Josh Stearns’ best of 2015 is a snapshot of digital content innovation

Journalist Josh Stearns has a piece on Medium reviewing the best online storytelling and journalism of 2014.

None of the stories and projects are sports-related, but I think it’s a useful read for anyone in the digital content racket, because Stearns presents a fascinating snapshot of the state of innovation.

As a newly minted radio guy—”Content Is King,” weekdays at 6 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM Bleacher Report Radio—I was particularly interested in Stearns’ first category of stories, which he calls “The Year Audio Went Viral.” The Serial podcast got most of the attention, but:

Serial is only part of a larger story about the resurgence of podcasts as digital audio gets woven deeply into the web, mobile phones and car radios. *See for example Treasured Island, by Aljazeera America, in which audio is overlayed on top of text and underlayed behind stunning photos …

2014 was also the year that Alex Blumberg created an addictive podcast about launching his new start-up (which produces podcasts). It was also the year that the podcast network Radiotopia raised $620,000 on Kickstarter, promising to reinvent public radio. There were so many good stories from the podcasts that make up Radiotopia this year that I couldn’t pick just one — go, listen, subscribe and support them.

Stearns reviews several other ways journalists are telling stories: With sensors and satellite imagery, with graphics and illustrations, with crowdsourcing and “eyewitness media,” and more.

There are many ways to tell a story—more and more all the time. Play around with the many links in Stearns’ piece. See if your creativity gets a spark or two.