By: Pauline Millard Engaging readers online is a new challenge for journalists -- and words may not be the best way to do it. Even as multimedia elements become easier to add to stories, it seems plausible that in some cases, words may not be needed at all to tell complex stories.
One seminar that got a lot of buzz at the Online News Associaton conference was a Thursday morning session about using games as a tool to tell a story.
"Using Serious Games to Engage Readers" used
The Redistricting Game, created by the University of Southen California's Game Innovation Lab, as an example of how a game can explain a complicated issue. The game was designed to educate and expose users to the complicated but important issues at hand when politicians tinker with the voting disctricts.
MSNBC?s baggage screening game and the New York Times? Facebook News Quiz application were also cited as good examples of engaging readers through games.
J. Page West of MSNBC.com, one of the panelists, said that creating games can be labor intensive, but metrics show that users, if they like the game, will come back to improve their scores. The games can also be linked to related stories, thus increasing their shelf life.
Games function differently than articles, so journalists might have to adjust their approach when creating one.
"People don't read when using games, so you have to find new ways to convey the information," said Duane Dunfield of Red Hot Learning.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here