MSNBC – Islam in Europe
I looked at the MSNBC interactive map called Islam in Europe which gives users a rundown of the history, population, and issues of the Muslim inhabitants of Europe. It is a pretty basic setup, users are presented with the map, the countries change color when moused-over, and when they are clicked on a space on the right of the screen displays the promised information.
As far as story telling capabilities, it is not a very effective presentation. Not to say this is necessarily a bad thing, in a map format like this, a self-guided nonlinear approach makes a lot more sense. Users can navigate to where they want and find out information however they see fit.
Islam in Europe
Each individual country has history and origin information, which can tell a story within themselves, but overall the map doesn’t tell the chronological story that most people have come to expect, especially when learning about history and anthropology.
It works well as an overview looking at Europe in its individual components, and is a good starting reference to get an idea of what the population is like and a brief history, and the current issues and conflicts.
I think that this multimedia is useful only for basic information. I like that they provide map for viewers so that the viewers can actually pick the country they want to know about. As a person who doesn’t really know where different countries are located, I personally believe that map is very useful so I can get a sense of where things are.
However, I agree with Josh that history supposed to be chronological and on this multimedia, the history seems to be very short, non-chronological and doesn’t really tell a lot.
I really like the look of the map though. It’s neat. I like the colors they picked because things are presented very clear. Nothing on this multimedia is confusing. The text and map are very easy to look at.
Even though this multimedia doesn’t really tell a lot of things, I think this multimedia is enough for basic knowledge. In fact, I believe that’s the intended purpose of creating this multimedia. I don’t think they created this to give too many details.
I found this site very interesting. Growing up I was not much of a history buff or interested in learning about the world. However, since starting my job 5 years ago with the government I have learned so much about other cultures. I thought this site was very informative.
We hear about Islam on the news and sometimes a negative picture is portrayed of Islam. It was very interesting to learn more about Islam. I also thought the interactive media is a easier way for those that may not like reading to learn about this very important topic. It is important for all to understand.