Editor’s Note: Today we introduce a new feature on OJR — Student Spotlight. In a field driven by innovation and with an insatiable need for fresh talent, online journalists ought to pay close attention to work being done by promising students. So from time to time, we will use this feature to highlight work done by student online journalists and media scholars. Journalism educators are invited to submit noteworthy student research or write-ups of their students’ websites for publication on OJR. E-mail me at rniles[at]usc.edu.

We start with the students in my J556 Online Journalism Seminar here at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism. These students spent the past semester creating their own online news sites. They were given no technical platform with which to work, just a green light to follow their muse, find a topic and to learn the tools necessary to fulfill their vision. Some students chose to create in-depth features examining a single topic. Others opted to create consumer journalism sites, while another built an online newspaper for her hometown.

Students assumed the role of publisher. As such, they did not have to create their content or their publishing systems by themselves, but they did have to credit others whom they hired, begged or otherwise persuaded to help.

Here, in their own words, are their projects:

Diana Day: inSierraMadre.com

My little town is a city, actually, but no one who lives here calls it that. Instead, we like to call Sierra Madre, Calif., a town, as in Our Town. And even “village” will do — as in The Village of the Foothills, population 11,023.

There are no stoplights in Our Town.

But we do have movie nights and live music in the park’s band shell in the spring and summer. We have a Halloween parade and a Fourth of July parade. There is an annual Wistaria Festival where we celebrate a local Wistaria Vine — the largest blossoming plant in the world. When my daughters start nursery school in the fall, we will walk them three doors down the street to the house of a 90-year-old woman who’s been running a school in her home for over 50 years.

Still, even here, times are changing. We have a budget crisis. Key properties in our little downtown area are changing hands. The hillside is ever-threatened by people interested in more development. We need to address lingering public safety and water access issues.

And there is no reliable news source to turn to, except friends on street corners and at the coffee shops. Misunderstandings from rumors were even apparent in the recent rhetoric of some candidates running for our local City Council.

With inSierraMadre.com, a so-called “citizen journalism” news site, I hope to create an atmosphere where people will share news and views about everything from a recent City Council agenda item to the scores of the girls’ softball game last Friday. I hope the site will also be loaded with reader-submitted photos, video, audio and artwork.

With a journalist as moderator and town reporter, hopefully the site will be able to get some sound information out there so people don’t have to rely on gossip to tell them the news in Our Town.

Neel Garlapati: FarmersMarketNews.com

Farmers’ Market News is a website dedicated to news and reviews about Farmers’ Markets. Users can read the latest updates about the opening and closing of farmers’ markets, and read articles that shed light on the different ways the markets develop as their popularity continues to soar.

In the “news” and “photos” sections, the site features interviews and perspectives from market managers and from farmers, many of whom have been in the business for over 20 years. Many people who have been managing and selling at farmers markets since before the beginning expressed provocative views about the way the popularity and expansion of farmers’ markets have affected the industry as a whole.

The site also features an extensive review section where users can review any of the certified farmers’ markets in a particular area. Currently, the reviews section is limited to California farmers’ markets, with a plan to expand to other parts of the country. The reviews section is a forum for consumers to debate on the qualities of farmers’ markets that they look for and for farmers and market managers to discuss which cities and location provide farmers’ markets with the healthiest surroundings.

Laurie Kawakami: APASS Reporter

APASSReporter.com is a monthly Web magazine created by the Asian Pacific American Student Services department at USC. Founded in August 2005, APASS Reporter is designed as a resource for the APA student population at USC and the larger community in Los Angeles and on the West Coast.

The Web magazine provides current news and information, in-depth articles on issues facing the APA community and first person stories to amplify student voices. Current articles range from issues surrounding the lawsuit against the Hawaiians-only admissions policy at Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, to the growing Tongan American community in Carson, Calif. Students tackle topics on interracial dating, Asian pride and Asian American literature.

APASS Reporter is designed to capture the distinctiveness of the Asian Pacific American experience through thoughtful, provocative and insightful content. It also offers a unique glimpse into a community facing issues that are sometimes not covered in the mainstream media. To heighten awareness and educate, APASS Reporter hopes to become a valuable and indispensable resource for the larger APA community.

Erica Ogg: The Story of Bread

World history is fraught with stories of famine and bread shortages due to many different factors. Corrupt dictators, poorly devised methods of distribution, natural disasters, greed and war all play roles in the conflict-ridden history of the loaf of bread.

The Story of Bread is the story of people in three different places in three different centuries struggling to provide bread, the most basic food item of all, to their families in the midst of war: a group of housewives in Richmond, Va., the youngest daughter of wealthy Ukrainian farmers, and a journalist, blogger and single mother in Gaza City today. All these women know the humiliation and desperation of standing in bread lines. The similarities in their stories, despite their differences, tell the story of the inequality and conflict that has remained constant in human societies, despite social, technological, political and philosophical advances.

This site is intended to be more of a magazine piece, and will be of interest to people who like history and the story of people triumphing over terrible circumstances.

Melissa Pamer: Finding the Los Angeles River

The sad, greenish-brown trickle called the Los Angeles River was once the primary source of water for the City of Angels. The river’s ferocious winter floods ruled and ravaged the landscape, and it was a defining characteristic of the Los Angeles basin. Now, a half-century after the river was shunted into concrete flood control channels, many area residents barely know where the waterway flows.

Though it’s often ridiculed or ignored, the Los Angeles River may soon be making a comeback. The city of L.A. is currently working on a 20-year master plan that would improve public access to the often hidden river and would green its concrete banks. But there are those who might still ask, “What river?” Finding the Los Angeles River aims to answer that question visually.

If you are just now hearing about the talk of river revitalization and restoration — once the domain of only the most devoted of dreamers — the site will provide you with a visual introduction to the river. The site documents nine areas on the river in a collection of photo slideshows, which are complemented by a historical timeline of the river and interviews with four stakeholders.

I believe now is the time for a serious exploration of the river. I hope that “Finding the Los Angeles River” will invite viewers to take a look at the river themselves, and imagine what it once was, and what it could be.

Melanie Ragland: SOS Prep Watch

December 26, 2004: A record-breaking tsunami hit Asia. CNN reported that more than 200,000 people died when the earth under the Indian Ocean quaked and sent waves into the surrounding countries. Thailand and Indonesia were hit especially hard.

August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast of the United States and put almost the entire city of New Orleans under water. At a result, at least 1,300 people met their deaths, more than 1,000 of those deaths were in Louisiana. KLFY-TV in Lafayette, La., reported that more than 700 people are still missing, eight months later.

After hearing seeing images of the devastation caused by recent disasters like Hurricane Katrina, I was overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness. I wondered what I could do from thousands of miles away. It dawned on me that I could start asking questions; mainly, “What is being done to help prepare Americans for the disasters that we rarely see coming?” My website, SOS Prep Watch.com, is place where people can come to find answers. The site features original reporting and writing, along with creative storytelling through multiple media. It informs visitors about the grassroots efforts to respond to disasters large and small. And it educates them about the government’s work to prepare its citizens.

Jenny Wang: WAGInfo

WAGinfo is essentially a news magazine and review forum. It is a community-based online arena where people can discuss anything and everything dogs. However, the discussions aren’t truly free forums where people just chit-chat aimlessly. Instead, the concept leans toward that of reviews where people discuss and rate doggie products and services.

For instance, if someone is looking for a good groomer, they might come onto the site to look for a groomer via the ratings and reviews that a particular groomer has garnered. Or, if your looking for a sturdy yet stylish choke chain, a dog owner might visit the site to find a particular brand and what other users of that choke chain has said about the product.

The news portion of the site includes original news content only. The videos are documentary-style productions ranging from 2 to 5 minutes per video. Video topics include stories about the hazards of dog waste to the newest fashions for dogs. There are also original news stories about city ordinances toward dogs as well as coverage of dog events.

Currently, most listings are California-based businesses or products. By 2007, hopefully, listing will grow nationwide.

Please also note that the reviews and ratings are created purely for the betterment of dogs and their owners and never generated by paid advertisements.

Christina Wu: Hookah Views

Hookah Views is a website dedicated to serving the hookah-smoking community. It contains information about the legality of smoking hookah indoors, a mission statement, addresses, reviews, ratings, photos and general information about various hookah cafes in Southern California, hookah health information, tips for smoking, administrator contact information and links to related hookah websites and articles.

The purpose of the website is to inform the audience about the different hookah cafes that are out there. Whether the reader is a first-time smoker or frequent user of hookahs, they can find useful data about which hookah cafes are closest to them and how to enhance their smoking experience. Readers can also inform themselves about the adverse effects of smoking hookah, even though not many studies have been produced on hookah smoke.

This is an interesting topic because smoking hookah is a relatively new trend that’s gaining popularity around college campuses and in cities where there are a lot of young people. It also has an international appeal and I hope to expand the website to reach a global audience.

The website itself is unique because there is no other website like it on the Web. It allows hookah smokers to speak out about which cafes are their favorites and which ones should be avoided. All other hookah websites have only offered location information for hookah cafes, but have not allowed users to post comments about these venues.