User interaction
Create simple polls
Polls can be an easy way to create some simple user interaction, but there are many providers out there for the simple polls you see on many websites. One of the more prominent services is PollDaddy, a product of WordPress-creator Automattic. PollDaddy has both free and paid accounts. Paid accounts are necessary for anyone who [...]
Will collaborative, user-driven journalism reshape reporting?
As more activities traditionally carried out on desktop computers continue to move to “the cloud” – online data centers that host everything from video editing software to office applications to e-mail – so is the reporting process. Some users see it as a way to do journalism in areas where no one else is, while [...]
Let users suggest, then vote among questions or ideas
Google Moderator lets you create polls where users can decide between competing questions, suggestions or ideas. Except it’s different than a traditional poll in that you, the creator, don’t have to provide the ideas for users to choose among. Instead, the tool harnesses the power of the crowd to create the ideas and to moderate [...]
Do online games have a role in news?
What do Gannett newspapers and Hasbro have in common? If you’re not sure, check out Picture the Impossible, a joint venture by the Gannett-owned Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and the Lab for Social Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Picture the Impossible is an alternate-reality game developed to attract young readers to the newspaper. [...]
Create an online game or puzzle
So you want to create your own game? Try a free online service such as Sharendipity. It’s one of several online services out there that will let you create games from scratch or allow you to customize an existing template. A great deal of the services out there offer templates and games that can’t be [...]
Host live chats or live-blog an event
Here’s a tool that’s starting to pop up all over the place lately. CoveritLive is a sort of hybrid between a chat room and a blog. It’s often being called live-blogging. CoveritLive (and similar services) is often used for sporting events or for fluid breaking news situations. The free service allows you to place a [...]