Explore Jamestown

Finally, the exploreJamestown400.com site has launched. Its a bit of a challenging piece to understand and explain, but here is my best attempt at it.

In the ideal newsroom, the staff would work seamlessly - photographers would place as much value on their photographs for the web as for the paper, the reporters would understand how to use audio to tell stories and what the benefits of it are and so much more. My experience says that only in rare newsrooms is this the case.

For example, I just completed a project to accompany the 400th anniversary of Jamestown for Media General. The project began as a great idea - a concept that combined news, learning, and entertainment. How do you ask? By utilizing different media types to be both informative and entertaining...but using videos, storytellers, and 360 images to immerse a user in an experience.

The result is here. As the producer of this project, I won't deny that my initial goals were a bit lofty. In fact, perhaps they were unattainable...but I like to think they were not. Perhaps instead, this project faced the issues that many news projects face - TIME and PERSONNEL.

The initial goals of this project were to bring Jamestown to life - then and now. To allow users to explore what life was like in 1607 in several aspects: the journey to the New World as passengers aboard a cargo ship; life at a colonial fort; life of the Powhatan Indians, who were confronted by the settlers; and exploring the New World. Because the state of Virginia supports a wonderful resource at the Jamestown Settlement where students of all ages can explore reconstructions of the ships, the fort and a village, we were able to use this resource to reconstruct these experiences for web users by utilizing video, 360 images, and photos.

In addition, we were able to compare these historical reconstructions to the state of the James Fort, the Virginia Indians, and the Chesapeake Bay today. The site of the fort is now an archeological dig run by the APVA Preservation Virginia, the Indians still a part of culture in Virginia as well as other parts of America and the Bay an environmental treasure that faces preservation issues everyday. These are the news stories of today that are so valuable in understanding the history of Jamestown.

Now, initially, we had also planned to include a timeline, portraits of key figures, and more graphics. But when it comes down to production...everything changes. Initially, I expected the assistance of at least 2 photographers, a videographer, a graphic artist and an illustrator. What resulted was not nearly that, and the result was that we had to sacrifice pieces of the project to make up for it.

Sure it is still a neat site...but it is not nearly as informative as I would have liked. Plus, it was proof to me that to most newrooms, the web is still an afterthought...even though the photographers and artists were put on this project, it never took a priority in their life.

On that note, any reviews, critiques, etc are welcomed!

Explore Jamestown