Storytelling Critique

Slideshows
Slideshows are a very powerful way to get a story or message across to an audience. Slideshows produce a feeling that many times words cannot do otherwise. When I viewed the slideshow “Shattered,” I could see the agony in firefighters’ eyes, the horror on civilians’ faces and the effect of what a terrorist attack could do to not just one city but a whole country. If I were to read an article about the attack on 9/11 I would not get nearly the same gut sickening feeling I got when I looked at The Time’s slideshow. Slideshows are a great way to tell a story when the photos are going to have meaning. I think the slideshow would have been more affective if there were captions of what was happening at the time the photo was taken. Having instrumental music playing throughout would have also been a way to add more layers to the storytelling, without going overboard.
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/shattered/

Live Chats
If someone were to tell me that live chats are a great way to tell a story I would have never believed them, until now that is. I have always viewed live chats as being more of a friendly conversation tool or a way to meet new people. After reading this article though I learned that live chats allow for open ended conversation with people all over the world. They are very interactive, giving people the chance to ask questions and retrieve answers. I didn’t know how much the readers help to shape the chats until reading this article. However; with the readers asking and answering questions the story can be altered sometimes too much. This can be a problem because the story can change so much that it no longer is true. Even though the links for the live chats didn’t work I have seen live chats before and think that they can be very useful if done accurately.

Animated Stories
When I think of animation I usually think of the cartoons I used to watch growing up. Nowadays, animation is being used more and more to tell stories that are not just for children under the age of ten. I think animation is a great way to tell a story when you are trying to get someone who does not know much or if any information about the topic you are writing about to understand it more clearly. The animation I think makes people feel as ease, similar to the way they felt when they were young and watched animated cartoons. Animation can also be used to help explain how something works in a more enjoyable way then just providing basic instructions. However; I don’t think animated stories should be used for more serious stories. The Tiger Woods animated story is a helpful way for people who don’t understand or have much interest in golf, better understand the game. The drawback of animated stories is that they are very time consuming and take longer to produce. This being said, I think animated stories should only be used when necessary and when they will not be out dated in days after being made.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/augusta/tour/flash/20010408_frame.html

Critique of Story Forms (Allyse)

Print Plus
I often read many news stories that are posted to msnbc.com and never before noticed how they create their story. It was not until reading the description of print plus that I see they frame their story around an already existing published form. I read msnbc.com’s article on Alex Rodriguez’s admitting he took steroids and I now see that the story is just a reflection on the news story that ran on their television stations. They had the video of the most recent interview with Rodriguez posted to the story, showing that this was just a sort of follow-up to their already existing coverage. I never realized how much the added aspects such as the video could take away from the written story posted online. I think the description of print plus is right in saying that this type of story does not take full advantage of online reporting. The story is just a recap of what people have already read or seen on television and there is so much more that can probably be reported as the story is continuing to develop.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29068677/

Slide Shows
I always thought slide shows of pictures were a good way to show an audience a story. However, I never realized how powerful and informative slide shows could really be. After viewing and listening to the commentary of Vincent Laforet’s “The Refugees” slide show for The New York Times website I realized how powerful and incredibly useful this technology can be to online journalists. These pictures show a different side to the situation we are able to read about daily and it gives the reporter a chance to give a further explanation of what a reader is seeing in order for them to fully understand the story they are trying to tell. A photo spread like this may appear in the newspaper, but in color and with so much more commentary it paints a much different and much more powerful message to readers. I agree that this is a great way for online journalists to use online reporting because it gives readers a much more in-depth explanation and a much more vivid sense of a story.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/index_JOURNAL01.html

Weblogs
I have heard the term weblogs used so many times and I never really understood what exactly was meant by the term. However, after reading the According to The Times site, I have a much better understanding and I think it’s a great idea. I am not one to pick up a copy of The New York Times unless absolutely necessary because I find the content boring and hard to stay focused on. However, I do know how credible and informative it is consider. I think that the According to The Times weblog is a great idea for those who want a credible news source but are only looking for articles that interest them. This site gives mini descriptions of the articles that are in The Times and the links to access them online. I think this is a great way for casual readers to stay informed and for people who are looking for a specific story or just something that interests them to find those stories. I also think this is just another innovation associated with online journalism and really showcases the possibility of what it can become in the future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/25/weekinreview/25ATTT.html?ex=1234328400&en=95900ad9a033c7f3&ei=5070

Meghan's Online Story telling Critiques

After clicking on the article The Fall of the Twin Towers on the Washingtonpost.com website, I felt they used a great piece of medium to explain this tragic story. There were no words or dialect chosen to show what the article was trying to get across. After watching this slideshow I realized there were no words needed to make this a great online story. The pictures explained the feeling you are supposed to get while viewing and the pictures explained everything that would have been written. I do not believe that all articles can be posted in such way. Because this event was so tragic and there were a lot of pictures taken first hand, the pictures describe themselves. The pictures also are shown in chronological order, which acts like a video or also a story. The importance of pictures for this article is very high, because if this article was just explained in words, the emotion might not be the same. I loved every aspect this article has because it is not to short, but definitely has a lot of meaning behind it.


The article A Tribute to Our Troops is little different type of online story telling article that uses the community in order to complete the storyline. At this website you can search for a troop that you may know in your hometown to see if they have a page. After looking for a person you may be related to or know you can comment on their page and write messages to them personally. This is a great way to interact with someone in the community that may be over fighting for our country. Not everyone in the military has a page. They have to make one to be able to comment on them. That is the only down fault to this article, because you cannot just communicate to everyone that maybe in the military. They have to have a page for you to comment or pray for them. They do though have a link right underneath that you can type in your email address to start a page for a loved one you may know. This definitely is a great way that is easy to use for online story telling. In my opinion I feel that the community is the number one choice to go to when writing articles, because they are the readers as well, and know what they would like to see within an article.


I already read an article that relates to the twin towers, but I wanted to share this article as well. The article is called Shattered, which is also is a slide show showing different pictures than the article The Fall of the Twin Towers. Maybe I was comparing the two because they are on the same issue, but this article is not really that good. I feel as though some type of words need to be attached to these pictures. The only reason I could actually tell these pictures were from the fall of the towers is because I have a great bit of knowledge and remember what the scene looked like from other pictures. Someone who is not familiar with this tragic event may not know where these pictures came from, because they do not actually show the twin towers at all. The only way this article I believe could be used without any words would maybe add some more pictures of the tower actually collapsing. The slideshow definitely has some unique and outstanding pictures, but I feel as though there needs to be more to make this story telling article complete.