I want to

Interactive posters with Thinglink

There are a few of these resources around, and Thinglink is a new one on me. Basically you add your image, such as a poster or a photograph, and you can then embed things into it, such as icons that provide text, or links to websites or video. You can see the version that I tried with a photograph of my dog. 

It's very easy to use and a snap to create something of interest. However, while there is a free version, you can really only get the most out of it if you pay them cold hard cash. To be honest, the amounts that they are asking are just ridiculous. $35 for an annual educational subscription is ok, but $100 a year for a personal account? No way would anyone with any sense pay that, but the thing that really, really annoys me is that if you are using the free version, and you want to view your image/poster in full screen there's a nasty little 'upgrade now' banner across the middle. Totally unnecessary and it's just bullying. Consequently, I'm not recommending this money grabbing tool, unless or until they change their approach. 

SlideShare going completely free

According to their blog entry: Giving You More Reasons to Share on SlideShare it's going completely free. All of the elements that were paid for under the pro version are going to be released to all users in a controlled one a month roll out. These will include analytics, profile customisation, private uploads and showcasing videos. This is going to put a lot of pressure onto AuthorStream which is still offering a premium service, and I wonder how much longer they are going to be able to continue to offer it.

Thinglink for interactive presentations

One of the problems with traditional presentation formats such as PowerPoint is that they are linear. This can be a real issue when you're flexible about how you run a training session, and this is where Thinglink comes into play. It's based on the concept of adding information to images with hotspots. You can create your presentation based around the image and add options to follow someone/thing on Twitter, like a Facebook page, go to a specific URL, play a video and so on. I've worked with it briefly and produced an example. It's very simple and easy to use, with lots of examples of things you might want to try yourself. This would be a great tool to use in conjunction with an infographic.

Zaption for interactive video

They say of themselves: "Zaption, a San Francisco based tech startup, is revolutionizing online video for education. Teachers, trainers, and content publishers use Zaption’s intuitive web app to quickly add images, text, quizzes, and discussions to existing videos from YouTube, Vimeo and private video libraries. The result is an interactive learning tour that transforms video from a “lean back” experience to an engaging “lean forward” activity. With Zaption’s analytics, instructors get immediate feedback on how students interact with the content and understand key concepts."

Comment bubble - instant feedback

This tool lets users comment while a video is being run, so that they can react in real time. I can see some real uses for this - if you have created a video that's about library induction for example, you can use Comment Bubble to get feedback on up to five different concepts such as clarity, usefulness, confusion and so on. While the video is being watched, people can simply comment by clicking on the buttons that you can create. This is a cool idea, and worth using, especially if you need feedback. 

Slidebean for easy presentations

If you are looking for an alternative to the usual PowerPoint stuff, try Slidebean.  I found it really easy to use; add in your text, images, video and so on, and Slidebean does the rest. You can share on Facebook or Twitter, but to download and keep your presentation you need to pay them money. My very brief example which took about 2 minutes to knock up is available. 

EverySlide - great for presenters on the move

I don't often go 'wow' over different resources, but I will this time. EverySlide is a great resource if you're a presenter. It allows you to interact with your audience in a couple of really interesting ways. First of all, create your presentation, and then upload it to their site. They'll give you a URL and you pass this onto your audience. They can connect via laptop, tablet (Safari browser only) or smartphone, and you can see how many are connected. When you move through your presentation, so do they, so you keep everyone in sync while you're talking.

Second really good thing is that you can add in questions, such as in the form of a poll for example, directly into your presentation, or just as a stand alone. You can then see who has answered the question (yes/no, multiple choice), discuss this, and then move on. Very simple and clever. I really like this idea of presenting - very interactive.

Story Builder

Gone Google Story Builder This is an interesting little tool - it allows you to create something that looks like a word processed document, with changes and edits, the chance to add some sound in the background, and then save it as a video. I liked the look of it and it's done in usual Google style (which means that it's good, but no idea how long it'll last) but I wasn't able to log into my account to save anything, which was irritating.

However if you want to take a look at it in action, there's a link to a Hall and Oates type example - but have your speakers turned down a bit!

PowToon

a free business presentation software animated video maker and PowerPoint alternative. This looks like a fun tool, and if you're into the whole animated cartoon effect presentation, this is right up your street.

SlideTalk presentation tool

SlideTalkis a tool that puts a computerised voice onto slides that you produce. Simply upload a deck to their site, then add in the narration that you want, choosing the voice that appeals to you and then publish it. It works well enough, though I was annoyed to have come to the end of a 20+ deck only to see at the bottom of the screen a message saying that 12 slides was the limit for a freebie. No problem with that, but it would have been helpful to have been told that right at the start!

I wasn't overly impressed with the voices either. You'd have thought that they would at least have ensured that the narrators would have recorded 'SlideTalk' as a word - when it was spoken it came out as 'slIDERtalk' which was odd. There were certain words that were also broken down into syllables such as cons-e-quent=ly which also didn't work very well. However, it's not a bad product, and some of the voices were quite amusing (fancy having the Queen narrate your slides?)

It might be useful in an education environment though. I certainly wouldn't be prepared to pay them money yet - it's still far too jerky as a narration tool, and to be honest, if I was that fussed, I could do it for myself. If you want to see my version - which to be fair it uploaded quickly and easily to YouTube it's here: