Journal Three: Objectivity in Media

Sources:
Interactive: Water testing results
(http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/05/20/lead_water_testing_results.html)
(http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/05/20/water_quality_tests_data_shows_elevated_lead_levels_in_toronto_homes.html)

The entry focuses on a piece from the Toronto Star that uses interactive media to discuss the water testing results for lead contamination in Toronto. The article itself discusses the results and the situation in the city fairly and objectively. It avoids, subjective language.

The imagery in the articles is also well done, with the main photo (a family of three holding glasses of potentially contaminated water) shot head on, instead of using angles to change the viewers perspective (ie. a birds eye view to make them appear to be the little guy/victims in this). Lighting is neutral, dramatic lighting could have been used to make the water, here used for illustrative purpose, seem more threatening. The second photo, of a water pipe in a basement, is more ambiguously threatening given the article’s context and the lack of clarification in the caption. A reader can’t tell if this is an example of a problem pipe and if they should worry about their own similar pipes. The third image, an illustration, shows the divide between what parts of infrastructure the city is responsible for vs. the homeowner. The scale of the image is arbitrary and the choice of making the homeowner’s area of responsibility larger than the city’s is potentially misleading; it could be an attempt to convince the reader that the city is shirking responsibility.

The first interactive element is very well done. It visualizes water testing data gathered between 2008 and 2014. It allows the reader to view a geographic representation of where water tests have passed and failed. Items are scaled arbitrarily based on the number of tests performed, but the proportions are not distorted, so it is informative rather than misleading. Colour choice is also subjective, in this case blue for pass and red for fail. These are loaded colours, with red carrying negative connotations, but are also very conventional choices. Given that failures represent a potential health threat, the choice of red, representing negativity and danger, is a reasonable one. While the plotting can be sorted geographically, it can’t be sorted temporally, meaning there is no way to see if failures are recent of older, or how the data set has changed over time. This can give a misleading impression of the current situation.

The second interactive element visualizes the data based on area code, and drops the blue-red scale for a light-blue to saturated blue. This avoids subjective colour connotations. The red dots on the map represent test pickup locations; here red is used to indicate areas of particular interest. By generalizing the results to area code, a false impression could be given that a homeowner should worry about their water quality when in reality the failures come from  one particular address.
Taking the two interactive maps in the context of each other, I think the different methods of visualizing the date that they’ve employed are informative, rather than misleading.

Journal Two: Sound in Media Pieces

Sources:
Bear71:
http://bear71.nfb.ca/#/bear71
The Russia Left Behind: http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/13/russia/
Tomato Can Blues:
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/tomato-can-blues/

I explored Bear71 first, and I think it spoiled me for those that followed. Initially I didn’t enjoy the audio in this piece; I liked that it used audio samples from the forest, but I thought that they were drowned out by the music. However, as the piece progressed that same music really helped to draw me into the piece and connect emotionally with the narrator. I also liked that the background noise changes as you navigate the area, bringing in samples of traffic as you near the road, etc. Additionally, the continuity of the audio helped to maintain interest, especially given that all the video clips in the virtual environment are soundless video surveillance clips.

In contrast, The Russian Left Behind felt bereft of atmosphere. It was going through this piece where I realized how much the audio in Bear71 had driven my progress and fueled my engagement. Although I enjoyed reading it, it was harder to avoid distraction, and the videos where a temptation to skip swathes of text. The boon of the videos, is that they use only captured sound, so they give a good idea of what it would be like to be there.

Tomato Can Blues, with its narration and subtle music, is very easy to listen to, however, the pace of the narration is slow and makes reading along feel plodding. As well, the narration breaks from the text in places, which makes reading along difficult.

Of the three pieces, Bear71 is the most immersive. It encourages exploration by dispersing the visual elements through the map, but the narrative and music continue throughout, so the interaction feels cohesive instead of disjointed. I believe it could have had a better balance of less ambient music and more use of sampled audio, and that this would have given a better impression of a wilderness setting, which is somewhat lost with the abstract imagery. The Russia Left behind could have benefitted from continual audio as well, becoming more immersive. Had the videos contained only the interview dialogue, sampled background sound from those interviews could have been used in each section of the piece; fading in and out as the user scrolls. Tomato Can Blues, with it’s constant narration, doesn’t need the text, this piece could have used more illustrations, or newspaper clips and other visual content to balance out the audio. As well, sampled audio could be keyed to the illustrations to make them come alive, like the buzz of a t.v. or the crash of a hammer. As well, an in-text indicator for the narration would make reading along easier, as I found that it is easy to get caught up in the illustrations and let the narration get out of sync with my reading position.

Journal One: Media Source Comparison (IMD4005)

Sources: thestar.com, gawker.com, vox.com

Media position

The Toronto Star is an example of traditional media; a newspaper whose digital front is influenced by its print origins. Gawker is one representative of new digital media, existing solely on the web and employing a print-it-first strategy. Vox, another digital only news service, aims to be a go-to new platform, without the vestiges of a print-based origin.

Content

The Star reports on issues that are of interest to Torontonians, featuring local, provincial, national, and global news. Organization follows the newspaper’s sections. Ads are prominently displayed throughout.

Gawker reports on breaking news and gossip of general interest. It lists its content based on recency. It’s articles are laden with links to its external sources and past articles; something not evidenced in the Star and employed lightly by Vox.

Vox aims to keep its readers up to date on important international news though is USA-centric. It categorizes its information much like a traditional paper.

All use images, video, and audio clips. Only the Star used interactive content (http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/05/20/lead_water_testing_results.html). Both the Star and Gawker are more text focused. Vox gives equal weight to text, images, video, infographics, etc. Only Gawker used animated GIF images.

Layout

The Star’s main page and articles reflect its print history, having layout similar to a newspaper. Gawker web roots are evident in its main page which is similar to web forums but opts for traditional article layouts. Vox articles layout varies according to content, not adhering to a standard. Vox also employs story streams that link an event’s progression together with articles, tweets, and other news sources all on one stream (http://www.vox.com/2014/5/14/5718980/jill-abramsoms-ouster-from-the-new-york-times). Its card system takes features from various related articles and links them to allow readers more in-depth information on a topic http://www.vox.com/cards/jill-abramson-new-york-times-firing-explained/who-is-jill-abramson.

Branding and style

The Star’s print-like design appears crowded. The sans-serif fonts of it’s banner, section titles, and navigation suggest modernity, where the serif fonts of the article titles and content suggest print’s trustworthiness. Branding in blue suggests moderation and conservatism. The mobile version of the Star’s site, inverts the text and background colours and uses an almost 1:1 ratio of text to image space; it appears more modern.

Gawker’s multicoloured title looks more like an illustration than a title, lending a higher degree of informality, as does the orange colour it uses to highlight links and special interest items. The main page appears cramped. Like the Star, it used serif fonts in the article body, aiming for a sense of integrity.

Vox, uses a bright yellow as its main branding colour; aiming for a strong, modern look. Its logo is bold and calligraphic, suggesting a degree of permanence and tradition despite its youth but avoiding the stuffiness of a gothic font. It does away with serif fonts elsewhere. Its main page and its articles make good use of white space, large print headers, and added line spacing to give a sense of clarity and order.

Life drawing and cartoon character archetypes

These are drawings of classmates and their cartoonish avatars

 

Cubmism and figure drawing

 

Drawing techniques

Two studies, one using the clock face reference method to get proper angles, the other using the classic arm's length pencil reference technique to get proper scale.

Page spread samples from a short story assignment

( NB: Story is Emilio and the City That Slept, by Darien Yawching Rickwood )