Swivel is a tremendous service.
Check this out, Mindy.
– http://swivel.com

Any reporter can create Web graphics, now.
Look what the amateurs are doing.

http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/29155577

Hover over any bar and get richer details.
Nice, simple and quick. Perfect for Web graphics.

What do you mean by “swivel graphic”? (A panorama?)

In other words, that any graphic worth publishing has to be a super-slick Flash project? Sometimes an annotated Google map mashup or a Swivel graphic running with an item can be just as useful and require a lot fewer specialized resources.

Brace yoursef – paradigm shift warning:
These types of Web graphics can be produced and initiated by reporters with no special graphics or programming expertise.

No software to buy too and you can embed them directly into the content instead of publishing them in a multimedia ghetto. How many newsapers make that mistake?

News managers, take note, your SEO is a lot higher than it will be for a Flash graphic. Not that packages are bad – but they should only be ordered for really special stories.

When I see how the right-minded UK newspapers are now producing more video components – rather than traditional TV News style self-contained packages, I see how smart media companies are learning that it is much less about slick packaging and much more about immediate, contextual relevancy.
Place your bets on ease of use and user experience first and you will win.

Increasing the graphics literacy in your newsroom by teaching more reporters how to generate quick, effective Web-based graphics (like Google maps, swivel graphics and other simple browser-based graphics tools) will have more of an impact in all areas you explore here.

That’s the stuff I am teaching reporters today in a seminar at Medill – because those are the skills and strategies that will be required of reporters and online news outlets.