Flash Quick Course in Ohio

Major breakthroughs were made in Athens, Ohio on February 1st and 2nd at the multimedia Quick Course. All of us learned something about making interactive graphics. See the photos at the Ohio University School of Visual Communication.

See this crude attempt at a daily interactive graphic. It's not pretty, but hey, I didn't know how to do this even 5 days ago.

As promised, this really was 'for journalists, by journalists'. Scott Horner (top photo) and Don Wittekind of the Sun Sentinel and Swarm Interactive taught the state of the art (i.e. efficient) techniques in programming ActionScript and also how to turn an existing print graphic into an interactive one in a few hours. These guys have also done interactive graphics for the Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

The bottom photo is Justin Stahlman (me) from Le Journal de Montréal and Bill Neff of the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.

If anyone has some basic knowledge of Flash and some interest in multimedia, sign up for this course in Las Vegas. It's going to be pretty much the same, but those who were here tell me it gets more refined each time they teach it.

Leave it to the creators of the exploded-stadium double-truck to also set the standard in interactive graphics: USAToday's interactive election poll tracker. We actually learned how to do most of this stuff in Ohio -- loading images and data from a server, turning items on or off depending on user choices, and more -- but these things aren't created on deadline. They are created by a staff with money.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Neff were working on something like this in secret. The way he was shouting at the code and cackling like a mad scientist when he debugged it. I can see the lightning striking his house now as he creates the perfect monster Flash graphic, just because he can.

National Post Graphics Editor in Afghanistan

Richard Johnson, Graphics Editor of the National Post is in Afghanistan! He is illustrating and writing stories of lives caught up in the conflict in Kandahar province. Richard is filing almost daily to his blog, Kandahar Journal, at nationalpost.com, where you will find audio clips of his experiences, illustrations, and commentary on his travels.

He has just spent several days on two patrols with Canadian soldiers from Afghanistan's Forward Operating Base Ma'Sum Ghar. One was a tense patrol searching a village for booby traps, the other collecting dead bodies after a Taliban attack. National Post devoted page A3 to Richard's coverage.

From top, counter clockwise, Corporal Jason Sypher is among the Canadians who respond to a report of an attack on an Afghan police check-point. The soldiers walk behind the tanks toward the checkpoint, where they find the bodies of Afghans inside. Their police collegues are somber. Earlier, Master Corporal Darryl McCann was on village patrol. The soldiers met a man and his children, the smallest appears sickly.

Richard has illustrated war before! When he was at the Detroit Free Press, he went to Iraq with fellow journalist, Jeff Seidel and they produced Portraits of War. Their stories were eventually published into a book.

Through the stories and sketches, he is reminding readers that individuals make up the casualty counts in the news stories they read. He is giving them faces and stories.

Last week Richard's art became main art on A1. He drew two members of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Trooper Steve Davidson and Corporal Wade Wick mourning the death of their friend, Trooper Darryl Caswell, who died in an explosion a few days before.

TONIA COWAN JOINS THE GLOBE

Tonia Cowan will join The Globe and Mail's visual operation as graphics editor beginning Monday, May 28. Tonia began her career with Canadian Press before moving to New York where she spent six years with the Associated Press and four years with Newsweek prior to returning to Canada to join The Toronto Star in 2003.
Tonia holds a B.A. in fine art with a minor in political science from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. Her work has been recognized by the Society for News Design and the Malofiej International Infographics Awards. She also created several graphics for Charles Hanley's Pulitzer Prize winning No Gun Ri story.