An introduction to the project

Welcome to the second project of the Online Journalism class (the first was "Religion on Campus").

I have wanted to do a "Day in the Life of URI" project for several years, and am delighted that circumstances finally permitted it. The "day" idea is not original; indeed, it is so popular that it engendered a satirical column in The Digital Journalist in 2002. But most efforts have been primarily photographic, the first of which seems to have been Life magazine's "One Day in the Life of America" published in January 1974. These efforts include the popular series of "Day in the Life" books.

My research also uncovered a 1999 project, "A Day in the Life of the Columbia Pacific" done by Oregon high schoolers and "Washington Football: A Day in the Life," a TV feature story done by student at the University of Washington. I suspect that writers across the country also have done such series; the one I found and which my students were advised to read was a print-web-TV multimedia series by the Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle that included "A Day in the Life of Our Colleges."

The goal for our class project was simply to chronicle/capture "snapshots" of life on the URI Kingston campus in one 24-hour period. We chose a Wednesday because it's the middle of the work week and April 20 for logistical reasons. The story ideas came from students and others.

Thus it was that on an unseasonably warm spring day, 14 students were set loose with cameras, notebooks and pens, some as early as 12:01 a.m. and others late into the night. Stories were written and edited over the next several days.

We hope you enjoy the results of our work. Please use the email links in the staff box to contact the writers if you have comments for them, or you can email me.

Barbara F. Luebke
Professor of Journalism and Women's Studies