online media today
April 05, 2004
Symposium on Converge Journalism
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the University of Florida's Symposium on Converge Journalism.
Though the panel discussions were very interesting, the best part of the day for me was the lunch. I like fried chicken.
And I like interesting conversation. I sat near freelance writer Mark Glaser, The Orlando Sentinel's Anthony Moor and The Dallas Morning News' David Leeson. We (or more accurately, they) discussed photos and videos on the Web.
Moor commented that the Orlando Sentinel had just recently decided it was alright to run a stand alone photograph on the Web as has been done for years in print newspapers. He then made a very good point in stating online journalist are having to somewhat reinvent the wheel to figure out what works and what doesn't on the Web.
Standard print practices have been in place for many years. We are still in the infancy of online media, and are to the point that standards are starting to develop.
These standards and practices are ever changing with electronic media because the media are ever-changing. Just when we figure out what works on a website to be viewed on a PC, we have to figure out what will work on a PDA or cell phone.
We are at a very important period for online media and anyone working in the field can help shape how it will be done in many years, and that's just plain old cool.
And the chocolate cake was pretty good too.
Though the panel discussions were very interesting, the best part of the day for me was the lunch. I like fried chicken.
And I like interesting conversation. I sat near freelance writer Mark Glaser, The Orlando Sentinel's Anthony Moor and The Dallas Morning News' David Leeson. We (or more accurately, they) discussed photos and videos on the Web.
Moor commented that the Orlando Sentinel had just recently decided it was alright to run a stand alone photograph on the Web as has been done for years in print newspapers. He then made a very good point in stating online journalist are having to somewhat reinvent the wheel to figure out what works and what doesn't on the Web.
Standard print practices have been in place for many years. We are still in the infancy of online media, and are to the point that standards are starting to develop.
These standards and practices are ever changing with electronic media because the media are ever-changing. Just when we figure out what works on a website to be viewed on a PC, we have to figure out what will work on a PDA or cell phone.
We are at a very important period for online media and anyone working in the field can help shape how it will be done in many years, and that's just plain old cool.
And the chocolate cake was pretty good too.
Gainesville24-7.com
A few of my classmates work as writers for Gainesville24-7.com, so I thought I'd check out the site and review it here.
A great thing about GNV24/7 (as the banner reads) is the blog section. In fact, that's a big part of what GNV24/7 is about.
The blogs are kept by journalists and are used for reporting and more often commenting on news. My classmate Daniel Silverman recently wrote a great blog entry on the future of the PC.
As for design, the site is set up in a logical fashion and looks a lot like many other news magazines. I can't stand the puke green throughout the site, but that might just be a personal thing.
Although the search bar is in a great location in the upper-right corner, the choice of color for the box makes it blend in with the background. I think another color could have been selected to go with the scheme but also to stand out a little.
The site also looks great on my computer, but I would be concerned for anyone with smaller resolutions. The site is not designed to be seen well on an 800x600 screen.
Overall GNV24/7 is a great news magazine. The viewpoints are interesting and a little different than the norm and the use of blogs as journalism is really intriguing. If only the color scheme didn't make me want to upchuck, this could become one of my favorite Gainesville sites.
A great thing about GNV24/7 (as the banner reads) is the blog section. In fact, that's a big part of what GNV24/7 is about.
The blogs are kept by journalists and are used for reporting and more often commenting on news. My classmate Daniel Silverman recently wrote a great blog entry on the future of the PC.
As for design, the site is set up in a logical fashion and looks a lot like many other news magazines. I can't stand the puke green throughout the site, but that might just be a personal thing.
Although the search bar is in a great location in the upper-right corner, the choice of color for the box makes it blend in with the background. I think another color could have been selected to go with the scheme but also to stand out a little.
The site also looks great on my computer, but I would be concerned for anyone with smaller resolutions. The site is not designed to be seen well on an 800x600 screen.
Overall GNV24/7 is a great news magazine. The viewpoints are interesting and a little different than the norm and the use of blogs as journalism is really intriguing. If only the color scheme didn't make me want to upchuck, this could become one of my favorite Gainesville sites.
March 22, 2004
Getting international news from an international source
I like getting my International news from BBC News because of the distinct difference in bias and self-censoring. International sources generally cover news events very differently than American sources.
The BBC News site is set up for an 800x600 screen, which is a good thing, since it is still used by just under 40% of web users. I think that fact sometimes escapes web designers when they have resolutions of 1400x1050 or higher.
The search bar is in the upper right hand side, the title bar is simple and not overpowering and the navigation bar is very concise, all nice features on a news site.
Perhaps the best part of the BBC News site is that it is completely devoid of advertisements. Now I know this is not possible on American commercial news sites, but I still love it. At least if those sites could get rid of the annoying flashing ads, that would be a step in the right direction.
Another nice feature of the BBC News site is the availability of a low graphics version. Again, this is something web developers also forget in designing sites: not everyone has access to DSL, cable modem or a T1. Users on dial-up connections can switch from the graphics version to the low-graphics version quite easily.
The BBC News site is also great to get a different perspective on news than we are used to in the United States, as I mentioned before. I would encourage you to check out their site and compare how they are covering stories as compared to how they are covered by American press. See where you get your international news from then.
