Week one asks that we,

“Assess your skills with a variety of digital storytelling tools – Shooting, editing photos. Manipulating text and image in a layered fashion. Recording and editing audio (this could be music, voice, natural sound, found sound, remixed sound). Shooting and editing video. Creating animations (this includes creating GIFs from loops of found video). What tools have you used to do your work? Which ones are you most comfortable with and why? Which ones are you not and would like to learn to use better? In a blog post, answer these questions as well as embed a piece of media you’ve created and describe it.”

Here is my initial self-assessment:

  Shooting photos: suck at it, need to learn about the technical stuff about taking photos.

  Editing photos: Am pretty awesome here, I love doing creative edits in Photoshop. Always up to learn more.

  Manipulating text and image in a layered fashion: Okay, always struggle. Can do better.

  Recording and editing audio (this could be music, voice, natural sound, found sound, remixed sound): Meh! not bad.

  Shooting and editing video: Meh! not bad.

  Creating animations (this includes creating GIFs from loops of found video): Need to learn the basics of animations, I am pretty good at making them animated gifs 🙂

  What tools have you used to do your work?

 iMovie GarageBand Photoshop CC Gimp ScreenFlow MpegStreamClip and various apps and online tools.

  Which ones are you most comfortable with and why?

I regularly use the ones above, I can do stuff at what I would label and intermediate level, I want to get awesome at Photoshop.

  Which ones are you not and would like to learn to use better?

The new GarageBand. I was so used to the old one, I have thought to go back to the old version but that is silly.

I need to learn the basics of animation for any tool. I just experiment but have never learnt building blocks.

Kinetic typography – I would love to find and learn a tool that would enable me to do this easily. I tried Letters in Motion once. Spent a day making a video and I am still looking for the rendered version in my computer – some glitch that means you can create on iPad but can only view in iTunes…

The DS106 Good Spell

Every Sunday at 8pm UK time John Johnston and I do a talk show on DS106Radio – which should always be heard on GiFTV in my view!

I have embedded below one of the episodes. You can hear more at EduTalk

Audio has been a big surprise since starting DS106 a year ago. I did not particularly want to learn it and now I love doing DS106 radio and creating audio. Could do with learning the basic building blocks broadcasting – I just wing it!