These are slides for an Online Media Campus webinar on interactive storytelling tools.

1. Interactive
Storytelling Tools
Steve Buttry
Online Media Campus
June 9, 2016

2. Slides, links & more
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• manshiptools.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com

3. Plan digital stories
• Plan digital elements early & often
• Adjust content/presentation for print or
broadcast
• What is best time & day for digital
audience?
• How do you tell for digital audience?

4. Digital planning questions
• What are visual opportunities?
• Data opportunities?
• Crowdsourcing opportunities?
• Mobile/tablet opportunities?
• Engagement opportunities?
• Social media opportunities?
• Interactive opportunities?

5. Interactive questions?
• How do words, visuals best interact in
this story?
• Can you let reader direct, rather than
telling linear story?
• Map or photo as storytelling base?
• Timeline?
• What’s best tool?

6. Types of interactive tools
• Live coverage
• Mapping
• Timelines
• Multimedia story tools
• Data viz
• Interactive databases
• Curation

7. Types of interactive tools
• Animation
• Quizzes
• Polls & voting
• Blogging platforms
• Autofeeds (w/ mobile tools)
• Collaborate with a hacker
• Learn coding yourself

8. Imitating interactive stories
• Can you contact the reporter/developer
for advice?
• Does the story identify the tool used?
• Can you read the code?
• Ask list-serv or Facebook group?
• Google for tool that might help?

10. Ask how they did it
Chris Krewson of Billy Penn:
“The bracket itself is just an image. This time
around we're using a service called WuFoo for the
polls; the last time we did a bracket we used a free
service. But we needed one that would hide the
vote totals, because the winners are unveiled on
live TV. So Wufoo lets us keep the totals a secret
until the beautiful people can unveil it. We looked
at bracket plugins but ultimately getting them to
look good on mobile turned out to be too tricky, so
we stuck with a lo-fi solution.”

11. Community brackets?
• Best local athlete ever?
• Best selfie in local setting?
• Best vacation selfie?
• Best place to eat in town?
• What else?

12. Curation
• Storify
• RebelMouse
• Pinterest

13. What is curation?
Museum curator:
• Studies topic
• Chooses relevant
content (other
sources & museum
collection)
• Authenticates
• Groups related items
• Provides context
• Presents exhibit
Journalism curator:
• Studies topic
• Chooses relevant
content (social
media, blogs, staff)
• Authenticates
• Groups related items
• Provides context
• Presents collected
content

14. Learning new tool
• Take it for a test drive. Many are intuitive.
What can you figure out?
• Check tool’s blog, tutorials
• Google for journalist tutorials
• Ask journalist who used it
• Ask tool’s developer
• Ask me

15. Live coverage tools

16. Is where an issue?

17. Does story unfold over time?

18. Multimedia story tools

21. Data viz

22. Interactive databases

23. Miscellaneous tools