A timeline of polls (that doesn’t make me yawn)
Posted on January 3, 2008
I like this interactive by USATODAY.com, which shows how voter response has evolved since January 2007 in national and state polls.
Here are the results for 146 polls (nationally) so far for Democrat candidates:
And the results for 148 polls (nationally) so far for Republican candidates:
My only gripe: The number and variety of polls appears to be comprehensive, but I can’t tell if these are ALL the polls or a select group of polls. I wish there was an explainer to confirm my guess.
Otherwise, I find the interface quite easy to use and understand after just a quick glance.
Tell me about this graphic
Posted on October 3, 2007
I meant to blog about this last week, but I like it so much it’s still worth noting. In this Layers of Ownership interactive graphic, The New York Times has added audio to explain a quite confusing topic.
Click the play button, and reporter Charles Duhigg talks about the complicated structure of the Habana Health Care nursing home and its facilities as the graphic changes in sync.
It’s like watching a mini-film tutorial at a history museum. I’d still like the option to click next, though, so I can move through it at my own pace.
Making baby the high-tech way
Posted on July 20, 2007
OK, so not every project can be an advanced, fully-integrated, multimedia project. We just don’t have the resources to do that. And not every project warrants it.
So when you’re strapped for time but still want to make an interesting presentation, just jazz up your print graphic into an interactive like this example on MSNBC.
It’s a wee bit more involved than posting a link to a 2-D graphic, but it’s a whole lot more interesting to view. Each step (aside from the last frame) is a graphic that zooms in with a next button. They just made it look pur-ty.
The Met’s new Greek and Roman galleries
Posted on June 25, 2007
The New York Times has published an interactive that puts you inside the Met’s new Greek and Roman galleries. This package is full of some interactive goodies, so plan to spend a little virtual time here.
Hear art critic Michael Kimmelman describe the history of these spaces and why they work while you view panoramic photos of the rooms.
But for the best part (I think), click on the “panoramas of the objects” tab and see the artwork in 3-D space by rotating it around 360 degrees. I’m not sure how they did this, though — all the tutorials I can find require the object sit on a turntable. I’m guessing that wasn’t the case in this situation.
Serving the reader
Posted on June 19, 2007
Full disclosure: This is sort-of-but-not-really tooting my own horn. I had nothing to do with this project, but it comes out of HeraldTribune.com.
Database power team Maurice Tamman and Charlie Szymanski (they created IbisEye.com) have put together a tax calculator to help residents figure out how proposed Florida property tax changes would mean to them.
Taxes are confusing to begin with, but this proposal by state lawmakers makes you choose between a new super homestead plan and the current Save our Homes plan.
Tamman and Szymanski turned this tool around in a day, too, to accompany ongoing print stories. So it’s timely, interactive, and a real service to readers.
Animated infographics checklist
Posted on June 12, 2007
In the Online Journalism Review story quoted below, Cairo also shares a checklist for deciding if an animated infographic is the best option asa multimedia component for a given story:
>> Can the story be explained using a map, a statistical chart or a diagram? If you need to show the “where” of the story, you definitely need a map.
>> Are there size, length, distance, amount comparisons involved? Then, you need a chart.
>> Is there any process or procedure hat can be better understood by means of a visual display? Create a diagram.
>> Do you need to recreate the scene where the story took place? In this case: do you have enough information to recreate it accurately, without making up details? This is crucial. The old infographics motto says: if you don’t know how it is, don’t draw it. I’ve added my own corollary to that motto: if you don’t know how it moves, don’t animate it.
Focus first on breaking news
Posted on June 11, 2007
Alberto Cairo, elmundo.es’s former infographics expert, answers some questions by Noral Paul and Laura Ruel about visual journalism in “Animated infographics and online storytelling: Words from the wise.”
This quote struck me (emphasis is mine):
“Among the best recent multimedia coverage, I would highlight the Times’ interactive about the Virginia Tech shootings. The combination of audio, video and information
graphics makes this breaking news coverage one of the best I’ve ever seen. You see, ALMOST ANY PUBLICATION CAN CREATE A GOOD LONG-TERM, FEATURE PROJECT ONLINE. IT IS MUCH, MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO DO THAT IN A TIGHT DEADLINE.“With their most recent hires, The New York Times is trying to emulate the model we used at elmundo.es back in 2000-2005. The are focusing more on breaking stories, rather than on features. Don’t get me wrong, features are great, but A NEWSPAPER SHOULD FOCUS FIRST ON UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION.”
Is this a no-brainer? Maybe so, but my first reaction to reading this was: OK, so we’re upping the ante on these interactive packages now. Anyone can do a good feature project, huh? So let’s put a timer in the mix and see what the REAL journalists can come up with?
But I do think Cairo makes some good points, and there are lessons to be learned here:
You can’t plan for breaking news. You have to be able to put everything else aside and quickly, efficiently, accurately build an interactive graphic. Cairo is right in that it’s much more difficult to produce on deadline.
And readers’ appetites for latest developments and explainers during a breaking news event can be huge. The Virgina Tech shooting described above is an excellent example.
So by focusing resources in that area, you’re serving those readers — and, let’s admit it, you’re increasing page views during an high-volume opportunity.
Since I said the dirty words (page views), it seems to me that focusing on breaking news may be time better spent, too. You’re liable to get much more return on your time investment for a breaking news or news event (ie, election coverage), than you are a special package feature because you’re going to have better odds that the readers are going to actually see the breaking news — they’re seeking out the news during those times.
The making of IbisEye.com
Posted on June 6, 2007
Christopher “Chip” Scanlan blogs about HeraldTribune.com’s IbisEye today.
In a Q&A with Maurice Tamman, idea-generator and co-creator with Charlie Szymanski, Tamman says the following about updates to the project this year:
“The entire site was built up from scratch. We consider last year to be beta and this year v1. Our primary goal was to make the application as fast as possible. Last year’s version was cool but damn slow. Many of the same features return but they are all improved and much easier to find.
“I think we’ve succeeded.
“In addition, we found a much better database of windfields and we’ve significantly improved how we display those windfields. We also added calculations for the southeastern population and cities exposed to hurricane force winds along with our analysis of Florida property exposed to hurricane force winds.
“The alert system is also much improved.
“The damage reporting system works for any area hit by hurricanes: search for an address, click on the icon and report damage. All the reports are tied to a latitude and longitude or a parcel ID number (in Florida).
“We’ve also added an alert system that can either be tied to a parcel or a point on the map (or a weather alert zone); anytime a selected alert is issued an e-mail is sent out. In addition, the system (and we haven’t tested this yet) should send out alerts if the point is exposed to hurricane force winds, is forecast to be exposed or is inside the “cone of death.”
“We also expect to add alerts for people who want reports of damage or lost people and pets near a particular point.
“There is more, but that’ll do.”
A recipe for infographics
Posted on May 24, 2007
“Why don’t editors and publishers get it?” asks Alberto Cairo about newspapers making creative visual storytelling online.
Cairo is the former director of online infographics at the award-winning elmundo.es and current assistant professor of infographics and graphic design at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
And he has posted on his Web site a copy of his how-to article “The future is now,” published in the SND’s winter 2005 Design Journal. I just found the link via Desiree Perry’s del.icio.us bookmarks, but it’s obviously been around for awhile.
Cairo writes:
“Newsrooms have undterstood multimedia only as a multiple media: text, audio, video, animation and interactivity are used, yes, but separately, not in integrated storytelling pieces. I think that one of our golas is to learn how to combine all the tools the Internet offers and use them to enhance the reader’s experience.”
And he continues (emphasis below is mine):
“In print you deal with space. In online you deal with space and time because you can sequence the action. This means that you are not constrained by a physical frame anymore. This give you freedom, as you can offer as much information as you wish, but it is also risky: TOO MUCH INFORMATION IS NOT INFORMATION, SO BE CAREFUL. Keep the balance between providing context and what your journalistic criterion tells you about what the limits are.”
(Mindy McAdams also has made the above point many times.)
Unfortunately, I don’t think much has changed with online infographics since then. But it’s encouraging to see that he’s teaching students about the importance of it all.
Aside from the fact that, ironically, this explainer is a copy of a print story about making interactive explainers, this is a great resource to print out and hand out to your print graphics department and print editors.
Achoo!
Posted on May 4, 2007
Sneezes, sniffles and a sore throat means lots of sleep, liquids and the appropriate dose of Dayquil to get me through the day.
I’m feeling better tonight, so I thought I’d look up some info about the “common cold.”
Interestingly, the only interactive type of graphic I could find during a short Web search was this one by familydoctor.org. Sure beats trying to read through all this to get some quick answers (the latter does look like a good resource, though).
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