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uOttawa to offer new digital journalism program unique in Canada
OTTAWA, June 10, 2014 — The University of Ottawa is starting a new bilingual digital journalism program. The program, unique in Canada, will be offered jointly with Algonquin College and La Cité collégiale.
Through the program, students will learn the new skills necessary to do journalism, where digital platforms are becoming increasingly important. Through hands-on and theoretical learning, the program will recognize the importance of data journalism, geolocation and handling quantitative data, without losing sight of traditional skills and qualities such as writing, accuracy, ethics and interview techniques.
Digital journalism will be examined from different perspectives, including platforms (tablets, smartphones and computers), use of software to get the most out of government and institutional databases, and the diverse activities of production teams, such as computer graphics and coding.
“In light of the worldwide proliferation of smartphones and the use of social media by journalists, digital journalism is clearly a relevant topic,” say professors Evan Potter and Marc-François Bernier, coordinators of the journalism program in the University of Ottawa Department of Communication. “With an advisory committee made up of media and academic experts, we’ve put in the necessary effort to remake our journalism program, not only to make it attractive for students, but so that it can also meet the labour market requirements of both Anglophone and Francophone media.”
The program includes a mandatory field internship, where participants will learn about an area like community media and students, and gain practical digital journalism experience, which will help them enter the workforce. To coordinate the program, the Department of Communication also plans to hire an experienced journalist, who will be responsible in part for strengthening ties between the University of Ottawa and the two colleges.
Registration will begin in the fall of 2015.
Media inquiries:
Caroline Milliard
Manager, Media Relations
University of Ottawa
Cell: 613-240-0275
caroline.milliard@uOttawa.ca
