A MOVING MULTIMEDIA

This multimedia package is about american people who help to save lives of children in risk en South America. We can say that turns almost all the basics characteristics of good multimedia:  1) appropiate use of medium with a mix of images,  maps, audios, texts, sounds and off narration, operative words which increase the general atmosphere an add a quote of emotion which become package in a attractive work. Unfortunately, the’re no video but doesn’t realize because its editing is excellent. So excellent that you can think that it does include videos.

2) Compelling presentation: design is absolutely attractive trhough lay outs, graphics, moving photos, very good recorded audios, testimonies which show dramatical situations.

3) Easy navigation 

A DRAMATICAL PACKAGE

This multimedia work was prepared by a Los Angeles Times team about  how drugs war is killing people in Mexico. In regard to it I consider that gathers the three basics characteristics of good multimedia:

1) Appropiate use of medium: Videos, audios, slideshows, interactive maps, graphics, timelines, opinion, forums, users comments. Anyway I would prefer a more shocking presentation. I mean that rather than including graphics and numbers I’d choose a group of strong pictures to catch the user at the firs glance.

2) Compelling presentation: an attractive designs, mixing different scenes with killers stories presented as slideshows, bring up a powerfull efects about the tragedy Mexico is suffering today.

3) High usability because navigate it is really easy

 THE ANDES’ TRAGEDY

After thirty six years  sixteen survivors remember the tragedy in Montevideo,  all together for the first time

This multimedia package was made by La Nacion team (online and print journalist together) last october to remember that legendary accident. The meeting had place in Montevideo some days before launching a new book about those dramatical days. Difference between this one and Alive, the story of The Andes survivors (1974, by Piers Paul Read), the first book published in regard to, arachive material, some parts of new book.

As multimedia package, I consider that  turns basic characteristics of good multimedia, but I’d add some things to complete it.

1) Use of medium:  this multimedia work have video interviews with some of the survivors (very emotional), timelines, historical pictures, audios, extracts of the last book, what the newspapers published about the story those days, testimonies, te voice of the author, etc. etc. I’d add more pictures, some audios interviewing the rest of the survivors (Cannesa, Nando Parrado, Carlos Paez, for instance),  a video with the old men who found them in the mountain when nobody couln’t believe, an interview with Carlos Paez’s father, the famous uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró who never lost his hope in those times, some scenes of the film (Alive), users generate content, opinion, interactive map.

2) Presentation: it’s ok but could be better through graphics and historial pictures, more videos and other testimonies.

3) Easy navigation 

In this link you can find a video I shooted of my son about Christma’s Tree. My husband and I are planning to use it as Christmas card to show our tree to all friends.

I edited with Windows  Movie MAker but firstly I had to convert the file from MPEG4 to MPEG or Windows Media with Adobe Premiere Element 3.0.

WMM didn’t admit my MPEG 4 files. It’s was very hard but I did it and I was very satisfied about it 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV5-568Nuso

The following 10 headlines were taken from Buenos Aires Herald. December, 3rd, 2008.

Good examples

Favourite Mark Leckey wins Turner art prize 

Lower House committees debate anti-crisis bills 

Oil prices fall below US$47 

Ambito buys herald 

Somali pirates fire on US cruise ship 

I think all these headlines have enough keywords in the title and include repeats inside the text.

All these can be considered clickeable by readers and chosen by search engines.

Wrong Titles

You cried for me, Argentina

Her madgesty 

Assembly to be suspended? 

Kuwaiti pact

University competition

All these headlines lack keywords and are not enough explicit to be understood by readers online and search engines.

One of the my favorite blogs is Huffington Post. It’s interesting and dinamic, its layout is attractive and has juicy comments. 233grados is very interesting too, principally ’cause update how the digital media is going on and let us know what the newspapers are doing to evolve to the future. In the other hand, I use to visit 101cookbooks because I love cooking and collect recipes.

Other blogs:

Bestiario, a blog about pets. 

Motherlode, a blog about “real problems”

Fix cam fron WPost, a video blog

I started  with RSS four months ago and I chose Google Reader following a co-worker advice. I’ m suscribed to many differents feeds from blogs, newsoutlets, magazines to cooking and gossip sites. Examples: The Wall Street Journal Americas, all the argentine papers, The New York Times, Periodistas 21 blog, 233grados blog, The New Blog Times, etc.

I’m also suscribed to differents news search alerts from Google News ARgentina: one is my own name, and the other is the name of a famous chef, Dolli Irigoyen, that help keep updated about new recipes.