Writing Projects & Purposes

Promotional - HTML

www.hungrysuitcase.com Promotional - Multimedia - FLASH

Flash and HTML used in online journalism. Case Study: Series “Being a Black Man” Washington Post The Washington Post Online is a completely separate organization from the Washington Post newspaper. “Being a Black Man” is an example of what journalists call an “interactive feature story” or “an interactive,” for short—created in Flash. 2 teams created the “Being a Black Man” series for the Post: The web team for the interactive feature included Editors Tanya Ballard and Ju-Don Roberts, and Senior Interactive Designer Nelson Hsu. Writers also included staff reporters such as Robert Pierre, who wrote this article (left) and others linked from the site. For more examples of interactive features, see New York Times.com (multimedia search engine), CBS interactives menus, and other major news publications. Flash and HTML used in online journalism.

Quote from Jonathan Dube, “Writing News Online” (PoynterOnline) “Print reporters tend to look for information. TV reporters look for emotion on camera, sound bites and pictures to go with words. Online journalists must constantly think in terms of different elements and how they complement and supplement each other: Look for words to go with images, audio and video to go with words, data that will lend itself to interactives, etc. . . . Tape interviews whenever possible in case someone says that would make a powerful clip. Look for personalities who could be interesting chat guests. And always keep an eye out for information that can be conveyed more effectively using interactive tools.

Both HTML and Flash are used for experimental literature and fine art Both HTML and Flash are used for experimental literature and fine art. “Cruising” is collaborative multimedia poetry, written by Ingrid Ankerson, designed by Ingrid Ankerson and Megan Sapner

Writer’s Role Because I.M. are hybrid environments, many writers are also designers, or they work in creative teams.

Many writers and designers have backgrounds in creative writing and fine art, which encourage experimentation and creativity. Award-winning Italian Creative Director Alessandro Orlandi developed his talent in an experimental web site called aleart.net, and then channeled it into a business a Fishouse.net.

In Aleart.net, Orlandi wanted to develop new kinds of sensory experiences on the Internet that combined text, sound loops, images, and interactivity.

What is Creativity? www.cosmospasm.blogspot.com Creative people don’t just think outside the box—they live outside the box. According to Robert E. Franklin in Human Motivation, creative people tend to have “flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and enjoyment of things heretofore unknown” (394). According to Franklin, creativity is “the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others” (396). Creativity tests evaluate the number of alternatives that people can generate and the uniqueness of each alternative. Experts agree that creativity can be learned. Brainstorming is key.

Assignment: What is Creativity? To be continued . . . Assignment: What is Creativity?