http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/mm/spring08/sfcabs/
Mauro’s Shift is a site that focuses on “A day in the life of an San Francisco Cabbie”, in this case Mauro Saldanha. It concurrently looks at the range of issues that face a cab driver in the city, using Mauro as the voice of the cab drivers themselves.
The strength of this site is its simplicity. There are two navigating toolbars flanking the area where the content appears. On the top are The Issues, including:
- Gate and Gas
- Turnover
- Making the Gate
- Medallions
- Healthcare
If you click on one of these issues, you are displayed with two windows, one filled with information summarising the issue, the other with links to “experts” of the taxi industry, with videos of them discussing the topic.
The lower toolbar is made up of screen shots that link to six video diaries. These videos account for different periods during the one shift, which, like the site, show the audience what it is like to be a cab driver, as well as seeing Mauro discuss the aforementioned “issues”. When viewing these videos, in the right window, we also see a map on the left that show Mauro’s route during that particular period.
I loved the site. It was simple, informative, attractive and thus, effective in documenting its subject.
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