ELCA Web and Multimedia Development Blog

YouTube Tricks and Tips (Part One)

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:46:00 +0000

There are all kinds of applications for getting your videos up on the web. Tim Frakes and I recently taught some East Africans how to shoot, edit, and post videos. We used Pinnacle Studio. Pinnacle was recently bought by Avid, a well-known video editing maven. You get many options for editing videos for a consumer-level application, plus simplified Web publishing, for about $50. Here is a link: http://tinyurl.com/2vj7xn

On the free tip, I found a site called DVDVideoSoft (http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/). They offer a slew of free apps for video that look very interesting. The one called YouTube Uploader looks very useful for getting your videos up on the popular video site. The site says there is no spyware or adware, but as with any free software, use at your own risk.

A YouTube tip: if you copy and paste the code that YouTube generates to post in your own site, make this one change first. In the box where it says "Embed," click on the link that says "customize." There, check a small radio button that reads "Don't include related videos." This will keep the YouTube player from showing your visitors other YouTube videos after your video has played.

Lists of Postings

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:23:00 +0000

As promised, here are a list of postings from the participants, as well as my photos from the trip. Thanks for participating in this journey with me.

Participants' Videos (YouTube) - http://www.youtube.com/kenyateam
Len's Photos - http://elca.smugmug.com/share/L4SSZSGAUWOEM

Wrapping Up the Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:53:00 +0000

Today we wrapped up the training. Tim went over some points again, and I expounded on more free Web 2.0 applications. After Stephen's talk on photography, I showed the participants how to open and use a Flickr account. As with the You Tube account, I stressed the importance of including your Web site's address in the description area. Although we primarily use You Tube and Flickr as media repositories for our Web sites and blogs, many more people can access our media from the actual site that hosts the media. We need to make sure those viewers can access our site for more information.

I have to say how pleased I was to see George Arende, one of the participants, ask to assemble a plan of action... next steps, as it were. After sharing his plan for how he was going to train others in what he learned, assemble a group to start projects, and listing how many people he planned to assemble, George then asked each participant to state out loud what they planned to do with the training and equipment they had just acquired. He then wrote it down. I was very impressed. It was exactly what Tim and I had wanted to do, but I think it was a whole lot more effective, and more accepted, to have one of the participants spearhead this. George is a huge asset to the KELC, and to the family of God.

Palm Sunday with the Maasai

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:55:00 +0000

I don't think I can find the words for what I experienced today. I never imagined that I would spend a day with such amazing people. The maasai we visited lived in Kajiado, which is just north of Tanzania. There is a Lutheran Mission there where we had Palm Sunday service. The people very very warm and selfless. Regardless of drought and other conditions, they made us feel at home, and killed a goat for us and gave us sodas. I feel like I made some friends today, especially in Moses, the man that supplied the goat from his own herd for our meal.

Shooting the Market

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Today we took the participants to an open market in downtown Nairobi in order for them to shoot some footage for editing practice. All the participants did a fine job. Some were more comfortable interviewing people than others, but all participants came back with enough footage to do some editing back at the training room.

Meet the Participants

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:27:00 +0000

I am pleased to introduce to you the participants of the 2008 ELCA Video for Web Workshop.

George Arende garende@kelc.or.ke
George Arende heads the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC) communication department. His responsibilities include the KELC website, print material, including brochures and newsletters. George also serves as the KELC HIV/AIDS coordinator implementing HIV/AIDS projects for the church. In an additional role, George works with Action By Churches Together (ACT) reporting on humanitarian concerns in Kenya. From 2004-2005 George worked for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at the Geneva offices where he helped implement a youth program.

Abraham Data abrahamdata@yahoo.com
Rev. Ato Abraham Data is from Ethiopia. He serves with the Evangelical Ethiopian Church Mekane Yesu (EECMY) in Yemisrach Dimts Communication Services.

Rev. Andy Hinderlie Chempast@aol.com
The Rev. Andy Hinderlie currently serves as the ELCA-Global Mission Regional Representative to East Africa. When not serving in this capacity, Andy loves to take photographs. Andy, his wife and children live in Madagascar.

Christine Mangale cmangale@yahoo.com
Christine Mangale, is a member of the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC). After seven years in the KELC head office, Christine moved in 2007 to a new position with a Media production company based in Tanzania. Her office is in Nairobi. The company records, edits and distributes Gospel music. Christine is deeply involved with KELC youth work in the areas of peer education. She has held workshops and seminars addressing negative effects of globalization. She also helps to organize the KELC national youth rallies.

Rev. David Ntidendeza dntidendeza@yahoo.com
Rev. David Ntidendeza is a pastor in the Lutheran Church of Rwanda (LCR). He is pastor at the Nyagatare parish. Rev. Ntidendeza is married to Mukundwa Rose. They have three children, Kaliza (7), Gikundiro (4) and Bahizi (2).

Dr. Mammy Ranaivoson mamy_ranaivoson@wananchi.com
Dr. Mamy Ranaivoson is the Program Assistant for Health Ministries of the ELCA-GM. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya since 2002. At the same time, Mamy is the Africa Regional Coordinator of HIV and AIDS for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Mamy and Noelisoa have five children, four daughters and a son. The first two daughters are in a Lutheran College in America. Mamy is a Medical Doctor. He worked for seven years as a missionary in Papua New Guinea from 1991 to 1999. Mamy has degrees from the University of Madagascar, University of Liverpool, University of Papua New Guinea, Wartburg Theological Seminary and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Xavier Ravelomanantsoa, (MLC) ravelomanantsoaxavier.pierre@yahoo.fr
Xaivier Ravelomanantsoa hales from Antananarivo, Madagascar. He is married and has two children, a son (16) and daughter (13) Xaivier began service at the Malagasy Lutheran Church Communication Center in 1992. He is a technician and public speaker.

Training Has Begun!

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:59:00 +0000

All of our participants have arrived. Three from Kenya, and one each from Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Madagascar. English is the common language that we all understand, although at different levels. But the communication is going well. We opened with devotions with Andy Hinderlie, who is a Regional Rep for ELCA who lives in Madagascar. We then went into introductions and expectations around the room. Almost everyone expressed the desire to learn more about Web technologies, such as blogs, building Web sites, online giving, and programming. So even though this is a Video Workshop, I think I will be quite busy answering web questions!

We then moved to introducing the equipment and teaching how to use it. Most of the participants were familiar with some of the technology, but some had not used a digital camera before. Once we all get up to speed, we'll get out there and start shooting!

Mathare IDP Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Mathare IDP Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:36:00 +0000

Today we were out scouting shooting sites for the participants to get footage to be able to use. We were taken to a Internally Displaced Persons Camp just outside of the Mathare ghetto. These people were forced out of their houses from the post-election fighting that took place in January. This would be a great spot for some videos, but we will leave it up to the participants to decide from a range of choices, including a huge Western-style mall (for contrast), downtown Nairobi hawkers, who are being asked to leave, and a drought outside of town. They are also free to come up with ideas of their own.

More Participants Arrive

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:56:00 +0000

Today, we picked up Xavier from Madagascar and Christine from Kenya. They will be some of the participants that will learn how to shoot video and upload it to the Web, so that they can take this knowledge back to their churches and grow or even start a communication services department. This is very exciting work, and I am looking forward to meeting everyone and learning what there individual church needs are, and how I can help.

We dropped by the Kenyan Evangelical Lutheran Church Office and met some of the staff there including Bishop Zachariah Kahuthu. We will most likely see him Sunday, to video a greeting to his Sister Synod, Allegheny Synod.

Getty Ready for the Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:54:00 +0000

We arrived in Kenya after a pleasant flight. No loud child kicking me next to me on this leg of the flight! We were met by our driver and taken to the Methodist Guest House, a conference center and hotel type place. That is where we will be staying and holding the workshop. We were so very tired, that after some dinner, which was excellent, we went to bed to try go conquer the jet lag.

Picture: Nairobi Airport. 2130 hours.

Waiting on Nairobi

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:24:00 +0000

Sitting in the Schipol Airport- the nicest Airport I have ever been in. There is a museum, casino, and shopping mall inside the airport. Security check is at each individual gate, so the wait is short. You only have to wait in line with those boarding your flight, not the whole airport. Plus this allows visitors and family the benefit of enjoying the entire airport.

On the train

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:41:00 +0000

While in Amsterdam, we had some time to take a train to go visit with Kevin Jacobson. He currently lives in The Hauge. He is there taking Dutch lessons before he takes off for Suriname. We were able to have dinner with him before continuing on to Kenya. The picture here is a field of flowers I saw from the train. I thought they were tulips, but maybe they were just dafodils. No disrespect to dafodils.

Just Landed in Amsterdam

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:25:00 +0000

After about seven hour flight (maybe more?) we have made it to our layover. Travelling on Daylight Savings Day is not a good idea. Jetlag plus losing an hour of sleep already could prove to be interesting.

RCC Best in Class Award

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:07:00 +0000

I am pleased to announce that the Religion Communicators Council has awarded "Best in Class - Internet - Web" to the Flash project I did for Church in Society. The project is the Web-based version of their curriculum, "Free in Christ to Care for the Neighbor - Lutheran Youth Talk about Human Sexuality."

This is a high honor that I am very grateful to accept. Thanks go out to many people here at the ELCA including Kaari Reierson, Kris Koskinen, Tim Frakes, Jim Parks, and the crew out at Video Impressions in Aurora, IL.

The award presentation will be at the RCC Convention in Washington, D.C.

Getting Ready for Kenya

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Well, we have reached the final week before our trip to Kenya. The political climate has calmed down and our trip is back on. Tim Frakes and I are making our finishing touches to the agenda. I will be blogging during my trip, so stay tuned. Please let your friends and colleagues know that they are welcomed to subscribe to this blog. The attendees to the Training will be posting their projects to a blog as well. I will share those addresses with you as they become available. We are all very excited!

Stay Healthy this Winter Season

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:16:00 +0000

In the interest of today being the Churchwide Office's drive to get everyone to take the Board of Pension's Health Assessment today, I have decided to post a widget that shows the status of everyone entered in our Nike Plus Challenge.

Feel free to join!

Update: This Challenge is over, but we always have one going! Email me and we'll add you to the next one!

Teaching Opportunity in Kenya

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:49:00 +0000

In January, I will be traveling to Nairobi, Kenya to teach Video Production for the Web to four Lutheran churches in Africa. I will have more info soon, but right now I am just making sure I am ready to go. I renewed my passport (it arrived yesterday, horrible picture), am checking on what I need to take, and setting up my means of communicating with you all while I am there. I just installed an app from Shozu.com that allows me to moblog from my phone, without using the laptop. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Good Flash-Designing Guidelines

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:52:00 +0000

I was doing a Google search for Live Flash Streaming CPU Load, and came across this page that isn't what I wanted but is definitely something to bookmark. These are guidelines that Disney makes its advertisers adhere to when creating Flash banners. http://mediakit.go.com/support/

Very good tips, but also a good idea to have a page as detailed as this for your own site!

Happy Independence Day tomorrow!

Media Learning is Essential

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:25:00 +0000

Well, I am back from St. Louis now after a wonderful conference. I met many people from around the country and even from around the world. (Jun and Kyoko from Japan were a lot of fun to hang out with!) The National Media Education Conference opened my eyes to an area of education that is overlooked but is so important. Before this week of great speakers and interesting topics, I had never heard of Media Literacy. I am sure that many educators have long, complete definitions as to what Media Literacy is, but this is what it means to me.

As the father of three children, a daughter about to turn 13, and two sons, eight and six, I like to think that I take a great interest in their growth and maturity. Both their mother and I are very involved in their lives and what they spend their time doing. There are very few channels they can watch on their own, but that does not mean they are restricted from watching TV. It's just that Natasha or I will sit down and watch shows with them. They ask questions and we answer. If they don't ask a question when I think a particular topic or situation needs commentary, I will ask the question. (A quick plug for PVRs here: If you do not have one, get one! Life is full of interruptions. Being able to pause the TV and carry on conversations with your loved ones is priceless.)

So one of our favorite topics is, "What is the message behind the message?" My daughter loves playing detective and figuring out the behind-the-scenes thinking that goes into commercials, the news, and movies. What is going on behind the hype? How does this make me feel? What might others feel about this?

I had no idea we were practicing Media Literacy.

The conference has made me a big proponent of Media Literacy. I am the newest disciple.

Modern Media Makers M3

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:43:00 +0000

This was a showcase of teens and young adults who have been at the NMEC this whole time. While they have been here, they have produced video and podcasts.

These students are from St. Louis as well as other states.

it was a good example of how, with just a little direction, technology is so accessible now. Of course, all their work was done on Macs, which, no matter what you think about PCs and Macs, is the easiest way to produce media.

I just want to say one thing about our youth and their views. In our attempt to hear from the youth and what they have to say, I think we need to be careful that we stick to our desire to help them to think for themselves, and not just put our views on them and praise them when they parrot back what we believe. If we really want them to think for themselves, they just may come up with a way of thinking that we don't agree with. I think educators have a big problem with this. Any comments?

iPod History Challenge Using Today's Multimedia to Make Learning Come To Life for Students

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:08:00 +0000

The presenters were Michael Kelley and Kathy Neesen from the University of Virginia

The History Challenge started from a course in educational games. They wanted to design a game that helped students interact with the historical area that they were surrounded by.

This game has influences from many popular social games that people are already familiar with such as

They wanted a game for large group play, but also for small groups like families or visitors.

The History Challenge is a scavenger hunt-type game, that is location-based (played in a physical place), technology-based (audio clues and dig images), educationally-based (incorporates historical content) and mystery-based (fictional story).

Gameplay:

http://people.virginia.edu/~kn3t/eyepod/

Students listen to an audio clue (one of 11) then look at their map to get to identify the answer. The student records a letter. Then they must take a photo at the correct spot. Once they get all the letters from all the clues, they must rearrange the letters to spell the word that is the goal of the game: the code word!

Materials:
iPod
digital camera/ phone
Game Map

Goal for Materials:
Keep it Accessible
Don't want to frustrate the user

Keep it Simple
Mobility is key
Tech that is fairly common

The game is

Active
Creative Problem-solving
Strategic
Exploratory
Social

Things to keep in mind

Logisitcs
Keep boundaries safe
About two hours to play
Expect the unexpected
6 teams of 4 seems to work well

To create you own game, keep these ideas in mind

Find a game theme that works for your location
Gather content and ideas
Develop content and storylines of interest

Be open to adapting the game idea to different abilities (i.e. wheelchairs)

This game took approx. 5 hours per clue to create.

So, those are the notes I took. But I want to say what a great idea this was! It takes Audio Walking Tours to a whole new, interactive level! I really like this idea for colleges who can use this as part of orientation. At the churchwide office we could do this for our interns. But my big desire is to talk with the Youth Gathering Learning Team to introduce this idea to them as a great way to tie in the locale of the Gathering with any theme of learning they can imagine. I am very excited about this project.

The UK's Networked Generation and Why Media Literacy Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:28:00 +0000

The Office of Communications (Ofcom), the broadcasting and telecommunications regulator in the UK was formed in 2003. As part of its remit, it was given a statutory duty to promote media literacy. Ofcom has since become a catalyst and thought leader for the subject, which has led to media literacy being raised high on both industry and government agendas across Europe.

Robin Blake (Google) is the manager of the Media Literacy Team at Ofcom, the independent regulator for the United Kingdom's communications industries.

BBC News School Report (What is the School Report?)

Ofcom received help from the BBC on this project. It was relatively successful. I say that because the Robin said that while the students had a great time, the outcomes were not what they expected. Rather than the students coming away with a sense of media savvy when it comes to the news, the students were more apt to believe every news story they saw. The reason for this is that the student equated all the hard work that the reporter put into their story with the hard work that they themselves put into the stories the students produced. Oops!

Another example of UK Media Literacy is an PSA Media Smart put out about not believing everything one sees on the "Telly." View PSA here.

Robin showed a graph of what media activity that people in the UK would miss most. While the TV was top among the groups 25 years old and older, cell phones was highest among 16-24 year olds.

Robin says that although sites like Facebook and MySpace are most popular, and allow for global networking, for youth, their only concern is with their small group of friends. So "Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame has shifted to 15 people."

Robin began to speak about how youth view the truthfulness in media. While nothing in the chart seemed shocking, there was one piece of the chart that was interesting. A majority of youth do not find Reality TV programs truthful. Then he showed a clip of a girl who said that "because a site appears first in a Google search, it must be true."

International Media Literacy Reform Inaugural Meeting will be London England 2008. This man is very informed, and I would highly suggest that you hear this man if you get the chance.

It is a shame that he time with us was so short. I would liked to have heard more from him.

Online Games for Media Literacy: Exploring New Educational Frontiers

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:39:00 +0000

Presenters: Kelly Mendoza, Renee Hobbs, Sherri Hope Culver, and Barbara Walkosz
A group called Tobacco Education and Media (TEAM) created an online gaming Web site that explains to youth how movies have actors smoke in movies and teaches them to discern why a certain actor is smoking and what the directors are trying to say. The way they made it interactive is that the game has the youth create their own movie, teaching the kids skills such as script-writing and blocking. (www.team.considerthisusa.org)

The next example was from My Pop Studio. They created this site to teach young girls about pop culture and what messages are being sent. (www.mypopstudio.com)

The speakers hope to cover these topics in this Workshop:

Edu-tainment
- keep the kids' interest
- keep the site fresh
Creating Community
- chat rooms and comments work, but needs monitoring
- kids like to accumulate points... so keeping a High Score was an addition
Implementation
- (Not sure they had enough time to get to this.)

Podcasting in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Len Mason) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:28:00 +0000

Nick Pernisco introduced podcasting as audio blogging. He wants to not focus on what a podcast is and how to do it, but rather uses of podcasting.

Great thing about using podcasting in the classroom is that the students are already used to using the technology as well as the hardware. He is a big proponent of using the technology that students are already using. It makes learning easier.

MP3 players are not toys; they are tools.

Ways to use podcasts in the classroom:

Recording your lecture - audio and/or video
Offer additional notes
Point to other podcasts
With disabled students - they can have the class notes without needing to use a "note taker" that might miss something

Showed a video produced by Santa Monica College about an iPod Pilot Program.

Tools needed to create a podcast can be very simple and relatively inexpensive.

What is the motivation for students to use podcasts in the classroom? Give students incentives to use them. For example, give assignments on Podcasts. This forces them to download it. Another example is to have them only site podcasts in their research.

Nick gave an example of using video podcasts with even young children participating and "producing" video for the web.