MAJOR RESEARCH/CREATIVE ACTIVITY SAMPLE #5
"Raucous Rascals make themselves at home on Monterey Bay," multimedia web photo story (falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~mcuenca/SL/SeaLions.html), October 1996.
This web site is the result of the research and development work I did early on into the use of the multimedia capabilities of the web by journalism content developers. To this day, the use of the multimedia capabilities of the web by online media outlets remains relatively limited and primitive. Also, I wanted to show that image-based presentations could be developed that would not pose significant download time problems.
In order to produce this site, I first had to identify a story that would lend itself to a multimedia presentation. Then I had to imagine the types of multimedia that I could use, considering the bandwidth limitations and file size constraints. I had to work within the technological restraints of the time, while attempting to develop a site that would demonstrate future potential. Also, I did not want to include multimedia bells and whistles gratuitously; I wanted the multimedia to be integral to the telling of the story. I decided on the sea lions story because it was not only an interesting natural phenomenon, but because it also presented a usable audio component„the sea lions' barking.
I first developed the presentation format. Once again, I wanted to break from tradition in the presentation. I used larger-than-usual type, which I believe helps make the on-screen text more readable. I also broke up the story into screen-sized segments, so that each block of images and the associated cutline could be read without scrolling.
In order to demonstrate the motion aspect of possible multimedia presentations, I sought a way to incorporate motion into the story. First, I experimented with short video clips, seeking a way to use them effectively. After failing to produce something I believed was effective and that did not increase the file size too much, I went another direction. I developed the map of the route followed by the sea lions and animated the route itself. This map is an animated GIF file that does not appreciably increase the file size.
Once I had finished the visual presentation, I turned to the audio. I digitized a segment of the video recording of the scene and transferred the audio to an audio editing software application. I identified a short segment that was appropriate and cut it out. The resulting background audio that you hear is this short, five-second clip, looped by the browser to play over and over. This is necessary to allow for a file size that would not be too large. The challenge was to find a segment that would not be obvious when played in this fashion. If you listen closely, you can hear the repetition.
The result is one of the earliest uses of the multimedia capabilities of the Web for journalism content. Even now, nearly four years later, online journalism remains largely static. As bandwidths have increased, more sites have incorporated video and audio clips. But this site remains one of the few examples of original journalism content developed specifically for the Web.