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University of Wisconsin–Madison

Interactive storytelling reflects both new opportunities and new challenges for 21st century journalism

As is often the case each year in the last days of December, many retrospectives and lists are  being published this week.  We are treated to summaries, galleries, lists, and “the year in” stories.

Yesterday NewYorkTimes.com published a collection titled “2013: The Year in Interactive Storytelling.”  The lengthy post offers a portfolio that includes examples of multimedia stories, data visualization, explanatory graphics, breaking news, and visual and interactive features.

nyt1One can easily spend hours with this body of work.  To review it is to see both opportunities and challenges for journalists.  With entirely new ways of telling stories, we likely will face new ethical questions.  A review of these examples from the New York Times offer both examples of strong interactive work as well as inspiration for anticipating the evolving ethical challenges journalists face as we try to keep up with technology.

From frosty Madison, Wisconsin (currently enjoying snow and a temperature of zero degrees Fahrenheit), the staff of the Center for Journalism Ethics wishes you a very successful, productive and ethical new year.

View the New York Times’ 2013 interactive storytelling portfolio here.

+++Updated 12.31.2013 2:30CST+++

Writing on Groundswell, Josh Stearns (the journalism and public media campaign director at Free Press) offers his list of the best interactive storytelling for 2013.

As I created my 2013 list however, I saw much more data journalism and an increasing use of tools that engaged readers or rethought the basic flow of storytelling for a more participatory audience.

Read Stearns’ entire post here.

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