Exploring Multimedia

A week after beginning multimedia class I've done my fair share of exploring on the internet and what I've encountered from various multimedia websites has been nothing short of breathtaking. For a medium that is, relatively speaking, still in its infancy there certainly seems to be a sizable community of writers and artists creating impressive and moving pieces of media.

Today, 9/11, is a particularly interesting day to explore and think about multimedia. There's a small scandal occurring today in the newspaper industry. While most major papers around the country feature at least one 9/11 story on their front page; The New York Times, the most renowned and recognizable paper from the city, has nothing more than a teaser on its front cover.

However, The New York Times has not done its readers or the New York community a disservice - its website (nytimes.com) features several new pieces on the anniversary, an archive of stories, and a substantial assortment of fresh multimedia.

Perhaps it was still not the best decision to print the paper sans a front cover 9/11 story, however, the multimedia features on nytimes.com pay tribute to the event in ways that story after story over the past seven years can't.

The following are three interesting multimedia features from nytimes.com:

This is a screen shot of an interactive feature on nytimes.com. It's a 360-degree view of a warehouse where pieces of the World Trade Center are being stored for exhibits and other purposes. By clicking and dragging you can look in any direction in the warehouse while an audio recording explains the warehouse's purpose.














This is screen shot is a collage of different windows from a single article on nytimes.com. The article discusses the three images, each is composed of two still images taken from the same vantage point at different times - the obvious different being the lack of the World Trade Center's twin towers in the more recent photographs. This could have been a print article, however, I think it works best as an online feature where the images can be manipulated by the user.

This final screen shot is taken from an animated slideshow featuring pictures of a 9/11 survivor. While the slideshow progresses an audio interview with the survivor plays in the background














So, while The New York Times didn't put a 9/11 story on their cover today they certainly did an admirable job providing resources on their website. While I'm sure their are still 9/11 stories to be told in print, many have been already. Nytimes.com does a great job using a new medium to tell stories about an event we're all familiar with.

Anyways... while this post about my exploration of multimedia was taken over to a large degree by nytimes.com, my final conclusion about my this adventure is this: multimedia is an awesome new tool for reporters to use. It allows old stories to be told in new ways, and new stories that require more than plain text, or plain video to be told for the first time.

I can't wait to start creating.