Hi,
Here is a quick Video Training on using Flash for you project.
If it is too basic, apologies, let me know what you meed and I'll create another one.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Flash Project
For the duration of the semester, I'll keep this blog going.
Getting to know who to use Flash, come up with an idea based on the limited knowledge you may gleam in the short time you will have a chance to use it is daunting.
Not only is there the pressure of getting an assignment out but also a lot of time is eaten up simply trying to understand how to use Flash.
Let's be honest here, most of you will have never used, or needed to use Flash before, and once the assignment is over, you never need to use it again, it may be a case of, lets get this over with.
I understand this.
I will create a simple video tutorial in the next few days to try and provide some simple shortcut tips targeted directly at this assignment to help speed up the process.
If there is something you are stuck on, or cannot figure out though in the meantime, please ask me.
Getting to know who to use Flash, come up with an idea based on the limited knowledge you may gleam in the short time you will have a chance to use it is daunting.
Not only is there the pressure of getting an assignment out but also a lot of time is eaten up simply trying to understand how to use Flash.
Let's be honest here, most of you will have never used, or needed to use Flash before, and once the assignment is over, you never need to use it again, it may be a case of, lets get this over with.
I understand this.
I will create a simple video tutorial in the next few days to try and provide some simple shortcut tips targeted directly at this assignment to help speed up the process.
If there is something you are stuck on, or cannot figure out though in the meantime, please ask me.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Audio Project
The latest project is to create an Audio Podcast.
I have chosen to create a Podcast aimed at beginners to explain the basics of photography.
This is going to be an interesting challenge as Photography is obviously visual and I will need to explain clearly for audio purposes only.
Also, to make it more interesting I will add some music and atmosphere sounds to enhance the podcast.
I am currently mixing some simple tracks in Adobe Audition 3.0 and also Acid Pro 7.
I have libraries of loops and instrument sounds to help with this.
The end results though should not be overpowering or interfering with the spoken word so I wont be putting a symphony together!
Once these are completed, I will head into the recording studio to record the podcast.
Once I have the pieces I will then update you on how the final editing is going.
I have chosen to create a Podcast aimed at beginners to explain the basics of photography.
This is going to be an interesting challenge as Photography is obviously visual and I will need to explain clearly for audio purposes only.
Also, to make it more interesting I will add some music and atmosphere sounds to enhance the podcast.
I am currently mixing some simple tracks in Adobe Audition 3.0 and also Acid Pro 7.
I have libraries of loops and instrument sounds to help with this.
The end results though should not be overpowering or interfering with the spoken word so I wont be putting a symphony together!
Once these are completed, I will head into the recording studio to record the podcast.
Once I have the pieces I will then update you on how the final editing is going.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Adobe Director 11.5 project
I'm currently working on a project using Adobe Director 11.5.
This application is a very powerful application. I have always said Flash is basically a plug in for Director id used correctly.
Director was always the powerhouse in the area of developing Kiosk application or DVD/CD delivery applications. It was also excellent at creating Games that Flash could not do.
11.5 has not been updated in nearly 3 years now and the Director community is puzzled about this.
Either Adobe drops the application in favor for Flash, or they make an effort and continue to develop it. At the moment Adobe are not making any efforts to either confirm or deny they are keeping the application.
This application is a very powerful application. I have always said Flash is basically a plug in for Director id used correctly.
Director was always the powerhouse in the area of developing Kiosk application or DVD/CD delivery applications. It was also excellent at creating Games that Flash could not do.
11.5 has not been updated in nearly 3 years now and the Director community is puzzled about this.
Either Adobe drops the application in favor for Flash, or they make an effort and continue to develop it. At the moment Adobe are not making any efforts to either confirm or deny they are keeping the application.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Teaching and Learning
There was once a Charlie Brown cartoon where Charlie Brown says to his friends, "I taught my dog to whistle."
Snoopy the dog sits there as Charlie Browns friends gather around waiting but nothing happens.
Frustrated, his friends ask, "You said your dog could whistle." Charlie replies,
"I said I taught my dog to whistle, I didn’t say he learned!"
Snoopy the dog sits there as Charlie Browns friends gather around waiting but nothing happens.
Frustrated, his friends ask, "You said your dog could whistle." Charlie replies,
"I said I taught my dog to whistle, I didn’t say he learned!"
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The virtual Team Project
I suppose I could say that the virtual Team Project was interesting. Funnily enough though, it was not the project itself that was interesting, but the human behavior aspect that caught my attention.
Team collaboration is exactly what it says on the tin. It is a team....collaborating!
Collaborating what? A project? a discussion? it could be many things, but they have one thing in common,and that is a collective understanding, agreement and appreciation of the finished goal.
Collaboration also means communication, and not just the tools. Usually in a collaboration project these have already been defined so that the focus is on the work at hand and so there is no confusion as to the methods of communication.
Listening is also important. When a group make a decision on an action then this action should be followed through, or if for any reason it may need to change then then all members should be informed prior to this so that there is an agreed consensus. I did find that quite often some discussions were completely ignored as if they never happened.
Responding to emails and keeping all informed at the same time is also critical. I found that there were times that there were meetings held without my knowledge and assumptions were made on my behalf. This does not work.
You agree to meet using a specific application, you log into that application to find that others are using another, simply because they did not feel like it?
Imagine arranging a meeting. Invitations are sent out. The Agenda is agreed and the Meeting room is agreed and booked. You turn up to the meeting to find no one there.
You then find that person in another meeting room, who decided themselves that they preferred that room, but did not inform you or explain why? You then get over that issue to find that the person does not want to talk about the agreed agenda, but wanted to discuss a topic that had nothing to do with the meeting.
We then agree that I would finalize the report and send it to the other person for review and add their own section, only to find then that the other person has already submitted the report without providing the final version?
Would that work?
Team collaboration is exactly what it says on the tin. It is a team....collaborating!
Collaborating what? A project? a discussion? it could be many things, but they have one thing in common,and that is a collective understanding, agreement and appreciation of the finished goal.
Collaboration also means communication, and not just the tools. Usually in a collaboration project these have already been defined so that the focus is on the work at hand and so there is no confusion as to the methods of communication.
Listening is also important. When a group make a decision on an action then this action should be followed through, or if for any reason it may need to change then then all members should be informed prior to this so that there is an agreed consensus. I did find that quite often some discussions were completely ignored as if they never happened.
Responding to emails and keeping all informed at the same time is also critical. I found that there were times that there were meetings held without my knowledge and assumptions were made on my behalf. This does not work.
You agree to meet using a specific application, you log into that application to find that others are using another, simply because they did not feel like it?
Imagine arranging a meeting. Invitations are sent out. The Agenda is agreed and the Meeting room is agreed and booked. You turn up to the meeting to find no one there.
You then find that person in another meeting room, who decided themselves that they preferred that room, but did not inform you or explain why? You then get over that issue to find that the person does not want to talk about the agreed agenda, but wanted to discuss a topic that had nothing to do with the meeting.
We then agree that I would finalize the report and send it to the other person for review and add their own section, only to find then that the other person has already submitted the report without providing the final version?
Would that work?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
collaboration project
The interesting thing about this project was looking at how the different Social Networking tools were chosen as collaboration tools. My feelings on using Social Networking sites for collaboration are mixed. I do not think that the likes of Facebook or Twitter are meant for that time of use. Twitter is very much, "How I feel right now" in as few words as possible. With several different "tweets" going at the same time, is is difficult to have an online "chat".
Skype at least is linear as you can target a specific user for chats and they are chats as you can write as much as you want to get the message across, and is more similar to IM or IBM Sametime, which is an industry level chat tool.
Facebook, well, it is Facebook isn't it. it is more about who is talking to who and what they are saying. The chat function is fine but again, at what stage would you use it for collaboration in projects, and how serious would it be taken.
I think that these tools would be used out of context for collaboration work, and also, as it is not secure, you do not know who has access to these records.
Skype at least is linear as you can target a specific user for chats and they are chats as you can write as much as you want to get the message across, and is more similar to IM or IBM Sametime, which is an industry level chat tool.
Facebook, well, it is Facebook isn't it. it is more about who is talking to who and what they are saying. The chat function is fine but again, at what stage would you use it for collaboration in projects, and how serious would it be taken.
I think that these tools would be used out of context for collaboration work, and also, as it is not secure, you do not know who has access to these records.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Online collaboration tools by any other name.........
During the past week while researching collaboration tools, especially trying to find negative reviews and experiences with Acrobat.com, it suddenly dawned on me!
It seems that Adobe were ahead of the posse when it came to forward thinking. In early 2008 when the beta version was released the term "cloud" was basically contained to those fluffy white things that we in Ireland tend to be very familiar with.
Cloud technology is still in its infancy but growing, even those most people who have no idea what cloud technology is will be experiencing it without realising it.
Acrobat.com not only offers the ConnectNow online meeting room tool, but also the text document and presentation file creation capabilities. so far you can only create ( in a basic way) text files, presentations and spreadsheets. You then save them on acrobat.com, share them and collaborate allowing users to edit and save the same document. In essence this is cloud technology.
In the future, it will be commonplace that employees in companies and institutions will no longer require software and applications to be installed on their computer. Instead all of the applications will be stored in a virtual environment ( the cloud) and users will then access online the application they require, use it and store their files to share and edit.
The likes of Joomla and Drupal for example could be considered a form of cloud technology, as no software is required on your computer to create and maintain a powerful website with little web development knowledge required. Everything is stored online. All editing tools, publishing ability etc are available within the online environment. You can also assign different levels of Admin to give others certain editing rights.
No need to buy a 10 Gizillion Terrabyte iPod. You simply connect to your online store and play your music.
Once, and it will happen, that high speed wireless internet access has 100% coverage and will be totally free ( As it was originally intended, by the way), then you will start to see this online collaboration world become the standard.
It could also become the standard that computers are given away free and you pay for the access and subscriptions to the Cloud technologies.
You thinks thats mad?
Did you ever think that mobile phone companies would give away their phones? They are still making money you know!
It would also drastically reduce piracy.
It seems that Adobe were ahead of the posse when it came to forward thinking. In early 2008 when the beta version was released the term "cloud" was basically contained to those fluffy white things that we in Ireland tend to be very familiar with.
Cloud technology is still in its infancy but growing, even those most people who have no idea what cloud technology is will be experiencing it without realising it.
Acrobat.com not only offers the ConnectNow online meeting room tool, but also the text document and presentation file creation capabilities. so far you can only create ( in a basic way) text files, presentations and spreadsheets. You then save them on acrobat.com, share them and collaborate allowing users to edit and save the same document. In essence this is cloud technology.
In the future, it will be commonplace that employees in companies and institutions will no longer require software and applications to be installed on their computer. Instead all of the applications will be stored in a virtual environment ( the cloud) and users will then access online the application they require, use it and store their files to share and edit.
The likes of Joomla and Drupal for example could be considered a form of cloud technology, as no software is required on your computer to create and maintain a powerful website with little web development knowledge required. Everything is stored online. All editing tools, publishing ability etc are available within the online environment. You can also assign different levels of Admin to give others certain editing rights.
No need to buy a 10 Gizillion Terrabyte iPod. You simply connect to your online store and play your music.
Once, and it will happen, that high speed wireless internet access has 100% coverage and will be totally free ( As it was originally intended, by the way), then you will start to see this online collaboration world become the standard.
It could also become the standard that computers are given away free and you pay for the access and subscriptions to the Cloud technologies.
You thinks thats mad?
Did you ever think that mobile phone companies would give away their phones? They are still making money you know!
It would also drastically reduce piracy.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Adobe Acrobat.com (ConnectNow)
There is so much functionality available in the application that would help small to medium business improve, not only their communication options with customers and their own staff, but also it provides very fast ways to share documents and also collaborate on new documents.
Ok, the collaboration is restricted to word documents and presentations, but this would cover the bulk of a small to medium business's needs, at least on start up anyway.
Ok, at the moment it provides the ability to share documents either to all that have an account, or you can specify particular users and then give them either read or author privileges.
The collaboration options are restricted to word documents and presentations. Any presentation created directly in the collaboration tool can be either exported or, it can be viewed/offered directly online.
The Meeting room offers many options where files can be uploaded live and shared, a drawing baord is available for sketching, Video conferencing is also there. The beauty is that the Host can remove or add any of these functions live as needed.
I will create a Video tutorial shortly giving an overview of the application.
It is also free.
Ok, the collaboration is restricted to word documents and presentations, but this would cover the bulk of a small to medium business's needs, at least on start up anyway.
Ok, at the moment it provides the ability to share documents either to all that have an account, or you can specify particular users and then give them either read or author privileges.
The collaboration options are restricted to word documents and presentations. Any presentation created directly in the collaboration tool can be either exported or, it can be viewed/offered directly online.
The Meeting room offers many options where files can be uploaded live and shared, a drawing baord is available for sketching, Video conferencing is also there. The beauty is that the Host can remove or add any of these functions live as needed.
I will create a Video tutorial shortly giving an overview of the application.
It is also free.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Adobe Contribute Connection
Great, I have hooked up Adobe Contribute to the Blog. This will allow me to update the blog directly from my Desktop without the need to go into the site. I can also view comments and reply through this application. I had no use for it up to now, and I was going to remove it.
Researching the use of Collaborative Technologies for UL6082
I am currently studying a Masters in E-Learning Design and Development with the University of Limerick Ireland.
Currently I am involved in a project researching the use of Collaborative Technologies. Currently my group consists of two students (including myself) and two students from the University of Florida in the US.
I am studying part time at the moment around my work. I work with the Knowledge Management Team of my company and I design, create and offer E-learning Courses for the EMEA Region and partially for the Global market. We currently have approximately over 140,000 employees, so we are kept busy.
At the moment the project involves each member choosing a collaboration tool of their choice, where we each then investigate and play with the tool.
My tool of choice is acrobat.com or also known as Adobe Connect.
I have used this tool in the past and it gave me ideas for developing my own Multi-casting Video Virtual Classroom.
What is interesting about this project is that to investigate these tools and collaborate our findings we need to use these tools for the project also.
One of the difficulties though is the time difference of 5 hours between the Irish Students and the US students, but as this is a typical challenge in the real world then we will have to schedule times to suit all involved.
My challenge is to make myself available around work meetings etc.
Currently I am involved in a project researching the use of Collaborative Technologies. Currently my group consists of two students (including myself) and two students from the University of Florida in the US.
I am studying part time at the moment around my work. I work with the Knowledge Management Team of my company and I design, create and offer E-learning Courses for the EMEA Region and partially for the Global market. We currently have approximately over 140,000 employees, so we are kept busy.
At the moment the project involves each member choosing a collaboration tool of their choice, where we each then investigate and play with the tool.
My tool of choice is acrobat.com or also known as Adobe Connect.
I have used this tool in the past and it gave me ideas for developing my own Multi-casting Video Virtual Classroom.
What is interesting about this project is that to investigate these tools and collaborate our findings we need to use these tools for the project also.
One of the difficulties though is the time difference of 5 hours between the Irish Students and the US students, but as this is a typical challenge in the real world then we will have to schedule times to suit all involved.
My challenge is to make myself available around work meetings etc.
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