How tos of convergence draft

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How tos of convergence draft

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Free Training Available for Multimedia and Convergence Journalism

Now that you have your free software installed, what do you do with it. Try some of these training sites to help you get your feet under you:

• Knight Citizen News Network: http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_training_sites/
• Knight Digital Media Center Free Tutorials: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/
• Ourmedia Learning Center: http://www.ourmedia.org/learning-center/
• Poynter Institute News University: http://www.newsu.org/
• Center for Social Media: http://centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use
• Journalism 2.0 Download: http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20_pdfs/
• UC Berkeley’s Multimedia Training: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/
• OJR: The Online Journalism Review: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/wiki/
• Nieman Reports—Visual Journalism: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/issue/100060/Spring-2010.aspx

 

And don't forget to practice often. If you don't use it, you lose it.

 

 

Free or Cheap Software List for Convergence or Multimedia Journalism

In preparing for a presentation at the annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention, I came across this list of free or cheap software that journalists or anyone can use to create multimedia content. The wonderful folks at the Knight Citizens News Network made this list possible...Check them out at http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_training_sites/.

In the mean time, here's there list:

For Slideshows:

 

• Photo Peach--Easy online slideshow creator that rivals Soundslides. Upload photos and MP3s, then add effects to create audio/visual presentations. Free. http://photopeach.com/
• SoundSlides-- What many professional journalists use to create audio slideshows. A good tool, but the cost can be a burden. $39.95 or $69.95 for plus. http://www.soundslides.com/
• SlideShare-- An embeddable way to share presentations (PowerPoint, Keynote, etc…) online. Free. http://www.slideshare.net/
• Animoto-- Animoto creates music videos from your images and pictures, using free music. Free. http://animoto.com/
• VUVOX-- VUVOX allows you to create interactive slideshows and presentations from photos, video and music from Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, YouTube or Facebook. In beta. Free. http://www.vuvox.com/
• Animoto-- Animoto creates music videos from your images and pictures, using free music. Free. http://animoto.com/

For Photosharing:

• Splashup--If you’re used to Photoshop, you’ll love Splashup. With its similar layout and large range of tools, it’s a great alternative to paying for the real program. Free. http://www.splashup.com/
• FotoFlexer--Fotoflexer/Photobucket is a Photoshop-like service that allows you to crop, resize, rotate and flip photos, adjust hue, saturation, lightness and contrast, as well as apply various special effects. Free. http://fotoflexer.com/
• Photoshop-- The free version of Photoshop requires registration, but provides 2 GB of storage and all of the basic editing tools and effects of the full program. Free and paid. http://www.photoshop.com/
• Gimp Shop--A free version of Photoshop with not so many bells and whistles. Free. http://www.gimpshop.com/
• Dr. Pic-- Originally called Pic Resize, DrPic has a small range of basic, quick photo editing tools and effects. Free. http://www.drpic.com/
• Snipshot-- Options: resizing, cropping, enhancement features, exposure, contrast, saturation, hue and sharpness correction, rotation, grayscaling. Free. http://snipshot.com/
• Rsizr-- No fancy tools here - just cropping and resizing. Free. http://rsizr.com/
• Flickr-- Flickr is an image and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community platform. You can create a group for you community. Free. http://www.flickr.com/
• Picasa-- Picasa, like Flickr, is a software that helps you organize, edit, and share your photos. Powered by Google. Free. http://picasa.google.com/mac/
• PhotoFiltre-- Editing software that lets you crop, resize and apply effects to photos. An inexpensive alternative to Photoshop. Free. http://photofiltre.en.softonic.com/
• Sumo Paint-- Photo editing software, much like PhotoFiltre. Free. http://www.sumopaint.com/home/

For Audio Editing:

• Audio Editor-- Completely free PC software allows you to edit audio files visually, record audio from a microphone or any other available input device, apply various effects and burn audio CDs from MP3, WMA, WAV, and OGG. Free. http://www.free-audio-editor.com/index.htm
• Audacity--Free, open-source software for recording and editing sounds. It works on Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. Free. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• Wavosaur— Free software for editing, processing and recording sounds. Free. http://www.wavosaur.com/
• Reaper-- A powerful audio editing software. Costs$50 non-commercial; $225 commercial. http://www.reaper.fm/
• GoldWave --Audio editor, recorder, converter, restoration and analysis software. Cost $49. http://www.goldwave.com/

 

Royalty-Free Music and Sounds:

• Incompetech--The Incompetech blog hosts royalty-free music for a wide variety of movie themes. Though everything on the site is free, donations are accepted. Free. http://incompetech.com/static/music/
• Flash Kit-- Flash Kit is a large archive for royalty-free audio loops that can be used in any Flash project. The site also allows you to submit your own loops and offers Flash tutorials as well. Free. http://www.flashkit.com/loops/
• Public Doman 4U--This huge database of public domain and free-with-artist-permission music includes its own last.fm radio station. Free. http://www.publicdomain4u.com/free-music-listings/
• Musopen--Musopen is a non-profit focused on improving access and exposure to music. It offers classical music files and the sheet music, available for free download. The database is searchable by composer, instrument, period and form. Free. http://www.musopen.com/
• Soundsnap--Soundsnap hosts content from the creators of Batman Begins, Million Dollar Baby, Ali, Happy Feet, Star Trek, The Addams Family, Tron, The Hunt for Red October and more. Free to browse and preview. $249 annual fee, unlimited sounds. http://www.soundsnap.com/
• FindSounds --From ferrets to Monty Python, you can search this enormous selection of over two million sound clips and effects in multiple file types and channels. Free. http://www.findsounds.com/
• Soungle-- Type any keyword into the search box to find a range of free, downloadable sound effects for use in audio and video projects. Free. http://soungle.com/
• Sound Jay-- Sound Jay contains a collection of free-of-charge and royalty-free sound effects - for personal use only, not further distribution. Free. http://www.soundjay.com/
• SoundClick-- You can find bands and full-length songs here to use in producing slideshows or video. All songs are available in streaming audio and most of the songs are also available as free legal MP3 downloads. Free. http://www.soundclick.com/
• Jamendo --Jamendo is a huge platform for free and legal music downloads. Available in seven languages, it offers the largest catalog of music under Creative Commons licenses. Free. http://www.jamendo.com/en/

 

For Video Editing and Converting:

• JayCut-- You can upload video from a camera, webcam or mobile phone and edit it on an easy, iMovie-like program. The finished video can be hosted by the service, downloaded to a PC or embedded on video social networks. Free. http://jaycut.com/
• VReveal-- VReveal, the second generation of FixMyMovie, allows you to stabilize, brighten, sharpen, add fun effects and more to your videos. For more effects and fixes, buy the premium version. Free.
• http://www.vreveal.com/
• Squared 5-- A powerful video converter, it gives users the ability to change one file type to another. It can also play and edit videos for both Mac and Windows. Free. http://www.squared5.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 2 Newsplex Training 2010

Today starts my second week fo training at Newsplex at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. This week focuses on teaching and researching convergence.

I spent the weekend touring a couple of cities--Charleston, SC, and Savannah, GA, so I'll be posting content from those whirlwind trips shortly. You all will be subjected some more multimedia storytelling techniques when I'm posting this content so that I can continue to practice some of the software programs that I learned last week.

A couple of great tips from last week's seminar:

• Adrive allows you 50GB of free storage space. Sign up for an account and begin backing up your data. Too bad I hadn't discover this until one of my external drives had a meltdown. Unfortunately for me, this is the drive that has, or rather had, most of my content. I'll be checking with the good folks at Texas Wesleyan's IT department to see if anything can be recovered--I hope; I hope.
• GimpShop provides a toned down, free version of Photoshop, so for those of you who can't afford Photoshop, download the software and play.
• Audacity also provides free audio software. Just download the software, and you can edit digital recordings, add effects, etc. before associating the ditigal recording with a slideshow.

I'll offer more tips that I've gleaned from Newsplex throughout my two weeks of training, so stay tuned.

Flash Animation Exercise from Newsplex

This is my final Newsplex post for this week--a brief Flash animation that we created. Now I'm off to Charleston.

My Newsplex Video with My Awesome Group

Thursday was video day at Newsplex, and my team shot this video using a Kodak Zi8 and MovieMaker. It was a good learning tool and a really basic video. Hopefully, I can remember how to do this for a movie of Charleston and Savannah. Check back after my worldwind tour this weekend, and thanks to everyone for their suggestions of sites to see in Charleston.

Thanks to Sue and Warren. You two are awesome!

Last Day of Newsplex Convergence Bootcamp

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.


During the last day of the Newsplex convergence software bootcamp, we learned how to put together a quick video using Animoto.com. This quick and simple program gives s brief glimpse of the facility and the folks who spent the week toiling over software challenges.

My Newsplex Journey Using Google Maps

This week has been a week for Convergence Software bootcamp at Newsplex, including use of Google Maps. One of my students did an awesome Google Map for murders of journalists in Mexico, but this is my first Google Map. I'll update it as my weekend between Newsplex training sessions progresses.


View South Carolina June 2010 in a larger map