Posts Tagged ‘2010 Online Journalism Awards’

Hitting It Out of the Park

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Boston Red Sox Win

Having blogged about the disastrous consequences of the BP oil spill to small businesses in the Gulf Coast states, I was delighted to read this morning’s announcement of the finalists for the 2010 Online Journalism Awards.  The New York Times was nominated for recognition in the category of “Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies for its “Oil Spill Tracker”. I have appreciated the New York Times’ innovative digital platform for timely, up-to-date coverage of the unfolding disaster. Visit the online tracker and you will see tabs across the top organizing information by topic “Where Oil is in the Gulf”, “Where Oil Has Made Landfall”, “Effects on Wildlife”, “Efforts to Stop the Leak”, “Investigating the Blowout” and “Live Video of the Leak”.  The time-series information is presented on a very clear, uncluttered map. Press the “Play” button and you see the oil spill movements with a caption by date as to what happened. A helpful legend explains the scale and proportions of the disaster.  An interactive graphic element on the right-hand side next to the map dynamically presents how the government’s estimate of the size of the oil spill, changed over time. I loved the creative way of presenting many complex, interrelated pieces of information in a clear, user-friendly format. This could be a textbook example on effective visual communication for graphic design students. I appreciate the commitment of the New York Times to provide consistent, in-depth coverage of the unfolding disaster despite BP’s efforts to limit journalists’ access to information.  In case you are wondering, Stefan took photograph on September 24 from a skybox at Yankee stadium. The Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees and I thought this a good image to capture the theme of hitting it out of the park.