The Iraqi Kurds, backed by U.S. airstrikes and other Kurds, attempt to defend the Syrian border town of Kobani from the Islamic State

According to a Reuters article written by Mariam Karouny in November, 2014, the Iraqi Kurds have recently began to assist the United States and other Kurdish tribes in a battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Kobani, Syria. Kobani is an important border town that is adjacent to Turkey, and therefore must be defended to prevent ISIS from gaining further traction in the Middle East. The Iraqi Kurds will attempt to burgeon the onslaught against ISIS by providing long-range artillery.

The weapons utilized by the Iraqi Kurds are an improvement to the arsenal used by the Syrian Kurds, according to Idriss Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in the Kobani district. However, even with the improved weapons, it is still unclear whether or not progress is being made against the terrorist group as both sides have lost forces, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an overseer of the ongoing Syrian conflict.

Additionally, while U.S. airstrikes have been effective in some aspects of the war, ISIS is advancing in other locations such as Western Iraq, where they have killed several Sunni rebels. Moreover, the Kurds and other groups have been able to push back the terrorist group in some respects, yet ISIS has had several victories, including the acquisition of an important stronghold from Albu Nimr, a Sunni group.

ISIS seeks to eliminate Shi'ites as they are proclaimed infidels for adhering to different Islamic principles. The terrorist group recruits many volunteers, and is thus able to maintain a presence in the Middle East, despite being opposed by many other Islamic groups.

This article and website demonstrate utilization of three of the four aspects regarding the P-I-C-K model of digital journalism. By using this model, the journalist is able to effectively communicate the issue to the general public in a clear and concise manner.

Personalizing the website based on country selected enables users to engage in relevant, local news

The website has a drop down list at the top of the page to customize the edition of the news based on the country. For example, if I was interested in news pertaining to Africa, I can select "Africa" from the drop down list, and receive the most important news stories in that country. This personalizes the website for the user as it facilitates navigation for news that is relevant to them, thereby allowing the user to more deeply engage with the content presented in front of them.


Because I live in the United States, news relating to this country is most important and personal for me, so I selected "U.S." as my edition. This particular article regarding ISIS was one of the top stories on the front page of the U.S. edition, which is reasonable due to the involvement of the U.S. and its airstrikes in ISIS affairs, thereby demonstrating the usefulness and accuracy of personalization employed by Reuters.

Slideshows, user comments, social media sharing, and new page requests provide users with website interactivity

Interactivity is a measure of the user's engagement with content. In many articles, there is a slideshow with captions for each picture at the beginning, thereby allowing members of all audiences to gain a quick overview regarding the topic of the respective story.

At the end of each article, there is an option for users to submit comments about the article they have just read. Moreover, users have the option to share the article with others through social media, which can facilitate the transfer of information to others. These two modes of interactivity enable readers to start or participate in a discussion, thereby increasing engagement with the content presented.

Lastly, users can interact with the content by making requests for articles on new topics, or by requesting corrections for specific articles. This is an example of becoming an active part of the website's community, thereby increasing engagement not only with the website itself, but also with the news provided.

The author should have added relevant narration, videos, and pictures within the article to improve contiguity

Contiguity is a measure of coherence between text and graphics. Unfortunately, the author does not maximize this coherence as the pictures relating to the article are contained within the slideshow at the top of the page. A suggestion for the author would be to embed an interactive world map of ISIS activity in Syria and surrounding areas within the article. Another idea to improve contiguity is by adding a video or some other form of narration within the article. Although the pictures and captions are descriptive and relatable to the topic of the article, they are not as effective when placed at the top of the page. While the slideshow does provide good interactivity, it might be best to also add independent photos throughout the article to increase the user's engagement with the text. Without this contiguity, it can cause filter failure in the user and decrease engagement with the content of the article.

Kick outs are minimized by avoiding advertisements, popups, and keeping related links to the side of the page

A kick out is anything that causes disengagement between the reader and the content. With regards to this article, kick outs are usually avoided as there are no intrusive advertisements such as popups that randomly appear when scrolling down the page, which reduces frustration and allows users to comfortably read the article. Moreover, reading through the page is easy as there seems to be a lot of space due to lack of advertisements or extraneous links. This is also maintained by fixing related links and news stories to the side of the page at a small size, so that it does not pull the reader away from the article. Another benefit to this is that because it is locked to the side of the page, these links and stories will not drag down as the reader scrolls, which can cause frustration on other websites and can lead to the user leaving that website. As I was reading through some articles on this website, I never felt frustrated by the interface, as it enabled me to read the article at my pace and then choose my destination afterwards without any coercion from advertisements.