Stephen Colbert mocking the national Christmas tree’s Twitter account shows that the frivolousness of the plucky social media tool is still up for debate. No doubt Twitter’s popularity offsets some of the mockery, and it has contributed to … Read more
Can social media serve as source material for compelling news narratives? A number of innovative tools and programs have been developed that have interesting à la carte uses or make for beautiful visuals, but it is possible for any of them to … Read more
How do you map the life of a city? A Web documentary from writer Olivier Lambert and photojournalist Thomas Salva, “Brèves de Trottoirs,” (literal translation: “Sidewalk Shorts”) aims to find out. Their … Read more
We have to start with the monkeys. The infinite number of monkeys that, given their own personal typewriters and an infinite amount of time, would produce the works of William Shakespeare. But even thought-experiments involving infinity have their limits. Read more
Has book publishing found its savior? Well, probably not, but in August, The Washington Post’s Ron Charles made his small-screen debut in the role of a cranky, self-important book reviewer. Charles, who is actually deputy editor of Book World at … Read more
We talked last week by phone with USA Today interactives director Joshua Hatch about “Five Years Later: Hurricane Katrina,” the paper’s attempt to document the recovery and continuing struggles of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. With a … Read more
Nothing prepares you for your first time. You’re out with someone, maybe a date, maybe just friends, everything’s fine, and then he whips it out, right in front of you — at a restaurant, on the street, anywhere. You try … Read more
Chewbacca and Washington Post reporters may have more in common than you think: both might get an assist from the general public on in-depth projects that are in the news this week. Read more
Journalists use technology to tell stories, but technology has its own stories to tell, sometimes the very opposite of the ones we expect. In this series of articles, I’ll explore the impact of technology on narrative, and offer some observations … Read more
