Masterclass 52: Latest storytelling platforms

52A

One of the great challenges journalism faces is to find new ways of storytelling

Why do we need to do that?

Because the new media demand new ways of storytelling that are appropriate for them.
So how should we tell stories in the mutlimeda environments of websites or mobile devices, for example?
That's something we are still working on discovering.
Nobody has the definitive answer.
But we do know what tools we now have to work with. We know, for example, that a mobile's inbuilt GPS and camera create storytelling and reporting opportunities that we've never had before.
So in this masterclass we are looking at two brand new storytelling platforms that enable multimedia story finding and telling on websites, blogs and mobile devices.
We look at Grafetee, which is a location-based app that draws information from all sorts of other apps onto one platform, and which I think may have the potential to let you create a local or hyperlocal news resource that can be consumed on mobiles.

We also explore MyHistro, which lets you build multimedia timelines around a theme or story, apply them to a Google map, and embed them anywhere you like.

I'm not going to pretend that I've fully roadtested these two platforms, but from what I've seen I think they deserve serious consideration by anyone who wants to develop their new media storytelling. So this is very much a first look.

We also consider Conweets, which is more accurately described as a story-gathering device rather than a platform on which to tell those stories.

Conweets lets you track conversations between two Twitter users, or identify and follow any of the conversations a given user is having.

With so much news being made on Twitter, Conweets is a great device for easily following the conversations in which stories can be found.

Next: Grafetee: Create a local news site for mobiles

 

Investigative Journalism