Since the mp3 file format is the preferred format for podcasting, you will definitely want to install the Lame MP3 Encoder so you can export your recorded material as an mp3. Audacity comes preinstalled with this plugin when downloaded from the AppCenter, but you’ll have to install it yourself if you download Audacity from SourceForge.

Once you’ve purchased in inexpensive microphone–but you may use your computer’s built in mic, if necessary, even if the output quality isn’t as good–using Audacity to produce files for podcasting in Blackboard is as easy as clicking a record button and saving your file as an mp3.

As time permits, the Electronic Library staff will blog about how each of these applications work and provide examples of how they might be used for academic purposes. Until then, enjoy!

Picasa. This Google’s free desktop application for organizing photos and adding photo effects, but the really nice thing it does is allow you to send photo galleries to the web easily. Every user gets 1GB of space for free. For more information, visit http://picasa.google.com/.

Picnik. If you don’t have access to an image editing application like Photoshop–or if you just don’t have time to learn how to use one–then check out http://www.picnik.com for some free image editing tools.

Dumpr. If you’re looking for an easy way to apply interesting effects to your photos, take a look at http://www.dumpr.net/.

Stock photos in the public domain. If you need to use copyright-free stock photos for a project, check out http://www.publicdomainpictures.net.

The Electronic Library is now offering to help faculty accomplish this task with a new PowerPoint add-in called Adobe Presenter, which is only available at this time through the Digital Media Studio. This product accomplishes two important parts of making PowerPoint presentations available to an online–and off-campus–audience: One, it “wraps” a presentation in a graphically pleasing Flash-based template that looks consistent across all browsers; and two, it preserves and even enhances the interactivity of the original presentation. Not only that, but Adobe Presenter presentations can be “branded” to include the presenter’s mugshot, biographical information, and voiceover narration. To see an example I’ve put together in my own personal BearSpace account, click the image below:

The presentations are quite easy to put together but must be used from BearSpace. For more information, contact Lance Grigsby, academic consultant, at 710-4553.

However, if you’re set on being able to download the video first, read our previous post about how to download videos from YouTube. Once you have the video in a file format PowerPoint will accept, such as .wmv, .mpeg, or .avi, you can insert the file as a media clip into a PowerPoint slide.

3 ways to download video

If you use Mozilla Firefox as your primary browser, you can download the DownloadHelper add-on, which installs a plugin into the browser toolbar that allows you to easily download content of all sorts from many different media sites. I’ve seen discussion forums that indicate this add-on may cause some problems with other functions in Firefox, so use at your own risk.

Another approach involves the use of yet another plugin for Firefox: The Real Player Browser Record Plugin. I think this may be installed automatically when you install Real Player, but I’m not sure, and Google searches don’t reveal an obvious site where this could be downloaded by itself. But if it’s installed and enabled in Firefox, you’ll see a Real Player toolbar pop up above the video you’re looking at with some pretty obvious options for downloading. Again, I’ve read reports of this plugin causing unusual behavior in Firefox.

In addition to the many plugins you can use to download video, there are many web sites out there that allow you to download videos by URL submission. One that seems to work well is KeepVid.com. When using such sites, all you’ll need to do is copy the URL of a video–these are readily available on YouTube or in your browser address bar as you’re viewing the video–and submit it, and then KeepVid will prompt you to download the file in .flv format.

An all-in-one solution?

The web site zamzar.net will actually take a video URL submission, convert the .flv file into the file type of your choice, and then e-mail the final result to you–all for free. Only problem with this service is the memory restrictions you might encounter with potentially large files being e-mailed to your Baylor e-mail account AND the turnaround time. When I did a trial run, it took an hour or more for the file to eventually reach my inbox, and it wasn’t a large file to begin with, either. However, if you wish, you can pay for an account at zamzar.net to be able to retrieve your files via FTP.

Alternative (and free) solutions for .flv conversion

Another way to convert an .flv file is to use the free Prism Video Converter. With this application, you can easily convert .flv files into various other formats, including .avi, .mpeg, and .wmv.