Adobe (formerly Adobe Macromedia) Flash is a content-rich design program that allows designers to create interactive environments that include text, audio, video, contingent animations, and internet hyperlinks. At present, it seems that Flash can offer journalists some of the best opportunities to incorporate all the facets of modern media interactivity, and even push some boundaries.
Since I couldn't find a link to answer question 1 in the book (I think Adobe changed its site around), I'll go straight to #2: Does interacting with information lead to a greater understanding?
Certainly. As they say, practice makes perfect, and theory without application is meaningless and abstract. Using information -- as opposed to simply reading it -- always helps lead to greater understanding. This is true, as always, in terms of the Flash games described at the end of the chapter. By incorporating Flash games into news Web sites, journalists can give the users the interactivity they crave while making it fun for them to "take their medicine" -- or comprehend the day's news. The smart incorporations of such games could be pivotal for news Web sites in years to come, as users continue to demand the pinnacle of interactivity.
Next question: How might you have used video, audio, rich content or advanced interactivity in a project you previously completed with just text, and how might these features advance the story in ways text cannot?
Last year I wrote an in-depth story about U.S. ethanol production for my J201 class with Prof's. Wyss and MacDonald. The story explored many different facets of ethanol production (economic, social, environmental, political, etc) but was limited to traditional text format.
Had I been able to use all of the aforementioned media tools, my story could have become a much more complete picture of the ethanol situation in the U.S. today. I could have included audio clips of the interviews I conducted with leading ethanol scholars and high-ranking U.S. Dept. of Agriculture personnel. Perhaps I could have incorporated a video about how ethanol is produced. With Flash, I could have included interactive, liquid graphs about issue's economic implications, much like the New York Times' 2004 election campaign page. Certainly the issue is much greater than its summation in text, and readers could have benefited from the opportunities that additional media tools would have provided.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Trial, Failure, and an RSS Feed
After a class period of trying to create an RSS feed, I was no closer than when I started. The instructions I found online were confusing, the methods unclear, and the coding impossible.
However, from the comfort of my own couch, the lightbulb finally came on. Now, after reevaluating the situation, I think I have something resembling the coveted RSS Feed.
The process was confusing to understand at first, beginning with the assignment itself: "create an RSS feed." At first, I took this to mean we were supposed to "host" an RSS feed on one of our web pages. I scoured the web for ways to show other sites' RSS feeds on my own, but I couldn't fathom how. Every example entailed downloading an RSS reader, which didn't seem like something Kodi would have expected us to do. Distraught and astray, I went back to the drawing board.
Perhaps Kodi wanted us to publish and syndicate our own RSS feed with our own headlines. This seemed like a more difficult task, but we were eager for a new direction to try (it was, in fact, the correct assignment.) We searched the web for instructions about how to create our own RSS feeds, and found copious amounts of what looked like HTML code. We tried to copy some examples and save them to HTML files in Dreamweaver, but that didn't seem to yield the correct results. Class was over, and my brain was fried.
Now, from the couch, it's clear that we were almost there.
Copying some example code should have worked, had we understood what format the code was in. Although it looked like simple HTML tags, the markup was actually XML and -- the kicker -- had to be saved in .xml format! Once you've saved your RSS file as an XML extension -- say, "feed.xml" -- upload it to the web server where your site is located. Then all you need to do is put a link to your RSS feed (XML page) on your Web site (HTML page, presumably). The symbol for an RSS feed is an orange icon like the one shown on the previously-linked Wikipedia page.
When somebody clicks the link to your XML RSS feed on your HTML Web page, they will have the option to have your RSS feed added to their homepage -- likely Google, Yahoo, MySpace, or a separate RSS-reading program. Congratulations, you're syndicated!
To update your feed, simply edit the links in the XML file and they will appear on your reader's page as soon as it refreshes (the next time it requests the XML file from the server).
Phew.
However, from the comfort of my own couch, the lightbulb finally came on. Now, after reevaluating the situation, I think I have something resembling the coveted RSS Feed.
The process was confusing to understand at first, beginning with the assignment itself: "create an RSS feed." At first, I took this to mean we were supposed to "host" an RSS feed on one of our web pages. I scoured the web for ways to show other sites' RSS feeds on my own, but I couldn't fathom how. Every example entailed downloading an RSS reader, which didn't seem like something Kodi would have expected us to do. Distraught and astray, I went back to the drawing board.
Perhaps Kodi wanted us to publish and syndicate our own RSS feed with our own headlines. This seemed like a more difficult task, but we were eager for a new direction to try (it was, in fact, the correct assignment.) We searched the web for instructions about how to create our own RSS feeds, and found copious amounts of what looked like HTML code. We tried to copy some examples and save them to HTML files in Dreamweaver, but that didn't seem to yield the correct results. Class was over, and my brain was fried.
Now, from the couch, it's clear that we were almost there.
Copying some example code should have worked, had we understood what format the code was in. Although it looked like simple HTML tags, the markup was actually XML and -- the kicker -- had to be saved in .xml format! Once you've saved your RSS file as an XML extension -- say, "feed.xml" -- upload it to the web server where your site is located. Then all you need to do is put a link to your RSS feed (XML page) on your Web site (HTML page, presumably). The symbol for an RSS feed is an orange icon like the one shown on the previously-linked Wikipedia page.
When somebody clicks the link to your XML RSS feed on your HTML Web page, they will have the option to have your RSS feed added to their homepage -- likely Google, Yahoo, MySpace, or a separate RSS-reading program. Congratulations, you're syndicated!
To update your feed, simply edit the links in the XML file and they will appear on your reader's page as soon as it refreshes (the next time it requests the XML file from the server).
Phew.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Blog Reviews
Here are a few reviews of the journalistic blog sites that Kodi recommended. The sites are judged on (i) the content, (ii) how and whether the blog differs from traditional reporting, (iii) who the target audience is, and (iv) how effective it is.
1. Mindy McAdams Blog - Teaching Online Journalism
Content: Online journalism showcasing and critiquing
Difference: McAdams' blog is a collection of online journalism examples from across the web that is accompanied by her insightful journalistic criticism. Effectively, it is a journalist's take on online journalism.
Audience: University students, journalists, media enthusiasts.
Effectiveness: Very effective. McAdams scours the web for the most interesting examples of online journalism and offers educated opinions of them.
2. Paul Bradshaw's Online Journalism Blog
Content: Exploration and research of online journalism
Difference: The blog is a tour through current topics in online journalism with Paul Bradshaw as the guide. He doesn't do as much critiquing, per se, as McAdams, but keeps a knowledgeable and level-headed commentary of the journalism he highlights.
Audience: New online journalists, potential online journalists
Effectiveness: Somewhat. Bradshaw's blog doesn't contain (in my opinion) the caliber of interesting content that McAdams' does. However, it does provide clearer looks at some of the trends facing online journalism.
3. Adrian Holovaty's Blog
Content: Holovaty's online journalism creations and musings of a young journalist.
Difference: The blog has a much more personal touch than the previous two. Part of the blog is indeed journalism (Holotavy has written for the Washington Post, for example), while some posts are strictly personal content.
Audience: Aspiring journalists, amateur musicians, YouTube connoisseurs.
Effectiveness: Quite. Holovaty mixes his personal interests in with genuine journalism to create a personal mash that is interesting to navigate. Some bias may come from the fact that I am myself an aspiring journalist who shares his love for acoustic guitar.
4. Buzzmachine - Jeff Jarvis' Blog
Content: Journalistic information, news and criticism from an experienced journalist.
Difference: Jarvis' Blog is a collection of media news with a personal spin that maintains a somewhat-professional tone. Jarvis is a media man who writes about media, but does so from an accessible standpoint.
Audience: Journalists, media-savvy citizens
Effectiveness: Above average. Jarvis' blog is indeed journalism, and his enlightened perspective offers an interesting vantage point on the events he writes about.
5. Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Dish
Content: Sullivan's ("of no party or clique") take on the best of what happened in the world.
Difference: Sullivan certainly doesn't "create" journalism in the traditional sense; rather, he organizes it according to his personal preference. In the blogging spirit, the news he selects for his site is somewhat of a glimpse into his own psyche. But that's not to say he doesn't work hard - he posts dozens of times each day, from early in the morning to late each night.
Audience: Eclectic mix of like-minded scatterbrains and people searching for interesting news
Effectiveness: In a weird way, somewhat. Though Sullivan doesn't much comment on the sites he blogs, his dedication to the effort seems encouraging -- he spends all day scouring the news so you don't have to.
1. Mindy McAdams Blog - Teaching Online Journalism
Content: Online journalism showcasing and critiquing
Difference: McAdams' blog is a collection of online journalism examples from across the web that is accompanied by her insightful journalistic criticism. Effectively, it is a journalist's take on online journalism.
Audience: University students, journalists, media enthusiasts.
Effectiveness: Very effective. McAdams scours the web for the most interesting examples of online journalism and offers educated opinions of them.
2. Paul Bradshaw's Online Journalism Blog
Content: Exploration and research of online journalism
Difference: The blog is a tour through current topics in online journalism with Paul Bradshaw as the guide. He doesn't do as much critiquing, per se, as McAdams, but keeps a knowledgeable and level-headed commentary of the journalism he highlights.
Audience: New online journalists, potential online journalists
Effectiveness: Somewhat. Bradshaw's blog doesn't contain (in my opinion) the caliber of interesting content that McAdams' does. However, it does provide clearer looks at some of the trends facing online journalism.
3. Adrian Holovaty's Blog
Content: Holovaty's online journalism creations and musings of a young journalist.
Difference: The blog has a much more personal touch than the previous two. Part of the blog is indeed journalism (Holotavy has written for the Washington Post, for example), while some posts are strictly personal content.
Audience: Aspiring journalists, amateur musicians, YouTube connoisseurs.
Effectiveness: Quite. Holovaty mixes his personal interests in with genuine journalism to create a personal mash that is interesting to navigate. Some bias may come from the fact that I am myself an aspiring journalist who shares his love for acoustic guitar.
4. Buzzmachine - Jeff Jarvis' Blog
Content: Journalistic information, news and criticism from an experienced journalist.
Difference: Jarvis' Blog is a collection of media news with a personal spin that maintains a somewhat-professional tone. Jarvis is a media man who writes about media, but does so from an accessible standpoint.
Audience: Journalists, media-savvy citizens
Effectiveness: Above average. Jarvis' blog is indeed journalism, and his enlightened perspective offers an interesting vantage point on the events he writes about.
5. Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Dish
Content: Sullivan's ("of no party or clique") take on the best of what happened in the world.
Difference: Sullivan certainly doesn't "create" journalism in the traditional sense; rather, he organizes it according to his personal preference. In the blogging spirit, the news he selects for his site is somewhat of a glimpse into his own psyche. But that's not to say he doesn't work hard - he posts dozens of times each day, from early in the morning to late each night.
Audience: Eclectic mix of like-minded scatterbrains and people searching for interesting news
Effectiveness: In a weird way, somewhat. Though Sullivan doesn't much comment on the sites he blogs, his dedication to the effort seems encouraging -- he spends all day scouring the news so you don't have to.
Monday, October 8, 2007
OJ Review: The BBC
For this week's blog entry I am reviewing the online content of an international news organization, the BBC.
The BBC home page is an attractive, link-heavy page that is offers a lot of customization to users. It is a "home base" of sorts for online news readers, where they can access news or set their local region or language preferences.
The BBC page uses a lot of links to access a lot of content. The page is packed with news from all over the world, and it's evident there's more here to choose from than your standard newspaper. Without space constraints, the BBC is able to put much more news on the web than they would be able to on paper.
The site has a good news mix and appears to cater to a wide range of viewers. Apart from traditional news stories, the BBC site has videos, images, discussion boards and RSS feed options to cater to its tech-savvy users. A consumer on the BBC Web site can view a wide variety of news on countless types of media.
As for the stories themselves, I give them mixed reviews. Namely, the story page layout is far less clean and attractive than the homepage. The story page template is much different than the home page, which felt inconsistent. The content also seems cramped, trapped on the leftmost 1/3 or so of the page. The story page also didn't make very good use of F-shaped design, and seems to make the user work hard while reading the news.
The actual writing of the story, on the other hand, was well-done. The writing itself differed from that of print journalism to appeal to the online audience. Namely, the story was shorter, and used block quotes and links throughout. The lead was also bolded to catch the user's attention.
Perhaps the most admirable aspect of the BBC's story page was the sidebar with dozens of related links that users can navigate to if they so desire. This function more than makes up for the subpar layout on the story page because it gives so much control to the user in the online environment.
Despite a few drawbacks in layout and presentation, it seems the BBC site is one of the most complete and well-linked news sites operating today.
The BBC home page is an attractive, link-heavy page that is offers a lot of customization to users. It is a "home base" of sorts for online news readers, where they can access news or set their local region or language preferences.
The BBC page uses a lot of links to access a lot of content. The page is packed with news from all over the world, and it's evident there's more here to choose from than your standard newspaper. Without space constraints, the BBC is able to put much more news on the web than they would be able to on paper.
The site has a good news mix and appears to cater to a wide range of viewers. Apart from traditional news stories, the BBC site has videos, images, discussion boards and RSS feed options to cater to its tech-savvy users. A consumer on the BBC Web site can view a wide variety of news on countless types of media.
As for the stories themselves, I give them mixed reviews. Namely, the story page layout is far less clean and attractive than the homepage. The story page template is much different than the home page, which felt inconsistent. The content also seems cramped, trapped on the leftmost 1/3 or so of the page. The story page also didn't make very good use of F-shaped design, and seems to make the user work hard while reading the news.
The actual writing of the story, on the other hand, was well-done. The writing itself differed from that of print journalism to appeal to the online audience. Namely, the story was shorter, and used block quotes and links throughout. The lead was also bolded to catch the user's attention.
Perhaps the most admirable aspect of the BBC's story page was the sidebar with dozens of related links that users can navigate to if they so desire. This function more than makes up for the subpar layout on the story page because it gives so much control to the user in the online environment.
Despite a few drawbacks in layout and presentation, it seems the BBC site is one of the most complete and well-linked news sites operating today.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Good Online Journalism Sites
Online journalism its certainly its own breed in terms of writing, style, layout, and overall production, and some sites understand this concept better than others. One of the best sites I found that incorporates all of the aspects of OJ was CNNPolitics.com, CNN's 2008 presidential election homepage.
Although this page itself doesn't contain full stories, it still exhibits many of the qualities that set exceptional online journalism sites apart.
First off, it makes great use of the F-shaped reading patterns. (Check out Neilsen's F-Shaped pattern research.) At the top-left, the most-read part of the page, a navigation bar resides atop the main story, whose link is paired with an attractive image. On top of the image is a short lead-in to the story with a link the user can click to read it in its entirety.
To the top-right, as the tendencies of the human eye dictate, are relevant "top story"-type links that users can click to access more content. Along the left side of the page (the vertical line, in the "F") users can find other boxes of content that each have a micro-version of the F-style design inside them.
Following in the style of F-design, the least important content is placed along the bottom and right sides of the page. On CNNPolitics, this is where ALL of the advertisements are placed. Coincidence?
CNNPolitics also uses an attractive, organized visual style to guide readers to their diverse selection of content. It uses similar styles for boxes, headers, links, and text throughout the page so it feels orderly, professional and navigable. Speaking of navigation, the site also features the same navbar on the top of each page, no matter the page's content, for continuity and familiarity.
On top of the smart, clean design, it's CNNPolitics online-specific content that sets it apart.
The site makes use of nearly every online resource possible. Should a user want more than a reporter-written story, they can read blogs, discuss topics on message boards, watch videos, participate in polls or listen to podcasts (More web tips from USC's Communication Dept. and Cyberjournalist.net.) There's also a high degree of "clickability" involved in navigating the homepage -- which, studies say, keeps users more interested for longer.
These features are what give CNNPolitics a definite advantage over traditional election news sources. Whereas a newspaper's election page might present yesterday's black-and-white stories in a definite layout, CNNPolitics allows the user to create his or her own informational experience, and to consume breaking news as they see fit.
By giving users a high degree of choice in their election news experience, well-designed and supported sites like CNNPolitics can maintain the upper hand over less flexible, traditional outlets.
Although this page itself doesn't contain full stories, it still exhibits many of the qualities that set exceptional online journalism sites apart.
First off, it makes great use of the F-shaped reading patterns. (Check out Neilsen's F-Shaped pattern research.) At the top-left, the most-read part of the page, a navigation bar resides atop the main story, whose link is paired with an attractive image. On top of the image is a short lead-in to the story with a link the user can click to read it in its entirety.
To the top-right, as the tendencies of the human eye dictate, are relevant "top story"-type links that users can click to access more content. Along the left side of the page (the vertical line, in the "F") users can find other boxes of content that each have a micro-version of the F-style design inside them.
Following in the style of F-design, the least important content is placed along the bottom and right sides of the page. On CNNPolitics, this is where ALL of the advertisements are placed. Coincidence?
CNNPolitics also uses an attractive, organized visual style to guide readers to their diverse selection of content. It uses similar styles for boxes, headers, links, and text throughout the page so it feels orderly, professional and navigable. Speaking of navigation, the site also features the same navbar on the top of each page, no matter the page's content, for continuity and familiarity.
On top of the smart, clean design, it's CNNPolitics online-specific content that sets it apart.
The site makes use of nearly every online resource possible. Should a user want more than a reporter-written story, they can read blogs, discuss topics on message boards, watch videos, participate in polls or listen to podcasts (More web tips from USC's Communication Dept. and Cyberjournalist.net.) There's also a high degree of "clickability" involved in navigating the homepage -- which, studies say, keeps users more interested for longer.
These features are what give CNNPolitics a definite advantage over traditional election news sources. Whereas a newspaper's election page might present yesterday's black-and-white stories in a definite layout, CNNPolitics allows the user to create his or her own informational experience, and to consume breaking news as they see fit.
By giving users a high degree of choice in their election news experience, well-designed and supported sites like CNNPolitics can maintain the upper hand over less flexible, traditional outlets.
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