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Multimedia Storytelling

ASSIGNMENT
CHECKLIST
STUDENT ZINE WINNERS
STUDENT MULTIMEDIA WINNERS
MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING BY PROFESSIONALS
MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING BY STUDENTS

WASHINGTON POST
• New template
• FixCam with Chris Cillizza (2:24)
• Choose Your Candidate
• Presidential Candidates (Issue Coverage Tracker)
• Diner cam (some cit-journalism video) (1:28 of 5:57)

WHAT EMPLOYERS ARE LOOKING FOR
• The Online Journalism Skills That Get Jobs (Laura Ruel)
• What every journalism student needs to know (now) (Mindy McAdams)
• 2008 objectives for today’s non-wired journalist (Howard Owens)

HOW STUDENTS CAN WOW EMPLOYERS
• Congressman Ron Paul Visits My Dorm Room (4:37)
• James Kotecki with Mike Huckabee (video blogger at Politico) (4:56)
• Changemakers: A Documentary (7:26)
• Emily at Post.com (3:58)
• A Web site of your own
• William Craig Miller’s jailhouse confession (click on Miller’s Show & Tell: Inside the house that night) Lily got a sketch and audio and pulled it together in an hour or so.
• Tempe Center for the Arts (click on MULTIMEDIA: Experience Tempe Center for the Arts) This project was planned in advance by the EVT graphic artist, reporter, editor, photo and Lily Ciric.
• Lily Ciric’s Sun Devil Stadium was an ONA finalist

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Bill Shaw Considered an endemic species, Galapagos brown pelicans wait for a handout.

STUDENT ZINE WINNERS
 • Ball Bearings, Ball State University
• Imprint Magazine, Ithaca College
• Ryerson Review of Journalism, Ryerson University
• The Burr, Kent State University
• Flux 2005, University of Oregon—Flash version of print magazine
• Flux 2005, University of Oregon—HTML version of print magazine
• Flux 2006, University of Oregon—Flash version of print magazine (Be patient!)
• Flux 2007, University of Oregon
• Extreme Alaska: Surviving the Cold Rush
• Horizonlines

STUDENT MULTIMEDIA WINNERS

ONA Student Journalism 2009
• Witnessing History: Election 2008 in the West Grove
• Fish at Bay: The Story of Biscayne Bay
• doooodle.com/
• Defining Change
• Divided Families

ONA Student Journalism 2007
• 1001Words.org
• Atacama Stories
• Border Beat
• Our Tahoe
• The Science of Sex

ONA Student Journalism 2006—Which one won?
• Chasing Crusoe, UNC Chapel Hill
• My Blue-Eyed Girl, Berkeley
• Peavine Explorations, Reynolds School
• Rezoned, Columbia [REMOVED]
• The Ancient Way, UNC Chapel Hill

ONA Student Journalism 2005—Which one won?
• Hartman Murder Files, University of Alaska Fairbanks
• Crossing Borders, Arizona State University
• Global Messengers, University of North Carolina

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Will Kirkland Night falls quickly in the Galapagos.

ASSIGNMENT

  1. Planning and producing a multimedia package takes a lot of hard work, thought and time. These packages rely on teamwork. Only a small percentage of journalists will go on to plan and produce full multimedia packages, but many, many more will take part in reporting and producing assets for these packages. If you appreciate how your role fits into the larger whole, you’ll be doing a better job at every stage of the process. Read about multimedia storytelling in these short entries:

    • Making Online Journalism—Part 1
    • Making Online Journalism—Part 2
    • Making Online Journalism—Part 4
    • Making Online Journalism—Part 5
    • Tips for Writing for the Web. Be sure to click on the Chunks link.

  2. Review the characteristics of different types of media.

  3. Look at one of the items below as an example of good digital writing:

    • Liberians in Minnesota
    The story is excellent, and there’s great reporting and stunning photography too. The audio sequence in the intro Soundslides is terrific, and the videos of the people living in Minnesota successfully show us what life is like for these immigrants. The pull-down menu in the upper left corner works very gracefully, hiding itself automatically after you select something. The integration of the text stories is brilliant, using normal HTML pages. A cookie remembers where you left off. Go to a segment. Close your browser. Open the browser again and return to the package. You will be in the last segment you were viewing.

    • Day of the Dead (azcentral.com)
    This story about the Mexican holiday is packaged as a story rather than one long article that we you to scroll down to read. It’s chunked into sections that are linked from the main entry point with photos that change on mouse over. Check out all the sections, such as Crafts, Food, Events, En Espanol and Glossary. Once you click into a section, the left side navigation bar pops up so you can get around the story easily, and on the right side are more links to related stories and even random trivia. Subheads throughout make it easy for readers to scan for the information they’re seeking. Lots of fun graphics make the site even more appealing.

    • Slate Magazine (slate.com)
    Slate is a daily online magazine. It’s not the Web site of a regular, glossy printed magazine that is just about driving more sales at the newsstands—there is only Slate.com. Every piece is written for Slate.com. Each story is visual, with lots of multimedia elements and graphics, has clickable links and is set in Verdana, an easy-on-the-eye font for online viewing.


    Carol B. Schwalbe Twice a day, tide pools fill as the high tide replenishes the seawater in what would otherwise be a stagnant pond.
  4. Turn in a critique of TWO of the multimedia storytelling packages below. You can learn a lot by analyzing good work (and bad stuff too). They’re not the best or the worst, but you’ll see different ways of tackling a story.

    • Pick one from the professional list and the one from the student list.
    •     The critique must be 500 to 750 words long.
    •     The critique must be typed and double-spaced.
    • Compare and contrast     one professional multimedia package with one student package, especially in terms of online writing and visual storytelling. What works well? What doesn’t work well? What makes this a good story? How does the story take advantage of the unique aspects of the medium? Pay special attention to the writing. Does it suit the medium, or is there too much or too little?
    • Include one paragraph at the end on how you can apply what you learned to your work in this class.
    • On a separate page write at least one paragraph comparing and contrasting “Bearing Witness” with this informal report by ITV correspondents Mark Austin and Phil Reay Smith in terms of navel gazing, the harsh realities of war, focus, sacrifice and presenter driven vs. subject driven content.

GRADING (25 points)

  • 5 points: quality of writing, including grammar, punctuation, spelling and AP style
  • 10 points: quality of critical thinking and analysis
  • 10 points: balance of completeness and brevity

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MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING BY PROFESSIONALS

  • Being a Black Man
    Launched in 2006 by washingtonpost.com, this multimedia series explores what it means to be a black man in today’s society.

Carol B. SchwalbeFrigatebirds ride warm updrafts on their long wings.
  • Day of the Dead (Houston Chronicle)
    If you pick this one, compare it with the azcentral.com version discussed above instead of with a student project.
  • Doubt (St. Petersburg Times)
    Leo Schofield was convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to life in prison, even though no physical evidence tied him to the crime. Look at the evidence and decide if he did it.

  • Drawings from the Killing Fields of Darfur (Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, 2006)
    After you watch the intro, be sure to look at the drawings.

  • Final Salute (2005) Rocky Mountain News, Denver
    Pulitzer Prize winner. Amazing storytelling

  • Inside 9/11 (National Geographic/Neon Sky, 2005)
    An excellent example of video online. Go to the "Interview Archive," and be patient. It’s worth the wait. Use the menu on the left to sort topics. After you select a person, click the “See Also” tab.

  • Jim West: A Spokesman-Review Investigation
    In May 2005, after a three-year investigation, the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review caught/trapped the mayor in a sex scandal. The paper’s extensive online coverage included e-mails, transcripts, interviews, videos and audio recordings. The Web site provided a more detailed look than newspaper stories could. The notes the editor-in-chief made during a phone interview with the mayor were linked to the resulting article, showing how an interview develops into a story.

  • Loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia (USA Today, 2003)
    This site covers the disaster in ways that couldn’t have been done in print or on TV. The illustrations and animations were designed for online rather than print to explain the space shuttle Columbia crash visually. The user controls the action, unlike the way a movie is automated for you.

  • Mary Ellen’s Will: The Battle for 4949 Swiss Avenue
    • Text stories
    • Multimedia
    The Dallas Morning News put a human face on a big (and growing) problem—financial exploitation of the elderly—through a personalized narrative. The problem: One in five elderly Americans will be victims of financial exploitation, losing at least a third of their assets. For each case reported, 12 to 15 cases are believed to go unreported. Dozens of footnotes in the text add credibility by leading you to the evidence on which the story is based. Be sure to look at “The Will,” a death-bed video confession with a lawyer.

Will Kirkland The frigatebird lands only to sleep or tend its nest.

  • Olympics of Tomorrow
    MSNBC’s Big Picture series takes weeks to produce. Template speeds production. Sponsors pick up tab.

  • A People Torn: Liberians in Minnesota (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, 2007)
    Ground-breaking interface functionality. A large team created this package; see the credits for details.
  • Spheres of Influence (Washington Post)
    This interactive graphic reveals the interconnections of the Bush Campaign Pioneers.
  • Stoves for Guatemala (2007)
    This simple but effective three-part package by the Houston Chronicle features a clever intro, narrated slide show and a 3-D animation. Click on INTERACTIVE: The Guatemala stoves, which is under the picture of the tortillas.

  • Touching Hearts
    WARNING! This is an emotional story. Photographer Joe Weiss took a still camera and audio recorder to Nicaragua, where he documented U.S. medical specialists trying to save desperately sick children. He recorded voices and natural sounds—and wrote the text. Oscar’s story, which is one chapter, portrays the death of a young boy in just 11 photos, 440 audio words and 220 text words. Still images can be more powerful than quick-moving video.

  • Unequal Justice: Murderers on Probation (Dallas Morning News, 2007)
    This investigative report reveals the other wide of Texas justice—cold-blooded murderers who are on probation. Dallas County has put more than twice as many murderers on probation as it has sent to death row. What do you think of the trailer that ran on YouTube? Would it entice you to look at the online story?

Cecil Schwalbe A red-billed tropicbird glides past the cliffs on South Plaza Island, where it will lay a single egg.
  • World in the Balance
    PBS put together an impressive companion Web site for its NOVA “World in the Balance program about “the impact of forces that are radically changing populations in both rich and poor nations.” Interactive features include a matching game showing how demographic data shape the future of countries, a global trends quiz and a series of maps showing the impact of population growth.

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MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING BY STUDENTS

  • The Ancient Way (UNC at Chapel Hill)
    Video, photos, audio and interactive graphics make this site more than an online magazine or news site. It is a stunning visual experience with simple, clean navigation.

  • Atacama Stories (2007 SND Bronze)
    Judge’s Comments: Easy to navigate and beautifully photographed and illustrated. This is great multimedia storytelling at work. I really can’t think of much I'd change. I spent a long time viewing it and came away learning a great deal. Nice job.
  • Making It in LA
    USC students profiled six Angelenos. The text, stories and interesting sidebar material (the income “thermometer” and map locator) help make these very personal stories representative of the people.

  • Mountain Workshops (2007 SND Silver)
    Judge’s Comments: This is beautiful. The whole package is so lovely and plays so smoothly and the photos are inviting and intriguing and the multimedia presentations are wonderful. The ambient audio along with the interviews is some of the best I have heard. They are edited and presented with a strong sensibility and a true dedication to storytelling. Congratulations. Great work. Always elegant and plays photojournalism with extreme excellence....This is a beautiful presentation of some great work by some gifted photojournalists. The typography and colors are very sophisticated. The multimedia portion is nicely produced.

    • Carol B. SchwalbeThe vegetation on South Plaza Island changes color with the seasons.
  • Shtetl Economic History Project
    An excellent example of organization and elegant design. The tiling of the correspondence as a navigation scheme with the clear display of text to the side and the smooth, rich slide shows are great lessons in producing online packages of information.

  • Smoky Mountain Stories (2007 SND Silver)
    Judge’s Comments: Nice job on the Soundslides—I was really hooked to the storytelling. Nice portraits. The gallery’s nice too. Overall excellent package—great work.

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CHECKLIST

In general, people spend more time with an interactive story than with a static one (just HTML). As you plan your immigration story, answer these questions as you consider each type of media you plan to use. These tips are adapted from James C. Foust’s book on Online Journalism and Multimedia storytelling: When is it worth it? by Laura Ruel and Nora Paul.

  • Does the addition of [ __ photos __ video __ audio __ graphics/maps __ Flash ] help tell the story to such an extent that it’s really worth the user’s time to wait for it to download and also spend with it?
  • Do the [ __ photos __ video __ audio __ graphics/maps __ Flash] help users understand your story better than any other medium?
  • Do the [ __ photos __ video __ audio __ graphics/maps __ Flash] add emotion or successfully convey an emotional element?
  • Does the addition of [ __ photos __ video __ audio __ graphics/maps __ text __ Flash] make the presentation more educational, enjoyable or entertaining?
  • Are the [ __ photos __ video __ audio __ graphics/maps __ Flash] unique, or have users seen similar things before?

If you answer NO to any of these questions, then consider whether you need that particular media.

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© 2008-2009 Carol B. Schwalbe