Multimedia Assignment

The first article I chose is here, the second article is here, and the third article is here.

The first article is from the New York Times, and describes different restaurant locations in Yountville for people to dine. The multimedia use in this article is simple, yet effective. For every restaurant that is listed as a potential dining stop, there is a picture of a food item that can be found at this restaurant. As a server, I've often noticed that diners would order a particular item because the menu contained a picture of it. Diners like to see what they will be ordering, they like to know what it looks like first. Pictures can show portion size, sauces, garnishes, and other details that may not be adequately mentioned in a menu description. You eat with your eyes first! Since I am doing a profile story about Jeni Britton Bauer, and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, it's essential that my story contain photos of different ice creams sold at various Jeni's locations. The goal is to entice the reader, show them something that looks delicious and hope that they can't wait to try that flavor themselves.

The second article is from USA Today, and focuses on AOL's 25 year anniversary. The multimedia function can be found at the top of the page. It's a time-line, but not just any time-line. This time-line was constructed using pictures of previous events and imperative information as it pertains to AOL's past. For every year listed there is a photo, and clicking on the photo will allow you to access information about the history of the product. In my opinion, this is a brilliant use of multimedia. I loved clicking on old pictures and reminiscing about the AOL of the 90's, with the screeching dial-up tones and "you've got mail" voice alerts. If I had an opportunity to create a time-line using pictures to illustrate important events in Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's past, I would. Unfortunately, these pictures aren't easy to find, short of asking Jeni herself. What I could do is visit all five Jeni's locations, take some pictures, and show how her ice cream stores have evolved from shop #1 to shop #5. Or I could ask her if she has any pictures from past store openings that I could use. Either way, it would be a bit more difficult.

Finally, the third article was found on espn.com and was located in the Page 2 section. Page 2 is mostly comedic sports writing, but the article I found, despite serving relatively little to no real purpose other than to make readers laugh, has a brilliant form of multimedia use. The article is attempting to get inside the head of LeBron James, with the hope of determining where he might wind up this summer. The article contains a picture of LeBron's head, with different portions of his brain selectable. When you click on a different portion of his brain, you'll find silly LeBron facts, as well as predictions for where he might be playing next season. The article is a bit ridiculous, but the multimedia function is great. Giving the reader a chance to participate by clicking on a different part of LeBron's head was fun, I found myself reading all of the arguments even though they weren't very newsworthy. I don't think there's a way to incorporate this type of multimedia into my story, but I could figure out a way to do something similar. Perhaps I could post a picture of an ice cream, then when you click on different components in the ice cream, (nuts, cherries, goat cheese, lavender) I could provide detailed information explaining what that ingredient is and where it came from.