Overall site evaluation: ESPN.go.com
The element that stands out when the ESPN homepage loads on your browser is the Top Stories window that features several of the most interesting stories of the day, all with a large graphic big enough to dominate the space on the page and all ready for you to click on. Each of these usually has a video, which will play straight from the homepage without taking you away from the homepage content. As you continue to look around there are a lot of pictures, and the site seems to always have a current poll about the latest sports news. There are always a couple quick video links, and as you scroll down each page you will find quick links to associated podcasts as well. ESPN does a great job of having a picture next to almost every single story, which grabs your attention more than a simple text headline and also helps you to get a better picture of what each story will be about. The majority of video and graphic content comes as you navigate into specific stories and shows. ESPN’s video series Outside the Lines, 30 for 30 and E:60 have vast amounts of video content complete with archives of old stories.
ESPN has done a great job of putting together complete story packages. There will often be a featured video at the top of a story, which is either a feature video package or the clip from Sportscenter, accompanied by a written portion, links to associated articles, and sometimes charts or other graphics which help to flesh-out the story. This allows you to learn a great deal about a story and then find out what else has happened with this topic without having to comb through the entire website.
It is easy to tell who wrote the stories and who put together the video packages as credits are clearly presented on each element. I’m sure that the web developers and editors at ESPN have spent a great deal of time refining the best way to get a cohesive look to the presentation of stories on their website; this doesn’t just happen by accident. The presentation of each story on the web is consistent and well organized so that each multimedia element is able to work with each other to accentuate the reader’s experience, rather than competing with each other for a reader’s attention.
Specific story with multimedia elements or multimedia project – A Man Obsessed
http://espn.go.com/espn/eticket/worldtriathlon
Charlie Wittmack is married, has a little boy and looks like a normal middle aged man living in the suburbs. Charlie Wittmack is also an adventurer, and has a primal urge to push his body to the extreme, which led him to come up with the toughest triathlon known to man: The World Triathlon. This grueling trek includes a 250 mile swim which includes swimming the English Channel, a 9,000 mile bike ride polished off with a 750 mile run/climb to the top of Mount Everest. This story chronicles Charlie’s struggles with money, injuries, his relationship with his family, and the mental torment of the triathlon itself.
Multimedia is vital to the telling of this story because there are so many different levels in Charlie’s adventure. Everything starts with the magazine-like design of each page in the series that combine to tell the complete tale. These designs are based from pictures of Charlie’s trip and his family, which lends a simplicity to them that feels incredibly dynamic and powerful. The first page really sets the tone and gives the reader that perfect blend of the known and the unknown; you can take a look at the first page design, watch the video, and know what this story is about, but you still feel like there is plenty that you don’t know. Several page designs flawlessly integrate maps of Charlie’s trek so that you can see his path before going further into the story.
Some sections in the story are told by video, which is perfect to capture the terrain that Charlie is covering and is also the perfect medium to relay Charlie’s emotions when the going gets tough. Other parts of this story are told using text, which makes you as a reader have to actively read in order to continue revealing more facets.
By using several mediums to tell this story, the producers mirror the many elements happening within the story itself, and so as a reader you find yourself going on a bit of a journey in order to learn more about Charlie’s journey. It’s a great storytelling trick, and one that is made more exciting with multimedia.
I think a large interactive map of his entire journey would be a great addition, where readers could click on different plots on the line to see pictures of that moment in Charlie’s trek. It wouldn’t be necessary, but by zooming out and showing the entire journey, you could add another perspective to the trip itself, especially if you were to show it from a satellite shot.
- This story was mainly featured on Outside the Lines, where they also had a discussion. It also featured in ESPN the Magazine, which covered Charlie’s wife’s perspective of the story, and you could also listen to Charlie’s “The Sporting Life” radio interview. Charlie also did a live online chat through Sports Nation, another one of ESPN’s shows.
