Literacy Beat

By Thomas DeVere Wolsey

This semester, I assigned my undergraduates to create a photo essay defining the places that have had the most impact on who they are and who they might become.  Their photo essays are due next week, so this week I am sharing some of the photo essay websites and software tools they are using.  Today, they explored the affordances of each. I provided a list of questions (you will find them below) to guide their choices.

Dear Literacy Beat readers, if you have a site or tool to share, please add it in the comments.

iPhone Photos

Platforms

1. Tumblr
2. Instagram
3. WordPress
4. Spark from Adobe
5. Exposure
6. Ghost
7. PowerPoint Online and Slideshare, Youtube or Vimeo (convert slide decks to video), Authorstream
8. Prezi

Pro-Tip: What’s your statement about the photos you choose? Can you write one (or maybe two) sentences that capture the main idea of your photo essay? Is it unique enough that others will want to view your essay?

Photo Editing Tools

1. Canva
2. Ribbet
3. GIMP
4. Photo Resizer
5. net
6. Photoshop Express
7. PIXLR

A note about intellectual property: Any work you use that you did not write or create must be attributed.  This includes music (and be aware that using copyrighted music could result in your project being taken down by the platform or host).

Pro Tip: Create a rough draft of your essay in order to check out the features of the platform and tools you use.  Try different ways of arranging your photos, text (including captions), and titles.  Later, you can hide or delete the rough draft.

Questions / Affordances

Check out the sites and tools (software) on the first page and review a couple of examples. What affordances does each offer your project?

• What does it cost?
• Do you need an account?
• Can you make the site available to anyone?
• Does the site privilege images, text, or both?
• What features does the site or tool have that others may not have?
• Is the site or tool mobile friendly? Laptop friendly?
• Does it have sharing tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter)?
• Are there advertisements? How intrusive are they?
• Is the platform easy to navigate and provide tools that make it easy for you to create a photo essay?

Two notes about color:

1. Don’t overdo it!
2. Make sure the colors you choose for frames, text, and so on are easy to read against the backgrounds you choose

Filed under: digital content creation, digital resources, digital tools, Images, visual literacy | Tagged: Photo Essay, Wolsey |