Multimedia « HIST348: Peoples of Kansas

Additional Digital Narratives

December 16, 2009 at 7:42 PM | In Announcements, Multimedia | Leave a Comment
Tags: Assignments, digital narrative

In addition to those shown in class, here are the other narratives that have been uploaded to YouTube. Feel free to see what your fellow students have been up to this semester!

1. “The Shawnee Mission” by Dan R.

2. “Jotham Meeker: His Effect of Indian Nations in Kansas” by Tracy F.

3. “Hardships on the Oregon Trail” by Jordan P.

4. “The Legend of John Brown” by Jeff A.

5. “Bleeding Kansas” by Sammy G.

6. “The Life of Wild Bill Hickok” by Jenny J.

7. “Symbolism and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by Shelley S.

8. “How the Air Capital of the World Got Its Roots” by Ryan D.

9. “James Naismith: More Than Just Basketball” by Taylor C.

10. “The Great Depression in Kansas” by Talia K.

11. “The Man With the Plan: Dwight D. Eisenhower” by Kelsey H.

12. “Brown v. Topeka Board of Education” by Eric W.

13. “Coleman Hawkins: A Life of Jazz” by Todd M.

14. “The 1966 Topeka Tornado” by Kyle B.

15. “1970: A Year of Mayhem in Lawrence” by Michelle D.

Digital Narratives Shown in Class

December 10, 2009 at 3:41 PM | In Assignments, Multimedia | Leave a Comment
Tags: digital narrative

Here are the YouTube links for the digital narratives that we viewed in class today. There were many excellent options–it was hard to choose!–so see the post above for additional narratives that are available on YouTube.

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1. “The Kansas Indians” by Micah C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jywARDtvCOI

2. “The Significance of the Battle of Black Jack” by Andy W.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZurnwLpvvs

3. “The Inception of KU” by Madeline J.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbt2BFiHnHk

4. “The Dalton Gang: Outlaws of the Great West” by Jason R.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPnWvG3TV0

5. “Amelia Earhart” by Ashley H.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxG4Pflqmac

6. “Charlie Parker” by Janae B.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGSTnSN6Tnc

Announcements for 12/3

December 4, 2009 at 8:58 PM | In Announcements, Assignments, Helpful Tips, Multimedia | Leave a Comment
Tags: Announcements, Assignments, digital narrative, microphone

To help you keep track of what’s going on in HIST348, here are some announcements and further clarification about what we’ll be doing in this next week.

DIGITAL NARRATIVE

- All the text elements (cover page, script, bibliography, and slide list) must be uploaded to Blackboard’s SafeAssign box in one file BEFORE 4:00pm on Tuesday, December 8th. Go to “Assignments,” then hit “View/Complete” under “Final Digital Narrative.” Only send this through email if you absolutely cannot get Blackboard to cooperate.

- The text elements and CD must be submitted in a manila envelope that has your name clearly printed on the outside. If you do not do so, I am not responsible for lost materials.

- If you put your narrative on YouTube (which all of you should do unless you are using sources that are under copyright) include the URL on your script or cover page. Any images found online should be fair game, but if you did research at Spencer those images are not cleared for “publication” on YouTube.

- MAC USERS: The help menu in iMovie includes instructions for how to upload to YouTube and how to burn to DVD. Click on “Help,” then “iMovie Help,” then “Sharing your video project” to get detailed directions. This can take a while, so be prepared to wait.

- Burn your narrative to CD or DVD as well, since you will want to cover all your bases. Be sure to put your name on the actual disk, not just the CD case/envelope. The PC instructions for this are on the main page of the course webpage; Mac users, use the help feature in iMovie to help you do this.

- Leave yourself plenty of time to record your voiceover (at least an hour). The EGARC lab on the 4th floor of Wescoe has microphones and recording booths that are available to students (these all have Audacity installed). You’ll be reading your script exactly as it is written, minus the footnotes of course.

- It would be wise to save several takes so you don’t have to go back and re-record your narration if something isn’t quite right. I don’t expect these to be professional quality voiceovers, but there shouldn’t be a lot of background noise, coughing sounds/clearing throats, loud static, etc. I need to be able to understand what you are saying, so enunciate and don’t talk too quickly or too slowly.

- There will be a no-tolerance late policy for this final assignment. All late assignments (and that includes late Blackboard submissions too) will receive a 0. There are no exceptions; this ensures that students’ final grades can be posted promptly instead of me waiting around for late papers. Don’t upload your work at the last minute and risk having your project receive a 0 for being late!

GRADING UPDATE

- My goal is to return discussion questions, book reviews, and extra credit assignments on Tuesday. If that doesn’t happen, you will at least receive them by our last class period, on Thursday December 10th.

- Comments on the last round of blog posts will be distributed via email.

PC Instructions for Saving and Burning Your Narrative to CD

December 3, 2009 at 8:26 PM | In Assignments, Helpful Tips, Multimedia | Leave a Comment
Tags: Assignments, digital narrative

In Microsoft Movie Maker, you can save your project as a .mswmm file by going to “File” then “Save.” This saves it to your computer as a draft, but in order to send the movie through email or burn it to a CD, you must save it as a movie file (.wmv file). These directions are from the help feature in Windows Movie Maker (from a Windows XP machine). The help section also has a troubleshooting feature.

Saving Movie Maker file to CD:

Insert a blank CD into the disc drive. Open your digital narrative file (.mswmm). If for some reason those images have been altered, they may not appear; this can sometimes happen if you have an image saved in one folder and then move it to another folder (in cases like this the computer has trouble locating it).

Go to File –> Save Movie File –> Recordable CD

Tasks button –> Finish Movie –> Save to CD

A “Save Movie” wizard will pop up. Enter a file name for your movie (preferably the title of the narrative) and also a name for the CD (preferably your full name or last name). Hit “Next.” The box will then list the specifications for the burn; just follow the recommended settings. It will burn to the CD as a .wmv file. Hit “Next.” Be patient, because it may take a few minutes to complete the burn. On my computer, the disk pops out automatically once the burn is complete. To close the wizard, click “Finish.” Just to be sure that it burned properly, it would be wise to check it on a different computer before you submit your project.

Sending Movie Maker file via e-mail:

Open your project in Movie Maker (it will appear as a .mswmm file). Make sure that all the images are present. Then, follow these directions:

File –> Save Movie File –> Email

Tasks button –> Finish Movie –> Send in Email

Either of these will pop up a “Save Movie Wizard” which will automatically start saving your file as a .wmv file. Then, to send your movie as an attachment, click “Next.” If you have Outlook installed on your computer, it should automatically prompt you with a new email message. If your computer does not automatically prompt you, the movie file is still saved on your computer, and you can go to your regular email provider and attach the movie file just as you would normally attach a file. Movie files will be saved automatically in your My Documents –> My Videos folder. Some files will be too large to send via email.