The Institute for Interactive Journalism

MSNBC.com, The Big Picture

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/bigpicture/elex/

WINNER - $10,000

“MSNBC.com’s efforts set the high-water mark for fresh, interactive storytelling in American journalism. They are setting the pace. Now the rest of us have to catch up.”
-Bryan Monroe, chair of the Batten Awards Board of Judges and assistant vice president/news at Knight Ridder.

This series of three guided tours on subjects ranging from Iraq to the Oscars and the 2002 Congressional elections integrated most every type of interactive content available today into a concise and well-presented packages. Video, audio, text, interviews, quizzes, polls, and games were just some of the tools that came together to give users the big-picture overview of the topic. “We tried to do a lot of merging of media, where we combined slide shows and videos and interactive sidbars and votes and feedback all in the same seamless place,” said Ashley Wells, senior interactive producer for MSNBC.com. “It’s kind of the dream, the holy grail of convergence.”

Said the Batten Award judges: “It’s got everything. It pulled together many tools and let users make choices, confront the information and do something with that information.”

The series, which was promoted through the MSNBC-TV network, received more than a million combined visitors over a matter of months despite requiring a broadband Internet connection and video software.

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J-Lab helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life with projects on innovations in journalism, citizen media, interactive stories, entrepreneurship, research, training, and publications.

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