Digital Storytelling & Tools

University of North TexasDepartment of JournalismOnline Journalism 3340

February 26, 2008

The Five ‘I’s

Interactivity Involvement Immediacy Integration In-depth

Text

Static Graphic:

Photo

Text Box

Online

Discussion Lurker

Link

Interactive:

-Timeline

- fact box

- Slideshow

- map

Quiz

Interactive

Game

Interactive

Flash

Content

Online

Discussions

Reporter

Email

Interaction/Involvement Continuum

Low High

The greater the interaction and involvement, the higher the learning

Integration “Among-media”

Shovelware Reproducing newspaper story as-is into newspaper

Posting video from newscast onto the web “I think that the great fear was that we were all going to turn into three-headed monsters and do three times as much work in eight hours, and you just can’t. And, furthermore, you probably won’t do it that well; particularly in a market this size you can’t afford to have a mediocre person on TV or a mediocre news writer.”

Jim Riley, Director of Operations, of TBO.com http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017858030.php

Integration “Within-media”

Great reporting + multimedia using digital media tools: your pen, paper, digital recorder, digital video camera

Long form narrative meets digital story telling

Fully integrated into the story assignment process

Ability for more in-depth coverage Better interviews Greater consciousness of photos Selected use of video

Fairness & accuracy still reign

Digital Storytelling Tools

Shovelware out, Within Media In It’s no place for lazy journalists

Dig deeper, report more, drive to find more sources, quicker

Need to be more accurate and more thorough

Search, research and verify

Digital Storytelling Tools

Rules of the road: Tighter, shorter copy

Section heads Boldface type, bulleted presentations

Pull out quotes Timelines

Links Fact Boxes Graphics Visuals Audio

Digital Storytelling Tools Drilling Down – What Really Works

Timelines Old School: Static graphic in chronological order New School: Dates, images, description, audio

http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/timelines

Quality Audio & Video Slide shows Story Boards

Story Boarding It’s all about nonlinear!!!1) Divide the story into its logical, nonlinear parts, such as:a) A lead or nut paragraph, essentially

addressing why this story is importantb) Profiles of the main person or people in the

storyc) The event or situationd) Any process or how something workse) The history of the event or situationf) Other related issues raised by the story

Story boarding

Change the way you think: Avoid “First Part”, “Second Part”, etc.

Divide the contents of story into media elements

Video Still photos Audio Graphics Text

Story boarding Determine which pieces of story work best with video

What a great way to see, hear, watch Decide which still photos you want

Creates moods, punctuates your text, adds context, richness

Which audio? And will still photos work with it? Bad audio detracts from the story, the audio and the entire package

What about graphics Animated graphics help show how things work Go where no cameras can go: e.g. showing how things work, like cells or space

Story boarding Using maps

Google, government, satellite imaging Showing neighborhoods, patterns of crime

Text “Chunking stories”. Q&A. First-person.

Investigative.

Complementary media, not redundant Match each element.

Interactivity means reader involvement