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The PPE Presentation; October 23, 2008

Materials from Presentation:

Podcasts Mentioned in Presentation:

Podcasting Resources

Start Podcasting right away with these basic tools

Microphones (all platforms, all uses)

  • Inexpensive USB Microphone - Logitech Desktop Microphone (around $30)
  • Better USB Microphone #1- Samson CO1U (around $80)
  • Better USB Microphone #2- Blue Snowball (around $100)
  • Plug your existing mic into your computer - iMic - (around $30; if you've already got a simple mic, but it's not USB, this is an adapter)

Macintosh - Audio Only Podcast - Record to your Mac

  • Free Audio Recording Application - GarageBand (allows mixing and creates finished file)
  • Free Audio Recording & Editing Application - Audacity (open source for Windows and Mac)
  • Inexpensive Audio Recording Application - QuickTime Pro ($30 for the "pro" version that allows recording and multi-format export)
  • Wonderfully Flexible Audio Recording Application - Audio Hijack Pro (if it makes noise on your Mac, you can record it; great for recording multiple sources on one computer)
  • Free RSS Generator - VODCaster (makes RSS feed generation easy)
  • Free FTP Software - Fetch (free to education users)

Macintosh - Enhanced Podcast - Record to your Mac

  • Excellent "All-in-one" package for enhanced Podcasts - ProfCast (take your existing presentation and create an enhanced podcast, complete with RSS feed creation and file uploading)
  • Free Audio Recording Application - GarageBand (allows mixing and adding of images, links and metadata, then creates final file)
  • Free RSS Generator - VODCaster (makes RSS feed generation easy)
  • Free FTP Software - Fetch (free to education users)

Windows - Audio Only Podcast

  • Free Audio Recording & Editing Application - Audacity (open source for Windows and Mac)
  • Free Audio Recording Application - Windows Media Encoder - (free; allows for capture of audio)
  • Inexpensive Audio Recording Application - QuickTime Pro ($30 for the "pro" version that allows recording and multi-format export)
  • Free FTP Software - SmartFTP
  • Free RSS Generator - FeedSpring

Windows - Enhanced Podcast

Enhanced Podcasts on Windows in a reasonable alternative to the Mac's ProfCast - SnapKast ($100, very similar to Profcast in that it can take PowerPoint slides and integrate them into presentations)

  • SnapKast - A Windows-based method for producing enhanced podcasts
  • Another Windows alterative to ProfCast - Podium (~ $300)
  • Free FTP Software - SmartFTP
  • Free RSS Generator - FeedSpring

Other Podcasting Resources

Audio Resources

Microphones, Mixers & Sound Cards (computer sound interfaces)

Location Recorders

  • iTalk Pro - This is cool; a small mic that plugs into the bottom of your iPod (iPod Video or iPod Nano) and turns it into a stereo recorder. Next time you sync your iPod to your computer, your Mp3 files transfer! (~ $45)
  • Roland Edirol R-09 - This thing is amazing! Great, 24-bit stereo WAV or MP3 recording through its own or external mics (~$280)
  • Samson H-4 Zoom Handy Digital Recorder - A less expensive high-quality digital audio recorder (~ $260)
  • Samson H-2 Zoom Handy Digital Recorder - Fewer features than the H-4 above, but still great sound at a lower price (~ $160)

Software for Recording & Mixing Podcasts

Audio Utility Software

  • Soundflower - Soundflower is a free Mac OS X system extension that allows applications to pass audio to other applications. Useful when trying to get more than one audio source to a recording application.
  • Line In - A useful Mac OS X utility that helps you use the "line in" (microphone) jack on your computer for any audio input (think tape decks, record turntables, etc)
  • Sound Source - A Mac OS X menu item that allows you to easily change the audio input on your computer.
  • Levelator - Amazing; Free software that runs on Windows or OS X (universal binary) that adjusts the audio levels within your podcast or other audio file for variations in levels.

Music for your Projects:

  • Triple Scoop Music - low-cost, royalty-free music specifically designed for photographer's presentations
  • Freeplay Music - Royalty-free music that you can use in your Podcasts
  • Podsafe Audio - Music created specifically for use in Podcasts
  • Podsafe Music Network - More established than the above resource, another place where you can download good music created specifically for use in Podcasts or other shared media.
  • Freesound - An "open-source" style resource for free music
  • Moby Gratis - Platinum-selling artist Moby has free music available for non-profit and educational uses on his site

Storyboarding Resources:

Tips for Audio Recording :

  • Recording Sound on your Computer - A very good, brief overview of how to record sound of all sorts on your computer. If you've never done it before, this is a good place to start for information, especially for Windows users.
    • Part 1 - Hooking up Hardware (Microphones, Tape Decks, Etc)
    • Part 2 - Figuring out software
  • Brian Storm on Gathering Audio - Brian Storm of MediaStorm has some great pages on gathering audio for media projects
  • Mastering the Craft - A great set of tutorial pages about audio from the Association of Independents in Radio. They also have some great links that can be found here
  • Microphones 101 - From Apple; A beginner's guide to Mics and Macs. Probably a bit of "overkill" for your project, but great info for the future if you decide to start getting serious about sound.
  • Digital Audio Principles - From the Lynda.com training website; some freebie samples of their online audio class
  • Build a field audio recorder for under $100 - A nice "do it yourself" project for high-quality field audio recording
  • Dave Schroeder on Lynda.com - Dave Schroder's online "course" on digital audio. The first few lesson bits are free (and quite good) you've got to pay for the rest.
  • The Pen is Mightier than the Mic - A nice piece by an author who is making his transition to the spoken word.
  • Recording Sound on your Computer - A very good, brief overview of how to record sound of all sorts on your computer. If you've never done it before, this is a good place to start for information, especially for Windows users.
    • Part 1 - Hooking up Hardware (Microphones, Tape Decks, Etc)
    • Part 2 - Figuring out software
  • PC Recording - A nice tutorial site about how to record any audio to your computer.
  • Sound in the Story - A really fine long-ish (21 pages) PDF on the art of location recording, mostly from the creative standpoint (what to do as opposed to "how" to do it)

Movie / Slideshow / Storytelling Resources

Software for Slideshow Authoring

iMovie

  • iMovie - Comes with every Mac and is easy to use for both images and audio. Allows panning and zooming of images. Makes QuickTime movies that can be played on computers, on the web or exported to iDVD for distribution on DVDs.

Soundslides

  • Soundslides - This inexpensive ($40 & $70, depending on version) flash-based software (Mac & Win) has become a defacto standard for multimedia presentations for online newspapers. It makes only Flash files, not QuickTime or any other format, so it's may not be the right choice if you want to distribute your story on DVD or CD-ROM. .

Others

  • Final Cut Pro - The Big Dog of slide show production. Here's a nicely done how to demo video by Brian Storm
  • Aperture Slide Shows - A nice article about making slide shows out of Apple's Aperture software
  • PhotoToMovie - Sort of like iMovie, but without the video capabilities. A very powerful, yet easy-to use tool for making motion (with audio) out of still photographs (Mac & Win).
  • FotoMagico - A silly name for a very nice package that makes movies from still photos (Mac only)
  • ProShow Gold - A Windows only software package that's sort of like iMovie, but doesn't do video, just animated still images
  • Moviemaker - A freebie from Microsoft
  • Authoring Tools - A nice overview of several useful authoring tools for Mac and Windows
  • JumpCut - An online, web-based video editor that looks a lot like iMovie. You upload photos, audio and video and edit online. You then "publish" your movie to JumpCut's website, but you can eventually embed that movie in your own site if you choose.

Software for putting your Story on a DVD

  • Apple's iDVD - A tutorial on the easiest way to get your slideshow on a DVD that can be played on a computer or on a DVD player.
  • Easy DVD Creator - While there are about a bajilion options for creating DVDs on the Windows platform, Roxio's product is one of the leaders

Ideas and Inspiration

Resources that discuss podcasting as an education and communication tool

Inspirational Examples

Great Audio (As Inspiration)

  • SoundPortraits.org - Amazingly good audio documentaries by an independent production company dedicated to telling stories that bring neglected American voices to a national audience
  • American RadioWorks - ARW is public radio's largest documentary production unit; it creates documentaries, series projects, and investigative reports for the public radio system and the Internet.

Examples of Digital Storytelling Movies & Slideshows:

  • Stories by Dana Atchley - The guy who first showed me the power of sound and images was Dana Atchley. You'll need to click on the movie screen to play the movies. Use the links at the bottom of the page to select a few of his other stories.
  • The Photography Channel - Photographic Storytelling for Electronic Media... these are very strong examples of what's possible
  • Brothers - An example of the power of a well-written text, archival images and a bit of new video footage in this touching, tragic story
  • Barista - Done in Soundslides; a simple set of images that uses location recording effectively
  • Dallas Morning News State Fair - Click the links for "Slideshows" on the left side of the page
  • Essence of Atmosphere - A nice show from New York Times photographer Nicole Bengiveno
  • Community Digital Storytelling - Ordinary folks from Georgetown, Kentucky use archival images to tell stories about their lives
  • Digital Stories from Arizona - Great, simple stories from students (not necessarily photographers) from Scottsdale, AZ
  • Chicago Tribune - a page of multimedia stories
  • Iraqi Kurdistan - An excellent still-photo slideshow that takes advantage of rapid image sequences (ya gotta sit through an ad first)
  • Four Years On - A photojournalist's take on events of 9/11 four years after the date (click picture to launch show)
  • Magnum Photographers In Motion - A nice set of Magnum photographers' photographs. Also available as a Podcast here.
  • Stefan Rohner - Rohner's B&W slideshow "Humans"
  • Couple Lacks Sight, Not Vision - A Soundslides example with voice over
  • Wrestling - Pro wresting mixing music and on-site recorded sound
  • Coryn - Simple images, simple images, clear voice over and a powerful message
  • Dulcimer Festival - Nice mix of images and sound
  • Granada, Nicaragua - A short Soundslides show that has some great animation/editing effects
  • Punk in Drublic - Check out all the different formats that this presentation is available in. Note the tradeoff in size vs. quality. Also note the very cool use of a stationary camera and moving subjects
  • Life Through Time - Franz Lantig's and engaging work in a beautifully told story format
  • Media Storm - A very interesting clearing house for multimedia content
  • Visual Edge - A website for a workshop for journalist storytellers with some great stories. Also be sure to check out the lessons page.
  • Bridges to Understanding - Photographer Phil Borges has established a cross-cultural storytelling program that's designed to help people learn about other cultures. Here's a great example of what they are doing.
  • Soul of Athens - Great stories about Athens, OH
  • On Assignment - Excellent combination of audio and still images to tell the story of the California Democratic Party State Convention
  • The Crossing - An audio/visual story about a railroad crossing tradgedy
  • Interactive Narratives - a nice clearing house for multimedia presentations

Digital Storytelling Resources:


 

Created for PhotoPlus Expo- October 2007

Jeff Curto
www.jeffcurto.com
www.cameraposition.com
http://photohistory.jeffcurto.com