RTD 464 Audio Documentary and Diversity
Fall 2013 Tuesday-Thursday 12:35-13:50 Room 1016
Professor Eileen Waldron ewaldron@siu.edu
Cell: 317 938 2905
RTD Office 1048
Office Hours : Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 3-5pm (If I am not in the office check in
the RREE newsroom 1015, right next door to audio lab)
Teaching Assistant: Honna Veerkamp, honnav@gmail.com
Readings/Listenings
Required Textbook: Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound (Documentary Arts and
Culture). University of North Carolina Press (2010). ISBN-13: 978-0807871027
Recommended Text : Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production.
The University of Chicago Press (2008). ISBN-13:978-0226-43178-9
Course Objective – The purpose of this course is for students to learn how to tell
compelling stories with sound. You will learn basic interviewing skills, virtual journalism,
and sound studio and field production. The recording and editing of natural sound is a must.
Students will learn the technical basics in beginning of the semester by producing a mini
audio piece. Then the overarching topic for the class will be explored, which poses this
question: does the campus community fully support diversity? Do students, staff or faculty
feel “wronged” by others? Students will research the topic through interviews, finding a
focus for the stories they would like to tell. Each student will record interviews; write, edit
and produce one short form audio documentary 4-5 minutes in length. The stories may
have the opportunity to air on WSIU FM.
Web Sources
http://www.transom.org
http://thirdcoastfestival.org
www.radiodiaries.org
soundprint.org (see Producer's guidelines)
www.americanradioworks.org (Topics)
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/podcast.html
soundportraits.org/education (Listen to Ghetto Life)
talkinghistory.org
Acoustic Ecology Journal: http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/WFAE/journal/index.html
Handbook for Acoustic Ecology [Barry Traux]: http://www2.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/
Microphones: http://www.shure.com/
Recommended Sources:
Pro Tools Courseware (DigiDesign) http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm
Pro Tools Shortcuts, Backbeat (Valenzuela, 2004)
Grading Scale
A – Broadcast Quality! Excellent Content & Production. Not Late; Exceeds Expectations (1000900 points)
B – Broadcast Quality! Good Content & Production. Not Late; Above Expectations (899-800
points)
C – Broadcast Quality! Fair Content & Production. Meets Expectations (799-700 points)
D – Poor Broadcast Quality. Has Potential. Does Not Meet ALL Expectations (699-600 points)
F – Not worthy of Revision. Fails to Meet ANY/MOST Expectations (599 & below)
PROJECTS
Labs – assignments will be produced outside class time.
Reading/Listening Assignments: 300 points (textbook chapters; critiques)
Documentary Project 1: 300 points Campus voices. All interviews will be handled by the class
and everyone will be responsible for transcriptions and editing.
Documentary 2: 400 points (5 minute segment, includes treatment, script, credits)
*Must include TYPED summary of topic, interview guide, and 500 word treatment (and original
1-2 page typed, at least 10 “research” citations in a separate typed bibliography; typed listing of
interviewees and interviewers on a separate page, 2 typed page critique (all must be typed SS in
Times, 12 pt).
Final Project: Professional Online Exhibition or WSIU FM airing.
Recommended Additional Readings:
Altheide, D. L. (1996). Qualitative Media Analysis. CA: Sage Publications
Jensen, C. & Tomorrow, T. (1997). 20 Years of Censored News . NY: Seven Storr.
Burgess, R. 1994. 'The unstructured interview as conversation', in R Burgess (ed.) Field
Research: A Sourcebook and Field Manual. Routledge.
Kreuger, R.A. 1997. Moderating Focus Groups. Sage.
Kvale, S. 1996. InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Sage.
Mason, J 1996. Qualitative Researching. Sage.
Morgan, D.L. 1997. Focus Groups as Qualitative Research. Sage.
Rubin, H., and Rubin, I. 1995. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data. Sage.
Seale, C. 1999. The Quality of Qualitative Research. Sage.
Sommer, B. (2003). The Oral History Manual. AltaMira Press.
Terkel, S. 1993. Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession:
How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession
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