For the communities at Syracuse University and the Scottish town of Lockerbie it was an especially dark day. All 259 passengers aboard Pan Am Flight 103 including 35 SU students, plus 11 villagers on the ground, perished from the actions of those determined to do evil.
Now 25 years later, the many stories of what happened on that fateful flight, the many ways society has adjusted and many aspirations of converting the pain into a call for world peace persist.
In August 2013, 26 students in the Web Journalism and Innovation course at SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications embarked on exploring the Pan Am 103 tragedy in hopes of presenting the topic as a multimedia experience. They researched issues, designed concepts, compiled current and archival material, filmed and edited videos and ultimately programmed the six interactive packages that make up this project.
This proved to be a learning experience filled with lessons about multifaceted journalism, the technical aspects of building digital projects and, on a personal level, understanding the impact an event of this magnitude has had during the past quarter century.