It’s one thing to understand the overlapping concepts of information architecture and multimedia journalism, but it’s quite another thing to experience it. Some media outlets may embed videos onto their web sites for visitors to get a clearer picture of what’s described in the story. Others may create an online slideshow to display photos that a publication didn’t have the space to print. Some may combine all of the above.

The Naples Daily News, for example, produces a thirty-minute daily video rundown of the latest news that they upload and provide exclusively online. Meanwhile, the Journal & Courier offers soundslides (photographic slideshows that feature audio commentary or background music) on topics as far-reaching as ballroom dancing and taxidermy. The most prized of all, however, are the coveted multimedia packages. They combine podcasts, video, the article, slideshows, message boards and any other interactive feature journalists can think of into one web site that completely covers and analyzes one particular topic. A great example of this is the Sacramento Bee’s “The Weight” presentation, shown in a screenshot above. Carefully utilizing information architecture, this presentation separates the issue into four chapters as it follows the lives of three teens entering a weight loss boarding school. Each chapter chronicles the highs and lows of their experience, featuring traditional articles, statistics and photos juxtaposed with a broader story of obesity and weight loss programs in America — all framed by unconventional (and exciting!) methods of recording the event, like short videos and photo galleries. Each step of the way, a discussion board sits at the bottom, open for anyone’s comments. [Note: As an added feature, when you scroll over each of the students their image changes from a "before" photograph to an "after" to showcase the weight each student's lost while at the boarding school.]

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Like I said, it’s touching to read about an 80-year-old man’s struggle to move on with his life after his wife of 55 years has passed away. It’s heart-wrenching, however, to see the welling tears sting his eyes that he pridefully tries to wipe away on the sleeve of his shaking arm. Hearing the rasp of his voice and how he chokes and stammers to maintain his composure while describing her battle with cancer makes the scenario real. Online journalism provides for all of this. Where print is limited by being unable to produce sound or moving images, it can be found on the internet. Where television’s quite news bites won’t allow for in-depth coverage, the online medium provides unlimited space. While a person can easily miss such a poignant story if he/she forgets to turn on the television at exactly 6 p.m., or gets to the newsstand after all of that day’s papers have sold out, the internet makes that article available at any time of the day, and even archives it so that the reader may easily return to it months down the road if he or she chooses to.

Thanks to the internet, previous journalistic barriers are being broken down. The news is now available at every second of every day, and is constantly updated so that readers never miss an instant of what’s going on. Merging various forms of media into one overarching form of mass communications not only allows for greater viewer flexibility in choosing what they want to know and when they want it; it also tears down the wall that previously separated journalists from their readers. People can comment on articles they read, or post their thoughts on message boards and blogs. If they’re feeling old-fashioned, they could even e-mail journalists or the publication itself. (Honestly, who mails in letters to the editor anymore?) The news is now interactive. Don’t believe me? The USF Oracle is a prime example of this shift from simply reporting the news to creating a conversation with it.