Comments on: 21 examples of Flash journalism

By: Advanced New Media at the University of Wyoming » Blog Archive » Using Flash for Effective Communication

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 22:05:25 +0000

[...] some of the best examples of Flash journalism online. Let’s look at Mindy McAdams’ 21 examples of Flash journalism for a starting point. Below are some highlights of her [...]

By: Darko

Darko — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:23:03 +0000

I don’t think it’s ‘flash journalism’ — flash is just a technology, like Photoshop or HTML or print.

What you’re talking about is ‘visual journalism’ or ‘multimedia journalism’ as they sometimes call it. Limiting it just to Flash (or HTML) isn’t getting to the core of it — building rich, interactive media presentations which greatly help get your message in a visually better way. (and thus, making more people get the message)

btw, nice list!

By: Teaching Online Journalism » Top Teaching Online Journalism posts: Past 6 months

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:27:24 +0000

[...] 21 examples of Flash journalism [...]

By: Teaching Online Journalism » What you should know about HTML5 today

Teaching Online Journalism » What you should know about HTML5 today — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:38:06 +0000

[...] Last week I posted 7 examples of exceptional Flash packages. Those seven examples indicate a range of what authoring in the Flash application makes possible. Note that I said “range” — I’d like to emphasize that it’s a pretty broad range. Then, if you’re really interested, you could have a little browse through an earlier post here, 21 examples of Flash journalism. [...]

By: Bons exemplos de jornalismo visual e newsgame « Webmanario

Bons exemplos de jornalismo visual e newsgame « Webmanario — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:03:45 +0000

[...] 23, 2010 · Deixe um comentário A intrépida Mindy McAdams selecionou 21 exemplos (aquela coisa americana de números irregulares) de infografias interativas em flash, algumas bem [...]

By: Tom Fid

Tom Fid — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:46:28 +0000

The Debt Trap example is pretty bad, because it essentially compares a stock (debt, $) with a flow (annual savings, $/yr). That’s likely to confuse people about the cumulative nature of debt and savings. I think some basic numeracy and understanding of dynamics needs to precede Flash knowledge.

By: What is the best way to present a TV news package? « Joel Flynn

What is the best way to present a TV news package? « Joel Flynn — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:42:12 +0000

[...] And there are methods which are accepted as being more useful than others. Mindy McAdam’s had an excellent illustration of wht flash graphics can add to stories, in particular [...]

By: I miei bookmark del 11/3 < Livingston, il blog di Marco Mazzei

I miei bookmark del 11/3 < Livingston, il blog di Marco Mazzei — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:08:31 +0000

[...] Teaching Online Journalism » 21 examples of Flash journalism (tags: web visualization data flash journalism) [...]

By: Mindy McAdams

Mindy McAdams — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:01:58 +0000

Thanks for the comment and the links, Dan!

“How important is it for journalism students (or upskilling journalists) to learn Flash, and what can be expected in a given teaching timeframe?”

Probably 95 percent of journalists should not even think about learning Flash.

First, it does take a big investment of time before you can get stuff done with Flash. Second, if you’re not already a designer or graphic artist, the stuff you make will probably be ugly, hard to use, or both. Third, Flash is not going to help your reporting or newsgathering.

The 5 percent of journalists who absolutely SHOULD learn Flash are the graphic reporters, the infografistas (I love that Spanish term!), the news artists. Those who create the maps, the diagrams, the charts.

I spend 10 weeks, with 5 classroom hours per week, to teach Flash to advanced online journalism students. The syllabus is here (Flash starts in Week 6):

http://www.macloo.com/syllabi/advancedonline/calendar.htm

I can get a room of 20 journalists started with Flash in 4 hours, although a full-day workshop is much more useful.

The changes in Flash with CS4 and ActionScript 3.0 make it more difficult to teach, in my opinion. But I’m working on that.

By: Dan Mason

Dan Mason — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:51:39 +0000

A great list, Mindy. It also speaks volumes about the creative talent out there. Here’s to the reporters and designers who weaved this magic.

I have a question, but first a couple of links:

National Geographic’s ‘Inside 9/11′ is brilliant (although the outstanding, haunting intro isn’t loading on my machine today, I notice): http://bit.ly/92o4Hm

I also greatly admire Graeme Smith’s ‘Talking to the Taliban’ for the Globe & Mail. No so much for its design polish, but for its sheer power as a piece of digital storytelling: http://bit.ly/cRWavs

My question is: How important is it for journalism students (or upskilling journalists) to learn Flash, and what can be expected in a given teaching timeframe?

I’m in two minds. Flash (CS4) is an essential online tool, of course. But it’s definitely not an easy application to learn or dip into.

So while I will give an introduction to Flash during a 1/4-week training programme, usually what I do is show journalists how to ‘think Flash’ and hopefully whet the appetite of a few journalists (often production-based) who might want to put in some dedicated learning. (I mainly teach established journalists in Africa, the Middle East and eastern Europe)

With so many highly-productive multimedia tools to juggle (and without the aid of an Audacity- or iMovie-style app for Flash), I fear Flash is just too difficult to maintain as a core skill for most working journalists.

So should we teach Flash to all? Or focus on other tools and leave Flash to a dedicated few?

Interested to hear the views of other educators and trainers …