Story Review

I’ve stumbled upon another great interactive feature by the New York Times — about the birds of Belize.

I love birds as much as the next guy… meaning I would only very rarely read a two-page article on them. But I love beautiful pictures and hearing the sounds those birds make almost made me feel like I was in the jungle with them. (Seriously, I went to the zoo yesterday and heard fewer birdsongs there; the birds from the NYT’s pictures felt more real.)

This is not the first time the NYT has done something good and it is interesting to note that great storytelling alone seems to not be able to rid struggling newspaper companies of their problems. Whatever the outcome of the current crisis in newspaper publishing, as a reader I hope this kind of journalism survives.

VERDICT

Originality: 2 (out of 5)

Nothing new here really.

Presentation: 5 (out of 5)

What this piece lacks in originality, it more than makes up in presentation. A very well wrapped package includes magnificent pictures, sounds that make you feel like the animals are in your room, a map and a lengthy text piece for those with an unquenchable thirst for bird knowledge.

Journalistic value: 4 (out of 5)

Rather than have pictures and sounds simply support the text, the NYT has created a package of equally impressive features, each of which could stand alone.

Overall: 4.3 (out of 5)

Impressive.

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Photo by Chris Diewlad

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I know the Super Bowl is old news now, but I’ve been itching to blog about this incredible piece of interactive journalism by the New York Times’ Matthew Bloch and Shan Carter.

As the caption states, this “map shows the location and frequency of commonly used words in Super Bowl related [DD:Twitter] messages”. Sounds simple and even a bit boring, but is instead almost unbelievably cool and fascinating. I have yet to meet the person whose jaw does not drop when they first realise what the real effect of this interactive graphic is.

In essence, it’s just words from geo-tagged tweets placed on a map. But because the authors have also chosen to highlight the frequency of each word by making it bigger if it is more commonly mentioned, what we get is something that really feels like a cheering crowd watching sport’s biggest event for the season (according to Americans, that is). We can even feel how the tension rises as the game draws to an end and can almost imagine the fans shouting the names of Fitzgerald and Holmes during the dramatic finish.

Of course, the Super Bowl is not only a sporting but also a great marketing event and sure enough, we’ve got tweets from people talking about ads. It is amazing how passionate people can get about advertising. The universal support for Hulu, the free online video service, is especially noticeable.

VERDICT

Originality: 5 (out of 5)

We are not sure if Bloch and Carter knew what they were going to end up with when they first hatched the idea, but it just smacks of pure creative genius.

Presentation: 5 (out of 5)

Simple, slick and compelling. The idea to express word frequency by a larger font works out incredibly well.

Journalistic value: 5 (out of 5)

This is the best example we have come across so far of the media being just a facilitator in a discussion that goes on in the community. Barring the headline, the caption and the menus, all of the content is user-generated. The newspaper plays a role in the background, by making it all possible through its superior technological expertise and resources.

Overall: 5 (out of 5)

Outstanding.

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Thanks to Eric Ulken (@eulken) who pointed me to this interactive map.

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