Ou est le Swimming Pool proceeding with album release

http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/47796/Details_emerge_on_the_death_of_Ou_Est_Le_Swimming_Pool_singer 


http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/47821/Ou_Est_Le_Swimming_Pool_proceeding_with_album_release

These two stories are follow up stories, to the news that broke last week, of the death of Ou est le swimming pool lead singer Charles Haddon.

The first story works very strong, in providing further details to the initial story. With a hyperlink to the first story, in the opening paragraph, it connects the two stories, creating a fuller image of the details.

Again, as this is the continuation of a topical issue, there has been significant comment interaction form users, who have helped to further develop the story, through their own opinions.

The second story this week, which still develops the initial story, is very relevant to the users of the site. As the band was due to release and album, and tour Australia, the journalist has fully understood the news demands of the sites users, and uses both the online medium and site well for this story.

While the positioning of the story is strong and with the initial story still trending in the top ten read stories by the site users, it appears necessary that this story include a hyperlink back to the original breaking story, which it successfully does.

Working as part of a connection of stories about the issue, this story takes full advantage of the context of this news in an online medium, by including multimedia discussed in the story.

With the multimedia relevant to the news discussed, it works well as a interactive and practical illustration. Also, being a film clip on a dance music news website, this also compliments the stories online environment, and is appealing to readers of the story.

This is a very successful story in sharing news, both through the use of hyperlinks and multimedia, which helps enrich the users understanding of the story.

The positioning of the story on this site has also been crucial, confirming the journalists understanding of the sites users and how they interact with news.

This is an example of how a story can be constructed for an online environment. This story maximises the full use of tools available in an online environment to communicate with users across a number of mediums. Whilst telling the same story, these messages all work together to create a richer experience for the users, who has a better understanding of the story.

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool frontman has committed suicide

 http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/47756/Ou_Est_Le_Swimming_Pool_frontman_has_committed_suicide

This is a hard news story, constructed with a strong headline, which is the lead for the story.

This story was broken within hours of the death (suicide) of the lead singer of an English synth pop band. The band where due to commence their Australian tour in October.

Despite the lack of detailed information when the story broke, it has successfully been given death, with the inclusion of other mediums including the use of hyper links and multimedia. These specific mediums are relevant to the story, and appropriate for the users of this website.

Furthermore, with the reactions to the death quite subjective, online mediums often propel user engagement, in response to death. The comment function works very well here as the issue is discussed amongst readers, and opinions and views debated.

In relation to this stories success in an online medium, it is very effective. The hyperlink, creates more depth to the story, linking it back to other stories that make this story either more relevant to the reader, and/or provide further background information. As this is a music site, the use of multimedia, is somewhat expected, but the inclusion of the film clip does work well, and without its presence, I feel, many users may have gone to youtube, to search for the clip to watch.

This story, largely due to the content and the head line, instantly draw people in. The image is strong, and despite also being needed for this story, it works well by visually helping to familiarise the reader with story and in this case, the people involved.

This story has been read over 15,000 times at present, making it the highest read story of the week, (it became the top trending story the same day it broke). While this can be attributed in part to the news of the story, and the reactive responses people have towards death through social networking by commenting, this has also been facilitated by the stories structure, which encourages people to interact with this news story.

Glassing Attack at Perth's Ambar Calls for Glass Ban

 
http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/aust/47622/Glassing_attack_at_Perths_Ambar_prompts_calls_for_glass_ban#

http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/aust/47693/Glass_ban_not_on_the_cards_for_WA_nightclubs

This week I am looking at two stories. The first is a hard news story about a glassing attack in Perth, and the second is a follow up to the first, which further explores the need to have a ban on glass in Western Australian clubs. While both stories have evolved from the same incident, I am comparing the two against each other.

The first story was a rehash of a story reported by ABC online. With much of the news on this website, coming from other sources, the article gives a summary of the incident, customising it for the users of the site, by selecting a story which is relevant to readers, who are interested in club news.

As this is a hard news story, the content is succinct. For this type of story, it can be hard to incorporating online elements, as there may not be anything appropriate or relevant.

However, as this is a topical, and relevant issue to the readers of this site, the journalist, has encouraged readers to engage in a conversation/debate about the article at the bottom of the page, by setting up a question at the readers. This is a successful way of using the online medium to create user participation and interaction with the article. In the example, it works well, with over 30 responses in just over a week.

The second article, which explores the issues of incident in the first story, is also a hard news story, which explores the possibility of a ban on glass. This ban was put forward as a debate for readers, at the end of the first story.

This story is structured, with a hyper link to the previous story, in the first paragraph. This works well, creating a big picture of the issue, which is easy to navigate, for readers who had not read the first article, and want to have access to all the information about the story quickly.

Both stories, in relation to the type of hard news story that they are, and the content, work well. Despite the lack of other mediums, they do still work well in an online environment. These stories demonstrate that the content of a story dictates what other mediums can be used in a story. In this story, photographs of the injured man, or a video of the incident could be inappropriate, or not available. Furthermore, due to the possible sensitivity of the incident, this may also restrict any other features being added, i.e. the injured may not want their pictures used, or it could be insensitive to have video of people clubbing, or interviews with intoxicated and inebriated people at the incident.

However, I think these stories could be strengthened by the use of recent vox pops. While the first article encourages an online discussion, it could have been interesting to have feedback from clubbers across the country, where the ban on glass already applies in some states, giving there feedback, in relation to the issue, and then have readers interact with these, by leaving a reply.

In comparing the two stories, they both work in similar ways, and share similar content and structure. However, the technique of inviting users to participate in a conversation about the story, develops the issue, adding new layers of information, through user interaction, and therefore strengthens the first story.

Tiga's feature film debut

http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/47592/Tigas_feature_film_debut_looks_awesome

While I did not feel this was a particularly strong story initially in regards to the news angle, I think it is a great example of using multi media (videos) and hyper links in an online environment and a demonstration of how to develop a successful online news story. By the conclusion of reading the story and interacting with it, I felt as if the newsworthiness of the story had been strengthened through the use of additional online features, which help to tell the story and convey meaning.

The online features (hyper links and videos) allow for additional interactive information to be embedded into the copy, and this helps to tell/show the story, rather than relying on solely the copy. In regards to story, these embedded features are crucial, as they provide an example of what is being discussed. The copy and hyper link and videos all work well together to tell this story.

In an online environment, these features work especially well, and this is a good example of how a story can be adapted to suit an online environment, or strengthened by creating it specifically as an online story.

This story is structured so that the copy introduces the news angle, and then hyper links are used to make reference to other stories that are all related. This helps to create a large story in the mind of the reader, and give a clear understanding of the context of this story.

The hyper links in the copy are introduced so that they are appealing and relevant to the reader. This means that we are drawn in and encouraged to use them. By doing this further reading provided by the links, our understanding of the wider story is strengthened.

The videos that are embedded into the story are also relevant to the story so these invite us to watch them, giving us a preview of what we have read. The videos are placed in the copy, and again at the end, so essentially, these are helping to not only support the story, but also help to structure it.

With all of the hyper links to supporting stories and the use of appropriate video, I don’t believe this news story would be a string without them. In terms of this stories success in how it worked in an online medium, I think it was extremely successful, and I doubt that this story would have worked in other mediums such as print, as the online elements are fundamental to making this story work. Without them I believe this specific story would be significantly weakened.

Scientists turn to Ketamine for mental illness treatment

http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/47557/Scientists_turn_to_ketamine_for_mental_illness_treatment

This story starts with a rehash of a similar story that was previously run. A link is then provided to the previous story. Despite the fact that the link is well suited to the article, I think it should be saved for later in the story, rather than in the intro, and before we find out the information in this story. It makes the flow of the story slightly disjointed, despite the fact that having the link is a good feature.

The story headline is strong. It catches attention straight away, as it seems almost as if it’s a contradiction, which is clever for drawing people in. The headline gives away the information that this is a drug story. This is a method of grabbing readers attention, which works especially well on this site because the focus is on dance/electronic music news, and it is assumed a large number of readers may have an interest in recreational drugs.

The image above the article is somewhat vague, as the correlation between it and scientific trials in the headline are not initially obvious. However I think considering the story and the site the story featured, it works well, and I would assume there could be difficulty in finding an appropriate picture of a clinical trail, which is relevant and effective in the context of this story.

I think the article works quite well for its audience. While the content is relevant, it could come across as quite technical, with the technicalities of a clinical trial being discussed. However, the author makes the information relevant and appropriate in a humorous way which still conveys the meaning of the story. The story is relevant to the readers of the site.

The closing paragraph consists of a quote, on the details of the experiment discussed in the article. This is from the results of the experiment. I think this is a strong conclusion to the story.

Perhaps a link to the references made by Time Magazine would have been interesting, and made for a good contrast, as could have the results of the ecstasy trial results.

Comparing this article to the link provided, I feel this story is more successful. This article is more developed, while the first provides rehashed information from another source. The first story is trivialised, and relies heavily on the author’s own humour to develop the story