Sandy

So all that seems to be on the news today is Sandy, the storm that swept through the northeast and looks to be the largest storm to ever strike the east coast of the U.S. Naturally, it was the first thing that popped up on BBC News-World, so I thought I'd talk about a clickable infographic which they used to educate people about the devastation in New York.
The infographic shows a 3D map of Manhattan, with arrows pointing to areas of the city that were badly damaged, along with a photograph to illustrate the different areas. The photographs show the city-wide blackout while the Empire State building remains lit up, an apartment building with the facade ripped off in the West Village, low-lying streets in Battery Park and Ground zero that were practically underwater, Battery Tunnel that was completely inundated, a crane near Central Park that was dangling dangerously above city streets, the explosion of a power plant which left about 500,000 homes without power, fallen trees in East Village, and finally, the closing of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq which curbed government bond trading.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20131303

Boston Book Festival 2012

On Saturday, over 30,000 bookworms flocked to the Boston Book Festival in Copley Square. Take a closer look at the women working the Massachusetts Libraries booth.

  

Apple Debuts Ipad Mini

BU COM Students Reflect on second Presidential Debate

BU School of COM students reflect on second Presidential Debate from Julia Ardila on Vimeo.

Lance Armstrong, Doping, and Multimedia

So after last week's crazy Lance Armstrong doping story, I decided to see if I could find some interesting stuff on BBC News-World. I found a cool article called "Lance Armstrong: Fall of a Sporting Hero" littered with text, facts, photos, interviews, and even a little educational video on blood doping:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19907683

In another article, called "Lance Armstrong: Tyler Hamilton on 'how US Postal Cheated,'" there's a clickable section which, if you click on the photo of the cyclist, it shows you how he was involved in the doping scandal and how they testified. It's a very informative piece because it would probably be a headache to find all of these names in one article, and describe exactly how they were involved in all of this. Since so many people were involved, having all of this information in one place is great.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19912623

Also in this article is a chart showing all the winners of the Tour de France, and shaded in red are the ones who have admitted or been caught doping. It's really very sad, I think it shows the scope of the issue, and truly demonstrates how dark the hour is for the cycling world. Clearly this is a huge issue that affects the majority of professional cyclists, but I think after all the public humiliation Lance Armstrong endured, through his own doing, people will probably be too scared to dope anymore. Let's hope anyway.

Watch me spend the day with Alfonso Barroso, a cobbler, or "zapatero" on Newbury Street.

On Thursday, October 11 at St. Cecilia's Church, the Blue Heron Renaissance Choir performed music by Nicholas Ludford and John Mason.

Motion Practice with the Camera

A Day in Pictures

Since the Slideshow project was assigned last week, I thought this week I would talk about prominent photography on BBC News-World online. I stumbled upon "A Day in Pictures," a slideshow section that they seem to do every day of the year! I thought, 'what a great idea, they sum up each day's news with beautiful photography.' Since I am a photojournalism major, this appealed to me greatly.

The news stories shown in the slide show or "gallery" as they called it, were the resupply mission to the International Space Station, Chavez' victory in Venezuela, a crash at the Nascar Sprint Cup Series, a Jennifer Lopez concert in Madrid, Air Force One landing in Los Angele, World Habitat Day in Cambodia, an anti-austerity riot near the EU offices in Athens, the opening of the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, a glass blower in Afghanistan, and finally, the wreckage after a bomb explosion in Afghanistan. Of course the Venezuelan president's triumph is of particular interest to me as I am Colombian, so I included it in my screenshot. Very sad news, and a very sad day for many Venezuelans. Truly a diverse set of photographs, all beautifully taken, all newsworthy, all equally important.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/19868675

Obama vs. Romney: US Election Poll Tracker

This week, thanks to my audio piece on the election, I had my mind on the Obama-Romney race more than usual. I was looking around on BBC.com and found a fun little interactive US Election poll tracker. It showed who was leading in the polls by date and color, and even had some explanations for why that might be. Obviously Mitt Romney has had a tough few weeks, so right now it seems he is down in the polls but is recovering a little bit.
I think interactive graphics like this make readers want to know more about certain topics like the election. It places valuable information in a readable, understandable, and even fun medium, which makes readers more likely to spend time on it and understand it.
I think maps like this are not so complicated to design once you learn how to do it. I do wish they would advertise it more and make it a little bit more obvious for site visitors. I had to search around for it quite a bit, and I think a graphic like this is something people would be interested in seeing. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19415745

The Young Voters' Take on the Presidential Election