Journalism 360 No. 5: Design Principles, Animated Newspaper, “The Wall” On Tour

By on June 29, 2018

Noteworthy

VRtual food for thought. Rose Eveleth, host and producer of Flash Forward and a 2016 MJ Bear Fellow, wrote a short story about virtual reality that speculates about a future in which VR experiences are ubiquitous — and how we might or might not ever be prepared for it.

Newspaper fun in AR. A prototype of animated weather maps and World Cup highlights shows how print newspapers might integrate AR — and is reminding everyone of the wizarding newspaper The Daily Prophet.

NPR’s playbook. “It’s possible to apply a repeatable formula to make format-breaking stories.” NPR published an in-depth guide with more than 30 templates to help newsrooms design innovative digital journalism across established and emerging platforms.

Design principles. Want to get started in VR design? Bookmark this resource that offers tips and thought-starters on user experience, 3D interaction, reducing cognitive load and more.

Back to the source. We often talk about VR’s potential to create empathy for unfamiliar situations and topics, but what happens when you take projects back to the communities where they were produced? “Our Home, Our People” explores climate change and resilience in Fiji, and was produced for the 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which Fiji presided over. The team also had the unique experience of traveling back to the Fijian communities to share the resulting stories. Team lead Tom Perry shared what he learned from circling back.

Community updates

  • Several Journalism 360 ambassadors contributed to the latest issue of the European Journalism Centre’s “Conversations with data” newsletter. They answered questions on getting started in immersive storytelling, immersive data visualization and the tools they’d recommend for 360 projects.
  • A feature-length documentary from the “The Wall” — one of the winners of the 2017 Journalism 360 Challenge — is going on a national tour. The project is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, special report that explores the consequences of the proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall and features a virtual reality experience in addition to an interactive map, podcasts and short videos. Screenings of the documentary include a stop in Austin during ONA18.
  • Get your tickets to the Journalism 360 Demos + Drinks event on July 24, happening ahead of the inaugural Journalism 360 Unconference in New York City. The evening will be an opportunity to experience demos from the 2017 challenge winners and to connect with other immersive storytelling enthusiasts. Tickets to the unconference on July 25 are sold out, but you can still join the waitlist.

Alina Mikhaleva and Tom Perry contributed to this email. We always welcome feedback, links and other inputs to future issues. Send your tips to newsletter@journalists.org.

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