As a journalism prof, I’m afraid I was limited by what I knew best — print. But there is no reason that students should come out of a journalism class knowing only text.
One of my Facebook friends linked to this post on PBS’ MediaShift blog that discusses letting students turn in assignments in any format they wanted. Dr. Ivan Oransky, who teaches medical journalism at NYU, writes that his students asked about video, but what they are using most is infographics.
It made me think: What else could we be thinking of in terms of infographics?
Could reader contributions be in the form of infographics? PowerPoint slides to create online slide shows? What else?
I thought that since graphic novels were so popular, why not try graphic journalism. This might be a throwback to the days of courtroom artists, but I thought why not give it a try. So far, none of my students have taken up the challenge. That said, I push everyone of my students to work in a multimedia environment. Yes, you can tell your news story in text, as a photo slideshow, in video or audio.
Thanks, Pamela!
I have suggested this presentation in job interviews. I love the graphics in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal that help tell the story. You can spend as much time looking at the graphics as reading the story. Great supplement to reporting, and often it is also powerful standing alone. IMHO.