online media today
January 26, 2004
Review: St. Petersburg Times' "The Last Full Measure of Devotion"
The St. Petersburg Times published a multimedia report Jan. 25 on Sgt. Paul R. Smith, the only man nominated for a medal of honor for the Iraq war, entitled "The Last Full Measure of Devotion." Smith was killed during firefight with Iraqi soldiers on April 4, 2003 near Saddam International Airport.
The "Interactive Special Report" consists of the story chunked into five parts, several photo galleries, flash documents and a guestbook.
The story is well written and intelligently broken into chunks. Links to the chunks are labeled simply as Part 1, etc. which does not allow the reader to readily access the story from many points.
The most helpful feature in telling Smith's story is the "battlescene," flash slideshow that goes through maps of the area, detailing the logistics of the battle step-by-step with a short audio narration. The feature however, is not labeled well on the navigation bar. Also there is also no easy way to click through the slides; next and back buttons would have helped navigation.
Another neat feature is the satellite view of the battle scene. This image is a flash graphic allowing the view to zoom and scroll throughout the photo. Again there is no easy way to navigate the document and even the directions given are incorrect for my PC. A group photo including a partially-hidden Smith is uselessly presented in the same format.
The photo galleries are very well made and tell the story concisely with audio files that add to the story when appropriate. I like that the viewer can choose whether to hear the audio clips.
Overall the interactive report is a well-produced piece. The navigation in many areas seems to have been overlooked and there isn't even a way to get back to the default page from inside the report. Also many of the graphics and even the main page are slow to load, even on a cable modem connection. I very much enjoyed the piece and the graphic features, but I hope the Web designers at the Times learn from their navigation mistakes.
The "Interactive Special Report" consists of the story chunked into five parts, several photo galleries, flash documents and a guestbook.
The story is well written and intelligently broken into chunks. Links to the chunks are labeled simply as Part 1, etc. which does not allow the reader to readily access the story from many points.
The most helpful feature in telling Smith's story is the "battlescene," flash slideshow that goes through maps of the area, detailing the logistics of the battle step-by-step with a short audio narration. The feature however, is not labeled well on the navigation bar. Also there is also no easy way to click through the slides; next and back buttons would have helped navigation.
Another neat feature is the satellite view of the battle scene. This image is a flash graphic allowing the view to zoom and scroll throughout the photo. Again there is no easy way to navigate the document and even the directions given are incorrect for my PC. A group photo including a partially-hidden Smith is uselessly presented in the same format.
The photo galleries are very well made and tell the story concisely with audio files that add to the story when appropriate. I like that the viewer can choose whether to hear the audio clips.
Overall the interactive report is a well-produced piece. The navigation in many areas seems to have been overlooked and there isn't even a way to get back to the default page from inside the report. Also many of the graphics and even the main page are slow to load, even on a cable modem connection. I very much enjoyed the piece and the graphic features, but I hope the Web designers at the Times learn from their navigation mistakes.
