Comments on: How We Did It: Economic Stimulus 101 on Amherst Wire http://www.copress.org/2009/03/17/how-we-did-it-economic-stimulus-101-on-amherst-wire/ Building a Better Technical Ecosystem for Student News Organizations Mon, 10 May 2010 13:35:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: In search of inspiring models for college news sites | CoPresshttp://www.copress.org/2009/03/17/how-we-did-it-economic-stimulus-101-on-amherst-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-2360 In search of inspiring models for college news sites | CoPress Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:28:45 +0000 http://www.copress.org/?p=1217#comment-2360 [...] We’ve also spoken with Jackie Hai and Richard Caesar of the Amherst Wire for a podcast, and Jackie wrote a post about their economic stimulus coverage. [...] [...] We’ve also spoken with Jackie Hai and Richard Caesar of the Amherst Wire for a podcast, and Jackie wrote a post about their economic stimulus coverage. [...]

]]> By: Andrew Noyeshttp://www.copress.org/2009/03/17/how-we-did-it-economic-stimulus-101-on-amherst-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-1897 Andrew Noyes Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:55:42 +0000 http://www.copress.org/?p=1217#comment-1897 Excellent perspective into developing a public resource, Jackie. I love seeing news sites focus on being informative cohesively. Often news sites, especially the online versions of my local newspapers, serve up news articles which are merely updates, as if to serve as a cohesive whole when these countless articles are collected together. This style may have worked on a newspaper press where space is limited, but it is not the way of the web and I'm intrigued to see news outlets embracing the web for the web rather than making it behave like another media outlet.I'm curious though, for your video previews, did you consider inserting the Vimeo player after a click? For example, if the user were to hover over a thumbnail, have an overlay with a play button in the center and some text, like "Click to play". When the user clicks, rather than loading a different page, which many users might view as an obstacle, use a client-side script to insert the video player on the fly. Spice it up with some Ajax feedback (rotating something or other to let the user know the computer hasn't forgotten about them), and you've got the best of both worlds--shorter barriers between users and your content. Excellent perspective into developing a public resource, Jackie. I love seeing news sites focus on being informative cohesively. Often news sites, especially the online versions of my local newspapers, serve up news articles which are merely updates, as if to serve as a cohesive whole when these countless articles are collected together. This style may have worked on a newspaper press where space is limited, but it is not the way of the web and I’m intrigued to see news outlets embracing the web for the web rather than making it behave like another media outlet.

I’m curious though, for your video previews, did you consider inserting the Vimeo player after a click? For example, if the user were to hover over a thumbnail, have an overlay with a play button in the center and some text, like “Click to play”. When the user clicks, rather than loading a different page, which many users might view as an obstacle, use a client-side script to insert the video player on the fly. Spice it up with some Ajax feedback (rotating something or other to let the user know the computer hasn’t forgotten about them), and you’ve got the best of both worlds–shorter barriers between users and your content.

]]> By: Daniel Bachhuberhttp://www.copress.org/2009/03/17/how-we-did-it-economic-stimulus-101-on-amherst-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-513 Daniel Bachhuber Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:13:30 +0000 http://www.copress.org/?p=1217#comment-513 Well done. I look forward to working my way through the final result! Well done. I look forward to working my way through the final result!

]]> By: Andrewhttp://www.copress.org/2009/03/17/how-we-did-it-economic-stimulus-101-on-amherst-wire/comment-page-1/#comment-512 Andrew Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:34:26 +0000 http://www.copress.org/?p=1217#comment-512 Great post Jackie. It was really interesting to read about the process into putting something of this scale together. Also gave me a chance to explore your site more: it's a good one.I'm really impressed by the amount of work that the paper put into this. The videos, editing, design, etc. are all tremendous coming from a college newspaper. Great post Jackie. It was really interesting to read about the process into putting something of this scale together. Also gave me a chance to explore your site more: it’s a good one.

I’m really impressed by the amount of work that the paper put into this. The videos, editing, design, etc. are all tremendous coming from a college newspaper.

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