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What: Funny garbage launches content and feature rich sites for The Atlantic Monthly and Grove Press. These sites use CSS and Ajax to contextually incorporate, within the text of the story, a rich archive of audio and visual materials. Flash is used to present numerous video clips. Both sites support and enhance materials from the book The Guests of the Ayatollah and its related Discovery Times Channel documentary.
Where:
iran.theatlantic.com/homepage.html, www.theguestsoftheayatollah.com
When: April 2006
How did we do it?
Mark Bowden’s new book, The Guests of The Ayatollah, provides an in-depth look at the 1980 Iran hostage crisis. In conjunction with the release of the book by The Atlantic Monthly Press, a documentary was produced by The Times Discovery Channel, and The Atlantic Magazine featured a series of articles about Iran. The centerpiece in this series is “The Desert One Debacle”, an article by Mr. Bowden that features interviews with many of the Delta Forces involved in the failed rescue attempt.
For the online version of this article, Funny Garbage weaved compelling assets into the story, including audio and video interviews, maps, photos, and scanned documents. Links to these assets are integrated into the text of the article and are labeled using an iconography that clearly indicates to readers what type of asset each link goes to. Fast-loading pop-ups also support the story by providing short bios and definitions of key terms on mouse over.
The three related properties - the book, the documentary, and the Atlantic Magazine issue – are all tied together in this series of websites, allowing cross promotion and better visibility for all of the properties. Furthermore, a blog was created as part of the project, so that Mr. Bowden can continue the Iran-related dialog with the public. A calendar of his book tour and updated book reviews are also available on the book’s website, as are audio recordings of Mr. Bowden reading from the book.
Why was it successful?
FG’s information architects and programmers worked together to determine the most user-friendly presentation for the large amount of information available. Viewers can easily learn more about the book, read related Iran articles, or see the full list of supporting materials, all within a few clicks.
Using CSS and Ajax, FG’s code is sleek and fast. Rollover pop-ups appear without delay. Audio files are embedded into Flash, enabling seemless presentation and ubiquitous access. Video QT files are optimized for the Web.
These sites do more than support the launch of the book and a single issue of the magazine. By providing updated reviews, a calendar of events and a blog, ongoing public interest in Mark Bowden’s work becomes part of these sites, and they can take on a life of their own. |
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