| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Good examples of newspaper's online multimedia presentations
Patrick Smith, Photographer
 |
Chattanooga | TN | USA | Posted: 10:13 AM on 09.27.10 |
->> I know there are a plethora of examples for good uses on multimedia online. MediaStorm and others immediately come to mind.
Because the site will have to be built into our newspaper's content management system, it somewhat limits our abilities, and we probably won't be able to build something like MediaStorm, etc.
I'm hoping to build something similar to what the Detroit Free Press did a few years ago.
http://media.freep.com/respect/index.html
So, if possible I'm looking for any examples of good multimedia presentations that are built into a CMS, or something similar.
Thank you for your time.
-Patrick |
|
Joshua Buck, Photographer
|
Longmont | CO | United States | Posted: 11:19 AM on 09.27.10 |
->> Patrick,
About a year ago we abandoned our paper's CMS and opted for Wordpress instead.
You can see ours at www.timescallmedia.com.
We use Slideshowpro Director and a Graph Paper Press theme. You can find some good inspiration or ideas by visiting http://photocolumn.org/. |
|
Octavian Cantilli, Photographer, Assistant
|
Columbus | OH | United States | Posted: 12:08 PM on 09.27.10 |
->> Joshua,
How much of an increase in traffic and viewing length have you seen ever since the paper switched to its new Wordpress site? I realize there are many factors in determining why a site increases in popularity, but the size and quality that visual content is provided in sure is one of them. Nice site! |
|
Joshua Buck, Photographer
|
Longmont | CO | United States | Posted: 1:04 PM on 09.27.10 |
->> Hi Octavian,
Just to clarify the paper still uses a custom CMS for day to day stories. The multimedia site is managed solely by the photo staff. Our traffic is constantly increasing as our readers are becoming groomed to come back time and again.
The main thing about building a site like this is constant and consistent updating. For example, our photos of the week numbers are steady and rising as readers come to expect that category being updated every Friday. Of course big news draws more page views and longer times spent on the site. It cool to look at our analytics and see the spikes relate to major events, i.e. fires, big sports, etc.
I'm sure there are people in our community that get on first thing after a prep game to see the photos. Our workflow is becoming more efficient as time goes on that we have an album up within a couple hours.
Anyway, I hope that kinda answers your question.
Josh |
|
Octavian Cantilli, Photographer, Assistant
|
Columbus | OH | United States | Posted: 9:49 AM on 09.30.10 |
->> Joshua, Thanks.
I'm also curious how the staff there convinced management to allow for this multimedia blog? I've seen attempts made for similar ideas at other papers I've been at, but they were all shut down. The ideas were to entirely replace the multimedia section of the paper's website with a link that goes to a similar Wordpress site. |
|
Joshua Buck, Photographer
|
Longmont | CO | United States | Posted: 12:57 PM on 09.30.10 |
->> Prior to launching our own site we were using an html upload cms, then Soundslides embedded into an html skin and custom cms to link and finally Slideshowpro Director with a custom HTML skin with some simple action script.
These first models were built by myself and by our web department. But, as layoffs came and they became increasingly busy. The latest version worked and wasn't very pretty. But, as I said it worked, so our complaints never went far.
Instead of complaining to deaf ears, we brainstormed ideas about what we wanted from our own site. We'd always talked about doing this, but it never went anywhere until I made a prototype one evening.
We took this prototype to the managing editor and web dept. with an outline of costs involved. Some of the pieces we already had, so it was a cheap sell. The most important point we made was this would free up the web staff from having to help us out with every simple problem. They'd never hear from us again about presentation. Within a week we had the domain, the wordpress install and all the passwords and admin rights.
The whole process was easier than I thought, actually. It also helped to show them sites from other papers, such as http://www.heraldleaderphoto.com/.
Are you pitching something like this, Octavian? If so good luck and get your web head on straight. |
|
Chris Jordan, Photographer
|
Bay Area | CA | United States | Posted: 4:14 PM on 09.30.10 |
->> Hey Patrick -
I'm a bit confused. Are you looking to build a multimedia gallery that will be easily update-able or a special project like the freep example?
That's straight flash (maybe a hint of java) on the freep example you sent. Background image, standard flash video player and a slideable content box on the side. You could learn to make one of those in a few days if you do some tutorials.
So as long as your content management system can handle an swf then you could build that presentation. If you are looking to host multiple videos from multiple events in an easy to update way though, something like this will be a nightmare. You may want to look into brightcove or another video service if that is the goal.
Cheers,
Chris
http://www.chrisjordanmedia.com |
|
Return to --> Message Board Main Index
|