October 2008 Archives

Taylor, "Old Thinking Permeats Major Journalism School"

Cochran, "Undergrad 'infiltrates' new media reporting at NYU"

This assignment also includes an in-class review of a peer's beta-release.

In class we will have time to explore some Flash sites that are very good examples of how to persuade, tell stories, or communicate information through Flash.

• September 12
• Darfur is Dying
• Food Import Folly
• Making of Maple (if that link doesn't work, select it from the Reuters Audio Slideshow Gallery)
  
• Parkersburg Tornado: Beginning to Rebuild
• Inanimate Alice
  

Once again, we're switching tools. Continue to blog about your learning process.

In class, I'll set you up with Flash and get you started on the lessons (which begin on page 45).

For the assignment due Tuesday, you'll need to know Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 4, and Lesson 5. (You can skip Lesson 3 -- we will cover that during class on Tuesday).

For Tuesday, I'm asking you to create a simple animation that will run when the user pushes a button. The graphics can be crude -- we can always improve the graphics later if the point your animation makes is worth expanding.

Introduction (note especially the summaries on pages xviii and xix), and Part I.

Discuss pitches for Ex 3-2.

Lessons 1 through 5. You can just skim Lesson 3 -- we'll cover that during class.

Use interactivity to present information or make a point.

Example: Many a Quaint and Curious Volume of Forgotten Flash.

The book hasn't yet covered sound, and you don't need to have fancy graphics. Even just words would be fine. You know those word puzzles that put the word "mind" above the word "matter" ("mind over matter")? Something like that would be fine, too.

Here's one example of a narrated slide show.

It's fairly routine stuff, and the reporter's voice is not particularly polished, but it manages to pack in a lot of maps and charts, conveying information that would otherwise be difficult to present in a traditional report (either for TV or print).

We will start working on this project during class time. Lesson 10 involves building a narrated slide show, and lessons 6-9 all prepare you for Lesson 10.