1. beyond the story-centric
model of the universe
eric ulken

2. who am i?
eric ulken
former editor, interactive technology, los angeles times
database + visualization + (a little of everything)

3. the story article so far
born 17th century
served us well for ~400 years
lots of words (~800-1,000 on average)
unstructured
“flat. gray. boring.” —under-30 readers

4. what else is there?
charts
blogs
audio databases
maps
hypertext interactive graphics
ranked lists
photo galleries q&a
timelines user-contributed
tables
video wikis
content

5. some examples
text tricks (lists, tables, timelines, q&a, “q&no-a”)
blogs are the new articles
photo galleries as lists, timelines
stand-alone ugc
video: short-form, packages
mapping, charts, data visualization
database applications

6. a 3-way mashup
public data
raw information

7. a 3-way mashup
original reporting
background, analysis

8. a 3-way mashup
user contributions
context, conversation

9. you try it: the no-article zone
besides writing articles, how might you tell these stories?
a study ranks your city among the worst in air quality
a fire breaks out in the hills north of town
a new law on mobile use while driving goes into effect
5 candidates file for your city’s mayoral race
“american idol” auditions come to town

10. just so i’m not misquoted...
i’m not anti-article
i’m just equal-opportunity

11. questions?
eric (at) ulken (dot) com