Alternative story forms

Presentation for Florida Atlantic University Multimedia Journalism Class

Writing for the webWe have discussed:

Shorter (paragraphs & overall) Bullets Informative subheads Breaking stories down into chunks of

information, like sidebars.

Alternative Story Forms Convey news without using the

standard inverted pyramid format. Can be used as sidebars or as the

main presentation Let’s name some….

Examples: a timeline a checklist a fact box graphic Q&A By the numbers Dos and don’ts Glossary

Guide (Facebook 101) How to List Pro/con Biographical profile -

facts under subheads Quiz Quote box Map mashup Database

Review examples Go to fauclass.blogspot.com and

let’s review the links I have to alternative story forms.

Poynter study of ASFs Alt story forms help readers grasp

information presented to them. They draw the reader’s eye better

than regular text They work best with fact-laden

stories, providing a way to handle numbers, time, location, etc.

Databases Presenting facts in a new way Structured information Searchable Allows user to make information

personally relevant

Mashups A digital mashup is a digital media

file containing text, graphics, audio, video and animation drawn from pre-existing sources, to create a new derivative work.

Common mashups: Using Google maps to present a database

( Example: housingmaps.com)