Thirst in the Mojave

Posted by: Zach Wise    Tags:  , , , , , ,     Posted date:  January 5, 2009  |  34 Comments


The Thirst in the Mojave piece is my attempt at making video interactive and contextualizing its content. Video on the web is great but it lacks many web-centric features or enhancements.

The advantage of web video over traditional video has typically revolved around the ability to share with friends and time-shift watching content. Thirst in the Mojave tries to bring a little more web mentality to video but still utilize the linear narrative strengths that make video such a great storytelling tool.

I completed the project before I left the Las Vegas Sun back in August and for reasons I’m not sure of, it finally launched.

Features of Mojave

Interactive geo-coded video

Each scene in the story is geo-located to where it was shot or what you are seeing. A GPS data-logger was used on every shoot for the project and GPS coordinates were logged for each shot and photograph made.

Lower-Third Bios

Every “lower-third” for the people speaking is brought in using flash and allows you to always know who is currently speaking. If you click on the name of the person, you can see a short bio including information relevant to what they are speaking about. The idea here was to contextualize or qualify their voice of authority.

More Info!

The more info box is triggered by the video playing to bring up context specific data, facts, graphics, links or videos. This is a great way to provide content that is informative and relevant but could slow down the main narrative.

Transparency is a great tool of truth.

Another use of the more info box in this project was transparency. An example of this is a scene in part 3 where Pat Mulroy is talking about the pipeline project on Face to Face with Jon Ralston. In the narrative you see several clips from the program but in the more info box you can watch the entire Face to Face show that those clips came from. Any viewers who might be skeptical that those clips were taken out of context can watch the program and see that the clips were selected appropriately.

All together, about 20 hours of footage were shot and edited down to 22 minutes for the main narrative.

The main narrative video content is divided into 5 parts for the web. The piece was also edited for TV by cutting it into 4 parts for commercial breaks with a total run time of 22 minutes.

60 minutes of extra footage

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve edited an interview and had to lop off some really interesting information because it strayed from or didn’t fit the tight narrative I was working on. Now the viewer is in control and can let their curiosity of a subject drive them to discover more on their own. Facts spoken in the video can have links citing sources, or where to go for more info.

Curiosity

There is also approximately another 60 minutes of extra footage that shows up in the more info box during the piece. Dozens of infographics were created for the piece. Between the geocoded map items, info box extras and bios there are about 145 extra pieces of information shown.

Interactive Water Use Map

We thought this topic was strong enough to go even further. We built a database of water usage from public water records for over 1/2 a million single family homes in the valley. We then built a “water use app” to allows viewers to search a map of the Las Vegas Valley to find out how much water they’ve used in the last year. They can then compare their usage to their neighbors. On top of the search functionality we also visualized water usage density and swimming pool density on the map. Approximately 70% of the water problem falls on outdoor residential water use, I think this app is a real asset towards understanding that problem and hopefully doing something about it.

About the author
Zach Wise is an award-winning former Senior Multimedia Producer for The New York Times and Associate Professor at Northwestern University.



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  • http://twitter.com/zlwise/statuses/1171931314 zlwise (Zach Wise)

    Testing out tweetbacks for wordpress http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/andrewzahler/statuses/1098795008 andrewzahler (Andrew Zahler)

    I feel so analog. RT @Journerdism Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm (Zach Wise’s Water project)

  • http://twitter.com/gmarkham/statuses/1098786715 gmarkham (gmarkham)

    RT @Journerdism: I’m callin’ this one early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm

  • http://twitter.com/Journerdism/statuses/1098765979 Journerdism (Will Sullivan)

    I’m callin’ this one early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm (Zach Wise’s Water p

  • http://twitter.com/eyeseast/statuses/1098196088 eyeseast (Chris Amico)

    Reading: Thirst in the Mojave: The advantage of web video over traditional video has typically revolved .. http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/zlwise/statuses/1097930350 zlwise (Zach Wise)

    A little more about the water project: http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/dnolan/statuses/1097964096 dnolan (David Nolan)

    Great interactive journalism from Zach Wise http://bit.ly/WMdt and his blog post about how he put it all together http://bit.ly/BRfF

  • http://twitter.com/andrewzahler/statuses/1098795008 andrewzahler (Andrew Zahler)

    I feel so analog. RT @Journerdism Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm (Zach Wise’s Water project)

  • http://twitter.com/gmarkham/statuses/1098786715 gmarkham (gmarkham)

    RT @Journerdism: I’m callin’ this one early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm

  • http://twitter.com/Journerdism/statuses/1098765979 Journerdism (Will Sullivan)

    I’m callin’ this one early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm (Zach Wise’s Water p

  • http://twitter.com/eyeseast/statuses/1098196088 eyeseast (Chris Amico)

    Reading: Thirst in the Mojave: The advantage of web video over traditional video has typically revolved .. http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/zlwise/statuses/1097930350 zlwise (Zach Wise)

    A little more about the water project: http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/dnolan/statuses/1097964096 dnolan (David Nolan)

    Great interactive journalism from Zach Wise http://bit.ly/WMdt and his blog post about how he put it all together http://bit.ly/BRfF

  • http://twitter.com/derekcasanovas/statuses/1204801314 derekcasanovas (derekcasanovas)

    watch this — legit. http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/wblau/statuses/1103218735 wblau (Wolfgang Blau)
  • http://twitter.com/wblau/statuses/1103218551 wblau (Wolfgang Blau)
  • http://twitter.com/wblau/statuses/1103217290 wblau (Wolfgang Blau)

    oopshttp://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/tboemily/statuses/1099825347 tboemily (Emily Seawell)

    RT @Journerdism: I’m callin’ this one early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day http://is.gd/eENm

  • http://twitter.com/SamAbernethy/statuses/1098809403 SamAbernethy (Samantha)

    Awesome. RT @journerdism I’m callin’ this 1 early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day http://is.gd/eENm

  • http://twitter.com/andrewzahler/statuses/1098795008 andrewzahler (Andrew Zahler)

    I feel so analog. RT @Journerdism Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm (Zach Wise’s Water project)

  • http://twitter.com/gmarkham/statuses/1098786715 gmarkham (gmarkham)

    RT @Journerdism: I’m callin’ this one early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm

  • http://twitter.com/Journerdism/statuses/1098765979 Journerdism (Will Sullivan)

    I’m callin’ this one early because no one’s going to beat it, Journerdism’s Tuesday Link of the Day =http://is.gd/eENm (Zach Wise’s Water p

  • http://twitter.com/eyeseast/statuses/1098196088 eyeseast (Chris Amico)

    Reading: Thirst in the Mojave: The advantage of web video over traditional video has typically revolved .. http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/zlwise/statuses/1097930350 zlwise (Zach Wise)

    A little more about the water project: http://tinyurl.com/9kxtd9

  • http://twitter.com/dnolan/statuses/1097964096 dnolan (David Nolan)

    Great interactive journalism from Zach Wise http://bit.ly/WMdt and his blog post about how he put it all together http://bit.ly/BRfF

  • http://www.tamark.ca/students/2009/01/06/tuesday-squibs-98/ Notes from a Teacher – Tuesday squibs

    [...] Thirst in the Mojave. I pointed to the great Las Vegas Sun feature on water and Las Vegas, which combines video, geotagging, innovative depth material and more, a day or two ago. This post gives some of the details of how the project came together. Related: Alex Gamela has some of the details and words of praise for the project. [...]

  • http://collegewebguy.com Drew

    This is epic. This is grand and captivating. Home Run.

  • peter

    was the piece successful, do you know? If so the paper will be planning more of the same.

  • Darren

    Outstanding work! The video was nicely edited and the time-lapse scenes were subtle and spot-on (really liked the evaporating water in the glass at the beginning). Online journalism at its finest.

  • http://digitalartwork.net Zach Wise

    I’m not sure if the piece was successful, or even how the Sun would choose to gauge it’s success.

  • http://thecompellingimage.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/a-video-is-worth-1000-layers/ A Video Is Worth 1,000 Layers « The Compelling Image

    [...] project’s producer, Zach Wise, wrote on his blog that the piece is his attempt at “making video interactive and contextualizing its [...]

  • http://eileenmignoni.com Eileen

    Hey Zach,

    I’m at UNC this summer working on a multimedia project. We’re looking to make our video content interactive (at least searchable, if not more.) Do you happen to know how often the click offs were used by the typical user? Was the non-linear aspect appreciated or ignored by the typical user? I realize you left soon after, but perhaps you know some of the site’s statistics.

    Thanks,
    Eileen

  • http://raisac.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/scarcity-of-water-in-las-vegas-interactive-video/ Scarcity of water in Las Vegas interactive video « Raisa's converged blog

    [...] 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment I found this site: Digital Artwork.  It highlights innovative multimedia projects that are news worthy and some of the content gives [...]

  • http://niemanstoryboard.us/2010/02/26/frontline-and-the-international-center-of-photography-look-at-news-narratives-for-a-digital-era/ Frontline and the International Center of Photography look at news narratives for a digital era – Nieman Storyboard – A project of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard

    [...] “Thirst in the Mojave,” from Zach Wise, ran in the Las Vegas Sun (Wise is now at The New York Times). At the top of the homepage, a panic-inducing counter runs off the remaining days until Lake Mead will (possibly) run dry–which is only one small part of a dazzling array of information available for visitors to the site. The video follows a traditional, linear approach, but additional elements supply context in unusual ways. To read an explanation of each feature, see this post at digitalartwork.net. [...]