Hello,
Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed your week off and are looking forward to completing the rest of the "12 Things".This fortnight we will be getting creative and will be exploring tools that allow you to create and share presentations, documents and other files online. We will also be looking at ways to visually enhance presentations etc using video and photographic images. Whilst you are exploring this Thing, think about how these tools could be used to best effect in your work.
Task 1 - What is Slideshare?
Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net is a presentation hosting website that also allows you to share documents, PDFs etc.Why might you, researchers or clinicians want to use Slideshare?
- To share presentations with anyone who might not get to see it otherwise, eg for people unable to attend a conference. Slideshare presentations can easily be embedded into your blog, website, Twitter or Facebook.
- To share and disseminate ideas or reach a wider audience. This could include engaging with the public and on a massive scale.
- To invite comments and fedback and so get new ideas to develop their work or make their presentations better.
- To make international contacts and network with people with similar work interests.
- To download presentations and re-use or re-mix them.
First of all, you will need to create an account:
- Go to http://www.slideshare.net/signup then fill in the registration form.
- The next screen will probably be some general information about Slideshare - don't worry about this, carry on to the next step.
- Now upload your first presentation! Lots of file formats are supported, including Powerpoint formats, Keynote, Open Office and pdf. After skipping the advert for Pro, you should see this box:
- If you don't see this, click on the orange "upload" button at the top of the page and this will bring you here. As with most Web 2.0 applications there is a free version and a premium version, which has more features. Slideshare Pro, for example, allows you to share your presentations privately as well as publicly. If you click on the blue button, you will just get an invitation to upgrade to Slideshare Pro. Skip this, the free service provides all the features we need right now.
- Click on the orange button and upload a presentation or video. While the file is being uploaded and converted you can give it a name, description and tags:
Once the file has uploaded you can then share it on Twitter, Facebook or email, embed in your blog or simply insert the link wherever you wnat to share it.
Of course you can browse Slideshare to find interesting presentations by other people. try searching for "libraries" or "social media" or whatever else you're interested in!
Other things you can do with Slideshare:
- Favourite the presentations you like to save them to your Slideshare account (the favourite button is on the bar along the top of each presentation). Or, if the author has allowed this, download them to your computer.
- Import a presentation from Google Docs.
- You can add comments and tags to your own presentations.
NB. Remember to consider copyright rules if including images or screenshots in your presentation.
Task 2 - What is Prezi?
Prezi is a free web-based package so you can create your presentation online but can download it for use offline. In some ways it is like Powerpoint and, in any situation where you might consider using a Powerpoint, you can create a Prezi instead. What makes Prezi so good though is the extra capabilities it has, that can take your presentation beyond the boring 'slide with text, next slide with text, slide with text and a picture' format of most powerpoints.Have a look at this Prezi from Ned Potter which gives a good video demo:
http://prezi.com/_sto8qf_0vcs/the-how-to-make-a-great-prezi-prezi/
With the standard version all slides are automatically made public so you need to take into account copyright rules if including images or screenshots in your presentation. This makes it more suited to some uses than others, eg. you need to be careful about copyrighted images.
As with Slideshare, Prezi presentations can be shared, downloaded and re-worked by others, you can post comments or upload audio files to accompany your presentation. You can also collaborate online with other authors to create a Prezi together, and you can download it and play it offline if you need to present on a computer with no internet access.
Why might you, researchers, or clinicians want to use Prezi?
Many of the reasons to do with sharing and disseminating presentations are similar to those for Slideshare. In addition Prezi provides an alternative format for presentations, and allows collaborative working.
How do I get started?
- Go to http://prezi.com and click 'sign up' on the top right. You'll need to create a free account to use the programme.
- When Prezi opens, there are three tabs at the top of the page - 'Your Prezis' will display all the presentations you have created. 'Learn' offers tutorials on using Prezi, at both a basic and more advanced level. 'Explore' allows you to view other presentations on all manner of subjects - a great way to get an idea of how Prezi can be used (and perhaps what not to do as well).
- To start your first presentation click on the 'New Prezi' button on the top left of the 'Your Prezi' tab. You'll be prompted to give the presentation a title, and a description, but these can be changed later, so don't worry too much.
- You'll then be offered a number of templates to choose from. I would advise not selecting any of these until you have mastered the basics of Prezi and know the effect you are trying to create so select the blank template.
- Now click on the canvas and type to get started. You can add pictures (try using Flickr with Creative Commons licensing) and you can link to You Tube videos. With the standard version all slides are automatically made public so you will need to remember to take into account copyright rules if including images or screenshots in your presentation.
The tools can take a little bit of getting used to, particularly sizing and the animation. And be aware that your first attempt is likely to be fairly poor. So practise a bit if you like it before trying to use Prezi for a presentation. The biggest tip is perhaps not to get too carried away with all the features you could use, particularly with the animation - don't underestimate the ability to create a rather seasick effect.
Your Thing - Task 2. Try searching for presentations in Prezi that might be of interest to a researcher or clinician in the fields of biomedicine or health (or a subject relevant to your role) to see what kind of presentations are out there. If you are feeling advanturous, try uploading/downloading a presentation, or creating one from scratch - the Prezi Manual has good instructions on getting started.
Task 3 - What is YouTube?
YouTube http://www.youtube.com is probably the best known and biggest video sharing website. Anyone can search and play videos on YouTube but to upload them you need to create a free account. You can then rate and comment on videos, store them in your favourites, crate playlists and subscribe to particular 'channels'.Tip: YouTube Channels - every author on YouTube has their own 'channel' which is effectively their homepage with links to their videos, favourites and details of their activity. To view someone's 'channel' just click on their name below a video they have authored.
Many of the reasons why academics, researchers or clinicians might want to use YouTube are the same reasons we discussed when we were sharing presentations via Slideshare or Prezi. These include:
- For research purposes, to find videos of interest to their discipline.
- To share their work and obtain a larger audience, such as for public engagement or to invite comment from their peers, eg. posting videos of lectures.
YouTube isn't the only video sharing site. Flickr and Google Video are other options you might like to try.
Task 4 - Flickr & Creative Commons
Using photos to pep up your presentations is another good way to make them come alive. Flickr http://www.flickr.com is undoubtedly the best known photo sharing website, containing over 5 billion images which you can view and download and can also be used for shaing videos. If you want to re-use images you find on Flickr you need to check the license as some images require you to request permission from the copyright owner or author of the photo. If you search using the Advanced Search you can restrict your search to items licensed under Creative Commons http://www.creativecommons.org.uk a licensing scheme designed for the sharing capabilities of social media, and can easily identify images that allow you to re-use or even re-work the images. Flickr includes a page that explains the different licences and in many cases you'll be able to re-use an image if you include an attribution to the author.Flickr is not the only image sharing site available. You might also want to check out Picasa web albums (from Google) and Photobucket.
Your Thing - Task 4. Write a post on you blog about your experiences exploring Slideshare, Prezi, YouTube and Flickr. You might want to consider some of the following points:
- How easy are they to use?
- Do you think thay are a useful tool for the user groups we are considering?
- What might be the issues or concerns that people might have if making their presentations publicly available through these tools? Could plagiarism and the stealing of other people's work be an issue? Are there any copyright issues? (You might want to explore the support or help sections on the websites for more information about copyright).
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