SUCCESS!
I'm happy to report successfully uploading a PowerPoint presentation to Slideshare, then pasting it into my blog above.
I went about creating this blogpost a little differently than I have with past posts, though. So I feel a word of explanation is in order here.
FLASHBACK: WEB 2.0 TOOLS IN YOUR CLASSROOM
A WORD OR EXPLANATION
I decided to create this blog entry while exploring the slideshow, photo montage, and online database tools described in Thing #9, rather than waiting until I had finished the exploration.
I wanted to see if this would streamline the process. (I'm not entirely sure it did.) Anyway, it was an experiment.
Accordingly, I first blogged about the "Web 2.0 Tools in Your Classroom" slideshow, Zoho Show and Slideshare software, Flicks by Picture Trail, NEFLIN's Flickr photostream, and Lazybase below.
After I completed my exploration, I signed up for a Slideshare account and uploaded one of the PowerPoint presentations my department created a couple of months back for training colleagues outside of the Alachua County Library District for this year's upcoming Summer Reading Program.
I ultimately chose to upload the shorter, simpler PowerPoint of the two I was involved in. This presentation that didn't use any of PowerPoint's fancy animation. I chose this one because I thought it would probably display more clearly on the blog and be a better bet for a neophyte like me.
How did all of this come about? Let's step back a little in time. To discover what I was thinking as I explored the slideshow, photo montage, and database tools (prior to the successful upload of the above PowerPoint), please read on.
I enjoyed this little (59-slide) slide show, although the default advance speed was too quick to allow me to adequately scan and / or read all the content on some of the more complex slides. I went through a second time using manual, slide by slide advance.
I love the idea of social networking as an educational tool. The quote, "Everybody and Anybody can collaborate, influence, connect, create, publish, share" holds a great deal of appeal for me.
The slide entitled "But Why?" on the benefits to connecting people via Web 2.0 (tapping into collective intelligence via collaboration, transparent delivery and instant gratification, a non-hierarchical / democratic information feed, etc.) was another one that resonated for me.
Blogging as a way for students both to better imprint what they have learned as well as pool what they have learned in a communal repository of knowledge struck another chord.
The slide picturing a scale weighing the main features of actively searching the Web for information on websites (older method) versus the newer, passive method of online information gathering via RSS feeds aptly summarized the contrast between methods.
I thought the point that by allowing users to subscribe to others' bookmarks, del.icio.us "Allows us to connect with the web resources of the very best minds in our field" was well taken.
Because I'm smack in the middle of a wiki project myself, I viewed the slides on wikis with particular attention.
I found myself longing for music and / or narration as I advanced through the slideshow. Surely Slideshare and Zoho Show must enable an audio track to be added? Let's take a look.
ZOHO SHOW
The link to Zoho Show in the Neflin's 23 Things blog didn't quite work, so I had to go to the Zoho homepage, but that worked well enough. I took the tour, checked out the demo video, and viewed one of the public presentations (an inspirational, poster-moment style slideshow entitled "Finding Joy.")
Zoho Show appears to be gunning hard to rival PowerPoint. All the controls look very similar. I like the fact that Zoho Show can be embedded in one's website or blog and is entirely free.
Here's what occurred to me while I was checking out Zoho Show: I had fun throwing together a couple of PowerPoint training presentations several months back, but was stymied when I tried to email the presentations to a colleague from another library system who requested them.
I finally had to snail-mail her the PowerPoints on a thumb drive. Had I known about Zoho Show, I could have used that instead and let her access the presentations via the web.
As far as I can tell, Zoho Show doesn't have an audio component yet, although I see that support for animations is in the works. That would be wonderful.
Also, one of my PowerPoint training presentations used a lot of zippy animations to liven it up. Without the animated transitions, the presentation would have been a lot flatter and less fun.
Okay. Time to check out Zoho Show's rival Slideshare.
SLIDESHARE
Aha! Slideshare says right up front that you can "Add audio to make a webinar." Cool.
And the slideshow "tour" indicates that you can upload PowerPoint, OpenOffice, or PDF presentations to Slideshare in order to share them with others over the Web. Perhaps I'll be able to upload my PowerPoints to my blog???
"Create SlideCasts . . . Sync audio with your slides. . . ." Virtual Unicorn is starting to salivate.
I see Slideshare's potential to publicize events and allow participation / voting in contests as immediately useful to the Library District and to my department (which hosts and presents a lot of programs) in particular.
These features could be especially useful in our push to offer more and better programs for teens.
Like Zoho Show, Slideshare, too, is free.
FLICKS & LAZYBASE
I have to say, Flicks by Picture Trail looked intriguing! I see a great deal of potential there for commemorating Library events via an animated photo montage instead of just a bunch of separate, lifeless stills.
I checked out Big Huge Labs a couple of Things back when I used its Motivator tool to create a poster. The Mosaic Maker tool doesn't excite me much.
I did take a moment to flit to NEFLIN's Flickr account to take a look at a couple of short photo sets: the igloo built out of plastic milk jugs (right here in our very own Alachua County Library District!) and the New River Staff Development photos.
I recommend rotating all the photos into an upright position before making them part of a slideshow or photo montage. Seeing images that are sideways is a little jarring.
Lazybase looks interesting, if painfully simplistic. Still, it's a way to get a simple database embedded in a website, accessible to anyone with web access, no database software required.
I might look into that one for future reference, since building databases is something of a hobby of mine. I find them appealing because they put a large volume on information at one's fingertips, uniformly formatted, comparable, and searchable.
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