Flashy Flash Journalism

Flash journalism is a great way to help deliver information. In our current age, consumers like to be in control of their news. I don't have a ton of experience with flash, but from what I've worked with, it can be a valuable tool. With a lot of flash journalism consumers can choose which things they would like to view with all of their options presented to them. It can also present multiple views of a situation. For me, sound slideshows are one of the coolest forms of media. Combining the voice of your subject with photos of their life is a powerful tool. Flash opens up so many options that can present the news in powerful and interesting ways. Telling a story with visuals is a crucial way to present the news. Amateur journalism is best presented in a visual way, and as more and more people shoot their own stuff it's important to have necessary outlets.

Flash Journalism

Jessica Malnik

Flash journalism has several advantages. Flash provides interactive elements that will help to keep the desired audience engaged and focused on the website. These interactive elements include everything from photo/audio slideshows to interactive graphics and maps. All these interactive elements provide more in-depth storytelling. For instance, audio/photo slideshows provide a more detailed and visual account of a particular story. Slideshows often add a personal touch to a story. On the other hand, interactive graphics and maps provide the readers with more information in a creative format. Flash journalism is becoming more and more prevalent in newsrooms, and I believe that it will become even more important and useful in the future.

Flash Journalism

Flash is really cool. It seems cheesy to say, but I never thought that I would ever learn how to do it in the first place. I think it provides an interesting and interactive way to get the point across. In the reading, graphics of the space shuttle Columbia were described. An explanation of why it crashed is more easily understood with a time-elapsed graphic than just a list of what happened. It provides a picture to the explanation that viewers can control themselves and can understand at their own pace. What's really great about Flash is that anyone can get it. Alas, the story is available all over!

Photo slideshows are pretty neat, too. I don't know what it is about them, but they always manage to be my favorite part of any presentation. I think they capture emotion in a way that video does not. The split-second image is so powerful, and when accompanied by the voices of the people in the images, it's like a double whammy.

I think the new advances in technology and online media are extremely helpful in spreading the news and having people receive it in an interactive and informative way.

Flash with convergence journalism

Flash journalism is one example of interactivity whereby the user can control what they want to see or hear on the Internet. It brought in a new meaning for websites. With flash, websites were no long just texts and still pictures. One can have video, audio, slideshows, sound slideshows and other multimedia elements such as interactive maps and pictures. With flash, convergence journalism was born.

Therefore, one of the things I set out to do for myself is mastering some flash expertise. As a convergence journalist, I am expected to be able to deal with all the multimedia skills. More than once, I caught myself being in awe of websites because of the magic they could created with flash.

My feeling is that one can also be too carried away with flash. Just like a simple website might do a better job than a fancy but complicated one, sometimes too much interactive stuff can be confusing. But its importance is impossible to ignore and anyone in this field thinking that they can survive without knowing how to deal with flash is certainly kidding themselves.

Basic Design Principles for Non-Designers

Anyone can create their own web page but this does not mean that the person will create an amazing cite that follows the alignment, proximity, repetition, and contrast. If people follow these four basic principles, the web page should look clean, neat, and professional. After reading and looking at the examples given in this reading, I realized that web sites really do not look good unless you follow these four basic principles. If you do not align everything the same way on the page be it be horizontal or vertical alignment or baseline alignment, your web page will look very messy. One thing that the article suggests is that you should be discouraged from using center alignment. The article say’s that by using the center alignment, it is weak. I’m not sure if “weak” is the best word to use to describe why you should not use center alignment. I do understand that it is important to have symmetry to a web site to create balance.

Flash Journalism Chapter one

In chapter one of A New Form of Storytelling, I like how the author says under Slideshows with Photos and Sound that “the slideshow format does not constitute a new form of storytelling. By itself, it is simply a new way to present or deliver photojournalism. It was interesting to learn that storytelling has existed since 1855 when Roger Fenton went to Balaclava to photograph the Crimean War. It would be interesting to see these pictures to see how slideshows has evolved over the decades. I also like how the author describes how audio adds another element to the story being told. It stimulates more than one sense that you get by just a picture.

Flash

When you think about it, flash journalism (and audio slideshows, in particular) is a relatively simple idea. There's nothing particularly new about it - it simply combines multiple elements into one running visual and audio product. I usually find it to be the most engaging and effective method of portraying a story, often times even more so than a video clip.

An audio slideshow is similar to video in that they both combine images, natural sound, and the voice of the subject and/or reporter. With the slideshow, however, you have more control over what the consumer notices. Still images are very powerful in the way they draw your eyes to a particular feature, and you are more likely to notice something in the background that you might otherwise have missed. By timing up the audio to mesh well with the pictures, the audience will be more likely to retain what is being said. Also, the viewer can go at a pace he/she prefers - it's a step by step, move-on-when-you're-ready medium.

Other forms of flash, such as an interactive map, are useful in their own rights. Such a map gives users the sense that they are in control of what they're absorbing; this is true of a website in general, but flash can draw attention to the information more effectively in a visual sense. There is no time limit, there is more room to be creative, and it becomes a two-way street in that the reporter is offering up the information and the viewer has to be engaged to choose what he/she is watching/listening/reading.