Digital Story Telling

Mark Quinn

Overview of Discussion

• We will look at these four technologies as a basis to using in the classroom and reasons why to choose them:– Blogging– Photography– Audio Production (Podcast)– Video Production (Vidcast)

Blogging

• Blogging is the core starting point of digital story telling.– Consider the following blogging platforms:

• http://wordpress.com/– Allows self hosting on your own server as well as company

hosting

– Can be very customized, even to the point of serving as a website with little coding knowledge.

• www.blogger.com – Owned by Goggle and requires an account.

• Posterous– New service that allows social media flexibility

Blogging: An Overview

• Blogging by Common Craft:– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXj

XI

Classroom Use

• A blog gives a web publishing location that can serve as a linking point to all other content. They are very flexible in how they can be used.

• Blogs are primarily text driven, quickly searchable. Comments can be left to allow students or greater school community to critique or share additional views.

Photography

• The old adage “A picture is worth a 1000 words”. Do you believe it?

• Combine a photograph with a well written story on your blogs to communicate even more.

• Consider assigning a photo essay about a topic as a way to brainstorm writing ideas as a differentiation in a lesson.

Is an Image Worth 1000 Words or just the right one at the right time?

General Rules to Photography

• Learn to See The Light– Shoot with the light off to a side. This adds depth to

an image.

• Perspective– Focus on the subject of your image.– Make it different than everyone else sees it

• Get close, then get closer.– Faces, Eyes, Details all make good images

• Presentation– Add a frame for a polished look

Editing

• The industry leader in photo editing is Photoshop. The price, complexity, and computer requirements prohibit many from editing their photos.

• Cloud computing is changing that:– http://fotoflexer.com/

• Loads in browser and works around many firewall issues.

Podcasting

• Learning to work with audio can open a whole new dimension to your classroom– Interviews– Students tell their own story– Share your story with any size audience.– Give the writing process a tangible example

• Common Craft Summary Video– http://www.commoncraft.com/video/podcastin

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Steps to Podcast

1. Plan Writing Process - Storyboarding

2. Original Content.

3. Get to The Point.

4. Consistency.

5. Articulate Words.

6. Optimize Podcasts.

7. Listener Expectations.

8. Archive.

Online Audio Editors

• The link below lists an article with a good summary of 7 online audio editors:

• http://www.effware.com/content/top-7-free-online-audio-editing-tools

• If you are looking for more complex editing, consider Audacity. Requires a download, but is free.

• http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Podcasting: Getting Started

• This discussion is captured from an article on my podcasting blog:

• http://markquinn.net/blog5/2010/08/05/the-10-steps-to-making-a-podcast/

Video

• “A photo captures a moment in time, video captures time itself.”

• Video is king of digital story telling took kit.

Camtasia

• Quick and Easy video production from movie clips, and images.

• http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html?gclid=CPix3M-_hKwCFUJrKgodC2tR-Q