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Archive for 29 October 2009
New York Times uses 3D animation to recreate Taliban kidnapping
I finally got the chance to watch the entire “Held by the Taliban” series by the New York Times, and I especially enjoyed the 3D animation recreating their escape in the last installment. Now that the entire series has been rolled out, take 10 minutes to watch the six brief videos. This is an excellent example of how to successfully recreate past events using maps, stock photos and video, and 3D animation.
Leslie-Jean Thornton teaches exemplary multimedia journalism
Earlier this month I stumbled across a site for journalism students at the Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona. Taught by Dr. Leslie-Jean Thornton, I am amazed to see all of the resources she provides and the skills she uses to connect with her students. By using blogrolls, twitter hashtags and a growing list of resources and inspirational examples, she has created a well-rounded learning environment for her students. If you are a professor, I encourage you to use this site as inspiration. If you are a professional, use it as continued education. Finally, if you are a student, use the resources as supplemental material to leverage your education.
Advice from Alberto Cairo on animated infographics
In my quest to read everything related to multimedia and interactivity in preparation for my master’s thesis, I came across this excellent Q&A with UNC assistant professor Alberto Cairo titled, “Animated infographics and online storytelling: Words from the wise.” Although this interview was initially published in the Online Journalism Review in 2007, arguably all of his statements still hold true today. If you missed this article, make sure to read it now to get some great infographics inspiration from one of the best in the field.
Introducing new series, “Innovative Individuals”
I am happy to announce a new weekly series at II, titled “Innovative Individuals.” This series is a direct result from user feedback about last week’s “100 notable multimedia professionals.” While I strongly believe that the list is a valuable resource for others curious about who else is out there, the major limitation is that it is by no means comprehensive. First, the list was based strongly upon my knowledge of others in the field, and I am the first to admit that I do not know everyone passionate about multimedia. Second, by creating the 100 cap, I left off countless deserving individuals. Therefore, “Innovative Individuals” is a user-nominated weekly series where readers pick who should be highlighted. At the end of the year, these individuals will be aggregated into the annual list.
Multimedia investment checklist
I have been reading oodles of research papers lately in preparation for my master’s project. One article in particular by Laura Ruel and Nora Paul caught my attention because it included a checklist at the end to determine whether or not it is worth investing in multimedia for a particular story. Included below is the checklist they created, as well as some of their findings from their 2007 DiSEL (Digital Story Effects Lab) study.
Zach Wise produces New York Times’ demo reel
After an incredibly busy week on II with our bilingual announcement and yesterday’s conversation-starting post of notable multimedia professionals, I am off to Cabo San Lucas for a long weekend to enjoy my fall break. Thanks to everyone for their emails, comments, and feedback on my round-up list. I have a lot of great ideas in mind as to how I can highlight individuals who I missed on the list yesterday, which I will implement next week. Until then, have a great weekend and enjoy this awesome inspiration from Zach Wise at The New York Times!
100 notable multimedia professionals
You may not know it, but the multimedia field is filled with inspirational gurus. Last year I highlighted 40 of them, but after a year of scouring the Web and interacting with II readers, I felt the need to publish an updated list. Included are 100 notable data visualization specialists, graphic artists, videographers, photographers, interactive designers, programmers, storytellers, visual journalists and Web developers.
II posts now available in Spanish
I am happy to announce that II posts are now being manually translated into Spanish. This is an exciting time for II since visitors from Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Chile make up a large proportion of our international visitors. Visitors can now switch back and forth between English and Spanish versions of II posts, and comment in either language. University of Miami graduate student Andrea Ballocchi is now serving as II’s Spanish editor, and will monitor all Spanish conversation on the site. Please join me in welcoming her as II truly goes global.
Undercover provides vital anti-theft software for Mac users
I recently had to write a software review for my Information Security course. After digging around sites for possible security software to review, I came across Orbicule, a Belgium company that provides anti-theft software for Mac OS X computers, iPhones and iPods. They granted me a trial version to write my review, and I was so impressed with their product that I wanted to share my review here for all of the Mac readers out there. If you are ever worried about your expensive Mac laptop getting stolen, the smartest thing you could do is invest $49 in Undercover.
IJNET’s “Fundamentals of Multimedia Storytelling” series a must-read
I came across a great blog series today by Iranian journalist Omid Memarian on IJNET’s site about multimedia fundamentals. Thus far, he has three great posts defining multimedia, discussing the teamwork and multi-tasking requirements of multimedia, and planning a multimedia story. I have recapped some of his points here, but I encourage you to read them in their entirety, as well as keep an eye out for his latest post publishing in the near future.
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