PhotoShow (online resource)

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December 20, 2007 by Paul Hamilton

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FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners.

It’s impossible for me to keep up with all the online applications you can use for digital storytelling. Over the past few days I’ve been having fun with one called PhotoShow. This one is probably relatively new because it didn’t make it onto Alan Levine’s October list of 50 Web2.0 Ways to Tell a Story. I quite like PhotoShow, and think it deserves some attention. Here’s a sample that I put together in about 15 minutes–with the cooperation of some of my closest relatives.

PhotoShow is fairly typical of applications for creating online slide shows. You bring in pictures, choose from available themes and presentation modes, choose musical accompaniment from a a range of genres and moods, and add captions if you wish. The choice of themes is not extensive, but each one I’ve tried has created an effective and engaging presentation.

I think PhotoShow is perhaps easier and more straightforward than many of the alternatives I’ve explored. It would be even better if you could upload your own music and if you could import more than one picture at a time from online photo sites such as Flickr. You can do multiple uploads from your own computer.

PhotoShow has also made it easy to share your slideshows. Options for embedding on blogs, wikis, or other web pages are especially convenient. Of course, embedding here in the Edublogs version of WordPress was less stratightforward, and I needed help from Patricia Donaghy to turn off the auto play function.

Posted in Art, Digital Story-Telling, Free Resources, Media & IT, Online Resources, Photos, Presentation Tool, Productivity, UDL, Web 2.0 | 7 Comments

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7 Responses to “PhotoShow (online resource)”

on 21 Dec 2007 at 2:02 am1 Sue Waters

Thanks for telling us about this Paul and your better let Alan know so he can get closer to the 50 ways to tell a story (he was a few short).
on 21 Dec 2007 at 12:29 pm2 Chad

One thing I love about this service is you can also order DVDs of these shows.
on 21 Dec 2007 at 3:32 pm3 Paul Hamilton

Sue: I have emailed Alan about this.
Chad: I guess I should have mentioned the paid services that PhotoShow wants to sell, but I haven’t tried any of them.
on 21 Dec 2007 at 4:59 pm4 Alan Levine

Thanks for contacting me Paul- your demo in PhotoShow says it all, it surely fits among the “50″ I looked at. One of the lessons I emphasize in this game is that no one, least of all me, really knows “everything” that’s out there. I’ll certainly add this to the list of tools.

PS- I’m feeling a bit like a monkey too
on 22 Dec 2007 at 4:04 pm5 Amanda

This looks like a great tool for storytelling, thanks for sharing it!
Off to check it out, i’m sure I won’t get out of there without a story made!!
on 23 Dec 2007 at 10:16 am6 pdonaghy

Hi Paul
I like this site. It will be appearing on my blog shortly!! Found a way to turn off the autoplay in edublogs. Add the following after the name of the .swf file – ?autoPlayback=false
eg full example:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.photoshow.com/publish/dS2bQ4wX.swf?autoPlayback=false"" width="350" height="284" wmode="transparent"/]
Happy Christmas
on 23 Dec 2007 at 4:58 pm7 Paul Hamilton

Patricia. Many thanks for sharing the autoplay fix. It worked like a charm. You are more willing to persevere than I in examining the embed code. –Paul