Journalism 360 No. 11: Storm Surge, Rocket Launch, Amazon Journey

We showcased more than a dozen projects at the Journalism 360 Immersive Storytelling Festival during ONA18. Many thanks to the creators and collaborators who made the festival possible!

ONA18 also featured sessions on storytelling with emerging technology, including 360 video and augmented reality.

The New York Times’ Veda Shastri led a session on how to use 360 video for breaking news. Veda described the types of stories that work well in this format (Tip: consider space, scale, access, intimacy and perspective). She also shared lessons learned from The Daily 360, a project that published videos from 57 countries over 14 months. Listen to an audio recording of the session and collect tips from the social coverage.

Panelists in the session on experiments in augmented reality discussed how to go from novelty to stories that serves the audience.

The conversation covered everything from storyboarding and distribution to ethics and the fun part of it all. Check out audio recording and highlights from the social conversation.

See more resources from ONA18 →

Noteworthy

Storm surge. The Weather Channel’s viral storm surge visualization underscored the dangers of being in Hurricane Florence’s path. Here’s the backstory of how they did it, using a suite of tools for game developers.

Rocket launch. Florida Today shared how they created the augmented reality app 321 Launch. The app provides live coverage of rocket launches and tools to learn about the science behind them. “This is fun, and it’s exciting, and it’s helping people understand space in a way that they never could before,” said executive editor Bob Gabordi.

Danish living. One of Euronews’ latest interactive pieces gives a tour of five unique homes in Copenhagen, from a houseboat to the city’s oldest student collective.

Amazon journey. Awavena offers a journey in the Amazon rainforest through a combination of 360 video, augmented reality and virtual reality. The piece guides the viewer through traditional rituals while sharing the story of Hushashu, the first Yawanawá woman to become a shaman.

Immersive excellence. The 2018 Excellence in Immersive Storytelling Award went to Al Jazeera and Contrast VR for Yemen’s Skies of Terror. The film shows how the ongoing war has changed the lives of three young people in the capital city of Sanaa. See all winners of the 2018 Online Journalism Awards.

Challenge winners. We received more than 400 ideas for this year’s Journalism 360 Challenge. Keep up with the 11 winning projects as they explore new tools to cover complex topics such as surveillance, race and domestic violence.

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