Multimedia Journalism: The Transition to Digital Storytelling

A discussion on how news organizations should employ digital storytelling techniques for the future, by determining both when to invest in

multimedia resources, and how to get started.

By Tracy Boyer

www.innovativeinteractivity.com

www.tracynboyer.com

Some Questions to be Answered:

• What is multimedia?• Why should I care?• Who is doing it best?• What do I need to know to get started?• What if we don’t have necessary resources

(equipment, software, knowledge, personnel)?• How do I continually improve my skills?• How am I going to get a job with all of this

turmoil in the economy and industry?

Brief Overview of Today’s Talk• Definition of Multimedia

– In the blogosphere– Types of multimedia

• The Transition from Print to Digital– Hard facts about the print decline– Increased consumption of social media and why it matters

• The Investment of Multimedia– How to decide when a story should be told with multimedia– Factors to use in weighing your decision– Examples of multimedia journalism

• Case Study: Roanoke.com’s “Age of Uncertainty”– How we made an award-winning package with limited resources

• How to Get Started– Concepts, skills and software to learn– Blogs to read, books to buy and people to watch– The importance of continued education

• Q/A Session

Multimedia in the Blogosphere

Innovative Interactivitywww.innovativeinteractivity.com

Teaching Online Journalism

Mindy McAdamsCollege of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida

http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/

10,000 Words

Mark S. LuckieMedia Consultant

http://www.10000words.net/

Options for multimedia journalists

The Future of Communication

The State of the News Media, 2009

http://www.stateofthenewsmedia.org/2009/narrative_overview_keyindicators.php?cat=2&media=1

The Transition from Print to Digital

• Increased use of RSS, podcasts, blogging, and social media to virally distribute the news in a multimedia format

• Twitter, Flickr new mediums for breaking news coverage by citizen journalists (Hudson plane crash)

http://twitpic.com/135xa

The Investment of Multimedia

• Social Media: 0-1 hour to upload content to Facebook, Twitter, blog• Video: 1 day to shoot, edit and upload content• Audio Slideshow: 1 day to gather, edit and upload content• Interactive graphic: 1 day to create graphic and add simple interactivity• Multimedia package: 1 week + to produce multiple elements and create

the design, UI, and functionality• Large-scale multimedia series: 1 month + to storyboard, report,

produce, program, beta test, maintain and update

Advantages: Longer shelf-life; increased attention span; enhanced retention rate; broader audience

Disadvantages: Increased time commitment; need for expensive equipment and software; knowledge of technology tools

What medium to use and when

• Low-interest news for a turn-around story

• A daily story with no captivating visuals

• Only one reporter on hand to cover story

• Difficult story subject who is unwilling to be photographed, videotaped, or recorded

• Not enough resources, not enough time

• Publication date is set

• Compelling storyline with great visuals

• High-interest topic in the community with potential for a long shelf-life

• Storyline includes complicated numbers and data, maps or other graphics

• Opportunity to include any form of interactivity to better tell the story

• Possibility to delay the run date• Editor is on board to invest in

multimedia

Text story: Multimedia story:

The Potential for Multimedia

Potential for multimedia:“The Girl Effect”

http://www.girleffect.org/

Case Study: “Age of Uncertainty”

Awards: 2008 POYi “Documentary Project of the Year” 2008 APME “Online Convergence Award” 2008 ONA Finalist “Multimedia Feature” 2008 SNDies quarterly award

Organizational Structure of a Multimedia Team

Tracy BoyerMultimedia Producer

Josh MeltzerPhotographer

Matt ChittumDatabase Editor

Grant JedlinskyGraphic Artist

Alec RooneyCopyeditor

Beth MacyReporter

Seth GitnerMultimedia Editor

Multimedia TimelineThe Ten Steps:

• Brainstorming

• Storyboarding

• Researching

• Collaborating

• Designing

• Programming

• Producing

• Fixing

• Beta testing

• Launching

Behind the Scenes of a Multimedia Project

How to Get Started

• Use Google Reader to keep up with blogs• Use del.icio.us to bookmark sites and find

out what others are bookmarking• Use twitter to “listen” to colleagues• Use LinkedIn to make connections• Continually learn something new by buying

books, attending webinars/seminars• Attempt a multimedia project once a month

12 Blogs to Read

• 10,000 words: http://www.10000words.net/• FlowingData: http://flowingdata.com/• Innovative Interactivity: http://www.innovativeinteractivity.com/• Interactive Narratives: http://www.interactivenarratives.org/• Journerdism: http://www.journerdism.com/• Mastering Multimedia: http://masteringmultimedia.wordpress.com/• MediaShift: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/• MultimediaShooter: http://www.multimediashooter.com/• News Videographer: http://newsvideographer.com/• Teaching Online Journalism: http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/• Visual Editors: http://www.visualeditors.com/apple/• Visual Journalist: http://visualjournalist.org/

10 Sites to Watch

• The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/multimedia/

• The New York Times: http://nytimes.com/pages/multimedia/

• The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/?hpid=mmindex

• Los Angeles Times: http://projects.latimes.com/index/

• The Roanoke Times: http://www.roanoke.com/multimedia/

• Wisconsin State Journal: http://www.madison.com/wsj/media/archive/interactive.html

• St. Petersburg Times: http://www.sptimes.com/News/webspecials/multimedia/

• South Florida Sun-Sentinel: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/broadband/theedge/

• MediaStorm: http://www.mediastorm.org/

• Bombay Flying Club: http://www.bombayfc.com/

7 Resources to Check Out

• TeachingOnlineJournalism: “Reporters Guide to Multimedia Proficiency” (RGMP) http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2009/rgmp-11-tell-a-good-story-with-images-and-sound/

• InnovativeInteractivity: “Flash Programming Tips” http://www.innovativeinteractivity.com/category/flash-programming-tips/

• The Poynter Institute: Training Opportunities http://www.poynter.org/training/

• Lynda.com: http://www.lynda.com/

• KobreGuide: http://www.kobreguide.com/

• Knight Digital Media Center: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/

• FlashKit Tutorials: http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/

25 Programs to Learn &Sites to Join

• Video– Final Cut Pro; Canopus Edius; Adobe Premiere– Vimeo; YouTube; Embedr

• Audio– Audacity; Pro Tools; Adobe Audition– Soundslides; Vuvox

• Photography– Photoshop; Panorama software– Flickr; Soundslides; Vuvox; SlideShowPro

• Design– Flash; InDesign; Illustrator; Freehand; Maya; Adobe After Effects

• Social Networking– Del.icio.us; Twitter; Facebook; Digg; LinkedIn; YouTube; Flickr;

StumbleUpon; Tumblr

Connect with Me!

• Portfolio: www.tracynboyer.com

• Innovative Interactivity: www.innovativeinteractivity.com

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/innovativeinter

• Del.icio.us: http://delicious.com/tracyboyer

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tracynboyer

• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/tracyboyer

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42356729783