Tag Archives: Digital stories

Make a digital mural with Mural.ly

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Mural.ly is an interesting new site that lets users create a digital mural using images, videos, web pages and diagrams sourced from any website. While there have been other sites that have similar features to Mural.ly, it is definitely worth a look as it combines a number of great features from other web tools.

At first glance Mural.ly looks like a cross between Glogster and Wallwisher (which recently changed names to Padlet). You can pin items to a large virtual wall by either uploading the items, entering the url of the item or dragging the item into the Mural.ly window. You can also search Google Images from within Mural.ly, and connect your Google Drive account to add items from there as well. There are also inbuilt symbols, stickers, sticky notes and text boxes that can be added to your board. Several graphical organisers are also provided as templates. At this stage the graphic organisers tend to be more business focused, but hopefully some educational based templates will be added over time.

Where Mural.ly really sets itself apart from other virtual pinboard tools is the Frames options. This lets a user define the areas of the board that viewers will see in sequence. It works in a similar way to Prezi, one of the popular zooming presentation tools. Viewers can then click through and be taken on a tour of the elements of the board. Any interactive elements like videos or web pages can also be viewed from within the Mural.ly site.

By defining frames on your board you can tour viewers through your presentation.

Overall Mural.ly is an easy to use site with a wide range of educational applications. It could be used as a shared planning space, a presentation tool or as an inspiration board for a piece of writing (in a similar way to the Story Scrapbook tool). The ability to define frames also means that a board could serve as a way of telling a digital story, such as an animated timeline or a multimedia story.

Mural.ly is still in beta, meaning that you can expect a couple of minor bugs (particularly when zooming your board). It might not be ready for an entire class to use just yet, but I’d definitely recommend having a look at the introductory video below and exploring the site. You can also see a sample mural we built.

Mural.ly doesn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking, but it does take some of the best features of other web tools and puts them all into a very attractive package.

Storify: Changing the way we tell stories

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While technology is often used for getting work done and staying organised, sometimes the most interesting tools are those that lead us to new ways of doing things. The digital storytelling tool Storify definitely falls into that category. 

Storify allows for the creation of stories using a range of different elements. It can grab content such as pictures and video from many websites and also allows for text to be added. Perhaps the element that sets Storify apart is that tweets and public Facebook posts can also be added to a story. These elements are gathered together in a ‘storypad’ and can then be dragged into the story timeline (on the left of the screen). Have a look here for a quick demonstration of how it works. The great thing about Storify is that all content is linked backed to its original source.

Add  elements by searching in the storypad and then dragging into the story.

Storify has become a popular tool for recording reactions to news stories and current events because of the ability to add tweets to stories. It is also perfect for summing up professional learning events, like this example here of a recent SLAV conference. As YouTube videos can also be added it’s a nice way to put together a series of tutorial videos or screenshots. In fact, all of the tutorials featured on Bright Ideas are built in this way using Storify. You can follow our Storify account to stay up to date with new tutorials. Storify stories can also be easily embedded into your blog or website and there is an iPad app with a nice interface (though I’d recommend building long stories on your computer as I’ve found the app has crashed on me in the past).

Elements can be imported from a range of sources. You can also search Google or use the link icon to manually add content.

Storify also has applications in the classroom. It could be used to create digital stories with pictures sourced from around the web. It would also be perfect for recounts of events such as excursions; particularly if students are also tweeting during the day or taking pictures and video. The linear nature of the story also lends itself to procedural writing, or it could be a nice way for students to present research projects.

Being able to bring in social media elements also means that Storify could be perfect for issues analysis. Students could link to annotated articles and news stories, but also include analysis of tweets by those involved or those observing. It would also be perfect for media analysis of shows which generate buzz on Twitter, like Q & A or Big Brother (that’s the first time those two shows have been mentioned in the same breath!).

Storify has been around for a little while now and a recent redesign means it is well worth exploring. The editor is great fun to use and the wide range of media that it can import lends itself to a number of exciting possibilities.

Now screening: a digital book for you

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In an ironic twist, Saturday’s Age published two stories about e-books. One by author Carmel Bird (see previous post) who states that the intimacy of turning the pages of a book can never be replaced. The second by Jane Sullivan explains how readers of The Age can access a new and exclusive digital story:

Now screening: a digital book for you

JANE SULLIVAN

October 3, 2009

“NOBODY is going to sit down and read a book on a twitchy little screen,” US writer Annie Proulx said in 1994. “Ever.”

What a difference 15 years make. Today, millions read books on a variety of “twitchy little screens”: laptops, e-books, iPods or iPhones. And from October 12, Age readers will be able to read a serialised story on their mobile phones.

In the tradition of Charles Dickens, who launched his novels in serial form, Melbourne writer Marieke Hardy has created a 20-episode story, to be sent out to mobiles over four weeks.

”It will be quite riveting,” promises The Age’seditor-in-chief, Paul Ramadge. “Marieke is a wonderfully talented and immediately engaging writer.” The idea is to test the story’s reception, get reader feedback and develop the potential to talk to Age readers “in multiple ways”.

It’s probable that this is Australia’s first sizeable fiction written for the mobile phone. But in Japan, millions of readers are devouring novels on their phones, often when commuting to work or school. They download the novels – usually racy romances – and read them in 70-word instalments.

As many as 86 per cent of high school girls read these phone stories, and the novels subsequently turned into print form have raced to the top of bestseller lists.

In other countries, alternatives to the traditional book are catching on more slowly. But Nick Cave wrote the first chapter of his novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, on his iPhone, and the book is available as an iPhone application.

Hundreds of other titles are being downloaded on to e-book readers such as Kindle or Echo Reader, or smartphones such as iPhone or iPod touch, either free or for a fraction of the price of a print book.

Melbourne mobile media theorist Paul Green does not see these alternatives taking over from print. “The novel is going to be pretty awkward to read on the small screen,” he says. “But there will be a place for the audio book, and a trend towards reading and writing short books with short chapters on these devices, as their screens get bigger.”

Sydney writer Richard Watson, author of Future Files, thinks the publishing world is about to undergo a seismic shock. Books as we know them will exist beside a host of new alternatives.

The creation of a book may not include an agent or a publisher: instead, authors will self-publish using software and online services such as Blurb, and search out niche markets. As well as downloading books, readers will print them through automated publishing machines, or buy e-books in 99-cent instalments.

It’s enough to make you want to get away from it all and curl up with a book.

Details of how to register for The Age mobile phone story will be announced next week.

It will be interesting to gauge the response to the digital story.