“Interactivity can be as simple as providing a discussion question at the end of the story or as complex as creating searchable databases for school test scores or crime statistics.” (255)
While this textbook excerpt is true, there are also many downfalls to having an interactive news page/blog. Things can go wrong and decrease your credibility. Many users think the interactivity is a great thing because it allows the readers to become involved with the news that they are wanting. But at the same time, these users are the first to complain that something isn’t working correctly. And if one link isn’t working, someone has to use time to fix it; this time could be used in a different area to improve the site instead of repairing.
As En 212 quickly found out, interactive work is difficult. Though it was not interactive with the readers, we were working on the same documents at the same time. This quickly leads to frustrations and headaches. In the end our work came out pretty good. All of the pictures were added by photographers, the writers managed to get everything they wanted into the piece, and the videographers finally got their slideshows to work. So even though there is not a link for a discussion board, or a “searchable database”, there was a lot of interactive work involved.
This type of work is difficult and can lead to much more stress in the journalism field. However in the end, I think that having interactivity is worth it because you build bonds with your readers, or in En 212 case your classmates, and this makes a difference in the long run.
The finished product is available right here !
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