Discussion Assignment Ten
For this week's assignment, you should try to find examples of software applications that have not yet been discussed that might be used for digital storytelling. Finding information about software that can be used in the creation of digital stories can include any of the following: articles or websites that deal with specific software applications trial download versions tutorials that describe how the software works reviews that discuss whether it should be purchased/used examples projects created with a particular software program information about software that can be used in conjunction with digital storytelling, such as DVD authoring programs for putting digital stories on DVDs, graphic editing programs for improving images used in digital stories, programs used to create storyboards, etc. plus any other software programs that you think would be of interest to people who visit the EUODS website Remember that you may discuss traditional software applications (that normally come on a disc or can be downloaded from the web) or Web 2.0 tools, which typically, are web-based and allow the user to use the programs online.
After you have found a resource for this week, post a message in which you describe the resource you selected and try to include all of the information you feel would be helpful to visitors to the EUODS website.
Posts
37 comments:
Here is a link to a tutorial on how to use audacity, a free online program for audio editing. This is great because it is free and it is available for Window (98 through XP), Mac OS X, and Linux. Audacity will let you record, edit, and mix an unlimited number of tracks and is a great audio editing program for creating and mixing audio programs.
http://www.guidesandtutorials.com/audacity-tutorial.html
Earlier in the semester I posted briefly on voicethread. Voice thread is an online free tool to upload images, documents, and videos and then make a slide show to make a DS. It allows you to use narration on each slide and allows for comments from viewers. I have tried it and it was simple to use. However, I have not played with downloading videos or have had any comments by viewers. A good thing is that you don't have to download any software programs to your computer in order to use voicethread. I believe that voicethread is a great way to make simple DS with not too much concern with background music. I was very please with the tone of my voice for my voicethread example. It definatley works for both work, education, and family fun.
http://voicethread.com/
I have looked alot at the atomic learning website.
Atomic Learning
You can access it and do a search of tutorials or go specifically to the spot
Movie Maker tutorials are at
Movie Maker
But there is also a clip to watch on a program called Storybook Pro and Video Storytelling at
StoryBoard
Well I see somehow I messed up the Movie Maker and storyboard links but if you go to the atomic learning site and look at the drop down menus you can find the places or do a search for movie maker tutorials and you will find more than you want to find.
There are two image editing programs I think should be included on our website that currently aren't.
The first is Paint.NET, which is available for free download at (duh) www.paint.net I find it to be pretty user-friendly and intuitive, and it has a lot of neat features. There is also a forum on the website with a wide variety of tutorials, from beginner level (Newbie Playground!) to more advanced photoediting techniques.
The second one is The Gimp, which is available, also for free, at http://the-gimp.en.softonic.com/
and is for users who are more advanced and sophisticated than I am. It has a lot of features that paint.NET doesn't, but it's not as easy to use, and a lot of the available help and tutorials assume that you are already somewhat proficient at this kind of thing. But it seems to be widely agreed upon as one of the best, and it's free, and the mascot is adorable.
Gimp has a HUGE number of tutorials, including YouTube videos as well as blogs and forums devoted solely to Gimp tutorials. They range from useful basics to more esoteric things (like how to render a lightsaber). I don't feel I know this program well enough to choose the "best" tutorials, but there's a ton out there for users to choose from.
I found this web site which introduces the top 5 free movie-editing software. Among the 5 programs mentioned here, we have been familiar with Microsoft Movie Maker and AppleiMovie, but the other three are quite new to me: AvidFreeDV, Wax and Zwei-Stein. These three may bea bit mor harder to use, but they are recommended to be more versatile and powerful. I guess there are not only beginners among those who want to create digital stories, so these programs may be more interesting to more technology-savvy young people. This is the link to the page, which leads to where they can download the programs:
Desk-top Video Guide
I think Deidre has a very good suggestion with Paint.net. I have used this program and find that it is rather versatile. It is not a huge program like Photoshop but it can offer most of the functions we need when editing images for a digital story.
Anh, I like the site you found. I think it's great to offer a choice of different programs for users of different skill level/preference/computer type. It might also be neat eventually to have a table comparing the pros and cons of different programs within the same type, ie, compare and contrast all the video programs, all the image editors, etc.
Another brilliant idea, Deidre. I think we can add to EUODS tables to compare the software and more information about the qualities and functions of the tools. This may require great expertise but I guess there are techies among us who are ready to share their understanding and experience of using different tools for DS.
Wax is a high performance and flexible free video editing software program. It
started out as a college project, and has since grown. Wax is good for both
home users and professionals. It can be used as a stand-alone application, or
as a plug-in to other video editors. The software also features unlimited video and audio tracks with top-down compositing.
Opuzz offers royalty music that you can purchase for a small fee to use as background music in DS. I was impressed with the wide selection of instrumental music. I think lyrics can be distracting in DS. Also, I think it's worth the small fee to not have to worry about copyright issues.
http://www.xtranormal.com/
It's a web 2.0 application which can tell a story by creating 3D animation. All you have to do is pick up your scene, type a script, add action and sound. It can generate animation online and publish to Youtube simultaneously. I think it's really cool and could be used in some educational situation.
Story Blender I found this free online software for blending your photos, videos and making them interactive. There are quite a few examples that you can look at that give you an idea what all you can do with this program.
Panraven is another free storybook creator where you can upload images, add sound, video etc. You can also share your story with friends for editing. Nice free resource!
Stop Motion Pro (SMP) is a software for making animated movies. Its not free however you can download a trial version. Three things that I liked :
1. Tutorials to learn this software.
2. Choice of SMP software as per the age of the user - SMP Junior for children.
3. Educational SMP for students and educational professionals, and subsidized rates for schools.
Animoto is another free story making program. I helps make videos using your pictures that you upload. You can also upload your own music to add to the video. Making a short video (30 seconds) is free, however making and downloading your full-length video (as long as a song) costs $3 each video. You can also get an All access pass for $30 using which you can created unlimited amount of full-length videos. I think this program is really cool and can be a good resource. The 30 second shorts can be useful in putting across social messages, like a short social advertisement or something.
Wow Deidre, Gimp is really good. I had no idea that something like that is out there. I've used Paint.net but its alright. I'm a Photoshop loyalist so its really difficult for me to shift my loyalties...but Gimp is surely very close to Photoshop. Great find!
Lauren, Wax looks really interesting. On quick overview, it looks to be above my level, so a tutorial would be great, but the description sounds like you can do a lot with it. I also like Opuzz, as it's a good way to get a variety of legal music...I wonder if there's something similar that has free rather than paid music?
Deidre, my midterm project for this course was to find legal audio resource. Listing a few websites that I found -
Music dumper
Hobby lazy
EZ tracks
Podsafe audio
MP34U
Soundzabound
Flying hands
Incompetech
Partners in rhyme
Freeplay music
Epitonic
Pure Volume
Jamendo
Classic cat
Wow, Anita, great job! I had no idea there would be so many free, legal resources for music!
I downloaded paint.net and find it very easy to use. I loved Story Blender. What I was going to add this week was Animoto. I is great for introducing tweens & teens to digital storytelling. It is easy, and a lot of fun to create and watch. Once they know these basic, and are interested, then we can more on to more complex storytelling. The bad thing about working on this class on the weekend is that all of the good sites are already posted! The good thing is that eveyone posts useful links! Thanks for the legal audio Anita!
Another photo editing program that I really like is Comic Life by Apple. It costs $25 for the windows verson, but it helps you turn your pictures into interesting, and vibrant comics.
Sorry Yo, my bad! I think we should limit ourselves to just two resources, so that everyone else also gets a fair chance. But I agree Animoto is pretty cool. There are just so many tools out there that its really amazing how many things we can use besides Photostory.
I also found Soundzabound. I actually researched it prior to noticing it was on Anita's list.
This software is ideal for educators because it is royalty free music for education. It even has a tutorial on how to use it and what it can be downloaded on.
However, the information I found most interesting was about the "Fair Use" protocol, and the legalties of using copy-writed music for power-point presentations in the FAQ section. There is also information for educators about workshops available or ones that have happened so they will know how to teach students on how to use downloaded tunes/music without overstepping the legal parameters.
Personally, I had no idea that there was such an issue. For example, it seems that if you were to download a tune on your ipod and then want to use it for a powerpoint preentation, this would be a violation because you had originally downloaded it for personal use when you downloaded it on your ipod for merely your listening pleasure.
As for it's musical contents, it covers just about every genre of music. I like that it allows you to briefly take a listen to a tune before you actually download/pay for it.
I find it amazing that despite the convenience of technology, you still have to be careful of how you use it and apply it-the law is in everything.
Tatiana mentioned Audacity at the beginning of the assignment-I also am a big fan of it because it is ideal for those who are just getting familiar with using audio software. Its tutorial is to the point, and enables the creator to feel as competent as possible with their first digital story.
Addendum to previous comment:
I also feel it is a great tool for educators with their students. I am not sure of what grade to post (for ex: jr-high school)because there are children in grade school that are computer savvy :)
Lauren, I also like Opuzz for it's different categories of music but I did not feel it was explanatory of its rights or user-rights as Soundzabound was even though it does not contain copyright issues because of the fees. Its FAQ's were merely about downloading questions and costs. However, the snippets of music/trials were good.
I hadn't researched very many audio resources. Opuzz just happened to be one that I ran across and found interesting. However, after exploring Anita's list, I realize there are some that may be better. I agree that soundzabound is one of the better ones, and they do explain copyright issues better than some of the other sites.
Deidre, I really liked Paint.NET. One great feature is that it allows you to edit multiple images. I also found that The Gimp was not as easy to use.
I searched for “software for digital storytelling” and found MemoryMinder which can be found at http://www.memoryminer.com. Supposedly, it is the award-winning Digital Storytelling application for Mac and Widows XP. The purchase cost of this software is $45. It does offer a 15 days trial period.
I’ve used the old version of Audacity as an audio editor. It is free and very easy to use. The website for this newer, 2009 version is: http://www.free-download-place.net/audacity/index.php?source=CCN-CD277-MSN8484US1-audacity&msnId=IZB.
Audio Record Wizard is an audio editing software that be purchased at this website, http://www.nowsmart.com/index.html, for $24.95 to edit audios for Windows XP users.
For Mac users, SoundStudio3 can be purchased from this website, http://www.freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=5012, for $79.99.
I tried to download the newer, 2009 version of Audacity from the previously listed website just to find out that I had to first pay an annual fee to this site. I looked around and was able to successfully download a free version of Audacity to my computer. It can be found at: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=6235&package_id=6294&release_id=464065
I learned that flic on yahoo can be used to make slide shows with pictures and sound. I used that application for another class and it was very easy to put together.
i went to the wax program that was mentioned by lauren, it seems like if you are really into making digital stories.
I agree with Deidre with including Paint and Gimp. They are free and farely easy to use. Especially since anyone can google to find tutorials. Not everyone will have Photoshop, especially students who may not have the funds to purchase it yet.
just checked out animoto and it seemed better than voicethread since you can upload music to your video. Will keep this one in mind.
Tatiana,
I really like the web2.0 tool, Voicethread.com. I think it will be a new implement of DST and web2.0 tool.
Lauren,
It's a really solution for FREE video editing. I tried Wax and it's really useful.
For this assignment, I looked at updating our software list on the EUODS site by comparing what we’ve used and discussed in class with other, newer technologies. “Cloud Computing” is quickly becoming a viable productivity environment – Cloud Computing allows users to work on the web rather than simply downloading an installable application. There certainly are some remaining restrictions – namely bandwidth – but the medium does possess incredible potential.
One Digital Storytelling software that I found useful (and valuable) is mixBook. MixBook is an educational digital storytelling application which can be found at http://www.mixbook.com/edu , and allows for online collaboration and distribution of content. This is remarkable because it integrates some of the issues we’ve previously identified and discussed in our class this semester (for example, the inclusion of blogging or “comments” on the digital stories themselves).
I recommend looking at the site (even if only briefly) to see the potential value to the classroom.
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