We've got some exciting news to share: Interactive Narratives, a multimedia storytelling showcase founded by Andrew DeVigal five years ago, has re-launched under the sponsorship of the Online News Association -- better than ever.

http://www.interactivenarratives.org/

The new Interactive Narratives is designed to capture the best of online visual storytelling around the country and the world. The goal is to highlight rich-media content, engaging storytelling and eye-popping design in an environment that fosters interaction, discussion and learning.

Unlike the original Interactive Narratives, submission to the database is open to anyone. If you're an ONA member, you don't have to register for IN -- just use your ONA login and password. Others can register on the site directly (or, we hope, join ONA).

ONA members and registered users can rate and make comments on individual entries. A sort functionality allows users to list those interactives focused on their preference or craft.

Some other features worth noting:
* Expectations (http://tinyurl.com/3qs8zf) - To continue the high-quality of entries and engagement on this site, Andrew has outlined a few rules and regulations on our terms of use page.
* Bugs (http://tinyurl.com/3vgemc) - If you discover (or uncover) any strange or unexpected functionality to the site, please drop a response here.
* Wishlist (http://tinyurl.com/3r9rww) - Got ideas? So did we. Share them here.
* Beyond the Network - More to keep you inspired and connected: NetVibes Universe (http://tinyurl.com/4fdfor), Facebook Fan Page (http://tinyurl.com/5fraoh) and more to come...

For those of you unfamiliar with the history of Interactive Narratives, Andrew launched the site as a personal bookmarking system to track multimedia packages as he lectured and conducted workshops at The Poynter Institute and other venues around the country. Once Andrew joined The New York Times to be its Multimedia Editor, he had less time to devote to Interactives Narratives and put it on hiatus. The ONA Board, recognizing the value of the site, asked Andrew what we could do to help him revive it.

After several months of redesign and development work by Andrew and a team of really smart people, we are thrilled that Interactive Narratives 2.0 is live and ready for your participation.

I'd like to especially thank Andrew for all of his hard work on the site, as well as Teresa Hanafin, ONA board member and director of community publishing for Boston.com, for getting ONA involved and overseeing the relationship.

Other members of the team responsible for the relaunch include Ervic Aquino (Stormline Media), Angelo DeVigal (DeVigal Design), Jason Speck and Gabriel Dance. Active beta testers included: Regina McCombs (The Poynter Institute), Will Sullivan (Journerdism), Paige West (MSNBC.com), Seth Gitner (The Roanoke Times), William Couch (USAToday.com), Katy Newton (LATimes.com), Zach Wise (Las Vegas Sun), Jody Sugrue (Move30), Gabriel Dance & Amy O'Leary (NYTimes.com) and Ehrin Macksey.

This is the beginning of many exciting plans ONA has to improve its web offerings for our members and for the journalism community at large.

I hope you enjoy the new site -- both as a reader and as a participant.

Jonathan Dube
President
Online News Association
jdube@journalists.org