Today, still photographers and journalists have many tools to work with, and the combination of “new media” engages viewers through sight and sound. Multimedia is not so new, but its growth over the past few years has had a steep incline. The combining of these skills: still photography, audio, video, and text, with the internet, offers a great potential to attract and inform viewers in ways that newspapers and magazines can’t. The web has become the catalyst to dig deeper as a journalist and as a storyteller. And it has also become the inspiration for viewers to be more involved with the subjects of these stories. Non-profit organizations are using multimedia presentations to personalize stories from around the globe and engage and inspire viewers. Newspapers are increasing their web-presence, adding multimedia departments to cover local news and sports events, reaching out to wider audiences.

 

“The Jewel of Rhode Island” is a fun and informal multimedia project put together by 4 NPPA photographers: Yian Huang, Marc Steiner, Jennifer Warren, and Kevin Wexler. All apply varying aspects of multimedia technology and storytelling into their everyday work; with studies in journalism, video and audio for newspaper applications and weddings, and still/audio interviews for documentaries like this one.

 

Roger Williams Park Zoo, 3^rd oldest zoo in the country and located in Providence, RI, is home to over 1,000 animals in settings ranging from the plains of African to a Tropical rainforest, and is a major partner in the worldwide effort to protect endangered species like the American burying beetle, white-cheeked gibbon and tree kangaroo. Visit www.rogerwillaimsparkzoo.org for more info.