Rule #1 of SMITH Magazine’s mission: make better media not just more media. But by “better” we mean something you won’t get elsewhere, something that interests us and we suspect interests you, something that works best online.

Two stories we’ve posted this week make good on that promise.

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge: Chapter 1 (following a two-part prologue) is now live. Here we meet the five main characters whose lives we’ll be chronicling for the rest of the year not only in comic form, but also with podcasts about everything from the life-giving role of bars immediately following Katrina, how the arts scene has changed since the storm, a history of second-line processions after funerals, and more–all straight from the mouths of the people who comprise A.D.

A new form of photo essay. To present the self portraits of Meredith Farmer, an unknown photographer SMITH photo editor Audrie Lawrence found on Flickr, we’re using a program called Splashcast. This free program allows us to offer Meredith’s own narration of the slideshow of her work you see here. Why Farmer? We love her self portraits, most taken as a part of Flickr’s 365 Days Project, in which any photographer, amateur or pro, takes a photo a day and shares it with the community. As SMITH co-founder Tim Barkow (and web design guru and person who most often champions the use of new tools to tell stories) pointed out to me the other day, what Meredith is doing is equal parts art project, support group and exhibitionism. It’s a delicious and untidy Web 2.0 package. And we love it.