How to tell humongous multimedia stories?

Mindy McAdams asked a great question yesterday about something that I often think about myself. Because attention spans online are short, especially for multimedia, how can you deliver huge packages in a way that will respect viewers' time limits and attention spans?

The way most of these big stories are presented online makes me think of a warehouse ... a warehouse has no standardized system, so each one has its own rules -- and browsing and scanning just do not work at all in a warehouse.

She points out four huge multimedia packages that won Pulitzers this year:
House of Lies
Altered Oceans
Muslims in America
A Mother's Journey

There are good stories in there. This is excellent journalism. But do these online presentations hook a person who comes fresh to the front page of the package? Do they present the story in its best light? Do they make you want to stay and find out more?

We should think about how we can do this better.

My first impression when I click on them is that I'm intimidated because I don't know if I have time to experience them. Where do I start?

For Muslims in America and A Mother's Journey, it looks like I'm viewing the archival pages for the packages. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that each story and corresponding multimedia piece came out in a series. If so, I think that's a great way to tell a huge story online. As each element comes out, people can spend only a little bit of time ingesting the whole thing. They can go back the next day and see more. However, when you come upon the story late and see the archival page, I think it's really hard to take it all in...People won't spend that much time in one sitting. But if a person is really invested in the subject, I bet they would go back.

I know that Altered Oceans came out all at once. This is probably the worst way to present a huge story online. Most people will watch one or two elements, run out of time, and then forget that the package even exists.