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Welcome to Interactive Narratives 2.0

By Andrew DeVigal | Published: Jul 07, 2008 at 12:39pm PST

I launched Interactive Narratives back in July 2003. It began as personal bookmarking system where I kept track of multimedia packages as I lectured and conducted workshops at The Poynter Institute and around the country. I quickly discovered that such a database had widespread usefulness and appeal. Common feedback from folks throughout the industry was that they felt isolated during their multimedia reporting and editing process.

It had a great four-year run. Hundreds of entries in the searchable database. Reviews, resources, podcasts and conversations on the weblog. It was a resource perfectly sandwiched between Weiss' Multimedia Journalism and Koci's Multimedia Shooter. And I hope it contributed a bit to the idea of exposing our storytelling to a wider audience.

Times have changed, so to speak. A full-time gig kept me from giving the TLC that a site like IN required. In addition, today's web 2.0 universe empowers the users to help create social networks and connect with each other. There are certainly more journalists and storytellers out there with the passion to tell their narratives in multimedia. But there's also a lot of data smog that clog up the ability to see what's great and how we can learn from each other. Time is too short to sift through the YouTubes of the world.

Welcome to Interactive Narratives 2.0, a site designed to capture the best of online visual storytelling around the country and the world. Unlike the original IN, submission to the database is open to the membership of Interactive Narratives. And members can also rate and make comments on individual entries. A sort functionality allow users to list those interactives focused on their preference or craft. Our goal is to highlight rich-media content, engaging storytelling, and eye-popping design in an environment that fosters interaction, discussion, and learning.

Interactive Narratives has the best database for this type of material out there. With IN 2.0, we've retained the ability to search past multimedia stories from the original database. Now, it will only get better with the community contributing to this knowledge base. IN2.0 will truly be a gathering place for multimedia storytellers. It's not just a place for professionals but also freelancers, students and citizen journalist. The site will go beyond the critiques. The site will go beyond collecting the blog postings into one space. Interactive Narratives will gather those storytellers that care about the high-standards of their narratives.

In addition, another distinctive approach to Interactive Narratives is the brevity of the general message. There are times when brevity is key and when the message is told in short form. Multimedia storytellers and journalists are busy. Many need to re-learn a craft, explore new opportunities to tell a story and be inspired from discussion. But it's also very important to focus on the story gathering process. Hence, most folks I know appreciate the brevity of a message. Messages in the critique portion of the site will be kept to 300 words or less.

The site is sponsored by the Online News Association, which works to foster innovation among online journalists and help those journalists, freelancers, academics, and students learn from the best practitioners in the field and from each other. Interactive Narratives is appreciative of their support and partnership.

Finally, to give credit to where credit is absolutely due. The launch of IN2.0 would not have been possible without the team of folks behind the scenes. Hat tip to you gents... thank you.

• Ervic Aquino of Stormline Media - back-end development -


• Angelo DeVigal of DeVigal Design - branding and site design -


• Jason Speck - markup and front-end interaction development -

BASELINE INFORMATION

• Expectations - To continue the high-quality of entries and engagement on this site, I've outlined a few rules and regulations on our terms of use page.


• Bugs - If you discover (or uncover) any strange or unexpected functionality to the site, please drop a response here.


• Wishlist - Got ideas? So did we. Share them here.


• Beyond the Network - More to keep you inspired and connected: NetVibes Universe, Facebook Fan Page, and more to come...

And that's it. If you do have a general comment about the site and would rather drop a note, you can do so on the Contact page. Thanks and enjoy the new Interactive Narratives.

- Andrew DeVigal

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