Digital Media

While I would normally read a long narrative piece like Jonathan Alter’s My Life With Cancer in Newsweek’s hard-copy form, I was able to read this story, chunked into six sections, online because of the moving writing.

Jonathan Alter, a reporter at Newsweek, shares his own experience with cancer in light of the revelations that Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow both have recurrences of their cancers. He shares his own insight on what the medical community could do to improve treatments and ways the medical community was invaluable to his own treatment. 

I enjoy reading this sort of narrative content and I also enjoy writing it. The reader and the writer can share an experience – whether it is the experience of the writer or of someone else.

Another type of content I am interested in is the audio slideshow. In this Seattle Times audio slideshow the reporter recorded audio clips of people who were waiting to audition for American Idol. The photographer took several pictures of people and the audio was edited in so that their pictures were showing while the audio was playing. Audio slideshows are a great way to combine powerful visual elements with audio that tells a story. Another audio slideshow, After the Tsunami by Betty Udesen, uses photos and text together with the haunting sounds of Indonesia after the deadly tsunami.

I have also been experimenting with podcasting lately. It has gotten me interested in creating my own podcast. I enjoy Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, a short program that covers one rule of grammar each week.