Flash

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.