For many of us interactive news stories may feel like fun as they have an element of participation. Most of them prove a point effectively, though some of them are basic in nature, but do the job effectively. They also tickle your brain to think about scenarios and situations. I found them to be not only interesting, but telling us to rethink on some of our beliefs.
For a change I have pushed all the URLs to the end of the post.
Story #5
At number five is a story from the entertainment genre. If you are a Marvel fan, Avengers Saga would have been a windfall. After all, many of your super heroes would have featured in each of the editions. No wonder you would have awaited the release of Avengers Endgame with bated breath, earlier this year. For most of you it did not disappoint. Of course, not everyone was happy with the death of Iron Man. Oren Bell did something simple to tell you from which year, which of the super heroes returned in his interactive graphics. Take a look at the story… the URL is given at the end.
Story #4
The Notre Dame Cathedral fire in Paris got news organisations to post before and and after interactive graphics and pictures. The big news media houses, BBC and CNN had stories that highlighted how the place looked before and after the fire. Both had sliders which could be moved from the before to the after image. The kind of stuff that journalism students always talk about, but now we see that in action.
Story #3
For the impact the subject is supposed to create, it should have been my number one story, but in terms of the graphics and interactivity it is basic. I am not trying to belittle the effort, but the feel it gives. On the face of it, it’s a a simple graphics… but has a very big aspect highlighted. How much carbon does your flight emit. This story from Guardian highlights how each one of us is destroying nature by flying to different destinations. So think again, if you would wish to fly for your holidays this Christmas.
You can use the graphics by putting the name of your city as the point from which your flight originates and find out what happens if you go to a far of destination. Let the destination city be in a different continent. You will know your carbon emission in kilograms. This, in all probability, will be more than the carbon emission by an average person in a year.
Story #2
The next one is not that serious stuff, but if you believe keeping your house neat and tidy, an interactive way to understand how it is to be done is highlighted in this story . Weekend interactive room by room guide from NBC news. Whether it helped me or not, it surely proved that indeed keeping the home clean requires a serious effort. And if you are married, it’s better that the couple do this task together. (Did I hear some one say… “not my job”)
This story is at number two because of the interactivity of the graphics.
Story #1
The top story is an interactive one on self-driving cars from the Washington post. It highlights how the self-driven car is prone to errors and may be, it is not that dependable yet. The graphics effectively proves the point. I would suggest that you try this interactive car to feel for yourself. You will be convinced, as I was, that indeed this could be true.
THE URLs:
Story #5 Avenger’s timeline by Oren Bell
Story # 4: BBC interactive on Notre-Dame Cathedral fire; CNN interactive on the Notre-Dame Cathedral Fire
STORY #3: Guardian story on Carbon Emission
STORY #2: NBC keeping your home tidy
The TV Journalist 