26 Innovative Storytelling Tools To Bring Websites Alive

A list of tools News21 journalists are using to report on gun rights and regulations in the US.

News21 is an investigative reporting project covering gun rights, regulations and culture for its' fifth national project.

One of the goals in News21 is to continue pushing the boundaries and exploring the use of innovative digital tools. News21 fellows researched Poynter's News University's list of innovative reporting, design and social media tools, which is a project of The Poynter Institute and funded by The Knight Foundation.

SoundCite.js

Via soundcite.knightlab.com

Produce inline audio.

Timeline.js

Via timeline.knightlab.com

Create interactive timelines with text, video, photos or social content.

StoryMap.js

Via storymap.knightlab.com

Track a story over multiple locations and embed video, photos or social content.

D3: Data-Driven Documents

Mike Bostock / Via d3js.org

Offers countless ways to create data-based visuals.

Easel.ly

Easel.ly / Via easel.ly

Create infographics.

Picktochart

Picktochart / Via picktochart.com

Create infographics.

infogr.am

infogr.am / Via infogr.am

Create infographics.

Highcharts

Highcharts / Via highcharts.com

Create interactive charts.

CanvasJS

CanvasJS / Via canvasjs.com

Create interactive charts.

plotly

plotly / Via plot.ly

Analyze, graph and share data.

Datawrapper

ABZV / Via datawrapper.de

Create easy-to-embed charts.

CartoDB

CartoDB / Via cartodb.com

Create interactive maps.

TileMill by Mapbox

Mapbox / Via mapbox.com

Create interactive maps.

Stamen maps

Stamen / Via maps.stamen.com

Create various textured maps using OpenStreetMap data.

Tableau Public

Tableau / Via tableausoftware.com

Create graphs, maps and tables.

Popcorn.js

Mozilla / Via popcornjs.org

Allow video to control elements of a web page.

freeDrive

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism / Via multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu

Turn Google spreadsheets into searchable databases.

import.io

import.io / Via import.io

Scrape data from any website, turn websites into a datatable or API.

Census Reporter

CensusReporter / Via censusreporter.org

Simplifies finding and using data from decennial census and American Community Survey.

CENSUS.IRE.ORG

Investigative Reporters and Editors / Via census.ire.org

A simple way to access 2010 Census data.

RebelMouse

RebelMouse / Via rebelmouse.com

Share multiple social media accounts on a page, can be used for aggregation or user-generated content.

bambuser

bambuser / Via bambuser.com

Capture, share and watch live video.

zeega

zeega / Via zeega.com

Combine content with social media curated content to create interactive videos.

Videolicious

Videolicious / Via videolicious.com

Quickly create video and B-roll.

POP

POP / Via gopop.co

Mix GIFs, photos, videos and easily share them.

PANDA

Via pandaproject.net

A data library that can be searchable by newsrooms.

Help inform our coverage: Guns on campus?

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Help inform our coverage of gun rights, regulations and gun culture in the United States. We'd like to hear from college students, parents, professors and community members about their perspective of guns on campus.

Follow our blog for the latest on guns in the United States:

http://gunwars.news21.com