According to Mindy McAdams, Flash Journalism is very important. Not only does it offer new levels for interactivity, but Flash presentations often look more professional that the information would normally look on a regular Website. So, with that, here are three journalistic sites that tell stories using multimedia.
One site that employs the use of Flash is USA Today. As we saw in class, USA Today uses Flash to tell all aspects of a story, like they did with their coverage of the loss of space shuttle Columbia. Similarly, the USA Today site uses Flash for their "This Week in Space" segment. This story, located on the "Tech" section of the site is a photo gallery of what's happening this week in space. This week the article focuses on things like new planets, the International Space Station, and the moon. This multimedia feature adds to the story because it allows control as users can choose what pace they want to view the pictures by clicking buttons. Also, by showing users photos, readers become more interested in the story as they are seeing what's happening for themselves, rather than reading about it. However, this presentation does have its downfalls. Unless the user chooses to make the gallery open in a new tab, the gallery will open in a new window that can't be bookmarked, making it inconvenient for those who want to find the gallery again. Also, the gallery has to load, and while it only takes a few seconds, that may be a few seconds too many for some viewers. However, the gallery can be e-mailed to a friend and previous galleries can also be viewed.
A second journalistic site that tells a story in multimedia is CNN's "God's Warriors" site. This story concerns Jewish, Christian, and Muslim "warriors" and is a tie-in with a CNN special. This site is also extremely interactive as users can view video diaries and photo galleries, among other things. The site also links to a number of news stories on cnn.com. However, just like the USA Today site, the "God's Warriors" Flash presentation also has its drawbacks. First, there is the problem of bookmarking. When one clicks on the option for the photo gallery, for example, the gallery pops up in the same window and it is impossible to bookmark an individual picture, only the entire Flash presentation. Also, since this is a contained Flash presentation, only the entire presentation will show up in search engines, not specific sections, meaning a user may have to search through the presentation until he or she finds what they are looking for. However, the site does offer motion by having photos fade in and out and has no scrolling, both of which are benefits.
A third journalistic site that incorporates multimedia through the use of Flash is the New York Times' story about the Manhattan Project. This story, which details the history of the Manhattan Project offers a map of Manhattan with little boxes that give information when a user scrolls over them. When the boxes are clicked on, a new window appears with details for that specific location. For example, when a user rolls over the box titled "J. Robert Oppenheimer's Childhood Home," they are given the address. When they click on it they are given a photo along with a text write-up. Video is offered for some of the locations, too. This site is extremely interactive with very clear graphics, but users do have to scroll to see the entire map. And again, users cannot bookmark specific sections of the site, like the photo of Oppenheimer's childhood home. Also, the graphic does take a little while to load, which can be frustrating.
Flash presentations are a great way for journalistic sites to tell a story, whether they are discussing the history of the Manhattan Project or are just a simple photo gallery. While there are some pitfalls to these presentations, they are extremely valuable in that they offer new ways to tell a story through multimedia.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Behaviors
As we learned in class last week, behaviors are an important part of any Website. Not only do they look cool, they're extremely helpful.
For example, a journalistic site could use a jump menu to organize links and archives. I used to jump menu on my website to organize my links. I linked to some pages I frequently visit, such as CNN.com, the Entertainment Weekly site, and Pop Candy, a pop culture blog from USA Today. The jump menu can be found at the bottom left of my site.
Also helpful is the pop up window. These windows are useful in journalistic sites because they can show new information that is important to a story. However, this new information will be in a new window, so readers will be able to stay on the page they are currently looking at. I used my pop up window to send a message to readers that they are leaving my site when clicking on a link. the link reads "Click here for news" and takes readers to the New York Times Website. This behavior is located under the photo credit on my site.
Sound is also important to journalistic website. By hearing something, certain readers may be able to remember it better. Sound also lets readers know they are hearing something important. For example, a reader could click on a link and hear a quote from a story. My sound clip is just for fun, however. When a user clicks on "Contact" on my site, a sound clip of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" is played.
Finally, swap images can be used on journalistic sites. By having a swap image, a user could see a mini photo gallery of a subject. On my site, when a user rolls the mouse over the picture of me, the picture changes.
I plan on tweaking these behaviors a little, but users should be able to get the idea of the potential of these behaviors and how they could be uses in a journalistic manner.
For example, a journalistic site could use a jump menu to organize links and archives. I used to jump menu on my website to organize my links. I linked to some pages I frequently visit, such as CNN.com, the Entertainment Weekly site, and Pop Candy, a pop culture blog from USA Today. The jump menu can be found at the bottom left of my site.
Also helpful is the pop up window. These windows are useful in journalistic sites because they can show new information that is important to a story. However, this new information will be in a new window, so readers will be able to stay on the page they are currently looking at. I used my pop up window to send a message to readers that they are leaving my site when clicking on a link. the link reads "Click here for news" and takes readers to the New York Times Website. This behavior is located under the photo credit on my site.
Sound is also important to journalistic website. By hearing something, certain readers may be able to remember it better. Sound also lets readers know they are hearing something important. For example, a reader could click on a link and hear a quote from a story. My sound clip is just for fun, however. When a user clicks on "Contact" on my site, a sound clip of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" is played.
Finally, swap images can be used on journalistic sites. By having a swap image, a user could see a mini photo gallery of a subject. On my site, when a user rolls the mouse over the picture of me, the picture changes.
I plan on tweaking these behaviors a little, but users should be able to get the idea of the potential of these behaviors and how they could be uses in a journalistic manner.
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