Today, I will be discussing:
- The creation of my digital short story for ELA Methods
- The "Taskable" app I downloaded on my iPhone
- Laser tag (it's technological... right?)
DIGITAL SHORT STORY: How Boahlcat Found his Wings
If you actually view this digital short story, you will surely say to yourself, "Gee, this story looks awfully familiar!" Well, this is because I just edited and added onto the short story I posted to this blog last week! This could be perceived as laziness, but I prefer to see it as emotional attachment. As I was writing Boahlcat's cute little tail (Bahaha - pun intended) I became quite smitten with the fluffy feline, and decided to give him more of a back story. So here is how I did this:
- I used Storybird to create my 20-page written and illustrated story (the illustrations are all done by one of Storybird's authors). I then bought my story in PDF form for $2.25 (if spending money is not an option for you, you may simply take screen shots of each slide in the story, but as I said, I got attached to Boahlcat, so $2.25 seemed like a fair price).
- I then shifted gears and chose a fun little tune from Jamendo, a free music platform, which would play in the background of my story.
- I decided that, in addition to having background music, I would also have narration. For this, I used the iTalk app I downloaded onto my iPhone after Darren Kuropatwa's P.D. on digital storytelling, since I don't have a microphone on my computer. I recorded myself reading the short story in 30-second segments (with the free edition of this app, you can only email 30-second audio clips, maximum) and emailed them to myself.
- After creating/selecting my audio, I downloaded Audacity (a free program for editing and saving audio files) and imported both my narration clips, and my music from Jamendo. I then cut the 30-second narration clips so that they read flawlessly, and adjusted the volume of the Jamendo tune so that my narration was audible over the music. I then saved the audio as an mP3.
- Finally, I made a free account on Slideshare and uploaded my Storybird PDF to create a slideshow. I then added the audio file I created using Audacity, turning my slideshow into a slidecast. I chose to use Slideshare instead of other movie-making programs, like Microsoft Photo Story 3, because it allows you to line your audio up with your visuals for synchronized, hands-free storytelling.
When all was said and done (illustration selection, story telling, narration, audio, and slideshow-making), the project took me about 6 hours. All of the programs I used were very simple to work with, and created what I think is a great finished project. What do you think?
TASKABLE
I actually found this app using the AppsGoneFree app Mr. Nantais told us about in ICT class. I absolutely adore it. I am extremely forgetful (to the point where I fear the early onset of Alzheimers) and somewhat scatterbrained, so list-making is an absolute must for me. The problem with paper list-making, however, is that I always lose the lists (being that I am forgetful and scatterbrained). The Taskable app is a solution to this problem, since it requires me to make the list using my iPhone (which, of course, I still lose from time to time - but not nearly as often since it almost never leaves my hand). The app allows its user to create infinite amounts of to-do lists, add infinite amounts of tasks to these to-do lists, prioritize these tasks, set time limits for them, AND check them off as they are completed! It also provides the option of making lists in funky colours :) And the best part? It's free!
LASER TAG
On a totally unrelated note, I went to Playtime for Mirissa's birthday and played laser tag with a bunch of Eddies. And it was awesome. And that is all.
Have an enjoyable long weekend (is anyone else's favorite holiday Louis Riel Day?)
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