This is the program used to build the NYT’s Snowfall animations. There’s a free student download here, and there are tutorials on Skillshare here. And Graham Roberts talks about graphic design for the New York Times here.
Maya 3D Animation
Category: Web tools
Using Snapchat for news stories
This is a neat little example of Snapchat used as a news medium – it’s simple, and it has an unashamedly clear anti-gun stance, but I think it’s effective. Anyway, would love to know what you make of this (see gallery). It’s by the Now This News channel (nowthisnews).
Snapchat’s Discover channel features its media partners, and some of those aren’t great at snapchatting … yet. The Live section is the one I’m most curious about – Snapchat editors curate snaps from people attending an event into stories – they feature new live stories every day. It has amazing potential as a live reporting tool.
The Washington Post (washingtonpost) is *starting* to understand Snapchat’s tone – they’re using young reporters who create stories for the medium, rather than using some news organisations’ approach of just dumping existing web content there.
I’m guessing once legacy news outfits start using a medium that means it’s kinda over. So Snapchat might be totes passé for youngsters now. But I love its news and reporting potential, even if verification might be a little tricky.
It can be difficult finding news channels to follow – Snapchat’s search function is woeful. But here are some I’ve found that are worth watching (in some cases for what not to do). If you’re new to Snpachat, you add these channels by name. Easy peasy.
huffpost
instyle
mashable
newyorkermag
nowthisnews
nprnews
thisisfusion
washingtonpost
Finally, some nice clear instructions for anyone who’s not a practiced Snapchatter: https://medium.com/thoughts-on-journalism/how-to-stop-being-so-damn-uncomfortable-with-snapchat-a43311d6ddcf#.hd8h5l1gg
Odyssey JS
A browser-based application for using maps to tell the story of a journey. It’s a bit beta at the moment, but is really easy to use and will suit the non-coders among us.
CC-licenced sounds
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A list of links for creative commons-licenced sound effects. Feel free to email more when you find them and I’ll post them here.
Excel tutorials
Excel tutorials ranked from easy to more advanced, with added video goodness.
Google charts
Silk
Silk is a really simple tool for creating visual stories. Text, images, video and audio can be included, and templates are provided for building interactive graphs and other data visualisations. Quick and easy. It’s used by The Guardian and New York magazine.
Humorous and clever use of Silk: Women in Film: A Data Analysis of 1500 Movies on Bechdel Test Criteria
Juxtapose JS
Another simple but beautiful tool from Knightlab at Northwestern University, Juxtapose JS allows you to create image comparisons, such as the scene of a news event before and after it occurs. Building a Juxtapose slider requires only before and after images (.jpgs or .gifs). A template for designing your slider is provided, and once your info is entered the program generates an embed code. Voila!
A similar tool was designed and coded by the ABC and used in an effective photo story about the disastrous impact of the tsunami on Fukushima in 2011.
Piktochart
Piktochart describes itself as an ‘easy-to-use infographic creator’. There are paid plans, but also a more limited free account.
A gallery of Piktochart examples is here.
Tableau Public
Free software that turns data into visual stories.
More examples of interactives built using Tableau:
Dan Nguyen’s gallery
Tableau gallery
TAFE NSW Journalism 