The New York Times has been pushing out new multimedia coverage of the Winter Olympics daily for the past two weeks, and frankly it’s been difficult keeping up with them! Thankfully, they created a landing page to promo all of the packages – all 24 of them – for our convenience. Personally, I would argue that the best part of this gallery is the ability to see a broad overview of their extensive coverage, which allows me to think about the decisions that went behind what medium to use with what story. As you can see, some packages are step graphics, while others are map-based interactives, while others are video vignettes.
Juan Sánchez was the mastermind behind El Mundo’s graphic coverage of the Haiti earthquake that I highlighted earlier in the week, but his name has also been on countless other award-winning infographics. You might have seen his project, “Valencia Street Circuit,” which was awarded a bronze at the 2008 International Infographic Malofiej awards. We are honored to choose Juan for this week’s title as “Innovative Individual” for his excellent infographic work over the years.
If you are wondering why II has been a little quiet lately, it is because I have been spending all of my free time completing my 2010 application for the “Win a Trip” contest with New York Times’ reporter Nicholas Kristof. I was a top-10 finalist last year, so I felt that I had to give it a second try. My first video was full of music, panning images, and content showing my humanitarian background. Thus, this year I decided to try something different and for my second video I took viewers on a mini tour of UNC to show my academic background.
I recently came across a multimedia package by Oregonian photographer Torsten Kjellstrand. To my surprise, the package was done back in 2007, but perhaps you also missed it and can check it out now. I appreciate how they used a clean HTML/CSS layout for the site, and how they housed their videos on Vimeo rather than utilized an in-house player. In total, there are five videos, a photo gallery, and an intimate text story. The videography is pretty solid, and is well worth your time.
2009 brought countless inspirational Web sites, touching stories, and innovative ideas. Here is my “Top 50″ list of favorite multimedia sites from this year. Thanks for all of the inspiration and keep it up for 2010!
British multimedia blogger Adam Westbrook just made my day with his entertaining and right-on predictions for journalism in 2010. For those in a rush, I included his 10 predictions here, but his video is really worth seeing in its entirety because he makes some excellent points regarding each prediction. Thanks for the inspiration Adam – it sounds like 2010 has a lot in store for new media journalists!
In anticipation of “Cali, a salsa industry” launching next Monday, the 14th, we interviewed multimedia editor Mauricio Gonzalez about the project. Read further to learn about the latest edition on the “Reportaje 360″ site, their work flow and why they believe user-submitted content is imperative for the success of their multimedia initiative.
I recently stumbled across the fascinating, and extremely innovative, multimedia series “Reportaje 360″ by Colombia site elpais.com.co via French blogger Antoine Laurent. I was so impressed with the site that II Spanish editor Andrea Ballocchi interviewed Felipe Lloreda, new media editor of El Pais, to get an inside look at how they produced this series. Read on to learn how they planned, organized, and produced a site of this magnitude, and why they believe these types of interactive consoles are imperative for the future of journalism.
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.
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.