Interactivity is something that is becoming increasingly important for journalistic websites. Users want it all: graphics, audio, sound...plus extras. One way journalistic websites cam incorporate interactivity is through Macromedia Flash Player. Flash allows journalists to use information in a new way, making it more likely that a user will come back to their site.
For example, the site Planet in Peril, which is special environmental coverage from CNN.com uses Flash to report on environmental issues. Their site incorporates high-tech graphics, such as an image of the globe that users can click on to learn about issues in specific regions. Once a user clicks on a place on the globe they are taken to another page that uses video. Many websites that aren't journalistic in nature use Flash and journalistic sites could learn from their example. By using all types of media in a way that catches the eye of the viewer, journalistic websites can appeal to as many people as possible.
Interactive games are another way to help journalistic websites appeal to users. Once users interact with information they will gain a better understanding of it because they actively have to participate. Once I played the Enron Blame Game, mentioned in the text, I gained a better understanding of the Enron scandal in general, even though it happened a few years ago. Journalistic websites could do something similar with the upcoming presidential elections. A game could be made where users have to match the candidates to their views. This way users would learn more than if they were simply reading a story and they would be having fun, too.
Flash player would have come in very handy with previous work I have done in previous courses. For example, two years ago I wrote a story on soda being banned from schools. With Flash I could have used video of officials discussing why soda should be banned, graphics that show the nutritional value of soda, audio clips of key quotes and interactive games where users could take polls on whether soda should remain in schools or games where they could guess the healthiness of certain foods. These features would help advance the story because readers would feel like they were a part of it. By allowing readers to see video, listen to audio, and interact in general, websites are giving the reader a choice to learn more than they ever could in a standard newspaper. Readers shouldn't just be sitting reading a story where they had no choices. They should interact with the information and thus better absorb it.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
RSS Feeds
This past week in class we learned about RSS feeds, which stands for rich site summary and allows the webmaster to "Provide fresh and relevant content on their website, which encourages users to return", according to What is RSS?. The goal of the class was to incorporate RSS feeds into our personal website by working in groups. Unfortunately, my group did not figure it out. However, we did make some of progress.
I had never really paid much attention to RSS feeds, even though I see them offered pretty often on Websites I visit. For example, I have always noticed that Pop Candy, a pop culture blog run by USA today offers readers the option of subscribing to a feed. Once I realized that I could post headline from something like Pop Candy on my personal Website, RSS feeds became much more interesting. Now, my site could be updated with news that I like from sites I visit everyday.
When my group first started learning about RSS feeds, we found it very confusing. We read through some tips, but we couldn't quite manage to get the RSS feed to appear on our sites. Instead, we looked at example of Websites that off RSS feeds, such as The New York Times. However, simply subscribing to this feed didn't work either.
Finally, after some advice from the BBC, we figured out that we needed to download a news reader. We also discovered that we needed to open an XSLT page in Dreamweaver to create a feed. XSLT is XML based, which is important because RSS feeds are in XML (Extensible Markup Language).
I found Feed Tools in Dreamweaver 8 and CS3: RSS and XSL to be very useful. This site tells the reader how to create an RSS feed in Dreamweaver step by step, and, for the most part, is very easy to understand. Once I have followed the advice of this Website, opened an XSLT page in Dreamweaver and downloaded a news reader, I believe I will be ready to incorporate a feed into a site.
I had never really paid much attention to RSS feeds, even though I see them offered pretty often on Websites I visit. For example, I have always noticed that Pop Candy, a pop culture blog run by USA today offers readers the option of subscribing to a feed. Once I realized that I could post headline from something like Pop Candy on my personal Website, RSS feeds became much more interesting. Now, my site could be updated with news that I like from sites I visit everyday.
When my group first started learning about RSS feeds, we found it very confusing. We read through some tips, but we couldn't quite manage to get the RSS feed to appear on our sites. Instead, we looked at example of Websites that off RSS feeds, such as The New York Times. However, simply subscribing to this feed didn't work either.
Finally, after some advice from the BBC, we figured out that we needed to download a news reader. We also discovered that we needed to open an XSLT page in Dreamweaver to create a feed. XSLT is XML based, which is important because RSS feeds are in XML (Extensible Markup Language).
I found Feed Tools in Dreamweaver 8 and CS3: RSS and XSL to be very useful. This site tells the reader how to create an RSS feed in Dreamweaver step by step, and, for the most part, is very easy to understand. Once I have followed the advice of this Website, opened an XSLT page in Dreamweaver and downloaded a news reader, I believe I will be ready to incorporate a feed into a site.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Journalistic Blog Sites
Journalistic blogs are a tricky subject. In many cases the people doing the blogging aren't writing the posts. Instead, they merely collect the news and repost it in blog form (giving credit to the original authors of course). However, some blogs do have original content and are written by actual journalists.
Andrew Sullivan's blog, for example, is a mishmash of news stories and Sullivan's thoughts. Some of Sullivan's posts are on such things as "Exposing the Vatican" and "The First Green Bible." In these posts, Sullivan mainly posts stories from other sources and then comments on them. In other posts he'll feature a poem, a response to a comment or a photograph. This blog definitely differs from traditional reporting. Sullivan offers his opinions and interpretation of news stories and only seems to post what is interesting to him. The content is really unusual and eclectic, but this is not a bad thing as the stories are interesting and not ones readers may be aware of. Because the stories are so varied, it's hard to say who the target audience is. My best guess would be readers "of no party or clique", as that's what Sullivan's banner reads. In all, this blog is amusing and interesting, but I didn't see it as effective because of the eclectic nature of the posts.
Paul Bradshaw is another journalist with a blog. This blog occasionally reposts new stories from other sources, but Bradshaw seems more interested in blogging about being a journalist. for example, two of his posts are titled "How to be a journalism student- the wiki" and "Online journalism job of the week: Keyword Manager". This site differs from traditional reporting because it mostly isn't reporting. Bradshaw simply collects the news and then posts his own ideas about how to be a journalist. The intended audience for this blog is journalists and aspiring journalists. The blog is extremely effective for this audience as it explains new steps being taken in journalism and how to be a journalist.
Dan Gillmor's blog is more straightforward. His is an example of a site that collects the news and reposts it. Gillmor summarizes and comments on each story. However, the voice of the blog is primarily in stories written by other people. This is very different from traditional reporting, as Gillmor merely finds stories that interest him and reposts them. The stories posted are very specific, almost always having to do with business and the economy (49ers Ripoff: Nail the Taxpayers). Thus, this blog is where people interested solely in business can find their news. This is very effective as readers can find stories that interest them in one place and don't have to worry that much about Gillmor's opinion seeping in.
Jeff Jarvis' site is quite a change from Gillmor's. Jarvis posts mainly on his experiences in journalism, from sharing a letter to the editor he wrote to blogging on the Networked Journalism Summit. There really isn't any reporting being done on this site, which makes it a very different type of journalism. Jarvis' posts are really in depth, so I would say the target audience is anyone who is really interested in reading about the media. However, Jarvis' posts are so in depth that readers may find it hard to read, which makes the site not very effective.
The journalistic blog that I found most appealing is that of Romenesko. This blog is similar to that of Gillmor's. This blog just collects and briefly comments on stories from other sources. While this may differ from traditional reporting in that there is no reporting being done, only collecting, this blog is the one that most interested me. The stories are mostly about the journalism industry and the media ("Journalists love blogging because it lets them cut loose" and "Exec says Detroit newsroom cuts shouldn't affect coverage". The audience for this blog would be any journalist interested in learning about the industry. Romenesko is extremely effective as it offers a comprehensive up-to-date look at what is going on in journalism, including print, television, and online. This blog is incredibly useful for any journalist.
Andrew Sullivan's blog, for example, is a mishmash of news stories and Sullivan's thoughts. Some of Sullivan's posts are on such things as "Exposing the Vatican" and "The First Green Bible." In these posts, Sullivan mainly posts stories from other sources and then comments on them. In other posts he'll feature a poem, a response to a comment or a photograph. This blog definitely differs from traditional reporting. Sullivan offers his opinions and interpretation of news stories and only seems to post what is interesting to him. The content is really unusual and eclectic, but this is not a bad thing as the stories are interesting and not ones readers may be aware of. Because the stories are so varied, it's hard to say who the target audience is. My best guess would be readers "of no party or clique", as that's what Sullivan's banner reads. In all, this blog is amusing and interesting, but I didn't see it as effective because of the eclectic nature of the posts.
Paul Bradshaw is another journalist with a blog. This blog occasionally reposts new stories from other sources, but Bradshaw seems more interested in blogging about being a journalist. for example, two of his posts are titled "How to be a journalism student- the wiki" and "Online journalism job of the week: Keyword Manager". This site differs from traditional reporting because it mostly isn't reporting. Bradshaw simply collects the news and then posts his own ideas about how to be a journalist. The intended audience for this blog is journalists and aspiring journalists. The blog is extremely effective for this audience as it explains new steps being taken in journalism and how to be a journalist.
Dan Gillmor's blog is more straightforward. His is an example of a site that collects the news and reposts it. Gillmor summarizes and comments on each story. However, the voice of the blog is primarily in stories written by other people. This is very different from traditional reporting, as Gillmor merely finds stories that interest him and reposts them. The stories posted are very specific, almost always having to do with business and the economy (49ers Ripoff: Nail the Taxpayers). Thus, this blog is where people interested solely in business can find their news. This is very effective as readers can find stories that interest them in one place and don't have to worry that much about Gillmor's opinion seeping in.
Jeff Jarvis' site is quite a change from Gillmor's. Jarvis posts mainly on his experiences in journalism, from sharing a letter to the editor he wrote to blogging on the Networked Journalism Summit. There really isn't any reporting being done on this site, which makes it a very different type of journalism. Jarvis' posts are really in depth, so I would say the target audience is anyone who is really interested in reading about the media. However, Jarvis' posts are so in depth that readers may find it hard to read, which makes the site not very effective.
The journalistic blog that I found most appealing is that of Romenesko. This blog is similar to that of Gillmor's. This blog just collects and briefly comments on stories from other sources. While this may differ from traditional reporting in that there is no reporting being done, only collecting, this blog is the one that most interested me. The stories are mostly about the journalism industry and the media ("Journalists love blogging because it lets them cut loose" and "Exec says Detroit newsroom cuts shouldn't affect coverage". The audience for this blog would be any journalist interested in learning about the industry. Romenesko is extremely effective as it offers a comprehensive up-to-date look at what is going on in journalism, including print, television, and online. This blog is incredibly useful for any journalist.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Online Content
Salon.com, similar to slate.com, which I wrote about in my last post, is "An independent online magazine, featuring lively original reporting and commentary on news, politics, culture, and life." This journalistic Website has a lot of content, broken up into several categories, including arts and entertainment, books, comics, community, life, movies, news and politics, opinions, sports, and technology and business. The site also includes a daily blog, weekly columns, special coverage of the 2008 presidential election, and a podcast. I found this to be a great site, content wise. There is something to interest everyone and in this way the Website really does resemble a magazine. In addition, the site covers topics that readers might not be able to read about in a newspaper, such as an article about parking titled "We Paved Paradise-So why can't we find any place to park? Because parking is one of the biggest boondoggles -- and environmental disasters -- in our country." I thought that having a little bit of everything was a real strength for this site, as opposed to focusing on just, say, arts and entertainment. This way the site seems more rounded and will probably appeal to a larger audience.
The writing on Salon.com doesn't really differ from that of a print column. The stories range in length from one to four pages. I found this strange because online readers usually just skim an article and are turned off from longer articles spread over multiple pages. In addition, the stories generally follow the pyramid format, as opposed to the inverted pyramid. This means that readers have to actually read most of the article to get to the point, instead of having the option to stop after a few paragraphs and still know what the story is about. I found this to be similar to in depth magazine coverage, rather than what is usually expected from online journalism writing. Even though I dislike reading an article on a computer screen, I still found the articles on this site very interesting. However, I still found myself skimming over some paragraphs to find the main point. I saw this as both a strength and a weakness for the Website. On the one hand the articles are very interesting and well written. However, articles that span for four pages won't really hold an online reader's attention.
Links are used very effectively on salon.com. For example, an article titled "Here's Looking At You, 'Kid'" by Andrew O'Hehir about a documentary titled "My Kid Could Paint That" uses several links. The article is about a 4-year-old painter who might be a hoax. The article offers links to the film's official Website, a podcast of the author interviewing the film's director, the Website to view the 4-year-old's paintings, an article in the New York Times, and an article about the Sundance Film Festival, among others. These links made the article extremely different from a story in a print medium. The links allow the reader to further explore the subject of the article and learn more, if they so choose. Salon makes use of links in all of its stories and by doing so clearly lets the reader know that what they are reading is a article online complete with the use of digital multimedia.
The writing on Salon.com doesn't really differ from that of a print column. The stories range in length from one to four pages. I found this strange because online readers usually just skim an article and are turned off from longer articles spread over multiple pages. In addition, the stories generally follow the pyramid format, as opposed to the inverted pyramid. This means that readers have to actually read most of the article to get to the point, instead of having the option to stop after a few paragraphs and still know what the story is about. I found this to be similar to in depth magazine coverage, rather than what is usually expected from online journalism writing. Even though I dislike reading an article on a computer screen, I still found the articles on this site very interesting. However, I still found myself skimming over some paragraphs to find the main point. I saw this as both a strength and a weakness for the Website. On the one hand the articles are very interesting and well written. However, articles that span for four pages won't really hold an online reader's attention.
Links are used very effectively on salon.com. For example, an article titled "Here's Looking At You, 'Kid'" by Andrew O'Hehir about a documentary titled "My Kid Could Paint That" uses several links. The article is about a 4-year-old painter who might be a hoax. The article offers links to the film's official Website, a podcast of the author interviewing the film's director, the Website to view the 4-year-old's paintings, an article in the New York Times, and an article about the Sundance Film Festival, among others. These links made the article extremely different from a story in a print medium. The links allow the reader to further explore the subject of the article and learn more, if they so choose. Salon makes use of links in all of its stories and by doing so clearly lets the reader know that what they are reading is a article online complete with the use of digital multimedia.
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