Documentary multimedia

Oxfam personifies climate change with interactive documentary

This post is also available in Spanish

Oxfam International recently launched an interactive site in conjunction with The Guardian‘s coverage leading up to the Copenhagen Summit next month. “Gabura, from daily life to disaster” documents the deadly cyclone that hit Bangladesh in May, and allows the viewer to watch footage before and after the storm hit. While the navigation hardly does the site justice, the storytelling is captivating and well worth your time.

I hardly ever sit through a forced intro video, but in this case I watched it in its entirety before proceeding. I appreciated the “skip” button, but I felt that I needed this introduction to get a feel for the people and their situation. The video did a great job providing snippets from the hours before and after the storm, and the natural sound of the high wind and lightening weaved into the clips gave me a perspective that I otherwise wouldn’t have attained.

The site then allows the user to explore stories either before or after the storm, and provides brief video promos for each story if the user rolls over the corresponding navigation image. In total, there are 17 stories documenting the lifestyle before the cyclone and 11 stories documenting the post-storm devastation and relief efforts. I applaud them for their exceptional storytelling skills, proven by the wide array of story subjects and topics that they were able to depict.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the videography and photography, I was underwhelmed by the presentation of the content. It is a crime that each story is promoted with an image 35 x 20px in size. Granted, once the user scrolls over the tiny thumbnail, it corresponds to the larger image promo, but what makes the user compelled to use this minimalistic navigation in the first place? Furthermore, the cursor should have changed to a hand icon when the user scrolls over the navigation to hint that they can grab the box to scroll through the stories, or click on a specific story.

It is also a shame that they didn’t utilize the map to their advantage and place the stories by location throughout a larger, interactive map. The static map looks like it was pulled directly from a print version which just doesn’t do this site justice. Even if they didn’t use the map for a second navigation, why not make an infographic to show exactly where the cyclone hit and the path it took past Gabura?

Thinking back to “Journey to the End of Coal,” another interactive documentary I highlighted in September, I only wish Oxfam would have incorporated something similar to the user interface and information architecture seen there to heighten this package. If Oxfam would have invested more time into the design and construction of their user interface and information architecture, I strongly believe it would have made a huge difference in their user’s experience on the site.

If you are curious about reading why an NGO invested in multimedia to tell this story, I encourage you to check out posts written by Oxfam director Barbara Stocking and POLIS writer Esha Chhabra.

[Hat tip to Adam Westbrook for bringing this piece to my attention.]

Other posts that might interest you:

• Waterlife interactive website an inspiration for all
• French journalists document quirky Parisians in “The Everyday Walk of Fame”
• Tool of North America and Domani Studios produce “Touching Stories,” four interactive documentaries for the iPad

© 2010 Innovative Interactivity (II).
Download II's Security Policy (PDF)