Inanimate Alice: Your Episode

Image: 'Animoto on the iPhone - start'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22019171@N00/3130831626

Using Animoto create your own original Episode #5

Teacher demonstration of features of Animoto video creation tool.

Episode 5: ?  YOU are the author!
1. Select one of the countries Alice's classmates came from.Pakistan
Taiwan
Brazil
California
Egypt

Review features of story included in Inanimate Alice Episodes.

2. Create your digital narrative using a video editing tool.
Write a story to continue Alice's adventures in her new home.  Include the following:
How old is Alice now?
A map to locate the country
A plan or picture of her home
Pictures to let us know what the setting is like
Make sure you have a problem and solution
Something about her friends (home schooling or in a "regular" school.)
What about Brad?
Optional: You might try to include a game.

Create a storyboard to help organize your video. Find a downloadable Storyboard on the internet. Here is one you might try. Xinsight

3. You must use photos, effects, sound, music, and words to tell the story.Select photos from flickrcc or Google Advanced Image Search labeled for reuse and modification.

Use the edit feature on flickrcc or another photo editing tool to change the look of the photos.

Add sound effects and music  using links found on the Lougheed sqworl pathfinder. These MUST be public domain.

From here to there and back again: Qwiki

Here:
I was introducing Mashpedia to a class this week and realized that I hadn't had time to get a handle on all of the sources. I had missed one - Qwiki.

Luckily, the other resources on the site provided plenty of material.

There:
Earlier I had come across a truly amazing mind map  E-learning tools and resources for schools and education created by Jesper Isaksson with Mindomo and was trying to learn more about the tools on the page in order to introduce the link to my colleagues as my current event submission this week. 
Qwiki was listed as a featured tool.

 

Back Again:

Qwiki is a multimedia search tool which provides a slide show using a computerized voice to read the information from a Wikipedia article and includes links to multiple images. It includes options to share on Twitter, Facebook, by email and by embedding. 

I can imagine how useful our Special Education teachers will find Qwiki. We have a student who is visually impaired who craves information and I am going to search her out on Monday and introduce her to this tool. It will be especially engaging because of the popular culture content wikipedia offers.

I experimented searching for Free Trade, Inuit, New France, Samuel de Champlain, oil spill, and Canadian confederation and was not disappointed by the results. A drop down menu allows you to select the most appropriate result for your search terms. THIS IS EXCITING!

The following is a Qwiki about Qwiki.

View Qwiki and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.

Joyce Valenza: See Sally Research

I met Joyce Valenza (well I didn't really meet her) during my first TLDL course. I have been reading and enjoying her blog Never Ending Search and following new posts since last winter.
I was searching for the reference to the library as a kitchen not a grocery store when this video appeared on my desktop-not once but in every search result. See Sally Research clearly, intelligently, and simply shows us where researchers are and where libraries should be today AND beginning at 14:30 she tells us a library "is more kitchen than grocery store."

Masher vs. Movie Maker

Tool  Link	Masher.com	Movie Maker
	Online access with simple registration	Not online Available with Windows Suites or by downloading
Cost	Free	Free download
Maximum length	10 minutes	2 hours - depends on computer hard drive space
Audio\Music	Upload MP3, WMA, WMV Slide bar volume control	Import most files Mute/ fade in/ fade out/ volume
Video	Upload or masher files .ASF, .AVI, .DV, .MOV, .MPEG, .MPG, .MP4, .WMV, .QT, .3GP	Does not support flip camera -mp4 files -requires file conversion to .avi MSWMM
Video options	No ability to edit video	Split clips into two and delete Take picture from video
Image	Upload or extensive masher files JPG, PNG, JPEG	Upload from computer files
Storage	100 MB	Based on computer size 20 different settings for saving
Maximum file size	100 MB limited timeline space	2 hours or 100 photos
Effects	18 animated or colour choices	25
Transitions	Not available	60
Skins	24 animated (whole video)	0
Text	8 fonts/ 3 sizes /multiple colours On a clip Before or after on block colour screen	Before a clip After a clip On a clip Credits at the beginning Credits at the end
Narration	Not available	Audio recorded with microphone
Storyboard Timeline	no storyboard x timeline	x storyboard x timeline
Sharing	Email, social network, URL, embed code?, or add to Masher Gallery	Email, upload to social network, DVD, CD or add to YouTube channel

Although my experience with video editing is limited to Movie Maker and Masher.com I prefer using Movie Maker and will recommend Movie Maker to teachers wishing to create videos for and with their students at school. Although Movie Maker is not an online tool and must be downloaded, the above green shaded cells indicate many more positive aspects of this technology.

Mashing with Masher:Step Four

Finally my video and photos are uploaded and I am ready to drag and drop. 
AppAppeal reviewed Masher.com and stated, "The site features an easy to use Studio for combining video, photos, and music and for editing in effects and adding text." 
It was easy.
I selected my video (sans audio) and dropped it in the timeline. I added photos and was able to shift their position as I worked. Video effects and text were added to the timeline with an animated menu for selection.  The Masher studio provides music files which I used to complete the video.

I wanted a full audio track for the video. Unfortunately I was unable to loop the music I wanted and needed to replace it with a longer track which was not as long as stated on the file information. In order to finish the video I wanted to add a text screen thanking viewers for watching. No matter what I did I was unable to access the last few photo clips or the colour screen to add my text message.
The video was given a title, description,and tags. It was saved, and I attempted to share with an embed code added to the post below. The HTML code is incomplete so I have provided the link made available for emailing. I sent an email to the Masher Support team requesting assistance.
Until the problem is rectified:

http://masher.com/player.jsp?key=5cb983ae-4959-31e4-7faf-0000837392f0&adscheme=0


Thank you for watching.

Response from Masher.com Support- "We are a small team here at Masher, but we will investigate the issue and hopefully come up with a solution."

To Mash or Not to Mash?: Step One

My first and only venture into video creation was a year ago when I prepared a web cam recorded video of a storytelling for a wiki I created for a parent literacy conference. I lack understanding of the requirements for creating (read editing) a video. I have a web cam and a camera with a video option which I occasionally use inadvertently. Most students have a camera of some kind and share digital images regularly. Kist (2010) suggests that we are becoming more screen based and that "reading will not only encompass print but also images, sound and motion as well."(p.25)

When a member of staff asked me to help him find an online video sharing technology to use instead of Animoto, I started to look more closely at what was available. Byrne (n.d.) listed a  number of video creation tools on Richard Byrne's Favourite Tech Tools for Teachers. I was attracted by his description of this "great free tool"(para. 3) offering video clips, music, skins and special effects which could be assembled by dragging and dropping. Users can also upload and use their own music, stills, and video clips.

My YouTube search results include a number of Masher.com Tutorials:
Using video, Using audio, Using text, Using skins, Using effects, and most interesting, Some Editing Rules.

Unfortunately, Masher "editing rules" include that the length of the video is its original uploaded length and can not be edited. In order to create a video using this technology I will need to access a video editing tool before uploading to Masher. In the event that I use clips from the site this is not an issue but creating an original video will require the extra step of video editing using Movie Maker or another editing technology. I thought about using the YouTube editing feature but our school board has just recently unblocked YouTube access and I am not willing to depend on a continuation of YouTube availability when introducing video to classes.
Watching the Masher.com YouTube tutorials has convinced me that the extra effort will be worth the time.

Inanimate Alice - Subscribe!

Inanimate Alice - Subscribe!

From the Inanimate Alice site:

"Inanimate Alice is Transmedia - designed from the outset as a story that unfolds over time and on multiple platforms, the episodes are available on all devices capable of running Adobe’s Flash Player. ‘Alice’ connects technologies, languages, cultures, generations and curricula within a sweeping narrative accessible by all. As Alice’s journey progresses, new storylines appear elsewhere providing more details and insights, enriching the tale through surprising developments. Students are encouraged to co-create developing episodes of their own, either filling in the gaps or developing new strands."

Podcasting Possibilities: Step One

Wikipedia defines podcasting as “a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.” I was mistaken in thinking podcasts were audio only and have found after searching Twitter, Diigo groups and Google Reader that video is also a part of podcasting. Casel (2011) writes in 7 Tips for Launching a Successful Podcast ,

          Podcasts are among the oldest types of syndicated content on the web.
          Yet the format remains a popular choice among content producers looking
          to connect with a wide audience. Audio podcasts were the norm for many
          years, but video has taken the podcasting world to new heights. (para 2)

Richardson (2009), Berger and Trexler (2010) explain that podcasting includes audio, screencasting and video. I feel it is important to my inquiry into podcasting to include the creation of screen, video and audio podcasts.

Possibilities:
1. Recording of readings of books in the school library for our English Language Learners (ELL).

2. Storytelling of some of my favourite folktales using both audio and video podcasts to evaluate the impact of each media

3. Screencast showing how to use PodOmatic hosting site to create a podcast.

4."Since many of the most prolific podcasters are educators,"(Williams, 2007) it makes sense to access a variety of audio and video podcasts for professional development as well as entertainment.

5.Why not get the students to create podcasts.."Podcasting provides students with new ways of knowing and problem solving and enables them to demonstrate their newfound understanding in compelling and significant ways." (Ishizuka, 2005, p.57)