Assignment 1

Part I.
I am biased in assessing the pros and cons of the three types of media used to address the issue of murdered marine Maria Lauterbach, for it is impossible not to prefer the print version of the story. The Washington Post has a thorough feature covering the murder of the pregnant marine, and it can be revisited easily, or printed and saved for future reference, and the many details are ordered in a concise and easy-to-follow fashion. The drawbacks of a text-only article include a lack of visual interest and thus possibly of emotional impact as well, resulting in a story that perhaps does not attract as many readers as a feature that includes photos or artwork.
In this case, the second media platform--that of a slideshow with text commentary--is attached to the text story, so the lack of interest problem is alleviated. The slideshow consists of photographs of investigators recovering evidence of the cremation of the murdered marine's body, pictures of the scene of the crime, as well as more sentimental pictures such as a church bulletin announcing their sympathy with the victim's family and a picture of the victim herself. The purpose of the slideshow seems to be to arouse a more emotional reaction to the story. The text version is capable of presenting more facts, and consequently is more useful as a piece of news, but where the slideshow falls short in detail, it is capable of arousing more interest. Working in conjunction, they are a good pairing. Singly, I prefer the text version. A picture may be able to capture a thousand words, but as a vessel for fact and detail, the text is--in my opinion--still superior.
The last media platform I found in conjunction to this story is that of a podcast, or news recording of the story. This is my least favorite platform. Its chief merit seems to be how easily it can be updated. This is the best source of breaking news--in this case, it was the recording of a sighting of the suspected murderer--but it is also more difficult to go into detail or refer back to. It might be comparable to the photo slideshow in invoking an emotional response, but in general, I think that the visual is more effective in this area as well.


Part II.
Sapphira, Madagascar
The photos were fascinating, and the picture of such a different world from our own was vividly painted. However, I found each of the four links to be tedious. The pace was slow, and it felt like many of the photos were repetitive and could be cut down and, rather than detracting from it, would make the overall piece more powerful. The theme of each link was rather vague too, and I would have liked to have more textual background than what is given. For instance, the Vohitra link was only photos with music, something that it would have been nice to read about beforehand. The stories were interesting and I really liked the background sound-effects, but I still think that it was too slow to hold my interest throughout the four links. The links were too similar, and so it felt almost as if they could be combined in to one without ill effect. The essence of the story itself, however, is fascinating. I loved to see the colorful pictures of such a different country, and the story of the poverty and injustice done the people of Madagascar was a touching and universal theme. However, again, I would prefer it move a little faster if they want to capture my attention the entire time.
Frank Sandoval: A Survival Story
The story was rather exhaustedly covered, but I felt that it was well-organized. The Intro was important, giving a groundwork of details and dates, and I really liked the links to the news articles. The videos felt a bit long, like watching a TV show rather frustratingly split into multiple segments. While my Macbook loaded the segments quickly, I can imagine that this section might be annoying for a slower connection. The main problem I had with it was, as callous as this sounds, so what? It seemed to appeal more to the genre of sensationalism, of reveling in another's misery, than anything else. I had trouble watching the hospital scenes overall, because of my recent experience with my aunt--and after all of the build-up, the fact that it ended with his death was rather anti-climatic. It seemed like the story should continue with news of how his family is handling everything and how they are doing today, as a postscript. However, the organization--as aforesaid--was good, and the links were clear and easy to follow.
The Cardstacker
This was the most fun, as well as the most pointless, piece of the three. It was definitely a human interest story, with no political or religious agenda that I could discern. That said, it also--tragically--will probably be the only of the three I remember beyond the quarter. I liked the format, in that it was possible to read the story and figure out what was going on quickly. The video was fun and entertaining, though I'm still left with some curiosity as to why he gets paid for making card-houses--beyond the fact that he has several Guinness World Records. The link to Part Two didn't work, nor did the link to more photography lead to photography--as I expected--of the card houses, but rather to an exhibition of Texan poverty and other recent articles. This wasn't quite clear on the site. I would have liked a diagram of some of his basic card-stacking formulas or something--like the sketches in the survival piece which detailed the regions of the head injury--to satisfy my curiosity, as well as fill out the piece. But overall, this was a fun and easy-to-read feature with a clear lay-out and various forms of media.