Online Storytelling (Caitlin)

Clickable Interactives
I wish there were more clickable interactives out there on the web. It really combines all the different aspects of online media and makes it easily understandable and is a good learning and teaching tool. I clicked on the Catastrophic Collaspe and found myself with a small, virtual image of the twin towers and step-by-step it showed me how exactly the airplanes caused the towers to collapse. It used non-graphic visual elements combined with text on the side to explain the catastophe. This was more of an informative story that simply focused on the facts of the collapse, rather than the emotional and personal accounts we are so used to hearing. It was very nice to be involved and actually be participating with news/internet media, rather than just sitting and watching or reading. I enjoyed be able to control how fast or slow the information was presented to me and how much I chose to read as opposed to how much of the visuals I chose to pay attention to.

Slideshow
A slideshow is a way of visual storytelling. Words are not always required to get your message across, and as a huge lover of photography, I feel I can really appreciate the content of the various slideshows. They are also a simple form of expression, there is nothing too overwhelming and the one I watched, Shattered, you did not even have to go in order, you could skip around to different photographs. A lot of people, myself included, often find these types of media more interesting because they are appealing and do not require much thought on the part of the viewer. Shattered was displaying photos from 9/11 which of course, was a tragic event that still affects Americans today and seeing photos from it can still be painful but it gives a real display of what happened. It is informative as well as being able to strike a chord within people.

Animation
The last one I decided to write about is that of Animation. I think that I appreciate this a lot more than I would have previously because I now know how to make small animations and I know how much work is put into it. There was one about golf, How the Pros Play the Masters, that I decided to look at. I am not a huge fan of golf but this was interesting because there was audio, as well as a fairly simple animation, and a little bit of interaction. Sometimes it is nice to not have to read something and just listen to someone else reading it. An animation also made something like golf, more easily understood and for me, more interesting. The only bad thing perhaps was that there was no way to skip around sections, or fast forward. I would not want all my news or information to be through animation but, once in awhile, it is a nice and different way to convey something.