I think Newser.com is very astute to start by not only providing the links to other stories, but actually thoroughly reading them and summarizing them for the readers. These brief write-ups are the perfect length for people who wish to quickly check the news on their phones or on their computers. Reading news stories has diminished to scanning headlines and excerpts. Newser.com simply takes away the excess words, and replaces it with a convenient version of itself. This leaves open the possibility to have a story remain alive and streaming to its reader.

The site also seems to use a multimedia approach to engage the reader. It utilizes pictures, audio, and video; which also save time and manpower when being delivered to the reader.

Newser.com has also began to utilize social media- particularly its use of Twitter plays well into its model of reading less while still getting the information.

This site agrees that Newser.com is making news gathering more convenient for the reader. It brings up a good question, however; in terms of how the sites will manage to be profitable. Will Google ads alone bring enough traffic to the site for solid advertisements? This blog argues that Newser.com will not be able to survive without asking for payment in some way.

Newser.com also wants to pick up as many local markets as possible, as explained in this blog, and with over 86 markets already it could easily start catering to individual viewer’s preferences.

Besides the 7 muggings on this map, other incidents were reported and remain under investigation.

There was a robbery in the 3300 block of North Seminary Avenue just a  few blocks from Wrigley Field. So far, police will not discuss whether or not it is connected to the other robberies.

On August 1, at 3am in the 2000 block of North Cleveland Avenue a victim identified an arrestee in a physical lineup. The suspect was later released due to lack of evidence.

In late July and early August, 4 strong armed robberies occurred in Lincoln Park that police believe are linked.

The Cleveland Avenue robbery for which the suspect was questioned happened around 3am. The other robbery on August 1 was at 3:36am in the 300 block of West Webster Avenue.

July 30, there were 2 robberies- one at 2am in the 600 block of West Fullerton Parkway, and one at 2:05am in the 2100 block of North Stockton Drive.

All four victims were men in their early to mid-20s and walking alone. At least 4 male attackers in their 20s confronted each victim on food from behind. The victims were asked for their wallets, then beaten in the head and face. Two of the victims were hospitalized.

Of the 10 laws of storytelling, Flypmedia easily tackles quite a few.

To start, it has the interactive aspect down to a science. Each page has either various thumbnails to browse, more in depth coverage of the topic, or extra footage to peruse.

There is a definite front page promise with the teasers each story has accompanying its content. These teasers not only give a glimpse of the story, but truly draw the reader in with beautiful pictures, engaging sounds, and detailed graphics.

For the most part, I did not find Flypmedia to produce much raw footage for its viewers. Rather, it crafted a very edited and finished product. It seemed to want to create an interactive magazine, not a collection of raw footage.

This is much different than many sites who seem to take user content or even blogger content and post them up as stories. Many of the aggregate sites will use raw footage to capture the emotion, this site does not seem to take that angle.

Flypmedia does take the time to really utilize all the digital benefits of putting together a magazine online. They do not seem to limit themselves to a certain number of interactive tools or pages. Their technique is beautiful, and seems expensive.

Flypmedia uses the same type of user feedback content. There is space to comment on a blog, and to share the site through social media.

Although most of the topics on Flypmedia appeal to a more national audience; a few stories did have a local feel to them.

For the most part, the topics that had their own sites with interactive features were feature stories that did not remain living stories. The topics did not appear to be grow over time, but rather were presented beautifully as a one time piece.

The numerous blogs that involved less use of digital assets were more friendly to user feedback. There is such a sharp contrast between the project, feature pieces and the blogs. I can understand why the feature pieces are not being posted so readily, they are clearly very difficult to make without immense resources. I think adding some more interactivity to the standard blogs would generate a larger audience and more buzz about the site. Hopefully they will be able to produce more of the interactive pieces over time.

This blogger had an interesting take on the future of interactive journalism and the way stories are being told to the public. He finds that the public’s short attention span to stories is a problem for interactive storytelling, while I think it could be a major factor in how we choose to present stories to the public.

Journalists now must have strong social media skills, programming skills, and understand the importance of incorporating video, photo, and text together to create an innovative and interactive story for the audience- while maintaining journalistic fundamentals and integrity, of course. It is no longer okay for a reporter to rely on a photographer or a cameraman to capture images to cover the visual communication of a story. Rather, the journalist must learn to tell the story with creativity, and learn to market this product online. With websites and blogs popping and failing constantly there is no security in a blogging job. Not only could a new blog steal your page views, but your audience has an unlimited pool of sources to search within- thus allowing them to be fickle followers. Because of this uncertainty, it seems journalists will need to be working on various projects simultaneously to make a living.

This reading might be missing the idea that journalists will not be writing whatever news they find to be a good story, but rather cater their stories to attracting an audience. Journalists have always hunted for the breaking news, but with the unlimited sites and blogs journalists will need to create a strong niche audience and continually write for their interests. It is a strong step towards marketing, and a step away from old-fashioned journalism.

The second reading on this war between hyperlocal sites and newspapers brought up the idea of newspapers collaborating with hyperlocal sites to create strong stories and reach more readers. This seems to be a strong trend at the moment and I would assume most major newspapers are working towards creating hyperlocal sites to reach their readers more directly; thus, catering to their specific issues in their communities. For example the Chicago Tribune is working on it, and sites such as everyblock.com are becoming more and more popular.