Flash

Sarah Steffen

When it comes to Flash, there's one main rule I think journalists should keep in mind: Don't overdo it. It's nice to have an additional graphic to a story, but the graphic itself should contain information (or at least explain a complicated topic with different components). And a very important factor is interactivity. The user should be able to control the graphic (speed etc.) at any time. Nothing is more annoying than watching an application without being able to stop (or rewind) it at a specific point.
Other than that I really like the opportunity Flash provides; if you obey the don't-overdo-it-rule of course. The graphic of the flooding we looked at in class clearly did not comply with that. I was so annoyed by the wind/water sound that I would have turned it off, although I thought the graphic itself was pretty interesting.