BP12_Final Video

BP12_Final Video
It is now the end of my first Full Sail University online class. I chose to complete the Action Research Pitch final video option for the final video project. This video was created by using iMovie. The video is intended to bring to the attention of the viewer the issue of blood quantum both Native American and Canadian First Nation peoples have issue with today. The blood quantum is the certain percentage of blood that defines who Indian people are to be recognized within a tribe. Once study participants are introduced to what blood quantum is and the history, they will be asked to state how they feel about it and what they think their tribe should do about it. Initially, I had attempted to find Native Americans to put them on film talking about the blood quantum issue. However, my one camera with a video recorder in it, was broken. Luckily, there was youtube, a public video site, where I found Native Americans talking about blood quantum issues. There is much on the subject of blood quantum and I found it easy to be able to select appropriate video clips to state certain points of view. Lastly, I had to find the right music for it. Yet, I couldn't find royalty free music that matched the feel of the video that I created. So instead, I went into GarageBand. After taking time to review the music loops found within the program, I found a music loop that was appropriate. The video was easily downloaded and imbedded into my blog.

PE7_GarageBand '09 Essential Training

So the problem that I encountered was finding the right music for my action research pitch video. Eventually, I looked to GarageBand for the final selection of that music. For those unfamiliar with GarageBand, thankfully, there are pre-recorded sound loops. Garageband has created a library of sound loops that include varied music genres, instruments, mood, etc. I ended up selecting a cinematic genre sound loop, which ended up meeting my music needs. I didn't select and combine another sound loop with the one that I had chosen. Easily enough, I saved it and uploaded it to iTunes. When it came time to select the music for my action research pitch video in iMovie, I opened the music icon in iMovie to gain access to the cinematic genre sound loop that I had created earlier in Garageband. I didn't have to worry about royalty free music issues.

PE6_GarageBand '09

     In my class, we were given the choice to select a tool that would help us out with our action research project. I chose to be trained in GarageBand "09 Essential Training  through Lynda.com to become more familiar with GarageBand tools, since music might be a part of my action research "pitch" final video. After a lengthly GarageBand training, I earned a certificate of completion.

     For those who don't know what one can do with GarageBand, there are many wonderful options to create great music that can be uploaded into iMovie, iTunes and shared in podcasts. Real instrument recordings can be brought into GarageBand and mixed. In addition, for those who are novices to this music process, there are pre-recorded instrument and other sound loops that can be combined to make music. The process of mixing and matching loops can be great fun, if you have time on your hands. Podcast and iPhone ringtones can be created within GarageBand. Lastly, what is new in Garageband are  guitar and piano music lessons! I wish this tool was around when I was in high school. I could have learned songs from the actual artist who recorded certain songs that are showcased in some of these music lessons in GarageBand.
     The problem that I encountered, I thought that I was going to use some royalty free music for my action research pitch final video. However, upon researching into the selection of the royalty free music, there wasn't much of a selection. In addition, some royalty "free" music wasn't so free after all. So I began searching GarageBand to make music to add to my action research pitch video...(see PE7_GarageBand '09 continued)

BP11_Web 2.0 iMovie

Created my second web 2.0 tool iMovie. This iMovie tells you a little about this survey tool.

BP10_link to my comment on Michael's blog

BP10_link to my comment on Michael's blog

BP9_link to my comment on Connie's blog

BP9_link to my comments on Connie's blog

BP8_Advanced Surveys

     As I continue to be introduced to the many web 2.0 tools, I continue to see how valuable an asset they really are. Some are very easy to learn about and utilize. For this week, I found a web 2.0 tool that I know will be very useful in my upcoming active research project. The web 2.0 tool is called Advanced Survey. You may have guessed that this tool is about helping the consumer create a survey they can direct their participants to or place the survey on one's website. As with many of the web 2.0 tools that I find, there are different levels of the service that are offered. So for example, Advanced Survey offers two levels. One is basic, which offers the consumer the opportunity to write questions, invite participants, and view results (percentages, lists # of participants, etc.).

     The second Advanced Survey option is to select the enhanced survey. As you can imagine, that means the consumer has to pay about $25 dollars each month to be given access to this option. However, once you pay their price, the enhanced survey includes the following tools: open and closed surveys, survey close date, maximum survey responses, prevent duplicate survey responses, template invitations, downloadable results, launch survey from website, store survey data and redirect uses upon survey completion.
     I wasn't able to complete an enhanced advanced survey, because I didn't pay their $25. However, the basic Advanced Survey tool allowed me the opportunity to test this tool out and gave me ideas about what I will need to do to help me complete my action research project. It is clear that I will utilize a survey in my action research project and would use Advanced Survey's enhanced survey tool. I found the basic version to be too basic for my needs.

Action Research Resources Link

http://web.me.com/aquaroyalblue/Action_Research_Project/Literature_Resources.html

PE5_Google Documents-Publishing

As my Lynda.com training continued on Google documents, I was able to learn about publishing my documents. I can send them to those listed in Google Docs share, email them to others not listed and publish my documents as a webpage. The one thing that I think is a negative about Google docs is that the documents, papers, etc. that you share with others, they can turn around and share with people you don't know. However, for the most part, this Google technology is wonderful online technology.

PE4_Google Documents-Sharing

I recently learned about Google documents and  was trained on this technology through Lynda.com training. What is nice about Google documents, is that you can save your documents to their site. There are no attachments. You can authorize certain viewers to be able to edit documents or give permission to view only. In addition, the revisions made by others includes a description of what was added or deleted.

BP7_OMMTeamLab

Here is my one minute movie, showcasing my commercial about the web 2.0 tool that my women's consulting group is looking to utilize to house our project activities as we begin our consulting business. I was wondering how I would do, creating my first 60 second commercial in iMovie. It isn't perfect, but the experience gave the opportunity to utilize Apple's software. I am confident that I will improve and eventually create effective movies.

PE3_iMovie

Just completed the '09 iMovie Essential Training through Lynda.com and earned a certificate of completion, which I can now add to my resume. It took about 2 1/2 hours to complete the Lynda.com training, but it was worth it. I will now utilize my new training to complete my first 60 second video, which will be about a web 2.0 tool that I wrote about on my blog.

PE2_iMovie

I owned a PC at one point and bought a movie making software, which turned into a nightmare. Then I learned about MAC and Apple's powerful iMovie and Final Cut movie making software. Although I never had a chance to work in-depth with either software. The second part of my iMovie training, included: working with transitions, titles and audio, creating movies from photos, utilizing precision editing to edit my movie and adding/editing music to my video. It is so amazing the technology found in iMovie. I think you will be amazed if you have a chance to be trained on this software!

PE1_iMovie

Part of my Full Sail University education includes watching the Essential training of 09' iMovie to make my own short films. The training begins with learning about how one brings video into iMovie, managing my video library and editing my movies.

BP6_link to my comment on Michael's blog

BP6_link to my comment on Michael's blog

BP5_link to my comments on Tracye's blog

Follow this link to my comments on Tracye's blog

BP4_Animoto

http://animoto.com

As I continue to learn about web 2.0 tools, I am completely astounded about how many there are, what they can do and how useful they can be to professionals in business and education. There are some web 2.0 tools that can be used and enjoyed by children and others to make creative products. Personally and professionally, I search for tools that will benefit me. For this homework assignment, I found a web 2.0 tool that sparked my personal and professional interests. It is called Animoto. It is a storytelling web 2.0 tool. Upon visiting the website, I learned about this tool through their 60 second video. I came to understand that a video can be made, when a consumer uploads their photos, videos and words (messaging, stats, and quotes) against Animoto's video style backgrounds. In addition, the service offers their own licensed music library choices. The consumer can upload their own music to the video, if they choose. After I uploaded my pictures, message and music, it took about less than a minute for Animoto's service to complete my video. I created this 34 second video for free. However, Animoto offers a cheap rate of $30 dollars per year for a consumer to be able to create longer, more in-depth videos. There is a pro or business rate of $249 per year to get their pro-video making package. With Animoto's services, consumers can expect to make videos to enhance websites, make powerpoint presentations, create promotional videos for a business, download to YouTube and burn the final video onto DVD. I found the process to very easy and uploaded the video to facebook. I am excited about what future products I can make from this service.

BP3_iGoogleScreenShots

I have always had MSN.com or MAC.com for my homepage. Google isn't a browser that I am too familiar with, but I know that many people turn to Google for their searches. Yes, having my new Google homepage setup, FSO tab, AR tab and ETC tab for the goal of easy access. I can now see how it will make me more organized!

BP2_TeamLab

I have been asked to research web 2.0 tools. For those who don’t know what they are, let me inform you. The web 2.0 tools are two sided interaction online experience. Twitter is an example of a web 2.0 tool.  Twitter may have or may not have teased and turned you on. Visit the www.go2web20.net, which is a directory of web 2.0 tools.

There, I found myself being pulled in so many directions of great discovery, being introduced to these new web tools.  There is everything from creating your own iPhone App to visiting a site that allows friends to experience video chat together.

I am currently a consultant with an all women's consultant group that was established about a month ago. When I was searching the directory of web 2.0 tools, I wanted to find a web 2.0 tool I thought would be beneficial to the consultant group that I was a part of. I selected this web 2.0 tool TeamLab. It is a free service, allowing the public to create their own enterprise portal. It is easy to use and I found the features to be useful. For example, its online features allow all of our consultants who live in different states to come together on this social networking platform to blog, chat, complete team projects, tract project milestones, see project histories, tasks, files and create wikis. Now as a team, we can check into this platform at our convenience, visually see what each consultant is doing, receive updates, assign project managers, participate in forums, post photos, and so on. 

Happy Thanksgiving

I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer. 
-- Douglas Adams
Again I welcome classmates, friends and family to my blog. I hope that all who visit my blog are educated and entertained by my upcoming posts. 
Wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and have a safe black friday!
Take care, Karen
p.s. Those who wish to follow my blog, click the follow link on the upper left hand side of my blog page

BP1_Welcome to my blog

Dear Professor Lucas and Classmates:

This is Karen Johnson, your classmate and Full Sail University traveler. This is my first blog. Please come back and read my ongoing posts about all the new things that I am learning. I look forward to reading my classmates' blogs and know I will learn a great deal!

Take care, Karen J.