Making KBIA and KOMU websites "Flash-y"

More and more of today’s media use Flash to present photo slideshows, explain complex technical issues through infographics, and to generally become more interactive.

I would like to see more of Flash-based slideshows and graphics on KBIA and KOMU websites. There are limitations to each of these media, and Flash could cover up for some of those. Take radio. People today seem more visual than in the past. I am not satisfied with only hearing things—I want images that would complement my understanding of a story. After listening to a story I like, I want to be able to go to the radio’s website and SEE whether mental images I created while listening are anything like the reality.

Web allows the audio and visual forms of storytelling to converge, and Flash can turn that convergence into a pleasant experience for the user.

Same with TV: television stories tend to run very quickly, and if one grabs my attention and I want to know more, I don’t want extra video. I want photos—details, unusual angles—that would leave me with a more lasting impression of the story. Again, Flash could be a convenient way to get that impression.

Designing Good Web Pages

From Jennifer Galt-
Easy to navigate and well-organized web pages are essential to keep an audience's attention. Many of the helpful hints given in the chapters about good and bad web design seem to center around the idea of repetition and consistency. Although things like alignment and text size seem to be simple ideas, they can be easily overlooked.
The readings also mentioned keeping a web page simple. It seems like many web page designers believe that more is always better, but an overload of information can make a viewer feel overwhelmed and lose track of the main ideas the page is trying to convey.

Designer Notes

The templates that I've created for the various 4802 projects haven't been that complicated, so I can't really say much for those, besides the fact that they could obviously be more visually attractive and accessible to users (and I did commit a small sin by centering the sidebar text on one of my pages). But in general, I've noticed that the problems mentioned in ch. 6 tend to pop up on a lot of websites, most notably with repetition. There are a number of websites out there that use completely different templates on different pages. This is an especially big problem for online newspapers. Many papers have a basic template on the majority of their pages, but for a special flash page, the entire setup of the page changes. Readers of the page have to go out of their way to figure out how to control the new page.

I think a good example of a website that's keeping their website template similar throughout is The Washington Post. They've got a new feature up on the midterms, but they've correctly integrated it into the main template of the site.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/madness/

By contrast, The Washington Times does not make it as easy to navigate their pages. Text and links on their page are often aligned incorrectly. On this page, with all of the buttons and ads, it's tough to find the "next page" button.

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061024-123943-1274r.htm

As the chapter shows, a simple set up -- with a strong sidebar, good use of contrast, and proper alignment -- is preferable.

It is NEVER okay to italicize capitals!

As an introduction to the subject of website design, Williams and Tollett’s “Non-Designer Web Book” offered some excellent advice.

I really liked how they stressed that simplicity in design can be elegant—that is to say that uniformity is good. Moreover, I have to admit that even if the content of a page was written by a professional, if the alignments are all different or if the borders on a table are turned on—I would hesitate to consider it a valid source. Bad design truly makes the page seem less reliable. Some aspects of amateur web design seem obvious. While reading this, I found myself inwardly screaming, “Omigod! Yes, I hate that, too!”

Moreover, there are certain things that I would not have thought of—such as how it is in poor form to set preferential settings for a site. I found that very interesting.

(Also, the checklist at the end of Chapter 8 was especially helpful.)

Designing a news site

In chapter 6 of Williams and Tollett's NON-DESIGNER'S WEB BOOK, several strong points were made on the functionality and appearance of a succesful website. I personally felt, however, that leaning towards a "clean" look is not always the best choice for a website and that links and a relative amount of "clutter" is a part of any website and probably should be compartmentalized rather than deleted alltogether.

In Online Reporting (J4700), I am looking at news websites specifically. There is a special consideration for news sited like NYT.com or CNN.com; most of the information that is intended to grab your attention, like headlines, is reserved for the top of the page, or as in print, "above the fold." The smaller chunks of information and links go to the bottom, as the reader scrolls down--a task that the average web surfer may be too lazy to bother with.

As said by Williams and Tollett, uniformity and alignment are important in desining a basic web page. When it comes to a news source, however, the reader's eye is guided by varying text sizes and pictures. While the basics to a good web page are helpful, once you create a news website with A LOT of information appearing on a single window, some of these rules are to be broken.

Francisco Fisher 968907

Manatees!!

Mo Scarpelli -
National Geographic never ceases to amaze me... and this time, it was in the way of the manatee.
I watched "Manatee Warrior" Crusades for Sea Wars on Nationalgeographic.com (one of my favorite websites/societies/magazines). What I like most about National Geographic is the variety - although the cover hundreds and thousands of stories on nature, there is always a unique point-of-view/spin to each, so they never really get boring. For example, "Manatee Warrior" was not the usual take on the harmless manatee. It pictured manatees in a fight for their lives off the coast of Florida - although they ARE slow and passive, they are still strong animals when it comes to their survival. The shots are taken from multiple positions, and all with the highest quality underwater video camera. Stan Meeks of Florida is an intense man - he is on a mission to save the manatees. The video is so interesting - it shows that although manatees are too passive to stand up for themselves against the things that harm their species (motor boats the most dangerous and prevalent), Meeks is willing to lead the "crusade" to save them.
I love manatees.

Think as designer

It would be better if these pieces were introduced at the beginning of this class - I feel like I need some reconstruction on my convergence webpage to comply with the four elements mentioned in the "Basic Design principle for non-designers". Although I had some experience on web design before, I never equipped myself with theories. When I was constructing my convergence page, I based more on common sense but not design principles, and I made some simple mistakes, such as aligned the basic text on the left but centered the headline.

These pieces really interested me. It is amazing to see in the examples that a little change - maybe delete some spaces between the elements, maybe align all text on the base line - can bring the site great difference and make them more user-friendly than before. The four elements are simple but really helpful, and the Contrast element is what I think a lot of websites lack of. When I was surfing on some websites, there is not enough strong contrast to guide my eyes and tell me what I should pay most attention to, which sometime drowns me in the information flood without some focus points.

Design for beginners

"Design Principles for Non-Designers" was a great intro to the subject, and perfectly appropriate for a class of students just starting their own web projects. Like lots of great handbooks, the points they make seem obvious, even though we may not have thought of them on our own.

I did a quick run-through of some of the Web sites I frequent to see if they followed the design rules in the article. The convergence homepage is good, although if I may say so myself, the box in the upper-left hand corner doesn't need to be centered. Why not align right? It would enhance the imaginary line going down the left side of the page. But what do I know? I just learned about design today.

Basic Design Principles: Things I took note of

Because I had an introductory design course before, I was afraid this week’s readings would bore me with the same old principles. But I enjoyed these chapters. Here are some of the techniques suggested in the readings that I have never used before or found particularly useful:
1. Using an enlarged comma that matches the background to add some space between the lines--Ch. 6, bottom of p.112. (I used to add a line and then reduce the line space to 4 pt to achieve the same effect.)
2. Never using straight apostrophes and quotes--Ch. 8, p. 147. (I used to think straight apostrophes look cool. Why are they considered unprofessional?)
3. Creating a webpage that would be 640 x 460 pixels in size.

These chapters barely mention the recommendation to use as few typefaces as possible throughout the page (something I find very hard to do with so many options out there!), but apart from this, they serve as a decent guide to creating a website.

CNN.com

I went to CNN.com because I go there frequently to get news, and they always have good videos of news stories that are interesting. I clicked on two, the first one was a really good video. Great reporting, good shots, and lots of natural sound. The second was not as good with video techniques. To start off the story and to set the location, there was a rapid pan across and a zoom in on the building that the story was set in. This shot just made me dizzy and looked terrible. This was something that was strongly discouraged in class, and I now always remember never to pan or zoom. But the panning and zooming continued throughout this story. I didn't understand why a professional reporter on CNN would do this because it added absolutely nothing to the visual aspect of the story. Another thing in this video that I caught was during an interview, the subject was placed in front of a mirror revealing the equipment and camera in the reflection. What were they thinking?

Blog Video

Futurehi.net is an esoteric futurist blog that has a video about a Japanese technology show in which a door made from sliding slats opens in just the right shape to let someone walk through (it looks like in cartoons when wiley e. coyote runs through a mountain and leaves a coyote-shaped hole on the side.) the video was fairly good, and it used the wide, medium, close-up style of sequence. It kind of made me think how incompetent I am at this stuff, because my own video footage looks like a pile of puke in comparison, and this wasn't even a slick msn.com presentation. Looking back at my stuff, with everything out of focus and the audio all going wrong- holy moly- I need to put in some hours with the video camera and actually get good at this stuff. Like this last time I was editing I kept thinking 'why didn't I just hold the camera still, get a good shot annd move on?' My mentality at the time was 'I'll just sift through all this crap later.' That's a bad idea. At any rate, the video van be found at
www.futurehi.net : archives.

Cliche Pet Stories

By Joyce Choi

Our fresh David Kaplan Memorial Fellow at ABC News in D.C., MA Convergence (YEAH!) Jia Zhou said ABCnews.com is the first U.S. news Web site she browsed in China. So I checked out the site, scrolled down the front page and saw this Dog Saves The Day And His Owner .

Pet stories suddenly become such a cliche to me. The video is so much worse than the ones we have seen in class. The anchor's lead-in, "Petlovers, better grab some hankies for this one." not only seems to make the news story more trivial, this line actually makes the whole story breaks down when I found that the story isn't at all touching to me. This lead-in makes me distrust the anchor, think he is pretentious, and eventually cannot effectively relate me to the story.

The voice-over is nicely written. I like the detail about the dog bringing the telephone for its owner to dial 911. However, the visuals are totally uninteresting. We can only see human for the first quarter, and nothing human afterwards. Well, probably the reporter is trying to depict the tragedy with "humanlessness"?

Indeed, it is hard and IMPOSSIBLE to capture the fire and the dog saving the family and the cat. But, can't the reporter at least obtain a photo of the dog with the owner and slice it in the VO? Let's say the owner does not have such photo, probably the reporter may research for a photo of a Labrador? In terms of relevance, the visuals do connect with the VO when the script mentions the specific spots of the house.

I would say the tone the anchor conveys the story is more of a straight-news style. There is nothing wrong, but if pet stories do not contain emotions - they may just lose their news value altogether.

Writing the Package

Fred Shook's description of writing a package helped me simplify and understand better the organizing of news information. His four step process and his suggestion of keeping the story limited to four ideas helps me more clearly understand how to write a package. Sometimes there seems to be too much information to convey to the viewer in two or three minutes, but thinking about the information in a more sequential and organized way will surely help reporters create packages that are understandable and visually interesting.

Slide show lesson

Last friday I had the privilege of creating a slideshow for KOMU about a community center in midtown Columbia with a questionable future. Surprisingly, I was allowed creative freedom to edit and write the story how I wanted. I had assumed, in a real newsroom, editors breathed down the necks of reporters to steer projects in directions to suit his or herself. Not the case; I finished and then simply received some advise and a few mistakes pointed out. All in all, a good time - I think I might do it again next Friday.

Writing the Package

Shooks advise on creating a successful TV package story was very helpful. I am not much of a broadcast person, and reading this before doing my TV story package will change a lot of things that I do in the process of creating it. I think a lot of times we dont consider the rules of broadcast, and we do what we think looks better. However, this is not always the best or most efficient way of producing a story. We need to consider the audience at all times, and how they are best served. I think his advise of how we need to understand and know they story first before we can tell is to anyone else is great. So many times I just do a story because it was assigned to me, and I edit it to make it comprehendable to the audience. But I dont really "know" it. And if I did, I could make it more interesting and find better ways to convey it to the viewer.These steps can be applied to not only broadcast, but to other aspects of journalism as well (Photo, news, ect.) As long as you know how to put a good story package together, you can put any story together and find ways to relate it to the audience.

Writing the Package

It immediately occured to me that this 'package' deal was alot like the inverted pyramid from newsprint. Just like the package has the story focus, a newspaper story written in the inverted pyramid style has the lead sentence, and it is followed by the nut graf, which is the analogue of the studio lead-in in the television package. (i.e. why should I care?)
The second thing that occurs to me is that where the purpose of the inverted-pyramid for newspapers is to keep the attention of the flighty readers just long enough to convey the information, the purpose of the package scheme for TV is to keep the viewer entertained. I think it's clear that the viewer gives TV more leeway than the reader gives newsprint. Reading takes patience.
Natural sound should be used 'liberally', according to the reading. This is in direct contrast with the rule in newspapers which is to keep description short and sweet. I suppose this is because unlike newsprint, TV washes over the viewer with multiple layers of impressions and information, whereas print can only convey one thing at a time. Stream-of-consciousness is close as print can come to a 'washing over' experience, but experiments in stream-of-consciousness are usually dubious at best. This probably has some connnection to Marshal McLuhan's idea of 'hot' and 'cold' media, like TV and print, respectively.

Shook's article

Shook’s “Writing the Package” is filled with helpful tips about news writing for tv-broadcast.
Overall, it is important to understand the story that you are trying to convey, and the proper way to go about committing that message to tape. I liked that Shook gives leeway yin the amount of pre-planning for stories. When deadlines are an issue, it’s easy and efficient to have everything pre-written and storyboarded. However, that is not always for the best. There could be new facets to the story that, as a reporter, one could fail to incorporate because they were too fixed on “a plan.”
(However, I have always found storyboarding to be EXTREMELY helpful, because it focuses the shooting, and I can plan ahead to avoid monotony in shots, etc.)
As a backpack journalist, it is important to understand the way that a news package works. Unlike traditional broadcast, most of our stories will have to stand on their own. (That is why the structure of a news package is so important.) It is important to relate the story to the audience visually in the short amount of time allotted.
I really liked the idea of leaving a lasting final image. It makes sense to leave the audience with one picture, so that they will not only feel closure to the story, but also use that as a way to retain the information later.

This ain't a play

I just recently went to shoot a story and we needed to find someone who objected to the main stream idea. My partner said that we can get someone to say it if we're deseparate. I kinda looked at him strangely and he knew what i was thinking.

This is the same as staging.

Staging or telling people what to say isn't news; its a director telling actors what to do.

The thing is, people know when something is staged because people don't feel comfortable and that discomfort is conveyed through the medium.

The natural shots convey the emotion of the moment and relate to the audience better. The point of a news story is to get the audience to understand the issue by relating to it.

Wertheimer's tips to get people natural are really good. When I was doing my photo shots, I had to keep reminding people to pretend I wasn't there. It's hard, but the natural shots are way way betetr than the stagged.

The TV Story vs. The Inverted Pyramid

I've gotten used to using the inverted pyramid in print stories. I enjoy the amount of information that I can include in a news story. I feel comfortable knowing that when I go out to report a story for print, I can tell the entire story, and the publication can choose to use as much or as little of the story as they want.

Shook's notes indicate that the TV news story is told much differently. As a storyteller, the broadcast journalist only gives a few main points verbally, and the rest of the story is told through interviews or images. The other thing is that Shook says the TV story needs a good ending. "Without a strong close," he writes, "the package will stop but it will not end." This is a strong contrast to the print story, where an editor can decide where to stop a piece wherever he/she wants due to the inverted pyramid. Shook's helped me to understand that I must be very concise when writing a TV piece.

Visual framing in minds

Thanks to Fred Shook's "Writing the package", my memories about the broadcasting course that I took on undergraduate level are partly reactivated - after all, it was 3 years ago - and further improved.

Indeed, the "Writing the package" reminds me one thing important – "first emphasize the idea you wish to communicate, and only then begin the search for images and words that will most effectively tell the story". "Let the idea talk", it is what I learned before but forgot. I concentrated more on the technical things of the images rather than how they were going to serve the story idea, although finally I got my rhythm back and let the idea dominated the visual elements.

What I found most helpful from reading is the piece of "writing the close". It is a good idea to begin the search for the closing shot – a visual close that can build toward throughout the entire piece in the early stage. When I was structuring my last assignment, the closure was the part that I found most intractable. I think the next assignment of TV story will be a good chance to experiment on Shook's suggestions.

It is interesting to have a visualized the storyboard in the mind. I don't think it is really difficult. However, it needs a lot of efforts to maintain a good balance between the narratives and images. Shook's "Writing the package" is a good starting point in theoretical aspect, but accumulated experiences from persistent practice are indispensable.

writing the package

Fred Shook's "Writing the Package" was helpful to those of us still getting used to telling stories in a visual medium like video. Although it seems obvious, too often we set out with only an idea in our heads of what we want our story to be and the kinds of shots we want without compiling our thoughts in an organized way. By making a plan for the different types of shots we want (and need), our stories will be clearer and easier for viewers to follow, even if by following a blueprint it seems to be a little less creative.

First on IDEAS

By Joyce Choi

Golden Rule: First on ideas, then on images and words.

Fred Shook has pointed out a very common, but inefficient, thinking process or concept people have.

We tend to think: Oh, it's a TV story, so images should be the focus.

As I worked with the Canon XL, what my head and eyes were looking for were INTERESTING images and actions. In some ways, this is not at all wrong; just that visuals gathered could be lack of content and thus focus if we don't have an idea in mind in the first place.

It's all about the thinking process. Images and words are there TO PROVE the main story idea. A crucial point is that we should actually bear our ideas BEFORE we actually go out the field. I never thought it that way, even though my literature classes have taught me motifs are there to build up themes, i.e. main story idea.

Another golden rule is that immediately in the field, we look for a powerful close shot. I have reservation in believing this. But I'll definitely try this out for our TV package.

Shook tells me to "live the news."

Mo Scarpelli -- When planning out my story for KOPN's radio show (our next project due), I found myself just throwing together a bunch of images in my head that were compelling and relavent. I should have read "Writing the Package" first! I've never been great with storyboards for my fiction short stories (they seem to work out better when I just GO and then edit later), but in the case of shooting my video packages, planning is something I definitely need to make a habit of.
I agree with Elena - a very useful point of advice was the section on the close. I guess I didn't think my closing shot needed to be all that important, but I should really be building my entire story on it! I now know what to look for as I film this weekend for the radio show.
Another great gem of advice I got from Shook was the part about getting to know my community (though this is a little unrelated to what I was writing about before). I am currently in News 2100... in lecture I've been told over and over that I need to know everything imaginable about my community because it will come in hand. This bored me because I was thinking along the lines of knowing the names of our city council members and such... but it's exciting to think that there's a lot about my community I don't know because I never took the time to learn it. Historical facts and perspectives are important, for instance -- As Peter Jennings warns, "It simply isn't possible to catch up with the events by quickly reading official reports and calling government officials." I should get more involved in my community and "live the news," as Shook says.

Fred Shook’s “Writing the Package”

This was one of the resources that clarified to me why Fundamentals should normally precede Convergence Reporting. I wish I had read this before shooting/editing those exotic pets and old church stories for 4804!

The piece I found especially valuable is about sticking to three or four major ideas in the story, and about writing the close. I never thought of the closing image as of something I should build toward throughout the story.

What also surprised me is Shook’s suggestion to find a variety of shots to depict a rather abstract story – something that KOMU doesn’t seem to be doing much. Most of the shots come from locations directly associated with the news. In Shook’s example, when adapted to KOMU, this could be a diet clinic, or a home of the person who eats healthy food and exercises. A shot of a grandma playing with a kid just didn’t sound very “KOMU-ish.” Which probably means, that’s a way to go! After all, taking your viewer by surprise, at the very least you will save him/her from getting bored!

(Like the previous time, I'm blogging a bit in advance, just not to forget to post this. :D)

Staging

The hardest thing I've had to do in the class is to get subjects to ignore the camera. For example, I did my big audio story on Waffle House, and I'd talked to the employees there well in advance to let them know that I was coming. So when I showed up, they were already kind of intimidated. It wouldn't have been a big problem, but there really wasn't anyone in the restaurant when I got there, so it was tough to get photos of them in action. All my best photos of the stafff were staged, and I couldn't really use them in the project. The other tip I have: sometimes in restaurants or crowded places, it's tough to get good nat sound. The nat sound I got there was really too loud for use or had too many distracting noises (kids yelling, utensils falling on the ground, etc) to be used in the background of my story.

Anyway, It is considerably harder to take a legitimate photograph than a staged photograph. I mean, one of the greatest photographs of our time -- of the soliders raising the flag at Iwo Jima -- might have been staged. I like Wertheimer's suggestion of using a long lens and a wireless mike to capture good natural sound and to avoid the issue of staging. But until we have access to that technology, I guess we'll have to figure out another way.

Natural Sounds Advice

I thought early on from a demonstration in class that a photo documentar with natural sound gave the illusion of watching an actual movie. After reading the nat. sound advice column I realize that the effect was mostly the sound. I enjoyed the column, but I would have liked a little more explanation of how to handle 'implied' knowledge in the presentation- things you know because you shot the project, but that the casual observe might not know.
Also, after doing the radio story with the natral sound, I was surprised by how many problems there were in piecing the story together with the background sound. I was kind of surprised that the column didn't have more to say about that.

nat sound issues

I'm blogging about the newslab article from last week giving tips about getting good nat sound because it provided lots of good tips for this assignment. Something I learned with the Marantz (and continued learning with the video cameras) is the importance of asking questions differently. As a reporter with the Missourian I usually ask simple, yes or no, can-you-confirm-this type questions. It was really difficult to ask open ended questions instead and be more conversational. And the most important lesson: you need to shut up and let the other person talk so you can get the sound bytes and clips you need. Both with the Marantz and the video camera I had to cut footage of my own voice interrupting the person I was interviewing.

Staging is untruthful

From Jennifer Galt - Wertheimer's article points out the ethical problems with staging and the effects that staging can have on the profession of journalism as a whole. As the writer suggests, there are other ways to tell a story rather than having the subject recreate a moment. I especially liked his suggestions about helping the subjects view the reporter as a person, rather than just a camera. His idea of making comments rather than asking questions would also help put people at ease and not feel like they are being interrogated. In the end, there are many interesting ways to tell a story and solve the problem of a missing shot or audio - and recreating a scene or moment is not the answer.

To me, staging is something journalists do out of laziness. I think that they mean well, but they don't realize is that they're tainting the credibility of journalism each and every time they do this. I think in their minds, what they do as a journalist in ONE story out of desperation, will not affect anything. What journalists don't realize is that it is easy to fall into this habit of staging, and everthing that we do is on display. It DOES affect everyone! I think the only way to get journalists to NOT stage is to create an environment where it is very much looked down on and where natural is commended, not perfection.

Staging = wrong

Mo Scarpelli -- It was refreshing to hear an account of a journalist that stands up for "real" journalism. I say "real" because staging is everything but - it creates a fake world of sorts, even if the real event actually happened just moments before and is just being reenacted. Being there at the right time, being prepared is part of the job - some of the best moments captured in photo journalism, for example, are chance moments. I remember seeing a show on Pulitzer Prize winners, and one of them was a man whose camera actually dropped out of his hands as this criminal ran from a house he'd been hiding out in for the past day and a half. The camera took a picture as it hit the ground, getting a shot of the man's frantic face and the police chasing after him - it's a beautiful shot. Was it luck that all of this was captured? The man dropped the camera - he didn't set up the shot or anything. I would say he got pretty lucky. But that's journalism sometimes.
If we could stage anything, that luck aspect of journalism that occures sometimes only once or twice in a career wouldn't be so treasured... it wouldn't be an aspiration for journalists to get out there and put themselves in the position to get the lucky shot. If we could stage anything, we'd be film producers, dramaticists... not journalists.
Wertheimer is right - I commend him for sticking up for that kind of journalism - the lucky kind - even if it can't always be controlled or obtained. Journalism shouldn't be that easy.