How can the Web and broadcast complement eachother without repeating one another, you ask? Hmmmm, I wonder where that is happening? Try looking right under our very own noses! Yes, I am talking (typing?) about our very own in-class project, the soon-to-be new and improved KUJH-TV Web site. You might be thinking I'm copping out by writing about it and not researching another site, but I cannot think of a better example of collaboration than this. In fact, if I could, I would just refer you to the creative brief for the site that is slowly (but surely) coming together as I type. It basically outlines how the Web can implement the best of broadcast and improve its weaknesses, such as time constraints and lack of permanence.
We've heard about convergence and lateral thinking to the point that it invades my sleep sometimes. It was as true then as it is now. The Web has so many benefits that will improve traditional outlets of media. I think it's entirely possible for the Web and broadcast news to work together without getting redundant. Not only does the Web allow a more in-depth appeal to broadcast stories, but it gives the opportunity to even add to the story through links and sidebars. It doesn't just stop there. We, the information architects (and visual designers) are coming up with so many ways to improve traditional broadcast news through the KUJH-TV news site. How does creating your own newscast from the best of the top stories of the week sound? Or how would you like to get a behind the scenes look at how a real newscast is produced? Maybe you'd like to know more about a certain reporter and stories they've done, or find more stories like the one you see on the KUJH-TV site from the "Kansan" or even the "Lawrence Journal World", just with the click of a mouse. Yes, these are only a few of the many ideas that keep the wheels turning in our heads.
The possibilities of how the Web and broadcast news can collaborate are endless. Well, maybe not endless, but there are more opportunities than you'd think. The Web will give broadcast a sense of permanence to boast about that previously only print could do, because these stories will now have a place to live. It will add capacity, releasing constraining time limitations that will allow reporters to thoroughly cover a topic. This teamwork will also give a sense of ownership, or at least more interaction, to the audience that broadcast didn't have before. This means that the audience will now have a choice, a response to what they see. In this week's chapter, it said that broadcast is the medium that is the most distant from its audience, but also the one with the most immediate impact. That doesn't have to be the case anymore. Because the Web can handle audio and video formats, broadcast journalists can now include things they weren't able to before, like an entire interview rather than just a 12-second sound bite. They can link more information to their source, or even create a sidebar story relating to their package. Package may not even be the right way to describe it anymore.
Can you see where this is all leading? The only thing I see standing in the way is the broadcasters themselves. Chapter nine said that broadcast news stations weren't using the Web to its full capacity, taking advantage of all it has to offer. It seems that too often television news sites seem to be in some form or another just shovelware sites, not implementing and expanding the stories to their full extent. This is the next level we are moving towards, exploring the Web and what it can do for broadcast, moving away from the redundant. The Web and broadcast don't need to be competitors, or repeat and reflect what the other does, rather, they should be partners and work together to produce (and proliferate) a better, more extensive avenue of news delivery.
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