Webtools

= The WebTools = Below you will find 60+ web tools you can use to create your own web-based story. The mission is not to review or try every single one (that would be madness), but pick one that sounds interesting and see if you can produce something. One small note for classroom use - these tools are free and open to the public; therefore, most of the tools are not censored for content. Utilize them to create rich and dynamic resources for your classroom, but use caution before letting your students visit without supervision.

But before rummaging around the toolbox, have you done your prep work? Do you have your story idea or presentation concept outlined, developed? If not, go back 2 spaces and do this now. Next- do you have your media assets available, your images, video clips, audio files-- if not go find your media now.

Slideshow Tools
Generates content that allows linear playback of a series of images, some with ability to add audio. But these are primarily organized around photos or graphics.

Bubbleshare
[] Create from uploaded images, clip art library, records 30 second audio/video captions for each image. Overlay comic bubbles with text. Code to embed in blogs, web site. Options to have prints made as books, posters.
 * [|Summer Fun]
 * [|Yangoon Mandalay Amarapura] by Sergi & Lucia
 * [|BLC2007 - MIT] by Dave Thompson

Joggle
[] Upload images or search/upload flickr or Google for images by tag. Create slideshows with transitions and attach background audio. Share via email, embed code. Still listed as beta.
 * [|Summer Fun]
 * [|Iceland Slide Show] (by College of Wooster workshop participant) - a geologist narrates her field work

ImageLoop
[] Upload images from computer or flickr or upload PowerPoint files. Select from animated templates. Publish to blog or MySpace. RSS, comments.
 * [|Summer Fun]
 * [|Japanese Nature] by davedavai (note film effects)

One True Media
[] "...effortlessly combine photos and video clips with words and music to personalize your story. Quickly share with our Online Slideshow or get as creative as you want with our Video Montage." Upload images and audio for story track. Embed in blogs or directly post to YouTube/Google video, mySpace, Google Groups. Great template choices.
 * [|Summer Fun]
 * [|Rates of Change] (for Calculus) by University of Delaware workshop participant Cristina Bacuta

RockYou
[] "RockYou! creates and distributes the most popular self-expression widgets on the web" where widgets are slideshows, image effects, and more. Publishes to MySpace, Facebook, blogs.
 * [|Summer Fun]
 * [|My Experiences in Second Life] by Alexandra Pickett
 * [|World Travler]

Slide
[] "Slide lets you use photos and other digital content to publish and discover the people and things that matter to you." Import from many sources, has a good library of templates, backgrounds, effects. Can add music from library but not your own audio.
 * [|Summer Fun]
 * [|Vietnam Wall] by whslibrarian
 * [|Memories of Spain] by University of Delaware workshop participant Dora Marin

SlideFlickr
[] "SlideFlickr will help you create and embed Flickr slideshows in less than 10 seconds" for putting slide shows in your own site. Generate from flickr users, sets, groups, tags. Attach audio via mp3 url is a featured that goes beyond what flickr offers.
 * [|Summer Fun]

flickrslidr
[] Embed a slideshow created from a set, group, or user in flickr. No audio. You can now do this directly from flickr's slide show interface.
 * [|Joe Dale's trip to Brittany]
 * International School Manila's [|quick show on fractals]

pictobrowser
[] quickly and easily turns flickr sets, tags, or group photos into lovely embedded slide show

PhotoShow
[] "turns photos into musical slideshows" - wide range of elegant templates, add captions, optional video effects (film grain, etc). Audio only from music library on site.
 * [|Realization of a Dream]
 * [|Tibet 2007]

Slideroll
[] Create slideshows via a movie timeline- add transitions, Ken Burns like effects, titles, captions, music. Direct import photos from flickr.
 * [|Kuai] by sgdirka
 * [|Spray Paint Art] by perducha

Picasa
[] Google's free site for storing and sharing photo serves a similar service as flickr, but it also offers the ability to create slideshows with captions, and to associate images with a location on a map.

PhotoPeach
[] A very easy to use slide show maker tool. Import photos from flickr, picasa, Facebook (or upload), arrange, select music from library (or find from YouTube videos). Creates Ken Burns like pan and zoom effects. Add captions. When published, you can also post to Facebook or twitter.
 * [|Summer Fun]
 * [|Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]
 * [|Mrs. Emery's students ROCK!]
 * [|Time Travel: People We've Met]

Tikatok
[] Designed primarily for kids, the real purpose of Tikatok is to allow children to create their own story books, which can be shared or ultimately printed as a real book. Images or drawings can be uploaded, arranged, and placed within text. The site provides as an option story prompts to help guide the process. Final products can be viewed on the site or embedded.
 * [|The World of Spiders]
 * [|Your Eye in Green]

Tar Heel Reader
[] Developed at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, this tool allows creation of a captioned slide show for beginning readers, with features designed for accessibility (text to speech, reader selected font and background colors) and offers downloads of stories in PowerPoint, Flash, and Impress Format. Pictures can be used directly from flickr, and the tool tracks the photo credits.
 * [|Stevie Wonder] Biography
 * [|The Sad Story of Growly the Tiger]
 * [|Desert Animals]

Timeline Tools
The main organizing metaphor for these tools is by time/date that can explored in any order. Events are placed on a timeline, and might include text, hyperlinks, images, etc.

Dandelife
[] Generate a timeline of any kind of event in your life, write as blog-like entry, apply tags, attach images, videos, bookmarks form other web service sites. Not the easiest tool to use!
 * [|Distance Education]

OurStory
[] Write a 'story' which is what happened on a date in time, add pictures, video, and OurSotry creates a timeline. Imports flickr photos.
 * [|Change the World]
 * [|Baby Yoche's Story]

xtimeline
[] Powerful and well designed timeline. Attach images or embed media to any entry, provide source info (for historical timelines?), tags. Can import data from Excel/CSV files.
 * [|History of Hotels] by University of Delaware workshop participant
 * [|History of Mobile Phones]

Mixer Tools
These may overlap with the Slideshow tools, but generally these ones offer a larger variety of media types that can be "mixed" and end products that are not necessarily linear.

Voice Thread
[] Weave uploaded or flickr imported images into a media presentation with multiple voices. Record audio, video, or add text or drawn annotations. Others can add video, audio, and text comments as well. See also VoiceThread for Education wiki.
 * [|Intro to Teaching Online Intros] University of Albany graduate level class
 * [|One Busy Day] by minilegends- a choose your own adventure story by school kids in Adelaide
 * [|Great Book Stories] educators using Voice Threads to introduce great stories
 * Tod Duncan (UC Denver) created [|this one for his cancer biology course]
 * [|My House As a Film Set] by Dean Shareski

VUVOX
[] "turn your photos, video and music into professional quality presentations that can be easily shared with friends and family. " search images in flickr, google, upluad youtube video, embed code (see [|MasterNewmedia review]).
 * [|My puppy, Hugo]
 * [|Digital Shootout Bonaire 2007]

VUVOX Collage
[] Collage provides a rich interface for creating highly visual presentations along scrolling horizontal strip, with imported pictures, audio, and video plus tools for creating hotspot links to web sites or to open other slideshows (note currently in private beta).
 * [|Balancing Act] by Barbara Ganley
 * [|Images of Guinea]

Mixercast
[] "Create professional multimedia experiences by mixing your images, video, and sound easily with our unique templates and share across the web in one click." Powerful editing, import photos, audio, video form sites or direct upload- many templates and editing options including text overlays with hyperlinks. Can also record video from web cam.
 * [|Chronicle of an Artist- My Visit to North Carolina] by Studio Rising Star
 * [|cilcle of life]

Comic/Sketch Tools
Create your own comic strips or cartoons using imported media or available images. You might need ability to sketch, and these are generally shorter pieces, and were much more of a challenge to fit a story into.

gnomz
[] This is a fairly low level tool that will not create any visual masterpieces, but there is an interesting challenge in trying to compose with a limited tool set. It creates those pixel flat icon like figures. You create a cartoon avatar, and you pull from a library of others, and enter their speech or thought bubbles, as well as select backgrounds. The site is a bit challenging to figure out since it is in French, but click the flag in the top right to toggle the site to English.
 * header images for Leigh Blackall's Blended Learning wiki
 * [|Teaching Hacks example]
 * D'Arcy Norman's [|teacher using wiki comic]
 * //Note most of the content on this site is juvenile or inappropriate. Link at your own risk.//

ComicsSketch
[] A tool for people who can actually draw! Create all content via pen and color tools.
 * [|Time for Tea!] by TrevUK
 * [|The Seed] by te3de3

Toondoo
[] Create your own 1, 2, or 3 panel cartoons using a library of cartoons, text bubbles. Images can be uploaded and manipulated with simple tools. Created "doos" can be combined into "ToonBooks", embedded in blogs, etc. A lot of versatility.
 * EdVisions High School students' perspective on the [|Islamic revolution in Iran], [|the Italian Renaissance] and [|Women’s Rights in Iran],
 * [|Hang On!] by Micadz
 * [|The Spambot!] by Danayel

Kerpoof
[] A fun to use cartoon tools with stock shapes and character bubbles. No import of media, no audio, no ability to create links or embed code.

Bubblr
[] Pick flickr photos by tag or user name and put on a timeline, overlay bubbles with text.
 * [|Nelson Mandela]
 * [|Elephants]
 * [|Beth's Birthday Card]

Comiqs
[] Turn photos, "doodles", and text into a multipane comic strip with a real comic book like style (does almost the same result as desktop ComicLife). Import photos from flickr or upload from desktop. Add bubbles, text.
 * [|Aeneas Leaving Dido And Searching For New Homeland] and [|Finding Italy] from Classics1
 * [|The Recruiting Life]
 * [|A Day in the Life of a Squirrel]

PikiStrips
[] Make comic strips from your own photos using standard sets of frames. Apply PhotoShop like effects to images. Add speech bubbles and other "goodies" (note that 90% of the gallery seem to be dating oriented??)
 * [|The Sniperoo Moment]
 * [|The Wedding]

Pixton
[] Create simple or complex comics using characters, scenes, objects. All objects are highly editable, and characters can be moved into almost any pose. A future feature will allow animations to be created.
 * [|The Problem with Educational Theorists]
 * [|The Finale Death Scene] (Rome and Juliet)

Collage Tools
Less a story from point A to B, collage tools provide ways to artistically organize media around a theme, which then again, can easily be a story. Often these can handle more varieties of media, but also become more complex of an interface.

Tabblo
[] an application to put together photos and words with styled templates into a visual collage, also creates slideshows, permissions for views, import form flickr, print services (posters etc)
 * [|Equinox Marathon Trail]
 * [|I love Winter!]

Scrapblog
[] Create multipage collections of photos (import from 5 photo sites), decoration "stickies", videos from YouTube, and publish to several blog sites.
 * [|Visit to Kamloops]
 * [|Discover Ontario]

Glogster
[] Create posters with images, video, audio (uploaded or recorded) and apply a wide range of text effects- note that each one is relatively large sized (may not fit in blog page). Be sure to see [|Glogster/edu] for education related resources and services
 * [|Oral Language and Reading Success: A Structural Modeling Approach] a project report by University of Mary Washington student Justin Toney
 * [|AVP Fead Poem] made by a year six student, brings to life his poem and includes a video created with Animoto
 * [|Winnipeg General Strike 1919]
 * 6th grade student projects on [|Polar Bears], [|Arctic Fox], and [|Why You Should Care about the Arctic Fox]
 * 1st Grade Teacher uses Glogster extensively on class wiki site B-7Bobcats

Map Tools
These tools are useful for stories or presentations that are tied to locations over a distance, such as a travel trip or a historical accounting. See also [] and [|Find a Story... Map a Story... Tell a Story...]

Mapwing
[] A tool really designed for created linked tours or annotated drawings/maps- generate a base map by importing or drawing, add nodes, each with a view looking in 4 directions, captions, link together.
 * [|Coral Reefs] by Mrs. Hagenbuch's project for science. Created by Jeniece, Brittany, Allison, and Chevy.
 * [|Harrisburg University tour]
 * [|Installing a Pipe Organ]

Google My Maps
[] Associate steps of your stories with locations on a map. Editing each one allows annotation of locations with mages (e.g. using links from flickr), and other rich text features. Now they provide cut and paste code (via the "Link to this Page") so you can embed the maps in any web page. Also review the section of this wiki on GoogleLitTrips.
 * [|America's Highway: Orak Histories of Route 66]
 * [|"Life Map" of the Hawaiian Musician Israel Kamakawiwoole]
 * [|Google Lit Trips]

Wayfaring
[] Annotate a map with three kinds of tools- a waypoint (one that can be used in multiple maps), a note, or a path/route. The flow of the story is less apparent, unless one does it with a combination of routes to show a path.
 * [|Places I Like in Cape Town]
 * [|A Typical Day] (in Cambridge, U.K. By Dr B)

Flickr Tools / Ideas
Not strictly a tool per se, but there are many different ways to use flickr itself as a platform for creating/sharing stories in interesting ways.

Flickr Tell a Story in 5 Frames
[] "Tell a Story in 5 Frames has two important parts. The first part is creating and telling a story through visual means with only a title to help guide the interpretation. The second part is the response of the group to the visual story."
 * [|The Transformation] by Frizztext
 * [|Paper v. Plastic] by miss.mumford

Flickr Six Word Story
[] is "a photo with a Six Word Story in the title section of a Flickr photo. Be as inventive as possible. Have those few words tell the whole tale, and let the picture be its visual interpretation."
 * [|In Dreams He Left Gobbler's Knob]... by Beefus
 * [|He couldn't put humpty together again] by gadgetgirl
 * [|Ball for sale. Dog not included] by nal from miama

Flicktion
[] Flickr+Fiction = Flicktion. Take any single image and write a short story built around that image. Save in flickr with the tag "flicktion".
 * [|Green Background].
 * [|Subway Tunnel]
 * [|A Peaceful and Perfect Moment] by Mike Mather

Linking Flickr Notes
Using any set of flickr photos, you can link them together via hypertext links embedded into flickr notes - the popups that appear when rolling over an image. You could weave a story together linked linearly or branching, by using these "hotspots" on images

Pictures with Stories Flickr Group
[] "Your photograph must be accompanied by a story. The story must be at least five sentences long and MUST be true - no poems or fiction please. Tell us something about your photograph, why you took it, the story behind the photograph." This is a loose fit in the 50s as it is more aimed at sharing te thoughts behind a picture.
 * [|Jenifer Hanen, Pink on Blue]
 * [|not in the mooood for conversation.]

Audio Tools
There are numerous audio storage / podcast generation tools, but the ones here were selected because they offer ties to other media forms, but are built primarily around the main content as sound.

Podcast People
[] This is more of a tool to create podcasts including audio, video content as well as traditional "blog" posts. It could be used to serialize a story into small segments.
 * [|FSRC]
 * [|T.A.L.R. Redux '07]

Blabberize
[] Rather simple and crude, but can be effective! Upload a picture of a frontal view of a face, mark the key points of the mouth, and record the audio. It creates a simple animation of the mount moving to the sound of the voice.
 * [|Vergil and the Aenid]
 * Elementary school students [|telling stories of chickens] or doing [|reports on people like John Lennon]
 * [|The Blabberize Alpaca]

yodio
[] Combine audio from uploaded mp3 or phoned in from phone with uploaded pictures
 * [|689J Demo for Entrepreneurship Class]
 * [|La Paz, Mexico - A Quick Visit Overview]

Video Tools
The video tools allow upload, editing, and remixing of video to create new content, playable through a web page.

Splashcast
[] "The SplashCast service enables anyone to create streaming media ‘channels’ that mix together video, music, photos, narration, text, as well as RSS feeds, PowerPoint presentations and PDF documents." rather versatile in the places where it can fetch media (uploads or from other sites such as flickr, YouTube). Easy, well prompted interface.
 * [|English Feed Channel]
 * [|TED Talks Channel]

BubblePLY
[] Load a video form any URL (e.g. YouTube, Blip.tv) and then annotate with text "bubbles"
 * [|Huygens Landing on Titan]
 * [|Martin Luther King speech]

Motionbox
[] Tool for uploading, sharing videos with features to create playlists and remixes of your own videos.
 * [|DV FilmCamp]

Animoto
[] This tool analyzes an uploaded set of images and creates a "professional" music video based on a secret artificial intelligence logic. Very easy to create elegant picture shows.
 * [|Rachel Boyd's examples] (primary school teacher in Nelson, NZ)
 * [|Ewan McIntosh's example] (places where he works, even more examples in the comments)
 * Eric Biederbeck's 6th grade student projects on rain forest vocabulary - [|old growth forests] and [|biodiversity]

JayCut
[] Powerful features! Import photos, audio, video, and make a movie on a multi-track timeline plus transitions and effects
 * [|Pet Service Business Plan]

xtranormal
[] Almost in a category of it's own, this tool provides you al of the tools a movie director would have to select a set, actor sound effects, etc and create a movie made from only the dialogue text you type into the tool. Generates a movie you embed and you can then export directly to YouTube. However, you are left to work with media xtranormal provides (there is no import)
 * [|Elvis Remembers] (by Web 2.0 Storytelling Workshop Group)
 * Angela Thomas and University of Sydney students [|News Station Xtranormal movie]
 * [|Interactive Storyboards] (I'm Serious.net)

shwup
[] Upload media (images and movies) or load from flickr, picassa, Facebook, any web page, even form an email message into an "album". From an album, create a slideshow or a "muviee" using a small selection of themes and music (or you cna upload music). Media can be downloaded. No ability to add captions, no ability to link directly to movie (must be invited by email or social network

Presentation Tools
Built around a familiar desktop tools for creating slide decks, these tools offer similar features, and more, in a web interface.

Empressr
[] Full featured tool with uploads for images, audio, slide controls for transitions, timing. Has built in tools to record audio or video to add to slides. Many ways to share final presentation.

Spresent
[] Offers a PowerPoint like editor all in a web site. Import images (desktop, flickr), upload a PPT, movies from YouTube, audio via URL, use templates, etc. Audio can be synced to slides.
 * [|John Coltrane] (in spanish)
 * [|All About the iPhone]

Slideshare / Slidecasts
[] It's YouTube for PowerPoint. Upload Powerpoint/Keynote/PDF content and converts to Flash easily embedded in other web sites. Provide a URL for an audio track, and you can sync it to create an audio narrated "slidecast"
 * [|Into the Storm]
 * [|Rayman Ravin Rabbids]

Zentation
[] Might be called a mashup- it allows upload of Powerpoint files to Slideshare and synchronization to video uploaded to Google video.
 * [|What Old People Do For Fun]
 * [|What Curriculum Consultants Do] (Dean Shareski)

Viewbook
[] "an online service to create and share albums, portfolios and presentations on your viewbook domain". Upload up to 500 images, create albums of images with text captions, share via a link or copy/paste embed code. No audio.
 * [|Mélanie Baillairgé portfolio]
 * [|mamabart]

Zoho Show
[] Part of the Zoho suite of online productivity tools, Zoho Show provides a clean PowerPoint like interface for creating slide shows. Or you can directly import a PPT file (< 10 Mb) and publish without any extra work.
 * [|Old Wine in New Bottles] by paulallison
 * [|Twister] by sridhar
 * [|Grand Canyon] by jfwc

Vcasmo
[] Synchronize a series of image slides to a video soundtrack. Import video from YouTube or upload. Includes tools to enable other language captioning and Creative Commons licenses.
 * [|High-Performance javascript: Why Everything You’ve Been Taught is Wrong]
 * [|Inbox Zero action-based email]

MyPlick
[] Upload a presentation file (PPT or PDF) and an audio file, use the sync tools, and create an audio narrated slideshow / presentation. One of the best interfaces for syncing audio to slides.
 * [|Lynn's China Trip]
 * [|Subte - Audiovisual Wolko 1]

Google Presenter
[] The Google Tool provides import of PPT files, and a clean editing interface. Presentations can be live shared with invited others or published.
 * [|The River] (by Tasmania workshop participant)

WebSlides
[] Something really different. Turn a list of web sites (bookmarked) into a nicely presented web slide show. Notes can be added, content can be tagged, and it has an audio track.
 * [|Transforming Education Through Technology]
 * [|Funny Things Found on the Web]
 * [|TechCrunch 40]

Slideboom
[] Upload powerpoint files and have animations and other effects too! Also appears to bring in audio from original powerpoints. Very easy to use.
 * [|Antarctica]
 * [|Blogs, Wikis, and File Sharing... Oh My!]

SlideRocket
[] Powerful slide show creator; imports PowerPoint, uses themes, can add builds, transitions, timer slide advances, include video, attach audio for entire presentation or per slide, flash in slides, publish as public or with password access

280 slides
[] Online presentation tool with features similar to Keynote; can import Powerpoint, has its own themes, can publish to web or directly to Slideshare. Can add video, but not audio.

Prezi
[] A most unique presentation tool that provides dramatic levels of pan, rotation, and zoom. Sequencing allows for a unique way to connect pieces of a story.
 * [|Macromolecules]
 * [|Redwood National and State Parks] by Central York High School students
 * [|Alice] by Ruben Puentedura
 * [|Creativity Phase] (class report)
 * [|Social Learning and Emerging Technologies] (presentation by George Siemens)
 * [|Hotel Rwanda] (presentation about the movie)