News outlets are increasingly experimenting with virtual reality in a bid to bring viewers closer to the action. Henry Oliver looks at some of best examples of the news being experienced rather than read or watched.
The Turing Test is often used as a benchmark for establishing the humanity of artificial intelligence and the media was frothing at the mouth last year when a chatbot called Eugene Goostman posed as a 34-year-old boy from Odessa and supposedly passed the test by convincing 33 percent of the participants they were conversing with a human. There’s no doubt machines are getting smarter (or, at least, getting better at answering questions). So can you tell the difference between human and robot writing? Find out by taking a test created by The New York Times.
The Sunday edition The New York Times featured a full-page ad promoting medical marijuana, following state legislators’ passing of the Compassionate Care Act, which allows doctors to prescribe marijuana to people with serious ailments. This change in law does not however mean that thick plumes of Mary-Jane are going to be obscuring the view of the digital billboards at Time Square any time soon, because the legislation only permits the prescription of non-smokeable forms of marijuana.
The digital realm has allowed marketers and agencies to come up with a range of complex campaign ideas. But sometimes the simplest ideas are the best in this mad digital world. And The New York Times has created an addictive wee gem called Spot the Ball as part of its Football World Cup coverage.
The New York Times’ Snowfall was a great example of how a major publisher can use modern tools to tell stories. And now its Brand Studio has launched what some are calling the paid-for equivalent of that project, a multi-media series on women in prison that ties in to the new season of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black.
Former Guardian interactive editor Jonathan Richards has entered a shiny new world of storytelling at Google’s Creative Lab in Sydney. But he warns ad industry members that they ignore traditional techniques and media at their peril.