Smile: It's a Smilebox Creation!

I remember a time when I was pretty young, when taking a photo was a rather stately affair. We only had a small camera which produced tiny squarish photos, you had to change the flash light often and developing photos was rather costly in itself. A far cry from today: you can say that nearly everyone owns a camera or at least they are able to take pictures and videos using their phones. Traditional photo developing is a thing of the past: photos can be easily printed off at home, and of course, one may also choose not to actually make a hard copy of one's photos, but use them creatively to create an interesting slide-show or collages to be shown on a computer. The Internet is rife with free programs that enable one to make impressive photo presentations with the mere click of a button. Today we will explore Smilebox, an animated PhotoAlbum, Scrapbook and Slideshow creator, which allows very creative use of media by allowing users to browse through different designs and create some impressive digital presentations.

Getting Started

To start using Smilebox, go to http://www.smilebox.com and click on the Get Started Icon on the bottom right hand side of the screen. You will be able to download a small programme (under 7MB) that installs itself on your computer and and which will allow you to use Smilebox on your computer. You must also provide a valid email and create a user name and a password so that your work will be stored under your profile online. There is no confirmation email to check and click; once you submit your details you will be able to use the application. Thereafter, when you wish to use Smilebox, you do not have to open your Internet browser (although you must be connected to the Internet); simply click on the Smilebox icon that will appear on your desktop after installation.

Browsing Designs

Smilebox offers literally hundreds of design combinations to choose from and work with your photos. You can choose designs by either Theme (bottom of the screen: choose from themes such as Holidays, Special Occasions, Birthdays, etc) or by Format (Collages, Slideshows, Photo Albums, Invitations, etc.) You can take your time to browse through the different themes and formats which best suits the work at hand. Below is a table of all the possibilities:

As you can see from this table, the possibilities are, quite literally, endless.

Examples of Smilebox Creations

Although there are so many different things to do on Smilebox, all tasks across the different themes follow a certain pattern: that is, uploading a photo or video on to form an Online Album is no different from uploading media to create a Greeting Card. What changes is not the method, but rather, how your audience will view the final product.

Let's assume you have a set of photos that you want to group together and share with your friends or colleagues. First, you may click on Browse by Format on the bottom right hand side of the screen, and choose the format which mostly suits your needs (for example, Collages). You will then immediately be prompted to choose a Design for your collage - some more suitable to certain events than others, for example, you can find designs suitable for holiday pictures or for more formal presentations. You can also sift through the designs by sorting them by name, format, number of photos, style or newest first. Once you choose and settle on a design, click on Personalise to download and be able to edit it.

Once the design has finished downloading, a template will open up for you to edit. If there is any text, you will be able to click on the textbox and delete or edit the text as you wish. You can add your own pictures or videos by clicking on the Get Photos or Get Videos at the bottom left hand side of the screen to browse through your hardisk or removable media and upload resources onto your Smilebox project. The pictures or videos can be then dragged directly onto the design template to create your collage. From the menu on the right hand side of the screen, you will be able to make changes to your design, such as increasing/decreasing the number of photos used, your layout, font styles and colour schemes. You can also choose to add some music to your creation to make it more lively.

When you are finished editing, click on the Save button at the top right hand side of the screen; Smilebox will automatically save your creation in the My Smilebox Creations folder which the is automatically installed in the My Documents folder. Then click on the Preview button on the top menu to be able to look at your creation before finalising it; if you wish to make any changes hit the escape key, but if you think your creation is ready for sharing, click on Share, Print or DVD button. You can share it for free online by sending the link as an email (Email your creation) or posting onto your favourite blog or social networking site (Post it on Facebook, Blog or Web). Printing or saving your creation to DVD will require additional subscription to Smilebox Club (no fee is incurred for online sharing though).

To embed it online for free, click on Post, choose a name for your creation, choose a repository (Blogger, Wordpress, Facebook, etc) and click on Continue. Remember to also choose the Basic Design if prompted, which allows for free sharing of your creation. Wait for the code to be generated, then copy and paste the code onto your favourite Blog, or, in the case of Facebook and Twitter, log onto your respective account and your Smilebox will be uploaded automatically. For example, to upload my collage on this blog post, I have asked the programme to generate the Blogger code by clicking on the orange blogger logo on the top left hand side of the screen, and copied and pasted the code in HTML mode.

Customize a picture collage

As I said before, the process to create an animated collage can be applied to all the other types of creations and designs: be it a Photo Album, a Scrap-book or a Calendar....The system is the same throughout: chose your design, upload the photos, drag them to the template and change the template accordingly. And that is the beauty of Web 2.0 applications: once you find your way around one, with a bit of thought, you will be able to navigate your way through the others... Happy creations! Sites to Remember: http://www.smilebox.com

Prezi: An Innovative Presentation Application

When one thinks of presentation software generally, the thought tends to drift immediately to PowerPoint, within the MS Office Application Suite. While one agrees that PowerPoint has its merits, it is not the beginning and end of all presentations: there are various other applications available which can do an similar or an even better job of presenting your work. Mashable.com gives a whole list of alternatives that can be used and these include Google Docs, Ajax, Thinkfree and Zoho. (The full list can be accessed online at http://mashable.com/2008/02/16/forget-powerpoint-online-presentations/). One such free, web based presentation application is Prezi.

Prezi is a web-based presentation application and story-telling tool. Instead of using the traditional slides which come one after the other, Prezi gives the user a single canvas which can be filled with words, pictures and videos. The user can fill up the canvas as he or she desires; then, one has to create links from one "item" to the next, to create a free-flowing presentation. The result is a non-linear presentation, where users can zoom in or out of a visual map. The end result can be quite stunning visually. Prezi also allows multiple users to work on the same presentation (by email invitation), making it an excellent collaboration tool.

The video below explains in brief what Prezi is all about:

Getting Started

To start using Prezi, you need to first create an account. Prezi offers three types of accounts: Public, Enjoy and Pro. Public is the only free service available, and apart from allowing limited online space, all presentations created will be visible and searchable by other Prezi users. On the other hand, Prezi offers special student/teacher licenses, which give an immediate upgrade in storage of 500MB. This is possible by registering to Prezi with an email account which can be traced back to an educational institution, such as teacher's .educ and .gov accounts. After you register for the first time, you will be asked to log into the email account you have used when registering and click on the confirmation email which is automatically sent by Prezi.

Your First Prezi

To start your first Prezi, go to to http://www.prezi.com/, log in using the email you have registered with and your newly created password, and click on New Prezi on the top right hand side of the screen. You will be presented with a new window where you can input the title of your Prezi together with a short description. After this is done, you will be able to start working. Your screen should look something like this:

1. A huge white canvas, with the words Click anywhere to add an idea in the middle of the screen;
2. The transformation menu on the top left hand side of the screen;
3. Save/Print/Exit menu on the top of the screen;
4. Zoom in/out menu on the right hand side.

To start writing, click anywhere (litteraly) and start typing away. A text box will automatically open and your will be able to write your message. The text within each text box can be changed in an autonomous way. After you have entered your text and clicked on Ok to save it, you will be able to access it again either by double clicking and re-opening the text box, or else by clicking once and opening the Transformation Zebra.

The Transformation Zebra - Move-Scale-Rotate

The transformation Zebra is a dynamic menu system used by Prezi. By clicking once on the word or item of choice, it will open up and allow you to zoom in, out, delete, duplicate, bring an object to the front or relegate it to the back of the canvas. By moving the scroll button on the mouse, you will be able to zoom in or out of the text box; by clicking on the "X" you will be able to access all the other options. The Transformation Zebra is pivotal to the correct usage of Prezi.

Adding onto your Prezi

Of course, adding textboxes to Prezi is only the beginning of the journey. Click on the transformation menu on the top left hand side of the screen, and choose Insert. From here, you will be able to insert pictures, videos (from your disk or from an URL) or draw shapes with the freehand drawing tool.

To insert a picture or video from your disk, click on Insert > Load File. A standard file browsing window will open, from which you will be able to select the desired file. Alternatively, to add video content which is already online to your Prezi, click anywhere on the canvas to open a text box, and copy and paste the URL of the desired video from YouTube or any similar video repository.

You can also change the fonts and colours of your presentation. Click on the transformation menu and then on Colours and Fonts. You will be able to change the way your presentation looks; however for the moment this is limited only to about 10 templates.

Paths

Of course the most important feature of Prezi, which puts it ahead of its game, is the ability to create paths between your words, pictures and videos. The path will determine the order of the information being presented. One can also zoom in or out of specific words and pictures by using Frames.

To create paths, simply click on the transformation menu, and then on Paths. By clicking on each individual item - text, picture, video - you will be able to generate the order in which the items will appear on your screen one after the other. Numbers will appear on each newly created path so that you can tell at a glance which item will come after which. If you wish to delete a path, simply drag the path (where the number is written) out of the text box, video or picture.

If you wish to zoom onto a specific parts of the text, you may also create frames by clicking on the transformation menu and then on Frames. You will be able to select specific parts of a picture and zoom in directly onto it by creating a new path for the frame.

Saving and Downloading your Prezi

As soon as you have finished editing your Prezi, you can preview it by clicking on Show from the transformation menu. When you are happy with the results, click on Save on the top menu, and then on Exit. You will be taken to the Prezi dashboard.

From here, you have several options at your disposal, which are accessible from the menu on the left hand side of the screen:

• Edit Prezi: to edit your existing presentation;
• Save a copy: to create a backup of your prezi;
• Download: to download a copy of your prezi for offline viewing - however, bear in mind that if your prezi contains online material, such as videos from YouTube, they will not work without an Internet connection;
• Delete: to delete a prezi from the online repository (make sure that you have downloaded it for future use first).

Collaboration with others

Like other Web 2.0 tools, Prezi allows great collaboration between groups of people who will be able to work together on the same presentation. You will be able to get a link and share the Prezi by email, or embed it onto your website or blog. But best of all, Prezi allows you to invite editors to work together with you on your presentation. Click on Get Link to get your presentation's link, on Embed to grab the code and or on Invite Editors to invite your collaborators to work with you. You will be able to work hand-in hand with your colleagues or friends on this innovative presentation software.

Sites to remember:

Prezi: http://www.prezi.com

Examples of other free, online presentation software: http://mashable.com/2008/02/16/forget-powerpoint-online-presentations/

NB I would like to thank Franco for teaching me how to use Prezi, and Jeffrey for having the patience to repeat :)

Sharing Resources - Online Slide-Shows

In previous posts, I have talked about various applications and widgets: Photo-editing software, audio manipulation software, animated avatars, etc. These applications or resources may or may not have been specifically created for educational purposes. There is a myriad of applications out there, and a multitude of skills to learn - this sometimes can be a bit overwhelming. There is always a constant pressure on us teachers to perform and to create new and interesting resources, and especially, resources which can be shared online.

Sometimes we, as teachers, underestimate how much work we manage to cram in during the year - and the re-usability of our resources. For example, this year, for the Creativity & Innovation Projects, teachers were asked to look at any ongoing projects or activities going on in their classrooms - such as e-Twinning, Eko Skola or simply classroom based projects - and adapt their work for sharing or online publishing (I am referring mostly to the Year 5 Blogs Project on Skola Portal). Everyday resources, such as photos, videos or slide-shows can be adapted for online viewing with minimal changes required.

One of the most common types of resources which you might be in possession of are Slide Shows - Picture Slide shows or more traditional presentations or Power Point Shows. Both can be adapted to online uploading and viewing - on a website, wiki or blog - and we will now take a look at two popular services which make this possible.

Power Point Slide-Shows

Power Point Slide-Shows can be surprisingly easy to adapt to online viewing -I am talking, of course, of MS Power Points: the ones you might have already prepared for your daily lessons, or a simple PPT created by your children. Of course, MS Powerpoint Shows need a slight adjustment before they can go online: they need to be converted in a way that your blog or website will recognise them. Then - like with any other widget - its simply a case of grabbing the correct Embed code and paste it in place. To make MS PPTs available online, we can use a variety of web applications. I am going to talk about just one of these popular services; however, there are others to choose from. The services offered are free (upgrades are available at a cost - but usually the basic service will cover your needs). The most important thing to remember is that in order for them to work, registration is required the first time round, and signing-in on the subsequent times.

SlideShare

One of the most popular PPT sharing resource is SlideShare.net. It lets you upload your presentations and share them in online a couple of simple clicks. To try out the service and register, go to http://slideshare.net/ . You can opt to browse existing presentations, try out some widgets or simply upload your presentation. To upload your presentation, click on the Upload button on the top of the page. You will be asked to choose a PPT from a location on your computer, and, depending on the speed of your connection, your PPT will soon be ready for viewing or embedding! (Each PPT must not exceed 100 MB and you may upload up to 10 files at a time). You can choose a title, tags and category for your PPT.

One thing to remember when using such services is that the uploading part is only one half of the story (the same applies when uploading, for example, a video on You Tube). After uploading your file(s) on the server, the application needs to convert the file to a format that is globally recognisable and embeddable. After the file has uploaded, remember to click on Publish so that your presentation will be converted into online format.

After the Presentation has been uploaded, you may wish to alter Permissions surrounding it. You can also opt to have a private, restricted view or public Presentation. You may also opt to let people download the presentation onto their PCs or not. It all depends on what you intend to do with your Presentation. All these settings can be changed and accessed any time after uploading, by clicking on My Slidespace - where all your uploaded PPTs reside - click on the PPT whose settings you wish to change, and then on Edit. You will be shown up the options page once more, and will be given the chance to do the required edits. Remember to click on Update to change your settings.



NB. Different platforms require different Embed Codes. The Embed Code is basically a piece of script which will allow your newly uploaded presentation to be visible on your Website/Wiki/Blog or Social Networking Site. Depending on where you want your presentation to appear, select the appropriate embed code - usually you will see a little icon symbolising the type of embed - the orange letter B for Blogger Code, the blue F for Facebook, the black W for Wordpress, etc. You may also share your presentation by e-mail by copying and pasting the URL where your presentation has been uploaded onto an e-mail message.


Photo-Slide Shows

Instead of simply sharing photos online, why not put them together and create a movie-like slide show? There are various applications which allow this - the two most popular ones are Slide.Com and Animoto. Both have very similar interfaces and rely on the principal of uploading photos, adding effects and transitions, and finally publishing and sharing your work. Here, we are going to take a quick look at Slide.com; if you are interested in Animoto you may log onto a previous post I created on my blog, http://teachersandcomputers.blogspot.com/2009/03/animoto.html.

Slide.com


Slide.com is a photo-sharing application - similar to MS Photostory - and allows you to create interesting photo-slide shows. It is available on http://slide.com and like other online applications it requires registration the first time round.

To start your first slide-show, sign in with the username and password you have created upon registration, and click on Make a Slide Show. You will be prompted to start adding your photos - either from your PC or else grab photos from other online albums that you might already have, such as Flickr or Facebook (Remember - Re-Usabilty!). Each photo may also be individually named.

While you are waiting for photos to load (in order to shorten uploading times, remember to resize them for the Web!), you might wish to change your slide-show's settings:

• Style: Change the way your photos will appear on the screen - i.e. the transition from one photo to the next;
• Skin: Change slide-show's player as it will be displayed on your website;
• Themes: Add a theme animation to your slide-show, such as sparkles or hearts;
• Music/Video: Add some music from a good choice of tracks, to suit all moods and occasions;
• Background: Change your slide-show's background colour;
• Effects: Add effects to your photos, such as b/w and sepia tints;
• Size: Change the size (in pixels) of your slide-show;
• Privacy: Determine the privacy settings of your slide-show - who will be able to view or download your creation

As soon as all your photos are uploaded, you can change their order on the story-board at the bottom of the screen, or change any effects or styles as desired. When that is done, you may Save and Get Code. As in the case for other widgets, remember to grab the correct code according to where you are uploading your work. For example, Wetpaint Wikis do not support script tags. Usually all popular services are supported. If you are unsure of what you need, or your favourite blog or wiki isn't listed in the code list, try grabbing a copy of another application's embed code and see if that works - sometimes its just a simple case of trial and error!

NB There are several applications which will allow sharing of resources online; unfortunately I cannot go through them all here. However here are some additional sites which you might want to try out:

For sharing Power Point Presentations:
http://authorstream.com/

http://docs.google.com/

For creating photo slide-shows:
http://animoto.com/
http://onetruemedia.com/

Author's Note: This post is dedicated to my father, Alfred, who spent the last two weeks in hospital but is now on the road to recovery. He was always a great supporter of my work and is always encouraging me to try and do my best.