Paris iStory

Final Assignment!

2007-03-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Now that everyone is recovered from their trip to Paris, it's time to turn our attention to our final iStory. Hopefully you have had time to inventory the media you obtained. We do have quite a large number of stills in a database available to students. Your next assignment is to create a digital story about your Paris Trip. Your digital story should be well developed in content and sturcture, much better than the blogging and short iStory you produced before the trip. It should be at least 90 seconds long and shorter than 3 minutes in length. If you have any questions, I will have a handout available in my office, CAS 420. These will be do on Wensday April 18th when we hold a class meeting at 12:30.

iStory completed on first night in Paris

2007-03-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

This iStory was complete on friday night in the hotel after a long plane ride and day of touring. At this point, I had no internet access and was looking to produce a quick photo story to let viewers know that we had safely arrived in Paris and to let the students know how we could post pictures, music, and voice quickly to the web.

We can do amazing things with new media technologies in getting our messages to others quickly and with impact. As a professor of media production, it's important that students realize the production process and what can be accomplished with limited time or resources. The viewers have a completely different perspective. This story was meant to let everyone know we had safely arrived in Paris.

Blogging On The Bus!

2007-03-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we had an early morning bus tour of Paris and then went to Versaille. On the bus ride back, I was sitting next to Jonathon Cooper and Lexi Barrett. We decided to create a short (approx 30 seconds) iStory about our visit to Versaille.

We decided to use GarageBand to produce our iStory since it's relatively easy to put photos and audio together quickly. We then uploaded only the photos from my digital still camera and began to work.

While many of the students on the bus took a quick nap as we waited for a traffic accident to clear on our trip back to Paris and a visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral, I quickly gave Jonathon a tutorial in GarageBand and developed a basic story structure together. Eventually both Jonathon and Lexi recorded Voiceovers live as the pictures played back on Garageband. We finished the entire project in less than 30 mins., so when you view it, take that into consideration.

When we tried to upload the finished project to YouTube so that we could then embed the file into blogspot, we found out that YouTube did not accept the GarageBand media files. It wasn't until later in the trip that we were able to convert the GarageBand Project using Quicktime Pro. What you can see below is known as blogging on the bus!

Au Revoir to Paris!

2007-03-15T00:08:00.000-07:00

It's time to pack up. It's been a fun trip for the students but everyone seems ready to go home. Many of the students were packing up last night when we returned from our last group dinner.

Here's a picture of my blogging desk which overlooks the Rue de Bercy.

Looking forward to coming home and really looking at all the video, stills and audio the students collected.

The best part of the day will be getting picked up by my wife......

Geo Caching

2007-03-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

This morning we took a nice walk through Paris in search of a web based geocache. We went through the 12th, 3rd, and 4th arrondonsments. Paris is a beautiful city with wonderful architecture. Even though we never found the cache, it was an enjoyable stroll through Paris on a lovely day.

Later on I went to a museum to a museum devoted to 65 Monet's donated by his son. www.marmottan.com/uk/

The most famous painting in the muse is his masterpiece Impression.....the painting which started the Impressionism movement. It's interesting to see the differences in his early and later works in one place.

Many of the canvas have unfinished areas ...these must have been paintings that Monet kept for himself. You can really see the beginning of Abstract Expressionism in some of his later paintings. There were many Waterlillies painted in different shades of blue. It was also interested in seeing his palette.

I'll post up some photos soon!

Another busy day!

2007-03-12T23:52:00.000-07:00

Bon Jour, today I went to see St. Chappelle, a gothic style church built in the 13th century by King Louis the 9th....The Stained glass here is amazing to see and was built to hold the holy relics.

We then went to the Muse de Oragangie which holds Monet's Waterlillys and many beautiful painters by Renoir.

The entire group then went to Sacre Coure and a few of us climbed the steps to the top of the bell tower for the amazing views.

We then took the metro to the Eiffle Tower area and saw the lights on the Eiffel Tower and took a book ride along the Seine.

It was a long fun day and we took lots of pictures. I've posted a few so enjoy!

This morning we are going to try Geo Caching with Michael Searson and then head over to the Muse de Orsey.

Scott

iStory Production Notes!

2007-03-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Seeing as this is the second iStory tour from Kean University, I thought you might want to know about the production elements involved in the process. Here are a few lessons learned in the first three days of Paris iStory.

1. You can never have enough equipment......in our situation, we have approximately 30 students who are blogging, recording sound, videotaping and producing news and feature stories for Journalism, Flm, Cultural Studies, and iStories while enjoying Paris and what it has to offer. We bought with us 8 Apple Macs, iPods with microphone recorders, a few video and still cameras. Many students bought their personal still cameras, a couple bought their own video and a few even brought their own laptops. Every piece of equipment we have is constantly being requested by students. This leads us to the second point......

2. You can never have enough Power. All of our electronic equipment needs to be recharged daily. This is turning out to be a major issue, since our hotel rooms only havve one outlet available. The faculty and staff support are being overwhelmed with the demands placed on them to recharge equipment. We already had a power strip fail, when it was attempting to recharge multiple items.

3. Save it for Post Production. To create quality productions (which we in the Media & Film dept require) you need to spend time editing your work together in a package that can be disseminated. We continually stress to the students that you need to time to create quality projects. With an iStory package, it's important to be quick and get everthing posted to the web to see what is going on. While these two thought might be contrary....it's important to realize the goals of each parrticular project.

4. Internet Access. Blogging and posting media to the web takes quality access to the internet. Our hotel does offer 10 hours of time for 15 Euros. There is free internet at a Restaurant/Bar across the street, but you do need to be eating/drinking to remain there for some time. We also have to be thoughtful about how to create with certain software and have compatibility with the requirements of the Internet Content Providers, whether it's blogger, youtube, Apple or Microsoft.

After the trip, I'm sure I will be adding to this quick list and making suggestions for advancements in the iStory Travel Learn Course .

Needless to say, Paris is beautiful and we are having a good time seeing the sites. In our short time, I've been to Versaille, Notre Dame, Le Louvre, the Opera House, the Catacombs, walked around downtown Paris and dined in the Latin Quarter.

Many of the students have been posting photos, blogs, and working on short video pieces that family and friends are commenting on.....this will definitely continue in the next few days and after we return to Kean.

scott

Sunday Morning in Paris!

2007-03-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a short iStory on our Visit to the Louvre this morning!

Off to the Louvre

2007-03-10T23:04:00.000-08:00

A group of us are off to the Louvre, early on sunday morning.....I'll try to have some pics for you later today....photos seem to be too big...check out some of the student blogs for some photos.....perfect weather for photos and tourism......au revoir

Planes, Coaches and Metros

2007-03-09T23:00:00.000-08:00

After a long trip, starting from CAS 420 to Paris, we safely made it to France at 8: 30 Friday morning. Even though everyone was quite tired, we were still excited about being in Paris together.

After a quick break at the hotel, we walked to Bercy Village to enjoy some frittes and Vin Rouge with Natalie, our EF Tour Guide. The students walked around and had lunch at Frog Pub in one of the many restaurants in the area. There's a pic of the nice pastries available in one of the shops.

We then got a quick lesson in the Metro Ettiquette, from Ms Natalie, make sure you get on quickly and stay together at the stops....we don't want to lose anyone in the Metro!

We walked around Paris and saw some of the sites, the Modern Architecture of the Pompidou Center set in a historic district and the stained glass windows of St Eustache on the Right Bank of Paris. Modeled on Notre Dame, it was built between 1532 and 1754. Cardinal Richelieu was baptised here and Moliere had his funeral here. It also hosted the First Communion of King Louis IV....whose home we will to visit today.....

We seem to be feeling better this morning after a good night's sleep and look forward to our visit to Versaille and Notre Dame. I hope Paris is ready for a visit from the students at Kean University........The bus is leaving soon, so I better get some croisants and cafe...a nice big cup....Au Revoir for now.....scott

Publish to .Mac Account

2007-03-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

Sign up for a free 60 day account at .mac using your iWeb application on your mac. Here's the web address to my page. Send me a link when you sign up! You can post your photos and iStory's to your site. There's a link over on the right side of the page. Here's the address....copy and place into your broswer.

http://web.mac.com/scott_mchugh/iWeb/Paris%20iStory/Welcome.html

French History!

2007-02-28T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a short video about the history of France. It's good to know something about a Country when you visit. Enjoy! Thanks to Laurie Troutman for doing the VO.

Your First Paris Digital Story!

2007-02-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

It's now time to start putting your Paris Digital Story (60-90 secs) together.
You should be in the process of acquiring the following materials .

Voice Over (VO) Script (adapt your 1 page post)
Images saved on USB Drive or CD-R
Music Bed (please email me if you need this, I have some nice Paris songs available in CAS 420)

When you are finished, we will post your Digital Story to YouTube or another Internet Video Space and link them to our blogs. Nadia posted her's to YouTube and I've embedded it here for all to see!

Creating an iStory: New Assignment

2007-01-31T11:53:00.000-08:00

I've enjoyed reading your one page commentary on the Paris Travel Learn. Your next assignment is to create a 60 sec iStory based on your one page commentary. To create your iStory, you will need to obtain 12-15 still images (you can obtain from google images*) or and rewrite your paper for a visual presentation. You will also include background music and a VoiceOver (VO) to go along with your still images. Don't worry, I will help all of you with producing your iStory's, especially those who have limited media production experience. I will be available on Wednesday's between 12:30 and 3:20 in CAS 420 to assist any students.

*This assignment is for Educational uses only, providing us with the Fair Use Exception to Coypyright, that is why we will use images from google or other Internet search engines.

Frappr Maps

2007-01-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

To get your own frappr map. Visit the following link and create your map. You can then uplink the file to your blog for visitors to fill out.
http://www.frappr.com/

Blog Links

2007-01-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

You can see the links to the various students blog sites on the right side of the screen. Check out some of your fellow travelers and leave them comments!

iStory Costa Rica

2007-01-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

Take a look at Michael Searson's iStory Costa Rica Web Site. Use the link: http://web.mac.com/michaelsearson/iWeb/iStory%20Tour:%20Costa%20Rica/Welcome.html

Think about how you can apply Podcasting and Blogging to our iStory Paris.

Welcome to Paris iStory

2007-01-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

This is the site for students in Kean University Travel Learn: Digital Story class. More Information will appear in the days ahead. You will also create your own blog previewing your trip to Paris. All students are required to go to Google and create their free blog account.