Videos on USAToday.com

USAToday.com's featured videos appear high up on the homepage and have their own section.

The videos are mostly Associated Press or other syndication service productions, but this allows for many videos to be available. The variety is impressive. Some are better than 0thers, but there are many for various subjects, updated relatively regularly.

The quality is typically high, with nice production and sound. My favorite I saw was one on dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

I think the video section adds relevance to the site, and as they pump out more, it'll become an indispensable part of the USA Today draw.

USA Today headlines

Most of the headlines on USAToday.com seem to quickly and clearly describe the stories they link to. Once you click on the stories, some headlines are slightly or significantly different than the ones on the homepage.

One such headline on the main page is "McCain, Obama eye Midwest," while the actual article headline is "Candidates campaign in Midwest days before election." I would say the article headline more clearly describes the story, but the one on the homepage may be better for search engine optimization, which should be the other way around.

Most of the headlines are plain but descriptive.

The best one I saw was "Rifle maker bounces boss who supports Obama," which is the same on the homepage and story page. Or, if you prefer the familiar cheesy newspaper headlines, try "Tricks and treats await unsuspecting travelers," Which links to "Trick or treat: Numbskull frights, impish delights await the unsuspecting." Not well optimized but I suppose it's clever.

Overall, I'd say the headlines are effective but could be better suited for SEO (and for those of us with low cheesiness tolerances...).

Halloween costume search

I'll cut to the chase: most newspapers seem to be no help in getting an idea of what to dress up as for Halloween.

Five days from the silly holiday, I'm in desparate need of a costume. I am required to wear a costume to my job, and I am low on ideas and admittedly cheap, which hurts the cause.

So I took to the newspaper websites, starting as far away from Miami as possible as I don't want to be the 98th Palin impersonator you see Friday (not to mention I'm not sure the gym's policy on cross-dressing, or mine for that matter.)

No luck searching my hometown paper, The (central Illinois) Pantagraph, nor the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, LA Times, or Chicago Tribune. The New York Times had a couple year-old or more blog posts that I didn't want to touch, and even the Miami Herald didn't tell me what everybody else in the Grove will be wearing. I was getting a little frustrated.

Then, the thought occurred to me that I should try a crazy city on the other coast: Seattle. Of course, my final idea was probably my best as the Seattle Times had an article with some of this year's popular costume ideas. Ironically it's an Associated Press article out of New York, so any of the other papers could've picked it up.

This one wasn't particularly helpful, either, offering only a few hot ideas and no real original ones.

But I guess the search wasn't fruitless. I did get the idea in looking at the LA Times that I could go as a crazy Oakland Raiders fan since I'm a huge Raiders fan anyway. And I bet I'll be the only one around here in silver and black since it's the wrong coast.

I'm extremely disappointed in the newspapers once again. I know holiday articles are played-out and I wouldn't want to write one either, but for those of us feeling that "oh crap, Halloween's this Friday" pressure, don't make us go elsewhere to get ideas. I mean, I avoid newspapers for just about everything else so why buck the trend I guess?

Politico's swing state map

Check out Politico.com's interactive map of the swing states in the race for the presidency.

It labels each state as solidly for one candidate, leaning, or one candidate leading, based on Real Clear Politics polling.

Each of the swing states where one candidate is currently leading has a short summary of historical trends and how the candidates are vying for the state.

It's a pretty useful tool, presented in a straightforward interface. My only criticism would be that the distinction between "leaning" and "leading" is never explained.

Miami Herald special reports

The Miami Herald occasionally runs special reports, like this recent one on shady lending practices and how borrowers are paying for it.

The package features a three-part chunked article, videos, a photo slideshow, graphics and a discussion forum for readers, presented in a Flash interface.

Special reports like this are a good feature for newspapers trying to compete with multimedia engines like CNN, but take a huge amount of time and other resources.

Unfortunately, this means they only appear once every few months. I remember seeing this one over the summer, and it's still the most recent one posted. With more effort exerted in covering the election, maybe these special packages get pushed aside.

But if newspapers wish to continue to compete, they'd better crank out more pieces like this one or they'll quickly find their website traffic leaving in favor of those outlets who do.

Google Trends

The guest speakers Tuesday showed us Google Trends, so I thought I'd check it out some more.

It's a Google search tool that allows you to see what people search on Google. (If that's not redundant.) It also shows you the recent hot searches.

This is the part I'm kinda intrigued by, since as a journalist you could use it to see what potential readers care about. If only you could find out demographic information, then you could really figure out what your readers specifically are wanting to know.

Wait, that's all a little too big brother-y... nevermind.

Obama's response to bad information

This election, just as any other, is riddled with negative advertising, biased analysis, even some untrue reports.

The Obama campaign has been running an anti-smear website for some time, called FightTheSmears.com.

With the campaign's countless millions it can't seem to spend quickly enough, this may be its smartest investment.

Still, repudiating claims saying they lack evidence, while presenting little or no evidence to the contrary isn't exactly trustworthy either. The site does offer some good evidence in certain instances by citing credible news outlets, but any smart citizen would realize the site still requires fact checking.

I wonder if this is the first campaign-financed anti-smear website. I haven't heard anything about John McCain having anything similar, but that doesn't mean he doesn't. Does anybody know if he has a similar site too?

WiMax

WiMax, the innovative mobile broadband service we've been hearing about for years, is apparently coming soon in mass quantities, according to an article in USAToday.

The article appears with one photo and two sidebars online, with the usual links to related stories in the "jump" in the middle of the text. Also, the in-text links to the stock prices of each company mentioned were kind of cool and might be useful to a reader who just clicked on the story because they own stock in Sprint, for example.

The first sidebar contains a complete mini-story about WiMax's debut in Baltimore. Although the main article is already quite long on its own, the separate shorter article adds a different, relevant perspective. I would almost rather just read the sidebar article though since the main article is so long and the sidebar shows quickly how it's working in a real city.

I really like the second sidebar, which gives in layman's terms how the technology works. The text in each bullet could be a little shorter, but it gives a good overview of what it is.

I'm glad they didn't decide to put in a video, because it would probably be boring and the article doesn't really need one. I feel like they could have cut about 500 words from the article and it would have been less boring and no less informative.

God on YouTube?

Time recently ran a story on religious groups using YouTube as an evangelistic tool.

I'm always interested to see articles on these newfangled innovations, written by people who remember when people actually read Time, the magazine. (No, I don't know who David Van Biema is, I'm just assuming.)

It's presented pretty well, with one video on on each page and a short description. Eight major religions or denominations are represented.

The funniest one has to be a parody of "Baby Got Back" called "Baby Got Book."

AJC's election guide

One of the sections that stuck out on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's website is the Election Guide.

It features a bunch of interactive features, including a continuous countdown timer until election day, a link to Politico.com's top stories, and a Twitter feed.

The coolest feature, though, has to be the Georgia Voter Guide. You enter basic address information and it generates a sample ballot for where you live. I would love that feature around here, so I could see what the issues and races are that I can vote on.

Another useful feature is the area at the bottom with election resources like factcheck.org and a political donation tracker.

The articles included are pretty well organized, but the section could use more videos and photos.

There's a link to the section and a couple top stories on the home page, but the link to the section page is on the bottom of the page and I think it could use to be farther up given the importance of the elections.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

I was thinking about Christmas plans (already, I'm ashamed to say) and thinking about the conference I might be going to in Atlanta over New Year's and I thought about the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta metro's major newspaper, for some reason.

So I went on ajc.com since I don't think I've ever been there.

The website looks like a lot of different newspapers' sites, even a little like The Miami Herald's previous design.

The home page is organized with major stories on the top left two-thirds, with ads on the right and section headings along the top banner.

A small strip of featured interactive human-interest stories follows, then videos and entertainment. On the bottom half of the page, there are about 20 smaller sections with anything from an election guide to what's for dinner to a holiday guide.

There is a lot of variety on the home page, to me it's just a little difficult to find quickly. There is also a lot of good, unique content featured, a couple of which I'll break down in subsequent posts. But again, nobody's going to read it if it's impossible to find.

Photos and videos feature prominently on the upper portion of the page but in the lower bulleted lists, at least a small photo for each would break up a full screen of text ad explain each division easily.

Another example of, I like the content but feel like it could be presented more powerfully.

Kinda like Atlanta. Nice people, just not my kind of town.

HMMagazine.com

HM Magazine is part of a select number of Christian music magazines that cover more than just Christian music.

Confusing, maybe. But the magazine's site offers not just the Christian music reviews you'd expect, but also mainstream music reviews and interviews, mainstream movie reviews and more. The interviews are especially noteworthy, as they're conducted in a trademark witty manner that seems to get artists to loosen up and share some really insightful stuff. In fact, I enjoy the non-Christian artist interviews probably the most since it's a regular practice to find out their views on Jesus, something you won't get in Rolling Stone.

The Internet exclusives are mostly news updates between magazine releases but they do offer some fresh content on an intermittent basis. Physical magazine sales are clearly the priority but the online version offers enough content to be worthwhile even to non-subscribers without lessening the value of buying the handheld version.

The only major criticism I would offer is that the website was evidently designed for a minimized browser window format, as the content is squeezed into a column about half the maximized screen. The column is the size of a YouTube embedded video, which makes for a clean look when there are videos on the page, but since there aren't many, elsewhere it just feels like a small screen.

The ads are small and there aren't too many of them , probably since it's not a heavy traffic site.

I enjoy HM's website but probably more for the content than for the presentation. A few minor fixes could greatly improve its look.

Twitter example

A cool Twitter feed I found recently was from Cornerstone Christian Music Festival last year. I wasn't aware of it at the time but it seems like it was a good way to keep up-to-date with the happenings at the festival, as well as to see the coverage updates.

I wasn't able to make it this year so it was good to see all the updates and keep track of the coverage.

New social networking blog

The Herald now has a blog about social networking etiquette in the corporate world. Intersting, if from a clearly older perspective.

Miami on a budget, Central Illinois style

My hometown newspaper, The Pantagraph, has an article on how to visit Miami without spending a fortune. Now to get all my friends to read it...

Different way of looking at MLB's postseason

USAToday.com is featuring a look at the "new Mr. October" using interactive graphics and databases, as well as typical articles. A bit overwhelming but cutting-edge.

Chicago's economy, in pictures

Article on the economic climate in Chicago in the Tribune, presented powerfully in a gallery of photos and short interviews.

Interesting advertising blog

Check out this blog on internet advertising a client at the gym I work at runs. Goes with our discussion of Google search terms.

ESPN covers cars, and well?!

Good article of the greenest cars at the Paris Auto Show. Quick, concise summaries, good pictures, smooth transitions from one to the next.

Food safety inspectors

*First of five Twitter-style (<=140 characters) posts, or until I get sick of writing like a text message.*

An article in on the Chicago Tribune homepage details food safety inspections. Good use of a database and chunking; could use more photos.

Extensive election article

The Miami Herald recently sent Beth Reinhard to cover the election battleground along I-4 for several days. The substantial article, which is part investigative and part human interest, is presented online alongside a photo gallery and a short video.

Let's start with the positive, the video. It does a good job of showing all the small communities mentioned, with Google Maps transitions into each segment. Seeing and hearing the people shows their emotion and passion about the subject better than words can portray.

That being said, however, the video is extensive enough that it almost renders the print article useless. It presents a few additional points of view and shows what people are feeling better than the article can, though it does a decent job. If the video had a few of the facts the article contains, you wouldn't even have to bother reading the article.

That's the interesting balance that exists when newspapers provide video content: yes, an article is still necessary for the physical newspaper, but if the video contains everything the story needs and does a better job portraying the emotion involved, why wouldn't you devote all your resources to the more powerful storytelling means?

Unfortunately for the time being, that's not possible since you still have to put out a paper copy and videos and paper don't get along (yet).

But maybe instead of linking to the story online, the Herald could link to the video for their e-newsletter subscribers or something like that? Maybe that way they could emphasize the power of the video without diminishing the necessity of the print article.

Oh, and as an afterthought (which is what it happens to be), the photo "gallery" containing two images isn't really necessary. In my opinion, if you have two photos you might as well space them out throughout the story instead of having a slideshow at the top of the page. That might break up the lengthy text anyway.

The Miami Herald's chef-for-a-week

The narrative form is one being less often used in the newspaper world, but in certain instances like this article detailing Evan Benn's experience at a high-end restaurant, it can be an effective way of presenting a story.

Benn tells of how he spent a week at Azul learning tips from the restaurant's chef. He tells of his pains and trials in the first person, another rare form for newspapers, though this story appears in the "Living" section so it's more fitting.

The article is accompanied online by a video and photo slideshow of his efforts. The video is a good addition to the story as it gives a real taste for what life is like behind the counter. It's pretty well-produced for an in-house production as well.

The slideshow is another good addition because it highlights some of the more interesting moments in the story in an easily relatable way.

I also like the sidebar telling some take-home tips for readers to apply in their own kitchens.

Overall, the first person isn't the best way to tell the news but in this case it's an effective story form to tell about a reporter himself being the "news," and the multimedia aspects included offer an invaluable look into the experiment.

Michael J. Fox feature

As mentioned previously, USAToday.com has a featured video section on its website. One that stuck out to me today was one on Michael J. Fox speaking about Parkinson's research.

I only clicked on the story to see his speech since I figured it'd be powerful. It certainly was, whether you agree with his message or not. In this case, the video was really the only way to convey the emotion of the event.

I think the editors made the right call going with a video feature rather than a more text-based story since it only required a short piece and text would lose the gravity of his speech.

One downside is you have to scan through a bunch of videos on the election that are of dubious necessity to even notice the powerful video, so maybe this is a case where less would be more?

Embarrassing error

Getting the scores from the big games practically immediately is undoubtedly one of the benefits of online, but the rush to post the news as quickly as possible can lead to errors.

The USAToday.com front page has the Cubs-Dodgers score mistakenly listed as 8-2, while it was actually 7-2. This isn't a huge gaffe but especially for those of us who weren't going to the home page for the score and just happened to notice it, it's important since we might not bother to click on the story where the score is correctly listed.

It's also over an hour after the game ended, and if someone hasn't noticed the error by now that brings up major questions over the paper's online practices.

What if the incorrect digit was in the Dow Jones price? If they'd listed it down 877 the other day rather than 777, that might be a big deal in trading, especially if they didn't notice it for an extended period of time.

I've written baseball scores before. It's pretty simple to get the numbers right.

You check them twice.

I expect better from a major news source like USA Today.