The Circa 1605 mobile news application is great and I really enjoy using it. By: Shaleeka Powell
The Circa 1605 mobile news application is great and I really enjoy using it.
This mobile application allows individuals to follow stories that are organized in newspaper-like sections.
The different sections include top stories, United States, politics, world, technology and science & health.
This app contains edited content and the readers receive notifications about stories through their phone.
I like the fact that when an individual follows a story that person will receive alerts if anything has been added to that story.
Another thing I like about Circa is when you are reading a story only the paragraph you are on is lit up and in focus.
This is helpful because it helps prevent people from losing their spot if they are multitasking while reading.
Every story has at least two or more photos accompanying it, which adds a great visual story telling elements to compliment the story.
The viewers have a choice to opt out of seeing graphic images presented in stories, which is great because not everyone can handle viewing intense images.
I love the clean organization and structure of this mobile application and how all of the latest stories are at the top and there is a date that lets the viewer know whether the story was published earlier in the week or the week before.
Once the reader clicks on the story, they will then see the day and time the story was published.
There is also a section that allows the readers to read recommended articles elsewhere.
Under each story there is a “further reading for Circa” section where readers can read stories that are related to or have a similar topic to the story they previously read.
I find that interesting because it allows the reader to further their understanding of a certain topic or issue.
Underneath this section there is a citation section at the bottom of each story that allows the reader to see where information in the story came from.
I thought it interesting that some of the citations where from Twitter and other social media outlets and not just articles or reports. Today, a lot of journalists use social media as a storytelling platform.
For example, a story about the 2012 Colorado theatre shooter that killed 12 people and injured 70 is being ordered by a judge to undergo a second mental health evaluation.
There were three different citations to twitter posts for this story.
Overall, Circa is a simple way for individuals to stay connected with what is happening around the world.
I am glad I now have this application on my phone because it can help me stay up-to-date with current news and automatically receive updates to stories I decide to follow.
The one thing that surprised me and I don’t really like about Circa is that there was not a comment section at the bottom of each story.
Having a comment section would allow the readers to engage with the story and express their opinion.
I appreciate that this mobile application is free and allows the readers to share stories to their facebook or twitter accounts or they can simply text or email stories to others.