It’s been a busy week at the UBC School of Journalism, which has been taking time away from writing here.

So I wanted to highlight a couple of the things we have been doing in a shameless bit of self-promotion. Firstly, my first year students put together their first online publication, TheThunderbird.ca. The stories focus on different aspects of life in Vancouver. As a sidenote, we used WordPress as the CMS due to its ease of use and flexibility.

Secondly, a group of our second year students are working with Dan Rather on a documentary for HDNet on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Rather is in town for a couple of days, prompting headlines like “Dan Rather here to show ugly side of Vancouver.”

This is providing the students with a tremendous opportunity to work alongside one of the great names of US television journalism, using the tools of the future – high-definition cameras.