The birth of the NewsOK Storywall
Web editor Nick Tankersley had an idea a few weeks back. He thought it would be nifty if we told a story in a completely non-linear way — allowing users to click on a number of different elements and get a different experience each time.
They might get a photo if they click on one block of content.
They might get a video if they click on another block of content.
They might get a bit of text if they choose yet another block.
And moments after that idea, the ‘NewsOK Storywall‘ was born.
Nick began working on the database that would feed our first storywall, learning more about the Django framework to feed the application. Multimedia reporters John Estus and Ken Raymond began developing content that would go into the wall, and photographer John Clanton began getting a variety of photos to feed the page.
After some hard work and unforseen obstacles, we launched the first ‘NewsOK Storywall’ this weekend as the Oklahoma State Fair came to a close.
Check it out. Let me know what you think.
Personally, I kind of like it. I think it would be interesting to add wall for OU and OSU football games, perhaps the OU-Texas game or the Bedlam battle later this year.
But I’d like to see if our users think it’s as nifty as I think it is. Just comment below, send me an e-mail or post a message on Twitter. I’ll listen any way I can.
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Comments
That is a very interesting application, and it allows for links to a subset of content with each window. I don’t think they were inspired by this, but it is something to be inspired by. Thanks for sharing. We’ll take a good look at it.
Thanks for the feedback Lindsay. I will pass it on. And keep an eye out for our second Story Wall on Monday morning. We are planning to produce the page as a way to remember the sights and sounds of the OU-Texas game this weekend.
[...] few weeks ago, I shared a page we produced as a test. It was our first Story Wall – a collection of photos, videos, quotes and text from the Oklahoma State Fair [...]
I love it, though I am curious of they were inspired to do this after seeing it at http://www.tenbyten.org/10×10.html