As I skimming through “Bulger on Trial” by David Boeri, what really caught my attention right the way were the animated GIF images taken from surveillance footage of Bulger. It’s just plain great to see professional uses of animated GIFs once in a while. Instead of cliché of showing goofy clips of random celebrities or cats, these GIFs were actually used as a powerful way to enrich the story. They weren’t as qualified as a video clip, but they did help in putting on view a little of Bulger in his nature. On my article, I will definitely try to display some GIFs if I could manage to get some.

The pictures weren’t at their finest pixel; however, I found them very effective in showing the intensity of the subject individual, particularly the mugshot-like picture of young Bulger. It’s a great way to get reader’s attention to continue to the end of the piece because in this technology era that we’re living in, it’s clear that you mostly have about 15s to impress anyone. And I’d like to think that Bulger’s quote placed right after the mugshot also help also with that first impression,

“Every Sunday I have gone to Chapel and have done my best to make a good record for myself,” he wrote. “I am no angel but as you know I’ve got a twenty year sentence and I know if I don’t help myself … I will have no future. I can only help myself by an education and forming good habits and a sensible outlook on life.”

He didn’t.

Audio was also a highlight of the article. It compliments the whole piece by adding to it a moment of reflection, underlining the individual experience.

Though the design for this multimedia piece seemed simple, I think it did its job of helping to bring the readers’ imagination closer to the reality of the actual event. I’m also fascinated by the fact that the piece wasn’t too long, but long enough to display what the author was trying to tell.

In “Soon There Will Be No Survivors” there is a good blend of texts, audio, and pictures. There was audio and a picture for each person being discussed which I found to be helpful. I also found it helpful how when you slid your mouse to the top of the screen it gave a line directing throughout the entire site. I was like a video scroll guide but for the website. By having a separate section for each person it is an easy way to focus on one person at a time. I found this to be a helpful technique for this site.  I think it made it more person to add a big picture of each person and allowing zoom in and out. The audio was a nice break in the reading and well placed. When reading a long article it is a good strategy to include things to break it up and make it seem less intimidating. People may turn away from an article that looks like a ton of straight reading. I also enjoy how there is a quote for each picture and audio. I did notice though that some of the color choices made it difficult to read.

I learned for my profile piece that I would make a few dancing videos and have them clickable to play and spread out throughout the article such as the audio in the holocaust article. In the Bulgar article there was surveillance that just played nonstop and I found that it was distracting while I was trying to read. I also take from this the idea of breaking up the story into sections to make it flow better and easier to read. I like the idea of an interactive website as I don’t see many of them.

In my reading of “Soon There Will Be No Survivors”, my experience was only enhanced by the introduction of multimedia. From when I first opened the page I had audio clips playing. This threw me for a loop for I didnt expect it and was caught off guard, but I like how that introduced you to the piece’s tone. The construction was pretty simple, an introductory section, then nine short profiles all accompanied by an audio clip.  Hyperlinks were spread across the page. He used them to cite his sources and to bring the reader to helpful secondary articles and audio clips. I enjoyed the subject matter, it felt kind of fresh (as fresh as you can get with the holocaust) and showed the life after the public eye and attention has all but vanished. Overall, the piece flowed very well, excluding the one slide of pictures featuring Simon Goldsmith, where the picture changed so often I could not read the large block of text until the fourth or fifth time it came around. A little annoying. Otherwise, very good photography. If there is anything I would take away from this piece id the integration audio and visual. The idea was to make it seamless and to more of an “experience” than a story. I would like to use audio in a very similar fashion.

Bulger on Trial is very striking initially with its photo of a young Bulger. An extreme closeup, most likely a mugshot, and very effective as Bulger seems to staring directly in to viewer/reader’s eyes. This helps show the intensity of the individual and also of the stories to come. When you hover over The Stories it pulls down divisions that each have their owns headers and a summary of the stories they link to (seemingly). What is great here is that they are positioned where they cover Bulger’s eyes. This takes us away from his stare, and forces us to consider the coming tales of his deeds. Clicking on either The Gangster, or The FBI agent, or The Politician only leads us to a photo of each of these co-conspirators. This was slightly disappointing but they are decent photos however except for the last one. Courtroom drama is great but I can’t tell who my focus is to be on in that photo. Out of the two story-telling sections The Victims is a bit more intense not because of textual content, but because of its design. The design is seemingly simple, but effective. After a background photo of law enforcement possibly exhuming a body or bodies, and a short opener we get to the first victim of 19 who will be profiled. Having each name written in white with a large black border spanning the length of the page forces you to assume some importance of what is to follow. Also, the placement of each victim’s name aligned left tells us that none of these stories is the main story. The Victims header that was centered at the beginning of the piece makes each “victim header” into sub-headers all of equal weight to one another. The use of dropcap was good aesthetically to begin with, until you realize that not every section uses it which is distracting since we are supposed to be seeing every victim in the same light. There should be some consistency in the use of dropcap since there is mostly consistency everywhere else including audio for each section. The lack of consistency in use of photos is not really a big issue.

Of the two pieces I can take away the use of photos (extreme closeups). and of audio clips. The idea of having a short audio play when you first reach the site is good, but only if the content of the clip is good and not too long. Short attention spans need short attention, and could be turned off by long audio while they read, but the Survivor piece is effective in its choice. I would also use the alignment in The Victims that gave a feeling of sub-headers to the story. This gave a feeling of components to the story instead of pushing one character in front of others.

The multimedia profile, “Bulger on Trial”, was not as effective as I thought it could be. For the most part I read this article first because I was familiar with “Whitey “Bulger and his affiliation to the mob. The article contains two pictures of “Whitey” from afar and one audio recording with his former hit man. I felt that these did not add to the piece. I think that it should have just been an article and not referred to as a multimedia profile.

Later I decided to read, “Soon there will be no survivors” by Jason Florio. The article was full of different accounts of the holocaust from numerous survivors. Though the article was moving I did feel as there was too much going on that it was hard to focus on one person’s story.

“Burger on Trial” did not really enhance my reading experience. The pictures were not amazing in quality or quantity. I really do feel that I would have gotten the same affect from the story if I the extra audio clip and hand full of pictures were not added. The design for this multimedia piece seemed simple. The author did not seem as though he wanted to make it complex for the reader. In the end this caused the article to come off as boring or as though the author was in a rush to finish.

When I write my multimedia profile I would like for there to be a good middle ground between these two articles. I would like my story to seem focused and detailed without coming off as boring. If there aren’t many other components to the piece then it should just be an article and not a multimedia profile. When profiling my subject I would focus on something not too broad, like Holocaust Survivors. The “soon there will be no survivors” piece would have been more affective if the author focused on Holocaust survivor and not just a group of them

The story done on the dwindling survivors of the Holocaust was powerful in that it brought you up close and personal with the survivors that they interviewed. Instead of treating the Holocaust as an event where faceless Nazi’s did their worst to faceless Jews, the individual close-up photographs, coupled with interview audio and a short blurb, gives you a sense of who the survivors are. While there was a lot going on in that audio, visual, and written word were used, it never felt overwhelming, as each piece served to compliment the others. The design of the interface was uncluttered, and the minimalist layout made the stories easy to navigate.  The introduction was also well done, giving a brief view as to why this project is important, what it does that most other holocaust stories do not. Also, the small attention to detail in the overall design of the piece was impressive. For example, the title used a fading text on the word “survivors” to reinforce the idea that they are dwindling.

I think that the extreme close-ups used in the piece are effective and help to bring the reader into the story. They add a human element that I feel like most written pieces miss out on providing. If there was one thing that I would take from this piece it would be to make sure that my  subject’s personality comes across loud and clear.

In “Soon There Will Be No Survivors” there are many different forms of media to enhance the emotional level that the reader feels while reading through the article. First, it has the writing piece which gives the reader information on what the essay is about and the important details. Although all of this is important, it is not what made this piece as emotional as it is. For me, it was the interviews of all the different holocaust survivors. I liked how there was one big collage with all of their pictures together, and then one by one they were separated and their own stories were told. It was very useful to have a brief bio about the person on the side. The setup was very useful to help the reader follow the information given. The pictures of each person next to their bio along with the audio recording of their stories helped create a picture of who that person truly was and what their struggles were. All of these things flowed very well throughout the text and were not at all a distraction or out of place. By including all of these different aspects into the story, it felt as if it was tying the entire story together.

Looking forward to my own multimedia project, I can take a similar approach to what these stories did. I can get interviews and audio recordings so I can place them within the text, and I can also include pictures so the reader can see exactly what the story is talking about. These stories helped me get a better understanding of what I need to do for my own project and how to make it as successful as it can be.

Both pieces were captivating because of their interactive nature. The stories feel more of an activity than a burden or a chore. By adding tangible attachments (pictures, audio) it helps solidify the readers perspective of the piece.  I focused on Soon There Will Be No Survivors, a piece about Holocaust victims and their declining populations and living conditions. The Audio in the foreground of the piece right as it is opened pulls the attention of the reader right in before they even begin scrolling for words. This piece would not be nearly as gripping if it were not for the pictures and audio that’s included. The description of these unique individuals alone would not suffice. They deserved to be seen and especially heard. Though it somewhat interrupted the flow of the piece to stop and listen to each individual account,  the listener receives an experience from a first hand account of horror and adventure. I do think more pictures of the interviewee in their daily life would have been a good addition to the piece.

Putting pictures into my piece would make it far more interesting. Bits from my interview would allow the listener to become more familiarized with my subject, being able to put a voice ad personality to her anecdotes. I should also add a small clip of the pilot that she starred in just a few months ago, giving the reader a solid visual, further connecting all aspects of my subject. Why were books when you were young easy to read? Because of the pictures. They do a large majority of telling in a story. They are a refreshing rest stop for the eye that is required to enjoy, relax, and explore instead of wearing out the pupils with run on descriptive sentences.

In Soon There Will Be No Survivors, the use of portraits, audio and external links to other stories, articles and even maps added a depth and richness to the survivors stories that would not have been there if it were text alone.  Yes, the written stories brought to light some of the horrors of being a holocaust survivor but not in the same way as having the survivors actual voices tell the reader about their memories.  To hear one victim speak about being the only survivor out of eight brothers and sisters in her own words and foreign accent added to the reality of her horrific pasts.

Having portraits of the survivors paired with actual audio from interviews with the survivors was the most enriching element of this profile article.  Any time we can add a face to the name or story helps to personalize the experience for me.  To have a face and actual audio to go with each profile really brought these peoples stories to life.  For history to say these things happened is one thing; to have personal accounts from memory from actual survivors is a totally different experience.

Along with portraits and audio, the author uses a lot of hyperlinks within the text to connect the story with actual data, other articles and even maps to show where the survivors are currently living.  I thought the use of maps was a very interesting inclusion to the story.  Although I do not know much of the geography of New York City, the maps, like the audio, helped me to realize that these are actual people with actual day to day struggles, not just survivors of one of the most horrific crimes against humanity.

Although I liked the inclusion of hyperlinks within the text of the profile, I think there were just a bit too many of them.  Every time I clicked on one, I would have to go back a few lines in the story to remind myself where I was in my reading.  It seemed like an information overload in some cases that took away from the point of the story.

As to the layout of the profile, I enjoyed its simplicity and almost starkness.  This let me focus on the story being told and to look at the portraits without being overwhelmed by flashy colors or violent and sad pictures of the death camps.  We have all seen these pictures and know what they look like.  The simplistic layout allowed me to focus on the profiles and listen to the survivors voices.

The only thing that stuck out to me that could have been done differently is the text that is on the actual portraits in the lower right hand corner.  The color used for this text is a bit light and fades too easily into the background in some of the portraits making them very hard to read.

As far as what I would like to use in my profile that I have learned from reading these profiles, the use of audio can be very powerful.  I am interviewing my landlord who is a Cuban immigrant.  He came to America aboard a very small boat with a handful of other young men.  I plan on recording some of the interview, especially when we talk about the actual journey from Cuba to Miami.  I think it will be very powerful to hear Andres’ story of survival on the open ocean in his own words…he speaks in broken English with a thick Cuban accent, not unlike some of the holocaust survivors.

All semester we have discussed in depth how to make a story interesting.  Why tell the story? Who cares? What’s the hook? What it comes down to is will the audience be involved or bored?  This is particularly relevant to the art of the profile.  The subject HAS to be intriguing or there will be no audience.  Both Goetz and Casey are interesting and complex characters that appeal to audiences…although maybe for different reasons…however in both cases these interesting traits are brought to light by the abilities of the person doing the profile.  Neither Molly Socha nor Nika Knight rely entirely on their subjects to draw in an audience, but rather use the characters as a jumping off point to create entertaining pieces.