Interactive news articles with Ink
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I built this project as an experiment in making news more interactive. The idea was simple: what if readers could choose their own path through a story, diving deeper on topics they care about and skipping explanations they already understand?
I used Ink, a narrative scripting language originally designed for interactive fiction, to create a proof of concept that turns traditional news articles into branching narratives.
The problem with linear news
Most news articles are linear. They present information in a fixed order, assuming all readers need the same context, background, and explanations. This creates a few problems:
- One-size-fits-all approach: A reader who's already familiar with the topic has to skim past explanations they don't need
- No autonomy: Readers can't explore tangents or related topics without leaving the article
- Fixed depth: Writers have to guess how much detail their audience wants
- Passive reading: Traditional articles don't adapt to different knowledge levels or interests
The solution: branching narratives
Ink lets you create interactive stories where readers make choices that affect what they read next. I saw this as a perfect fit for news, where different readers might want to:
- Skip background explanations they already know
- Dive deeper into specific aspects of a story
- Explore related topics without leaving the main narrative
- Choose how much detail they want about technical concepts
The demo I built shows how this could work with news content. It presents information in a conversational, branching format where readers can choose their own path through the story.
Try it out
You can see the demo in action: ink-economist-demo.vercel.app
The project is open source, so you can check out the code, fork it, and experiment with your own interactive news formats.
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