Alanna’s Weblog

The Five ‘I’s” February 28, 2008

Background: The five ‘I’s of digital storytelling are interactivity, involvement, immediacy, integration, and in-depth. A student from my university is killed on the interstate as he returns from school after the Thanksgiving holiday. A tractor trailer was involved in the crash just a few miles before the exit that leads to my school. The stretch of highway that runs through the area has become increasingly dangerous, with six fatalities so far this year, five of which involve trucks. Traffic has doubled in twenty years. And while the road was designed to carry 15 percent of truck traffic, 40 percent of the vehicles that travel the two-lane highway today are trucks. How would I as a reporter, use the five concepts based on the two following scenarios?

scenario A: Facing a tight deadline with limited resources.

I would have to cover the current accident very quickly. With my pen, notepad, and tape recorder, I would interview police officials and eye witnesses at the scene. With my digital camera, I would take pictures of the accident if I am permitted. The story would have to be written in an inverted pyramid style with the most important information at the top about the accident, and near the end I would reference the other fatalities and the increasing truck traffic problem. The pictures that I took would accompany the story as well as an interactive map of the area where the accident happened. This would cover at lest two of the concepts, which are interactivity and immediacy.

scenario B: Flexible time frame with artists, programmers, and multimedia journalists.

With more time, I would write a narrative story in place of the shorter article. I would tell it from the student’s parent’s perspective, which would give the story a humanistic approach. Within the story, I would include the city council’s involement in the issue, because I know that they should have a stake. The Texas Department of Transportation need to be heard as well. If there are organizations involved, their perspective as well as their work would be included.

For other elements, an interactive timeline would be put together. This would include early pictures of the interstate from 20 years ago, up to the the current time. Within the timeline, the individual stories and voices of the victim’s loved ones would be included. Readers could view videos of them telling the victim’s stories. Podcasts of the city council meetings where traffic issues are being discussed can be posted and uploaded periodically on the website.  Blogs from experts in the traffic business can run along the bottom or the side of the website. A discussion forum will also be included for more reader interactivty and involvement. A traffic camera of the area can be posted on the site as well. For example:

	These images may be used to determine the current direction of the camera:
	North South East West
IH 35E @ Tollway Image Acquired Thu, Feb 28, 11:48 am This image is more than 15 minutes old.
The latest available snapshot from this camera will automatically be retrieved every 8-10 minutes.

Layout Critique February 21, 2008

            The two website’s layout that I decided to analyze was Fort Worth Star Telegram and AOL news. I will point out the differences between the two, and how the elements on each website’s homepage work or does not work.

            On AOL’s news website, the homepage has a three column layout with a web 2.0 navigation design. The header is only used for search and navigation, which keeps it very clean looking. To add to the simple look of the design, plenty of white space is used. Designers strategically placed the advertisements so that they do not distract readers and viewers from the information. As you scroll down the page, large photos and slide-shows capture your interest and keep you motivated to check out the rest of the page. At the very bottom of the page, there are interesting and fun tidbits you can read on culture and celebrities. The graphics are small and unobtrusive. All these elements work very well.

Elements that do not work are the bountiful polls on the page. Too many polls make you wonder about the creativity of the staff when it comes to other engaging elements. Text color is inconsistent. For example, there are splashes of the color orange on some section headlines, while other section headlines are gray-scale.

            Fort Worth Star Telegram’s homepage has many design challenged elements. The layout is far too busy starting with its header. Even though it uses navigation and search, it also places an ad banner at the top as well as a log in prompt. Not a lot of white space is utilized, and the ads in the third column are very large and distracting. Opportunities for reader and viewer interactivity is there, but hidden under the never-ending list on the page.

            There are a few elements that are pleasing on the page as well. The huge slideshow at the top of the page grabs your attention and presents stories in a creative way. Another creative element is the drop down box in the navigation area. When you roll your mouse over the different pages, a drop down box materializes and lists other related pages. It looks like a page within a page. The staff did a good job with keeping the colors consistent. They used only black and red, and when you rove your pointer over the various headlines, it highlights red. Although a long list is boring, it is organized with bullet points and separated by white space and gray-scale backgrounds to maintain neatness.

RadioShack helps consumers make DTV transition February 14, 2008

Alanna Owusu

alanna_owusu@yahoo.com

RadioShack announced that it will participate in the Digital Television (DTV) transition program. Starting next week, nearly 5,000 stores and select dealer locations will sell two different models of converter boxes along with other digital TV accessories to help keep analog televisions receiving over-the-air broadcasts after congress passed a mandate that will require over-the-air analog broadcasting to end on February 19, 2009.

One way consumers can switch their current televisions to digital is by purchasing a converter box for a retail price of $60. To help with the affordability of the boxes, the government began distributing $40 coupons for those who requested them. Other ways consumers can make the switch is by subscribing to a satellite or cable service provider or upgrade to a television with a built-in digital tuner.

“The DTV transition is one that involves a host of private-public entities who have been working hand-in-hand for months to ensure U.S. citizens will be able to receive digital TV broadcasts,” said Peter Whisett, executive vice president, general merchandising manager for RadioShack Corporation. “We understand consumers often turn to the knowledgeable sales associates at their neighborhood RadioShack first to help them understand such technical issues.”

Along with the converter boxes, RadioShack will also offer a range of optional accessories such as antennas, splitters, switchers and additional cables that can enhance the consumer’s TV viewing experience. On February, the company announced that it will not continue to sale all analog televisions nor related analog video devices on February 29, 2009. Customers may purchase their converter boxes inside the store or have them delivered to their residence for free using RadioShack’s Direct to You ordering system, or beginning March 1, order them on th phone at 1-877-RS-DTV-4U.

Related links:

Browse digital equipment at RadioShack

More information on DTV transition

Learn more and apply for a coupon

Digital TV and senior citizen consumers

CNET news answers FAQs

News/TV Website February 12, 2008

The television news channel website that I chose to briefly analyze is channel 5 KRGV, which covers the Rio Grande Valley in Weslaco Texas.

The site uses a navigation bar on the left that is available on each page after clicking on a link. Video clips of the news stories are listed vertically on the homepage. The biggest story is shown on a larger screen at the top, which can prompt viewers to immediately view it. Further down the page, the site provides links to other news stories from other cities, but the stories are from news wire services such as Associated Press.

Breaking news headlines are streamed across the top. The site also has podcast and vodcast links and a TV guide schedule. When viewers click on a video, there is also a story included so a viewer who is unable to hear a video can read about it instead.

Overall the site serves the station and its viewers well, content wise, but it is visually lacking in layout and graphic design.