Michael's IT469 Blog: 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Overall Course Reflection

I signed up for IT 469 because it was one of the course required for my IT minor. I'm an English major, so it may seem like an odd minor to have but I'm planning on going into Library Science in grad school. So knowledge of both current and rising technology is imperative if I'm to do well in information services. This class was a great introduction and analysis of the technologies and programs that the Web is bringing to the fore.

This was a very fun class because each assignment presented me an opportunity to be creative, to have fun, and, in doing so, to learn more about the important, ever changing technologies available in our world. While we often think of information as being spread only through email and phone calls, this class has shown me the many different tools at our disposal for teaching and sharing information.

Probably my favorite assignments were the Audacity assignment and the GoAnimate assignment. Playing around with audio was just neat, and finding all the different ways one could mess with the sound always came out with interesting results. I also enjoyed Audacity because audio editing is one of the things I knew the least about coming into this class. So playing with Audacity has helped me see how narrations and music can be professionally created without an entire studio at your disposal. GoAnimate was fun because animation is an attractive multimedia element in and of itself. We always find ourselves stopping, even if only for a second, and watching quirky animation. It's a form of information sharing with a lot of potential and it's much easier to make than I had anticipated. I really enjoyed finding all the different ways I could play around with the on-screen characters, actions, and setting.

Having the notes online for this class was a real big help as I could access them anywhere. Plus, the many different videos and extra links were good because they were concrete demonstrations of how to use the new program properly. I also learned a good deal from the text itself, mostly about the project planning process and the way in which multimedia elements must work together to achieve their overall purpose. Using mixxt as our social networking site was a good strategy because the site has been overall very reliable and easy to use. Finding notes, assignment criteria, or asking for help was all streamlined and easy to do. It gave the feeling of never being alone with any assignment or task, because Dr. Yuen or the other students were always a click of a button away.

I've enjoyed my IT 469 class and would definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in web-based media or technology trends. It was a fun but informative class and this blog will serve as a reminder of all the things I've learned over the course of this class.

Assignment 8 - Jing

Our eighth and final assignment was to use the Jing screen capture program to capture both still images and a video demonstrating how to use a website or program. For my assignment, I demonstrated the workings of the Webspiration program, a chart making program on the internet.

Jing was, perhaps, the most surprising assignment in how interesting it turned out to be. While we've worked with capturing video and images before, using Jing to capture them in real time on my computer screen opened a whole new array of possibilities up. The application for such a program is quite easy to imagine, seeing how simple it would make instructing someone in the correct use of a site or program without even having to be there to show the person the different ins and outs.

Especially nice was the fact that Jing's capture feature allowed one to capture only a designated section of the screen and to pause the video and start it up again without having to reopen Jing itself. I especially loved the interface, using the small sun on the corners of the page as a quick button to start the capture program. And because all of the captured images and video were loaded up to Jing's Screencast website, it made accessing and sharing them even easier.

Jing was a surprisingly useful and interesting program, one that I really enjoyed playing around with. Here is my Jing assignment, as uploaded to my Screencast account:

http://www.screencast.com/users/Fivepak/folders/Webspiration%20Demo

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Assignment 7 - Fuzzwich/GoAnimate Animation

For our seventh assignment we had to create a short animation project using a free, online animation program. Originally this program was Fuzzwich, but Fuzzwich was taken off line in the middle of the assignment so we switched to GoAnimate instead.

I was able to use Fuzzwich before it went offline. The animation style used in Fuzzwich was more path animation, but this made the program very simple to learn and put to use. Fuzzwich was relatively uncomplicated and accessible, and any other programs like it would be easy for someone new at animation to pick up and learn. However, the abilities offered by Fuzzwich were limited. There was no sound except for music and the animation of each character was very limited to whatever actions were assigned by Fuzzwich's creators.

GoAnimate was a much more complex, indepth program. GoAnimate did utilize path animation for motion but it's "scene" set up allowed for a much larger range of activity in the animation. There were more actions each character on screen could do, text-to-voice speech was allowed, and a wider assortment of backdrops and set ups. GoAnimate was much smoother and allowed for more creativity, but it was not exactly easy to pick up and learn. It would take more practice to understand GoAnimate than it did with Fuzzwich, but the pay off was much better.

This assignment showed me how animation could be used as a teaching tool because of its simple and enjoyable nature. Animation, well done animation, is very easy to watch and, for most, enjoyable to see. This is especially true for children. So using animation as a teaching tool for children offers a way to help perk their interest and deliver the topic to them in a quick, easy to understand, concise manner. And with the options to use either text speech bubbles or text to speech programs, one has access to different manners of delivering their lesson.

It was a very fun assignment. Here is my GoAnimate animation (my Fuzzwich animation could not be recovered from the loss of Fuzzwich's website, so it will not be included):

GoAnimate.com: A Haunting by michaelmitchell08@gmail.com

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Assignment 6 - Movie Maker/Youtube

For our sixth assignment, we filmed another small video clip, accompanied it with several photos, and made a short presentation about a specific topic using Windows Movie Maker before uploading it to Youtube. While our last assignment introduced us to editing, this assignment not only gave us a look at different editing software but also at publishing our work online.

My presentation was a small tour of the Payne Center here on campus. Comparing Movie Maker to Jaycut, each one has its pros and cons. While I do like that Movie Maker is a program on your computer, so there's no worry about disconnects or lag, I admit I preferred Jaycut's set up. It seemed a bit easier to manage, and Jaycut allowed one to include music alongside the audio in video clips, a feature I could not find in Movie Maker. But, Movie Maker's status as an installed program was a definite bonus as it made working on my presentation much faster.

I have used Youtube before and am fairly use to its upload options, including description, tags, mapping, and sharing. Still, it is good to revisit these basic because it reminds me how easy it is to share a project with the world. With such features as comments and ratings, a community like Youtube allows instant feedback and sharing for any project you need to present.

Here's my video as presented on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvZVoPRLkVE

Assignment 5 - Jaycut

For our fifth assignment, we had to edit a short movie using the free Jaycut program. This was a very informative assignment because I'd never done editing before but had often wondered how it was done. Using Jaycut, I saw both how easy video editing could be but also how much creativity could be put into it.

For my assignment, I made a small informative video about the green spaces around campus. I used both video and images for the clip and edited them together, with transitions and music, in Jaycut. The ability to micromanage was much easier than I expected, with Jaycuts making it easy to set and play with each individual part of the overall clip, such as making small changes to the audio within the video clips.

This project gave me an idea of how much a little editing can really improve a presentation. I don't have to restrict myself to just filming something and then publishing. Editing it to include other elements is actually much easier than I thought and can make a small time presentation much more presentable and respectable.

Here's my Jaycut assignment:
http://jaycut.com/content/green-spaces

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Assignment 4- Animoto

For this project, we had to do a multimedia slide show presentation using the Animoto design program. This assignment was interesting because it expanded on what was, to me, a fairly simple type of multimedia: the slide show. Mostly, I'd never considered that one might do more with a slide show than just present a visual and text based series of slides. Using Animoto, I could very easily see the difference as the addition of music and motion a simple series of still pictures gives the pictures a dynamic quality they would not otherwise have.

This project was a good way of helping me understand that a simple idea (such as the slide show) can be expanded into something more creative and complex. One doesn't have to settle for the simple and typical but can find ways to improve a project and give it some life.

Here's my Animoto video:

Assignment 3- Audacity

For the third assignment we had to create an educational, creative, or business sound file using the Audacity audio program. Audacity was a whole lot of fun and a really enjoyable program to play around with. I could go for hours just setting up different songs next to each other and playing with the different effects to see what sort of sound I got. The program was surprisingly simple but allowed for a wide range of creative input.

For my project itself, I chose a fun topic, doing a report on the internet urban legend the Slender Man. This was especially fun because the topic gave me an excuse to use the various effects in Audacity, such as white noise, echoing, and the like.

Overall, playing with Audacity showed me the possibilities one has with audio in multimedia, even without having to spend money on high end equipment. For a long time I assumed that good audio production was something done with high end equipment, but after using Audacity I feel I could make an acceptable audio track for any project I may start.

Here's my Audacity project:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4m5qC6zsjqNN2Q2YjI5YjItMzkzNy00ZTRiLWE3YjItNWNhNzI2Yjk3NGU3&hl=en&authkey=CMn7kZoL

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Assignment 2 - Flickr

Our second assignment had us modify and then upload two different sets of pictures into a Flickr account. Before going into this assignment, I’d never used Flickr before but I knew it was a popular photo-sharing site like Photobucket. So it wasn’t too hard an assignment to do, especially since I was already familiar with the ability to modify my photos in Picnik.

One very interesting aspect of Flickr that I did not know about though was the ability to map ones photos. This feature in particular struck me as very useful because it allows viewers to get an idea of an area or place without having to actually be there. One can examine photos of mountains, deserts, or forests and know what specific areas are like from their computers.

In all this was a fun and informative project that showed me what use photos can be put to besides just decoration or reference.

Here is my photostream on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59368207@N07/

Assignment 1 - Photostory

Our first assignment was to create a multimedia presentation using Microsoft's Photostory. We also used the freeware program Picnik to edit our photos. I enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me both to explore the different forms of editing that Picnik offered as well as combining the photos with transitions and music in Photostory to create a more complex project.

Messing around in Picnik was fun, but also taught me how small amounts of editing can easily give a photo new meaning, especially when combined with other photos and music. Moderate use of different effects can vastly change the feel or tone of a photo and the audience's impression upon viewing it, and with Picnik it was very easy to try out different edits and compare them.

Photostory was a lot of fun because I was able to see the combination of visuals and audio at work. Simply adding one track of music to what is nothing more than slide show of photos gave the overall presentation a more dynamic feel.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Hello

This is the second IT blog I've made here at USM, both under the guidance of Dr. Yuen. I'm real excited to see the new programs and concepts we'll be learning in a 400 level course as I found my experience with multimedia in my last class to be a very interesting one. I'm an English major so I often think solely in text, but finding other ways to work, other ways of going about making projects, be they creative or academic, is always helpful. So I'm looking forward to this class and all it has to offer.

Michael's IT469 Blog