Sky News: Quizzes and Surveys

As there isn’t really much information ‘out there’ about the use of quizzes and surveys on news stories – I have decided to try the news organisations.

I have just been speaking to Adam Harding, Deputy Editor of Sky News Interactive about how Sky News use surveys online. He told me:

“Sky News is keen to keep in regular contact with our viewers and web site visitors to understand what they’re discussing, and what matters to them. On key stories this is particularly important. For example, in the Conservative leadership race, we wanted to know their feelings about the candidates. In other issues such as bird flu, we want to know how concerned people are and how convinced they are Britain is taking steps to protect them.

Surveys are a good tool for us to understand our audience but also give them the opportunity to talk directly to use and get involved. This makes Sky News interactive, not a distant organisation”

When talking about quizzes, Adam explained:

“We don’t really do quizzes on the Sky News web site, although we do add fact files, and Q&A sections. To an editor, quizzes aren’t as useful as surveys because they can’t really use the results, whereas in a survey they can.

Quizzes are very tricky because you have to be careful about what you are asking people about serious news. They are very limited to factual stories”

The Sky News web site can be found at: http://www.sky.com/skynews/home

Online Journo: Jonathan Dube, CyberJournalist.net

Just came across a web site which has a post by Donathan Dube who takes a look at several different forms on online journalism. Here's what he had to say about quizzes and surveys!

"Quizzes and Surveys
These too may not seem like storytelling, but the forms can be used to do so. Rather than just make a quiz as a fun aside to a story, an entire story can be told through the quiz format by breaking the information into questions and answers. This can be very effective because it engages the reader."

He also mentions the use of Macromedia Flash.

The whole article can be found at: http://www.journalism.org/resources/tools/writing/lessons
/storytelling.asp

Happy reading!!

Games Forums

Below are a list of forums where users can discuss the PlayStation 3 and other consoles. Visitors to the sites can post their thoughts/news/rumours about the console and games. Could be a good way for finding links to news and other web sites, and contacting people who use the consoles!

Of course, the official Sony forums for Europe are: http://eu.playstation.com/user/forums.jhtml, but I am going to look for some smaller forums.

http://www.playstation-3-forums.com - Forums for PS3s and Xbox.

http://www.ps3forums.com/ - A large forum about PS3, which also has other boards for other technological discussions. Seems to have lots of topics and views.

http://www.gamefaqs.com - I know this is one of the biggest gaming web sites on the internet, but this has a HUGE forum for users to discuss anything about gaming.

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/index.html - A similar web site to ign.com and gamefaqs.com. Has a message board for discussion.

http://uk.gamestracker.com/ - A message board for game consoles. The PS3 section seems to be getting lots of posts and hits on each post.

PS3: Column on CNN.com

One of the alternative news sites (see post: Console Blog?) has added a link to an interesting column from CNN.com.

In the column, Chris Morris discusses some of the points what I posted here yesterday about the cost of the console causing delays on launching the console. Chirs looks at the expected cost and delays and looks at how Microsoft could gain from the delays - and possible reasons for it not to be delayed!

Makes a good read - so, go read! http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/23/commentary/game_over/
column_gaming/

PS3 Launch Possibly Delayed

Just been reading on BBC.co.uk that Sony are expecting the launch of the PlayStation 3 to be delayed. This story has been reported on many sites, I have found two which are great reads!

The first is the bbc.co.uk article which can be view at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4731128.stm

The second is very interesting as it gives very detailed reasons for the delay, concerning the cost of building each PS3 unit. It says: "The cost of building Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3 could reach as high as US$900 per box initially" and then goes on to break down some of the costs which include:

>$350 for the Blu-ray drive (which Sony believe will drop to $100 in three years)
>$230 for 'The Cell' (which Sony believe will drop to about $60 in three years)

The whole article can be read at http://www.computerworld.be/index.cfm?PageID=16365&News_ID=14305&style=34360

It is expected that unless deals can be made, it may be pushed back by 6months or even a year, but Sony are saying they are still aiming for Spring 2006...only time will tell I guess!

PSP: Digital Video Camera?

PSPworld.com is reporting that the next version of the PSP will have a intergrated digital video camera built into it.

It is believed that it will be able to take photographs, video footage and even stream live video to the PlayStation 3!

The camera they are going to use is the same sort currently being used in Sony Ericsson mobile phones.

To read the full article go to: http://www.pspworld.com/sony-psp/news/next-psp-to-get-builtin-camera-video-streaming-003145.php

Console Blog?

I will now begin to look at a particular specialist area as part of my Online Journalism Assignment.

To begin I will use this post to post lots of different links to news sources and message board.

playsation3.wordpress.com - A blog all about the Sony PlayStation 3. It has been open since September 2005. Seems a very good source for news on the PlayStation 3 as well as all the details you could want about the PS3.
Contact details: pwz2k@hotmail.com

ps3center.net - A web site which focuses on the PS3 which also have a message board for users to discuss all games consoles and games.
Contact details: webmaster@ps3center.net

ign.com / ps3.ign.com / xbox360.ign.com / revolution.ign.com - IGN is a unit of Fox Interactive Media which provides all the latestest news about all consoles and games as well as movies. A very reliable source for up-to-date information
Contact details: pr@ign.com

8000 Marina Boulevard, 4th Floor
Brisbane, CA 94005
T: 415-508-2000
F: 415-508-2001

Press Room: http://corp.ign.com/index/news-releases.html

www.ps3week.com - A PlayStation blog which features news, previews, rumours and FAQs pages.

CNN.com: Beatles Quiz

Just was looking on Moodle (for UCE students) and found an example of a quiz:


http://archives.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/04/beatles/index.html (There is a link to the quiz on the right hand side of this page)

I have just taken part in this quiz, and am going to be a little critical about it. I know nothing about the Beatles (so I wasn't expecting to get every answer right), but I really didn't like this quiz.

The quiz is made in HTML, and the answers are given in a 'text box' simply saying if you are right or wrong. I understand that it would work on many computers, but it didn't seem up to the standard of some other quizzes I have looked at. For example, it doesn't give you a summary at the end of your results.

Although I didn't like it technically, it was a great example of a news story which felt the need to add a quiz and also a poll. You can read the article at
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/04/beatles/index.html.

Positives/Negatives

[Last updated: Feb 25th 2006]

I plan to use this to look at some of the positives and negatives to using quizzes and surveys as a form of Online Journalism. This post will be updated regularly looking at each point in as much details as possible, with some examples.


Positives

They can become a 'entertaining' and 'fun' way for the user to find out even more information about the subject of the news item. For example, if there was a story about a particular annual event - a quiz would help give details on the history, for users who want it.

It will feed 'facts' to the user without it seeming hard-hitting or boring.

If they are really good - word of mouth about them will increase hits to the site.

Negatives:

In order to make them look good, most designers would use something like Macromedia Flash. In order for the user to use it, they would need to have downloaded a Flash plug-in. Some plug-ins can't be installed on network computers, which would stop the visitors taking part in them.

If using images and animations within the quiz (such as the Chicago White Sox quiz), it may load slow on some internet connections.

Chicago White Sox Quiz

Just found a great quiz from USAToday.com. It is from a news story about Sox finally making it to the World Series. It gives questions to see if you are a "true fan", which leads you to finding out even more about the Sox.

It is made with flash, which makes it look very interactive and look impressive. The downside of course would be the user needs flash plug-ins to view it.

It serves as a great feature for Chicago White Sox fans and also other baseball fans to test their knowledge of the team and also inform them about the teams history at the same time.

To view it go to: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/graphics/baseball/whitesox_quiz/flash.htm

Olympic Games Survey & Quiz

While looking for some examples of Online Journalism: Survey and
Questionnaires as part of the D.S. task I came across this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/3529118.stm

This article on BBC News from 2004 wanted views on the Olympic Games from
readers of BBC from all over the world (BBCWorldservice.com)

It has links to a online survey about the views of the Olympic Games, and also a
interactive quiz.

The survey gives results from the survey from all over the world, with some very
detailed tables. The quiz also gives averages from their international web
sites.

Below are some images from both:
Survey Questions
Survey Results
Very Detailed Survey Results
Interactive Quiz
Interactive Quiz Results