I really enjoyed Tinny’s presentation on SoundCloud. It interested me because my tool that I am analyzing, Popcorn Maker, draws from SoundCloud to add music to movies. I have come across this site online a few times before, but it looks like an excellent way to find new music. I also really liked the sharing feature that SoundCloud uses, especially the ability to comment on a song at a specific time. On a side note, I thought that Tinny’s use of a video was excellent for his presentation and I will definitely look to put one in my web essay for this project.

Obviously my favorite program today was Storify, since it was the only option. I thought it was cool that it allows you to make many elements of social media together, and I would use it to create a comprehensive look at someone.

Today, I fixed issues with my pages not lining up and shifted information to my new pages.

I did that because I had all of my information clumped into one page and wanted to make it more navigable, but I had previously been unable to get the page separation to work.

Out of the presentations, I’d would have to choose Prezi as seeming the most helpful with Storify coming as a close second. The advantages of having an application that can really mix up the presentation archetype would be too good to pass up, and despite the learning curve with using it I think the pay off would be worth it. The advantages of an interactive presentation model are readily apparent, and I’m hoping I can find a way to integrate it with out final project.

On Friday we heard some more presentations. Each person went through and talked about their interface and what it was and how it was different from other interfaces. All of the presentations were good and I learned a lot about new interfaces that I had previously not known about. All of the interfaces had their positives and negatives and some used more than others.

For me, my favorite and most useful (if I ever needed it) would have been Pixton. Pixton is an interface that is used to create comics. I personally do not make a whole lot of comics but if I ever needed to for school, business, or just for personal use, then Pixton would be my choice. We had seen a comic creator site before but it was nowhere close to Pixton and the amount of customization you could do. Pixton offered many different settings and characters that could really get someone interested in comics. It looked like a great interface to use with all of the different options available. I don’t create comics often, but if I were too then Pixton would be my choice.

I thought Storify was a really cool tool to gather information and share. It was also really smart to connect it to other social media sites to both gather personal information and trending information, as well as spark interest in other social media users. I may end up using it for something in my collegiate career eventually.

What it is 

Much like my own tool, Canva is tool meant for beginner graphic designers. You can create a wide range of designs, such as for Facebook, Twitter, business cards, reports, presentations or infographics. It’s an easy click and drag tool, much like a very simplified Photoshop or InDesign.

How it’s interesting / How I’ll use it 

I like how it makes processes like making Facebook cover photos so simple. I have made my own on InDesign or Photoshop, but it’s always time consuming and complex. I think this could be a huge timesaver for designing quick items for a social media campaign for instance. I don’t think I will actually use this tool, but if I ever need to quickly design a business card, I know which site to turn to.

What it is 

750 Words is an online based tool that is meant for inspiring writers and allows for them to have a private setting to write everyday. They encourage writing everyday and give users creative achievements for doing so.

Why it interested me / How I’ll use it 

I am a writer, but I feel like I don’t write enough everyday. I think it would be a cool application to use, because I could write quickly where ever I am on campus, since most of the time I do have Internet access, so that wouldn’t be a problem. What really caught my attention are the analysis tools that the resource offers–such as analyzing your common writing themes, word choices, adverbs, ect. This could be really useful for me in becoming a better writer. I would use this tool to practice on my creative writing or daily thoughts in between classes.