David Munro: Editor

Article in Question: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/stories/covid-19-first-six-months/

The article in question ‘COVID-19: six months on the frontline by Debroah Evanson and Joanna Wilson for the Imperial College London tells the story of the organisation through the first six months of the Covid 19 pandemic at the start of 2020. It is a scrolling single page article, the entire story told on a single page that is scrolled through at the pace of the viewer, visually depicting a timeline with a line drawn from the centre of the page and running all the way from the top to the bottom, notable dates creating branches off of the timeline which are then discussed about as the article progresses.

Images are a heavy focus within the article, either serving as the visual backdrop behind the white text of the article, or as a side-by-side portait image to work alongside the words of the article. Solid background images behind heading text used to break up each section of the story, while side-by-side portaits are made use of during the proper content of the piece. Within the content sections of the article, the images change in time with the reader’s scrolling, changing to reflect the subject matter of that section of the article. These are effective as they provide visuals to the topics being discussed, ranging from images of researchers in labs when discussing searches for treatment for the virus, or images of political figures when discussing insitution of lockdowns and public addresses concerning the pandemic. All images used are clear and vibrant, acting in opposition to the plain white text on black background for additional visual flare and intrigue.

The images overall work to grant visual intrigue to the article, alongside providing visualisations and examples of the subject matter being discussed. Images as well provide a heightened sense of realism and impact to the story being told, charting the development of the story through the visuals as well as through the text. Some moving images throughout, whether video clips or looping GIFs, might have aspects of the article more potent, but the impact is still very strong.

Analysis

Article in question: https://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/index.html#/?part=tunnel-creek

The story ‘Snowfall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek’ by John Branch is an interactive article telling the events of a snowstorm and avalanche that occurred in Washington USA in 2012. The article is comprised of a collection of scrolling single page sections on the New York Times website, six of them in total alongside additional tabs for maps of the location affected and another to detail those involved with the incident. Each chapter, or part, of the article focuses on a different part of the events that occurred, telling each part of the narrative piece-by-piece with different perspectives and information dotted within. Progressing onto each part as if you were moving from one chapter of a novel to the next.

The narrative is told as a blend between emotive description and re-enactment of events, to place the reader within the headspace and scenario of those who were directly affected by the avalanche as if it was being told as a novel rather than a news article. Following different ‘characters’ within the events to capture real, authentic experiences of the incident, engaging a reader as if this were a novel or fictitious story. Intercut in-between the stories of each person come logistical facts and direct information to provide the scope and realistic elements to remind the reader that this is indeed a retelling of a real event, as well as to shape the real scope and impact of all that occurred.

Throughout it as well, multimedia elements such as the looping video image as the banner of each part works to engage the viewer as if they were indeed reading a novel, while at the same time, real maps, simulations, images and sound clips of the avalanche, the area, the people involved and weather maps work to highlight the reality and the impact of the narrative being told.

All of this blends together to create an immersive and riveting retelling of the event, engaging a viewer as if it were a detailed and compelling fictional narrative while reinforcing the reality and the devastation of the real event.

Article in question: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-19/australia-bushfires-how-heat-and-drought-created-a-tinderbox/11976134

Interaction Design

The project is presented as a single scrolling news article as opposed to a

multiple page article, with images making the background of the article that move in time with the viewer’s scrolling to provide a visualisation of the bushfire as it occured. Text in the story broken into smaller paragraphs and quotes with large amounts of seperation for the visuals behind to be made visible, alongside the changes the visuals undergo as the article progresses.

The text in the project is block white text on seperate black boxes serving as a backdrop, with breaks and seperations to reveal the background graphics althroughout, information and quotes provided pointedly and in short bursts to enhance the brevity and intensity of events within the article, as well as longer blocks of text for longer quotes and analysis of the event beyond the dramatic punches.

The majority of background images are satellite imagery of the areas affected by the bushfires, allowing the viewer’s scrolling through the article to visually demonstrate the scale and the spread of the fire’s impact across large areas of the country. Images that also move and change as the reader scrolls through the material.Beyond just the initial spread of the bushfires, also using imagery from years prior of the areas to visualise the real damage that the fires have caused. Sprinkled throughout as well are images of fire crews, people, houses and towns involved in the blaze as well, presenting human and relatable imagery in top of the information to show the real personal impact upon those affected in the fires, in time with quotes and accounts of the events that transpired. Visuals of burned landscapes, signs and trees, satellite weather imagery of the clouds of smoke caused by the fire running across Australia and finishing with imagery of the floods that followed in the wake of the bushfires, all revealed gradually as the article is read through.

Storytelling

The story is told as an emotive yet informative piece. Making use of long descriptive words and recounts of the events that occured woven together like a narrative story, with heavy adjective use and powerful references to imagery. Weaving in together facts and figures surrounding the causes and effects of the bushfire, personal accounts and interviews of people involved in the fires, alongside an overall sombre and reflective tone. Heavy uses of descriptive words to paint the image of the events in the readers heads, as well as providing all the relevant information of the artive. The progression of the narrative following from an emotive introduction to the topic at hand, then following chronologically along with the events leading up to the bushfires then detailing the impact it had immediately and into the future.

The article conveys this narrative through text, but also makes use of scrolling imagery along the webpage, some moving in time with the reader’s scrolling, to provide additional information and context that reinforces the narrative being told.

Interviews within this story are placed mostly within sections of the article without the use of scrolling images, parts with the white text simply on a black background. Done so for the interviews to be highlighted and focused on for its information and content without the imagery to serve as a kind of distraction for the discussion at hand. Interview quotes from experts incorporated as a way of being able to provide context and information to the tragedy, beyond the imagery and spectacle of the events.

Reading through this article, I really grasped a stronger idea of just the kind of devastation and effect the bushfires in 2019. As well as that, the how and why of these events occuring as well as the stories of those people affected by it, and the continued story of those areas and its people.

Article in question: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-19/australia-bushfires-how-heat-and-drought-created-a-tinderbox/11976134

Interaction Design

The project is presented as a single scrolling news article as opposed to a

multiple page article, with images making the background of the article that move in time with the viewer’s scrolling to provide a visualisation of the bushfire as it occured. Text in the story broken into smaller paragraphs and quotes with large amounts of seperation for the visuals behind to be made visible, alongside the changes the visuals undergo as the article progresses.

The text in the project is block white text on seperate black boxes serving as a backdrop, with breaks and seperations to reveal the background graphics althroughout, information and quotes provided pointedly and in short bursts to enhance the brevity and intensity of events within the article, as well as longer blocks of text for longer quotes and analysis of the event beyond the dramatic punches.

The majority of background images are satellite imagery of the areas affected by the bushfires, allowing the viewer’s scrolling through the article to visually demonstrate the scale and the spread of the fire’s impact across large areas of the country. Images that also move and change as the reader scrolls through the material.Beyond just the initial spread of the bushfires, also using imagery from years prior of the areas to visualise the real damage that the fires have caused. Sprinkled throughout as well are images of fire crews, people, houses and towns involved in the blaze as well, presenting human and relatable imagery in top of the information to show the real personal impact upon those affected in the fires, in time with quotes and accounts of the events that transpired. Visuals of burned landscapes, signs and trees, satellite weather imagery of the clouds of smoke caused by the fire running across Australia and finishing with imagery of the floods that followed in the wake of the bushfires, all revealed gradually as the article is read through.

Storytelling

The story is told as an emotive yet informative piece. Making use of long descriptive words and recounts of the events that occured woven together like a narrative story, with heavy adjective use and powerful references to imagery. Weaving in together facts and figures surrounding the causes and effects of the bushfire, personal accounts and interviews of people involved in the fires, alongside an overall sombre and reflective tone. Heavy uses of descriptive words to paint the image of the events in the readers heads, as well as providing all the relevant information of the artive. The progression of the narrative following from an emotive introduction to the topic at hand, then following chronologically along with the events leading up to the bushfires then detailing the impact it had immediately and into the future.

The article conveys this narrative through text, but also makes use of scrolling imagery along the webpage, some moving in time with the reader’s scrolling, to provide additional information and context that reinforces the narrative being told.

Interviews within this story are placed mostly within sections of the article without the use of scrolling images, parts with the white text simply on a black background. Done so for the interviews to be highlighted and focused on for its information and content without the imagery to serve as a kind of distraction for the discussion at hand. Interview quotes from experts incorporated as a way of being able to provide context and information to the tragedy, beyond the imagery and spectacle of the events.

Reading through this article, I really grasped a stronger idea of just the kind of devastation and effect the bushfires in 2019. As well as that, the how and why of these events occuring as well as the stories of those people affected by it, and the continued story of those areas and its people.

Welcome to WordPress! This is your first post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey.