Product Description

This book will assist journalists and Flash developers who are working together to bring video, audio, still photos, and animated graphics together into one complete Web-based package.

This book is not just another Flash book because it focuses on the need of journalists to tell an accurate story and provide accurate graphics. This book will illustrate how to animate graphics such as maps, illustrations, and diagrams using Flash. It will show journalists how to integrate high-quality photos and audio interviews into a complete news package for the Web.

Each lesson in the book is followed by a learning summary so that journalists can review the skills they have acquired along the way. In addition, the book's six case studies will allow readers to study the characteristics of news packages created with Flash by journalists and Web developers at The Washington Post, MSNBC.com, and Canadian and European news organizations.

* Perfect for photojournalists who want to create or produce online slide shows with audio.
* A list of keyboard shortcuts for Flash will be included as an appendix.
* Lessons, not reference. This accessible approach for learning Flash MX 2004 illustrates its concepts with concrete examples that make sense.
* Full Color!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #544058 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 520 pages

Review
"If you are an online editor, photojournalist or journalist, this is a resource that will hone your skills in this increasingly important area of journalism." - Writing magazine

About the Author
Mindy McAdams is currently Professor and Knight Chair for Journalism at theUniversity of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications; she is a member of the Online News Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, and AEJMC. She has co-authored The Internet Handbook for Writers, Researchers, and Journalists (2003) and has written several articles about teaching for the Online Journalism Review. Her past jobs included content developer (Digital Ink/The Washington Post), Web strategist (American Press Institute), copy editor (The Washington Post and Time magazine), and producer (Prodigy Services Co.).

Customer Reviews

Finally a book to learn how to do a multimedia piece right!
Finally a flash book that does not just show you how to make a ball bounce across a stage!

This is the book I recommend to aspiring multimedia journalists.

If you are a journalist who wants to go toward the online realm this is the book to buy, read and learn from -- I have always sent folks to Mindy McAdams' web site in the past -- now this new book she has done is even better.

Seth M. Gitner
Multimedia Editor
(...)

85% of perfect
Very clearly explained for people who have no experience in flash. However, it didn't get me all the way to where I wanted to be. I wanted to produce an audio slide show that featured a) faded transitions, b) synchronization to the audio track, c) seamless loading on the user's end, and d) dynamically loaded content for ease of re-use. Although the book teaches a, b, c and d individually, it never puts them all together; the "final project" doesn't incorporate syncronization or seamless loading, and the audio-sync slide show it teaches doesn't have dynamic content or faded transitions. However, I feel well equipped to pick up a more thorough flash book to take me the rest of the way, and I'm glad I started with this one (a more general starter book would likely have covered topics of no use to me, like advanced animation et cetera).

An excellent book. Focused and complete.
This book is excellent. It has a mission and it executes it well. Its mission is to teach people to use Flash to communicate their ideas through images, words, and if necessary, sound. The book is structured with an introduction to communicating effectively followed by 10 progressive lessons for using Flash to accomplish the stated mission. The 3rd part of the book presents 6 case studies, real live examples of Flash in action. These case studies discuss the issue at hand, the approach that the designers, producers, and developers took to solve their problem, plus a technical tip that we all encounter when building Flash applications. An Appendix is included with additional information, such as preloaders, swf management, and video. The companion website takes this book from 5 stars to 10 stars. This is one of the best technical books I have ever read. It never looses sight of its mission. It marries technical technique to a functional objective.