Multimedia comparison

Multimedia presentations allow viewers to have a greatly increased understanding of an event or story because it allows to them to hear the story firsthand from the people involved. For example, the print Baltimore Sun’s German Bakery story describes the blissful environment of Edelweiss Bakery on Thursday afternoons when Arthur Zeller plays. While the description is mildly visual, it is hard to fully encompass atmosphere without actual pictures. The bakery multimedia presentation takes the article a step father. By showing viewers the pastries and guests settling in first, the presentation captures the anticipation for Zeller to begin his music. As it continues, viewers are able to see images of Zeller playing and people singing along, as well as the audio to accompany the photographs. The multimedia allows people to feel as though they are actually sitting in the bakery enjoying the music, rather than just reading about a past event.

Like the bakery story, The Chechen War article is hard to fully read because it is so full of facts, the viewer can easily lose interest. The multimedia presentation, The Enemy Within, not only allows viewers to see the tragic of the war from personal experiences, but it highlights the most significant issues related to the topic. The audience actually learns more from the website than Wikipedia article, because it discusses issues they would not include in a factual piece, such as humiliating soldier training and abuse. Viewers can see the utter unhappiness on the boys’ faces as they talk, which shows the sincerity of their stories.

In general, multimedia stories draw viewers closer to the subjects in the stories because they feel like they can hear the stories firsthand.