Our Last Session is Planned

Our last class is being held in two sessions, June 6 and June 11. We had to add a session. Though we had 4 hours scheduled for the last session, several people needed more time to complete videos. We did watch the final drafts (as of the end of the session). Powerful stuff!!

We added a class because the 4 hours wasn't enough time to get people through the captioning. One problem was the need to upload the video to Google video. It can take up to a day for the video to be available we found out, so even if we did this first thing in the session, we still couldn't do captions using the on-line overstream.net.

We've asked participants to have their videos uploaded to Google and to sign up for accounts on Overstream prior to the last class. We showed a short tutorial video (with screen shots, using Camtasia) on how to upload the videos at the last class.

We do still have a barrier with Google, to get an account, people have to go through a captcha. Even with an audio alternative, this still presents problems. The audio is so garbled, it's nearly impossible to get, especially if you have any type of audio processing issue. Many people have both visual and audio processing issues. We'll need to provide assistance for now.

We passed out a release form at the last session and everyone signed it. Some with restrictions (like notifying them first). We based the form on one we downloaded from Stories for Change (check the resource section).

Both Glenn and I have met individually with some people in between. Some will not completely be done even with the last class but we anticipate most will. Can't wait to link to their videos!

I made a video tutorial (using Camtasia) but the audio was so bad. It sounds like I am in a cave on Mars with dripping water! I don't have time now to redo this. I don't know what the problem was, spent hours checking audio settings. I know I had just downloaded and installed Skype. Suspect that had something to do with this, but even after removing the program, the problem persisted. We'll try to use this anyway but I hope to redo them soon.

Stay tuned! The video stories will blow you away. I am so impressed with the talent in this group!

Our first class

Update

We've been holding our first class. Participants include staff from our organizations and some brave volunteers from other organizations. We have 10 people participating. 8 are people with disabilities.

Schedule

We scheduled 4 classes April - May. The first and the 4th for 4 hours, the others for 2. Here's the schedule we started the class with:

Before Class:

• Prepare draft script.

We sent out a long instruction email and asked people to read the Digital Story Cookbook (at least the 7 elements) before class. For other groups, we may need to add an hour or two session for this introduction prior to people being able to draft a script.

We also met individually with everyone to load the free software on their machines. This gave us a chance to talk about the project, answer questions and check in on how their draft scripts were progressing.

Day One (4 hours)

• Review the 7 elements of digital storytelling
  
• Story Circle
  
• Work on Scripts

Before Day Two:

• Finish script!
  
• Make appointments for Audio Script with Kathryn or Glenn

Day Two: 2 Hours (April 21 12:30 – 2:30)

• Overview on using and finding photos and music
  
• Photo Editing Tutorial using Picasa
  
• Work on editing photos
  
• Work on finding music

Before Day Three:

• Finalize music selections
• Finalize images

Day Three: 2.5 Hours (April 24 10 – 2:00)

• Work on Photo Story Videos
  

Before Day Four

• Prepare script for captioning.

Day Four: 4 Hours (May 14 12:30 – 4:30)

• Captioning Tutorial Overstream.com
• Next Steps
  

Location and equipment

We found a free location at the Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns offices. The room was great with outlets in the middle of the floor and tables we could rearrange easily. They had wireless internet available too! The room didn't have window so it did get stuffy. We had to close the door as office cubicles were located just outside.

We brought our laptops and a projector. On day two, we each brought a scanner. In hindsight, we think we need to have people who want to scan photos come early, as this took a lot of our time and others in the class also needed some help and encouragement. We also had a digital camera available, though no one needed this.

One person borrowed a laptop from UCP Michigan. Everyone else had laptops they could use. Everyone had wireless. We did have one computer station with Internet available, but no one needed to use it.

Use of Free Software

We decided to use the following free software: Photo Story 3, Picasa, and Audacity. For captions, we didn't know at the start what we'd be using. See below for more information.

Narration and Individual Help

We are doing the narration/voice recording individually. Some people are recording their voice directly into photo story, others are using audacity. If they used audacity, they had to mix their music, sounds and voice into one file to import into photo story. Since this is a bit more complicated, mostly the people who are more technically confident are using this method. I found a video tutorial on how to do this and gave people a copy.

We need more microphones though. People wanted to be able to edit after the individual sessions. I found some at home we'd gotten over the years to use with a voice input program. They had headphones and a microphone attached and were optimized for voice recording. I've given all of these out to class members now. I'd like to be able to buy some for the organization to have for this project.

As we've met with people individually for the voice recordings, we've been providing help on other aspects of their stories too. The time in class is shorter than the 3 days we had with the Center for Digital Storytelling so there isn't much time in group for individual assistance.

Captions

We've now decided to use overstream.net and Google Video. Google video has a button to toggle for captions. But you have to upload a caption file. In overstream, the recently added a feature that allows you to export your caption file. So people can take this extra step or just point people to oversteam.net to view the captions.

The advantage of saving the caption file to your computer is being able to show the video with captions from your computer instead of having to connect to the web. I still have to learn how to do this, but know it's possible. For now, people may just have to access the web to show their videos with captions.

We may explore the Magpie/subtitle workshop route in the future.

Modifications to the schedule.

We realized late into this process that the last day's schedule was way too much and we probably need to schedule another day. I'll post soon how this went. I've polled the class and many want more time. Glenn and I are both so busy with our other work, as are the people in class, so scheduling will be difficult. We hope to view near done or finished prior to captions video stories in tomorrows class.

I have some work to do to get ready!

Till next time,