Today we're going to start looking at Flash. I'll talk a bit about it in general - what Flash can and can't do. Then we're going to look at the way Flash has been/is being used by online news media sites.
The leading book on this subject is 'Flash Journalism' by Mindy McAdams. It was published three years ago now - but it's still the best book on Flash for journalists. There's an accompanying site which features material from the book. McAdams also has an excellent blog, which looks at Flash journalism but also online journalism in general. It's definitely worth a look.
Today, we'll look at some of the examples she's highlighted in her book and some more recent journalistic uses of Flash. There's a good list of examples on the Flash Journalism site - have a look at a few of those. Alternatively, try:
- MSNBC's The Big Picture - Civil Rights Today
- The Times-Picayune's Flash Flood (about Hurricane Katrina)
- AFP's package on the 2004 Tour De France
- Rocky Mountain News' Final Salute
- USA Today's Loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia
Don't just look at these - look at some of the other examples McAdam's has on her Professional Examples page. With each example, don't focus on the technology - think about the journalistic use it's being put to.
- How does Flash help journalists tell a particular news story in a new way?
- Does it add something to the story for the user?
- Is this something the net can do which other media can't?
- Does Flash help to bring across the key facts of the news story or does it get in the way?
We'll talk through some of the examples you find in class. Then I'd like you to look out for some examples of your own this week - see if you can find something you think is a good journalistic use of Flash. Try to find something which you think is bad Flash journalism - we'll talk about them in next week's class.
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