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Archive for 31 March 2009
Best of Innovative Interactivity, March 2009
With spring on our heels and final exams looming ahead for me, it’s hard to believe April has already arrived. March was a great month for II, as traffic to the site nearly doubled. This is due largely to Twitter, which I joined in late February. I hope to get better at recapping the “best of” from each month, as I have noticed that posts get quickly archived as the month progresses. Make sure to check out the March archive, and please let me know if there is anything you would like me to cover in April …
Pulitzer Center presents recent grant recipient projects
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting came to UNC today to present “Women – Children – Crisis,” a lecture on the international coverage of global issues surrounding women and children. Three past grant recipients spoke about their experience documenting ethnic and societal conflicts around the world. In addition to hearing how they reported their stories, they presented their videos on Pulitzer Gateway, a site that officially launched today. Get ready because you’ll want to spend quite a bit of time watching these projects.
Behind the Scenes of WSJ’s “Silent Shame”
University of Missouri professor Joy Mayer bookmarked a great video on del.icio.us detailing how Wisconsin State Journal produced their innovative “Silent Shame” package. The series investigated elderly abuse and did a tremendous job refurbishing the print content for their multimedia presentation. I have applauded WSJ for their multimedia efforts in the past, and with a circulation size comparable to that of The Roanoke Times, I would argue that they are a leader in multimedia innovation for their size.
Aaron Koblin visualizes flight patterns in innovative video
Designer Aaron Koblin blew me away with his data visualization efforts to display U.S. flight patterns. Using FAA data, Koblin animated a variety of maps to allow users to come up with their own assumptions from the data. This is a great example of how an otherwise overwhelming amount of data can truly tell a story through graphics, design and animation. For those curious about the back-end, Adobe After Effects and/or Maya was used to create this visualization.
Multimedia Round Table | Killer Blue, Baptized by Fire
I want to open up discussion about AP’s latest package, “Killer Blue, Baptized by Fire.” This four-part series documents the lives of soldiers in Blue Platoon, who served in Mosul, al-Qaida’s last urban stronghold. Coincidentally, I featured another AP package in the first round table discussion, but it failed to spark conversation amongst II readers. Hopefully the same thing won’t happen this time around. Personally, I was extremely emotional after watching this story, and I am eager to hear how others reacted.
NewsU seminar on Wednesday to cover interactive data visualization
I just received an email for an upcoming News University seminar which caught my attention: “Picture This: Interactive Data Visualization: An ONAvation Webinar with Poynter/NewsU.” I have been a Poynter fellow, have friends who work at News University, and have taken previous seminars and online courses from them. Therefore, I highly recommend this upcoming seminar for journalists hoping to add interactivity and data visualization into otherwise mundane multimedia packages. It’s free for ONA members and $29.95 for everyone else, so why not take advantage of such a great training experience?
YouTube showcases Michael Wesch’s visual analysis on new media
On a weekly basis I watch intriguing YouTube videos in my Info Tools class as an introduction to our lectures. Known as “starters,” the goal is to get us thinking about and interested in the topic at hand. Since I am studying Information Science, many of them involve how humans interact with information and how information is being organized and displayed on the web. Michael Wesch, assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, has some of the best videos that I have seen thus far. His analysis on information architecture and the evolution of web technologies is brilliantly presented in his videos and has left me thinking more and more about the current state of information representation in the digital era.
How to get started building an iPhone Web app
I was fortunate enough to attend an Apple seminar on UNC’s campus today for iPhone and iPod Touch application developers. Mobility consulting engineer Steve Hayman discussed the use of Dashcode for Web apps, as well as Xcode for native apps. Hayman showed us some innovative examples of current apps, tutorials with basic templates, and tips to getting started as a developer. Since this is a completely new topic for me (I’m still stuck with a crummy Verizon phone) let’s learn together!
Organizing multimedia navigations by media type versus story type
I came across a multimedia presentation today by Chattanooga Times Free Press about Georgia’s 2008 drought. It reminded me of Las Vegas Sun’s recent multimedia package on the drought in Nevada, so I decided to make a great case in point with the two. While “Drought in Georgia” has content organized by media, “For Want of Water” has content organized by story. I cannot stress how crucial it is for multimedia producers to strive to do the latter, and leave behind this notion that we have to notify the viewers what media type was selected to tell a certain part of the story.
NCAA Bball tourney sparks great interactivity across the country
I filled out my first NCAA bracket today (although I am only familiar with a handful of the teams) simply because it was exciting to “play” with the different interactives. I’m pretty sure I changed my mind on every bracket, but if you promise not to judge me (because I am completely biased towards my Heels), I will show you the five brackets I filled out and tell you what I appreciated most about each design.
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