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.
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