a lot more sense to me than E-bay + Skype ever did.

I see so much potential in this. Google + Feedburner has been one of my favorite combinations for creating Podcasts. For video Google + Feedburner gives you a Vlog plus a Video Podcast. This is the combination that Rayanne Hodson of Freevlog recommends. Google + Feedburner worked very well for my class last semester. All of my students created there own Blogs, Vlogs and Podcasts using this method. This is the workflow I use for my own Vlogs.

It is a great way to create RSS feeds and podcasts, and keep track of who is viewing them. I hope soon Google creates a quick and easy way to enable this to be your default feed for your Blogger blog (and dumps Atom.)

Google + Feedburner is a great way to produce RSS advertising. RSS advertising feeds are a fantastic way to create, engage and build an audience of passionate users. These passionate users, in turn, are your quality consumers who can help you build a better product or service by telling you what works and what doesn't. These are the folks you want seeing your ads and the cool thing is, they want to see your ads. Google + Feedburner will help make this happen.

For educators Google + Feedburner is a great way to see if your students are really consuming your RSS Feeds. Google + Feedburner is good for me. I am stoked!

Technorati Tags: Google, Feedburner, RSS Advertising, RSS and Education, ssloansjca, Instructional Technology, j-school

Scoble SJSU visit?

Scoble on podcasting
At last night's class we showed this video by Jason Miller. We are using Scoble and Israel's book Naked Conversations as a text in the class. In the class I told the students that Scoble puts his phone number on his blog. They did not believe he would answer so I called him. He answered. It was very cool.

Scobles coming to SJSU?
Besides being an author, a professional podcaster and an A-list blogger, Bob is a long-time friend and a former student of our Journalism School. When we talked to him he said he would be happy to come and talk to our class. A month and a half ago, I talked to his wife Maryam, and at that time she was open to the idea of coming also. I am hoping she is still open to the idea and that they will both come. As far as I am concerned (this is my class) this event, should it happen, could be open to the world. Perhaps we could Skypecast it? It will definitely be podcast. Stay tuned for more!

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, ssloansjca, scoble, j-school

Vlogging Presentation

Presentation at CATS 2007
At the recent Community of Academic Technology Staff (CATS) conference in Fullerton I did a presentation on video blogging (aka vlogging.) I recorded the presentation and a copy of that is here in MP3 format. Sadly a problematic mic caused a lot of hiss in the recording and I did my best to filter that out. (Note to self: never trust untested equipment.)

The PowerPoint from the session is here. I had a lot of videos in the PowerPoint. I have removed those from this web version of the PowerPoint and replaced them with hyperlinks to the vlog posts. I will be presenting this presentation at this evenings Journalism 163 class. I am including direct links below for reference.

List of video blog posts from presentation:

• STEM Post - Slide 8
• Story of the Swami - Slide 11
• Train vlog entry - Slide 14
• FreeVlog Sample - Slide 16
• Education Vlogger - Slide 18
• SJSU Journalism 163 Post - Slide 19

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, CATS, CATS2007, Fullerton, CSU Fullerton, California State University, San Jose, Vlogging, Video Blogging, Podcasting, Blogging, ssloansjca

Akshay presenting to JMC163

Akshay Vyas Presenting to JMC163 [MP3]

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, Short Films, Movie Making, San Jose, ssloansjca