This document discusses principles for designing effective multimedia journalism narratives. It recommends that multimedia presentations incorporate interactive elements, personal experiences, and computer-based features to engage users. Well-designed multimedia allows users to explore at their own pace rather than passively consuming linear media. Examples are provided of multimedia stories that immerse users with graphics, maps, audio, and choices to experience the narrative through interaction rather than long blocks of text or passive video. The goal is to give users control over their experience through short, connected elements rather than a single monolithic narrative.

1. Multimedia Journalism Narrative
Mindy McAdams / University of Florida

2. Multimedia
 Experiences that are:
 Interactive
 Personal
 Computer-based
 Those three factors (should) drive design
 Presentations that are rich in:
 Images (photos, graphics, maps, video)
 Sound
 Text

3. Designing media
 Linear media (text OR video) --
 Lead the user by the nose
 Grab them with the lede or the opening shot
 Build the narrative
 Maintain control at all times
 Multimedia --
 Provide real choices
 Let the users decide and explore
 Give up control

4. Toxic Legacy (Bergen Record, 2005)

5. Lots of data, but few graphics

6. Nice map, but straight from print

7. Photos could have driven this story

8. Lots and lots of text

9. Interactive engages the user
 Provide multiple “hooks” up front
 People (so many stories!)
 Places (maps, scenes)
 Problem (everyone’s water)
 Villain: Ford Motor Co. and “the Mob”
 Use motion to propel the hooks
 Should NOT be a monolithic narrative
 “Small pieces, loosely joined”
 Little stories

10. Immersion and experience
 Multimedia allows us to simulate an
experience
 Less so than a video game, but …
 More so than a printed story with photos
 The screen is intimate
 Very close, seemingly private
 Touching the mouse, moving the cursor
 (This is also true for online video)
 Detachment is NOT what user should feel

11. Touching Hearts, Herald-Sun, 2001

12. Animated explanatory graphics

13. Animated maps

14. Photo stories with audio

15. Visual organization of info

16. Choices and control
 It’s NOT about giving the user random or
meaningless choices …
 It’s about allowing the user to be in control
of the experience
 The experience = the story

17. Experiencing the story
 Watching is passive
 Passive elements must be short
 Video is passive : Make it short
 Text is passive : Make it short
 What can the user do?
 Interactivity means having control
 If I’m in control, I am not held captive by a big
block of text, a 5-minute video, etc.
 I can choose, move on, go someplace else

18. http://mindymcadams.com/
Mindy McAdams / University of Florida
Examples linked at
http://snipurl.com/opzr