15: Multimedia and Social Role

Several of this week's readings dealt with multimedia storytelling.  Two things struck me about the readings:

1. No mention was made of the purpose behind the multimedia; is multimedia simply a new way of presenting the same information, or is it a new medium that can be utilized for its specific strengths?
2. No good reason was given for how a specific story is selected for multimedia.  Is the idea that any story is better in multimedia format, or can we look for particular types of stories that lend themselves well to this medium?

My first point ties into the fact that different media formats are good for different stories; some are best told through video, others photography, others writing.  I'm not convinced that every story would be better with infographics, video, audio, pictures, and writing all together--sometimes simpler stories are better.  I'd personally prefer to read a 10-sentence brief about some topics than sift through a multimedia cornucopia.  I think the journalists interviewed in these articles would agree with me; this point may have simply been implied.

My second point, however, is something any multimedia journalist should (and probably does) adhere to.  Some conversation needs to take place before a story is taken.  Which medium (or media) will work best for it?  If you're specifically looking for multimedia story ideas, perhaps you should critically think about the types of stories that would best be told through multimedia.

Multimedia has a lot of strengths, but it's not a panacea.  It'd be easy to fall into the trap of thinking every story needs audio and video to make it pop.