Both stories, ‘Nuclear Nightmares’ and ‘Suspect America’ are great investigative reports into historical and topical events. But it is ‘Nuclear Nightmares’, that encourages interactivity and is most possibly the best example of convergent Journalism
‘Nuclear Nightmares’, is more or less a photo essay of the Chernobyl disaster. It employs interactivity by using a DIY slideshow and captioning for the photographs runs across the photo if and when you drag the cursor across the photo, which allows you to read behind the story of the photograph if you are interested in it. It both enhances and detracts from the story as, compared to broadcasting a story as you have to be interested in order to find more information on the story, unless it interest you may not want to interact with some of the photos, as they can be very confronting. The project also uses hyperlinks on the information slides to viewer responses and the publisher’s page, Pixel Press. Text and photography are the main pieces of media used, as they present a morbid, yet enlightening aspect to the story. The black and white photography creates the morbid feeling and they photos are captured in such a way that if it were to be filmed it would not capture the same emotion. There does not seem to be any distinct presence on social media, but it does link to UN websites and other humanitarian websites. You could quite easily view this from any smart phone as the way the slides are placed on the website is great for interaction.
On the other hand the ‘Suspect America’ is not a great example of convergent journalism, it is creative in so many ways, but not convergent. It is just a cartoon video on how post 9/11 America has encroached on a citizen’s civil rights. As a video it is entertaining and even though it is not interactive it in no way detracts from the story, it is a fantastic example of creative, investigative reporting. Because it is on a sight like, Vimeo, it allows the ability for people to share and embed the video on their own social media websites and blogs. The graphics, text and voice over used in the video work together well, the narration is timed with the graphic cartoons as well as text to convey a different approach as to how the common run-in with law enforcement about terrorism can be an interchangeable situation for many Americans. Vimeo, like YouTube, has the ability to reach many people across social media. I’ve watched ‘Suspect America’ on my own iPhone and found it is just as entertaining watching it on a mobile device as it was on a PC or laptop.
They are both enlightening reports into historical and current events, but it is ‘Nuclear Nightmares’, that is true convergent journalism and encourages all aspects of creativity and interactivity.
Bradyjr 