Multimedia advice

CPOY judges review multimedia winners

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College Photographer of the Year 2009 winners were announced last week, and the judges did a great job carefully selecting the winners amongst a large crop of entries. According to the CPOY site, there were 226 multimedia projects entered for consideration. Arguably more interesting than the winner’s list, however, were the video screencasts of the judges discussing the semi-finalists in each round.

In comparison to the novice student reviews of projects that I highlighted last week, the CPOY videos give you an inside look at what seasoned professionals think about when they view multimedia. Judges this year included New York Times multimedia producer Zach Wise, Syracuse Assistant Professor Seth Gitner, freelance photographer Nicole Frugé, Dallas Morning News photographer Lara Solt and former managing editor of The State Journal-Register Barry Locher. You can learn more about the judges on the CPOY judges’ page.

I haven’t had time to watch all of the videos in their entirety, but the analysis on the “Large Group Multimedia Project” was particularly interesting since I am working on the project they awarded “gold” throughout the year, “Powering a Nation.”

I want to specifically discuss one of their criticisms regarding the site. If you go to the homepage, you will see a video player with a motion graphics intro. The video console was custom built by then UNC student Zach Ferriola-Bruckenstein, who incorporated a search function for each video. He programmed it so that when the viewer is watching the video, he or she can search for a word and jump ahead to a certain point. However, Zach did not add the search function if the video hadn’t started yet, nor include a note in the help page that the video needs to be playing for the search function to trigger.

A search function that seemed clear to the producer was obviously confusing to the experts as I watched them search for numerous terms and then look for a “search” or “enter” button before eventually assuming it was broken without even starting the video. This feedback served as a usability test for the UNC News21 team, and Zach is now working on clearing up these issues with the player.

This is just one example of numerous usability lessons that can be learned from watching these videos. Furthermore, you can listen to professional opinions on a variety of photo and multimedia entries, which will help everyone hoping to improve their skills.

For a full list of winners in every category, check out the winner’s gallery page. Congrats to everyone!

Other posts that might interest you:

• Multiple competition deadlines looming … enter now!
• Associated Press Managing Editor award goes to Age of Uncertainty!
• SNDies 2009: Meet the judges

© 17 November 2009 Innovative Interactivity.