Dipity
Want to make something like this yourself? Go to Dipity.com, create an account, and start adding events to your timeline!
After you’ve created your timeline, you can embed it into your Eportfolio, blog, wiki or website by clicking on “Embed Widget” in the upper-right corner. Copy and paste the code in the HTML edit box of your Eport, or copy and paste the code, surrounded by HTML tags, into your wiki.
Resources
Apps: a running list of my favorite apps, add-ons and plugins, including descriptions and examples.Charts, Graphs, Tables: The following page was created by ITF Fiona Lee on how to choose what kind of figures and tables to present numerical data. It uses infographic examples from Colorlines.com and Mother Jones, and was adapted from the chapter on “Presenting Evidence in Tables and Figures” from Kate Turabian’s Student’s Guide to Writing College Papers. (*Note: the formatting on this page is a little wonky…I’m working on fixing it, so please be patient!)
Citation and Research: links to citation management programs, sites and tutorials.
CometDocs.com: free online file converter. Especially useful for turning “unreadable” PDFs into “readable” PDFs.
DisputeFinder: an extension that “tries to discover controversial claims.” It highlights statements in pink that it thinks are disuputed by other sources, then provides links to those sources. It also provides supporting material for the disputable claim. It taps into existing debunker sites like Snopes and Politifact (among other things like crowd sourcing methods).
Documentary Filmmaking: a PowerPoint presentation on the basics of creating a documentary film.
Dropbox: a free service that allows you to save and consolidate your files to an online server that can be accessed from any computer. Very useful if you work from multiple computers in various locations. Eliminates the need to email yourself files, or move files via usb, and it synchs automatically. Great for backing up your work.
Eportfolio Video Tutorials: WordPress, which hosts our Eportfolio system, has created video tutorials for doing basic things, such as publishing a post, creating a static page, and uploading images and other media.
Gimp tutorial: a video tutorial showing rendering, drop shadows and more.
Google Fusion Tables: a step-by-step guide on how to get started using Fusion Tables, with links for tutorials and resources.
HTML basics: a list of basic, commonly used HTML code.
Image Resizing Tutorial: Adjust the size of the images you upload to your Eportfolio by following these simple steps.
iMovie Advanced: a Keynote presentation on a selection of audio and visual features of iMovie ‘ll.
iMovie Audio: a simple Keynote presentation on how to edit your audio in iMovie ’11.
iMovie Tutorials: these “advanced” screencast tutorials will help you add visual and audio effects to your iMovie ’09 project. *Note: If the screencast freezes frequently, wait for the progress bar at the bottom to fully load before hitting play.
Information Architecture (IA): ITF Jen Gieseking has compiled a list of the best website resources for information on IA.
IRB Information: find resources for how to ensure your project conforms to IRB standards.
Poster Tutorials and Resources: find my presentation on how to create an effective scientific poster, and find additional presentations and resources.
PowerPoint and Keynote: find tutorials and a “best practices” presentation about presentations.
PSA Resources: Find out the history of PSAs, guides for PSAs, and sample PSAs by clicking here.
Social Explorer: find U.S. demographic information, as either a map or a report, from 1790 to the present.
Using Music, Images & Videos: finding out how to legally use media for your online projects can be tricky. I’ve created this page to help you avoid copyright infringement, with simple tips and links to multimedia resources.
Apps
Here’s a running list of my favorite apps, add-ons, plug-ins and tools (not including iLife stuff), most of which can be used in one way or another to enhance your Eportfolios, blogs and wikis…Audacity: free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.
BannerFans: a free banner-maker that doesn’t embed an ad for its own site, or anything else you don’t want. I made this:
ColorZilla: a Firefox add-on that will analyze the color of any pixel on your screen. Mac has a built-in application that is somewhat similar; go to Applications > Utilities > DigitalColor Meter. If you want to browse for colors, Google “hex colors” (short for “hexadecimal,” used in HTML) or use a site like this.
Dipity: create a visual timeline like this:
Also, check out the History of the Macaulay Honors College timeline created by students for the Spring 2010 Tech Fair.
Doodle: Doodle is great for setting up meetings, or any other kind of group event. Find out who’s available on what days, before making your plans.
Flickr Notes: Flickr offers a quick and easy way to annotate photos, like this.
Google Calendar: create multiple, color-coded calendars within one layout, share some calendars and keep others private, view some calendars while hiding others, and embed selected calendars in a variety of sizes. Highly recommended.
Google Maps: Did you know you can create your own maps, embed images and video into your maps, and embed those maps into your site? See all the fun stuff you can do here.
View Where I’ve Lived in a larger map
Google Sketchup: This offering from Google allows you to create and share 3D models–for free! Check out how some MHC Seminar 4 students used SketchUp in their final video project, The Hole: A Border Between Brooklyn and Queens (the SketchUp portion begins at 18 minutes in).
iShowU: record audio and video from your screen, with sound and video settings, plus other features that make it more customizable than other similar apps.
Jing: allows you to take a picture of your screen or record a video of onscreen action, then share with others. Downsides: it records video as an .swf file, so you have to download a converter if you want to import it to iMovie, and it doesn’t record DVDs playing on your computer. Otherwise, pretty cool.
Here’s a picture of my desktop, taken with Jing, and highlighting all the features it gives you (click on it to see it enlarged):
Jotnot: for all you iPhone users, this new app turns your camera into a scanner. It’s magical.
KeepVid: allows you to capture videos from YouTube and other video sites, so you can download it as an MP4, then import it into iMovie and mash away…
MeasureIt: a Firefox add-on that lets you measure the pixel height and width of anything on your screen. Alternatively, use Mac’s built-in screen capture utility in Preview: 1) hit
Mousepose: A great tool if you need to do a digital presentation. Mousepose allows you to highlight your cursor and create sound and visual effects, so you can spotlight areas on your screen.
NextGEN Gallery: a WordPress plugin* that allows you to display a gallery of images like this:
Click here for step-by-step tutorial created by ITF Emily Sherwood.
Screenshot taken with Paparazzi!
Paparazzi!: ever want to take a screen shot of an entire web page, not just what’s visible on your screen? Download Paparazzi! and do just that (click on the image to the right for an example).
Prezi: create embeddable presentations in a more dynamic, non-linear way that will arrest the attention of your audience. See how MHC’s own Lilach Gez used Prezi to create a playlist for her study abroad videos.
I’ll let the Prezi presentation below speak for itself:
Quicktime: create screencasts quickly and easily by going to File > New Screen Recording. The recording is saved as a .mov file, and can be edited in iMovie!
Scribd.com: for a fee, upload your documents to this site, and you’ll be able to share them with the world (aka self-publish your work) or with just a few select people. Scribd also allows you to read work from others and embed your documents into your site.
SlideShare: allows you to share a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation with others, to embed your presentation into your site, to add audio to your presentation, and find presentations in the SlideShare community. Also works with documents and PDF files. Here is a slideshare I created from a PowerPoint about presenting at conferences:
Tagxedo: a word cloud application that is extremely customizable, more so than Wordle (see below), but which may soon become a paid app. Here’s the word cloud I’ve created using my eport’s url:
Also be sure to check out 101 Ways to Use Tagxedo for more ideas.
UMapper: create interactive, customizable flash maps, using either your own image or a standard Yahoo or Google map, and embed the map into your site.
VoiceThread: create a conversation around an image, document or video. Great for collaboratively annotating objects!
Wordle: create word-cloud art by manually entering words, or linking to a site, such as a blog.
The image above was made with Wordle using the text from this site.
For a more comprehensive list of apps, see the 67th Street Project, which was created for Spring 2010 Tech Fair.
*Note: All Eportfolios are hosted by WordPress. To activate a plugin, go to your site’s Dashboard and click “Plugins” in the left-hand navigation bar. There you will see a list of plugins that you can activate in order to enhance your site’s functionality.
NYC Seminars
MHC students begin the program by taking four interdisciplinary NYC-centered seminars, which are described on the MHC Web site. Each seminar is assigned an ITF, who collaborates with the course’s faculty member(s) to conceive of and implement multimedia projects and workshops designed to better achieve the course’s pedagogical goals and to facilitate a collaborative, experiential and creative learning environment. We also offer immersive cross-campus events that enliven students’ academic lives and invigorate their intellectual experiences. Follow the links below to find out more about each of the NYC seminars.Seminar 1: The Arts in New York City
Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York City
Seminar 3: Science and Technology in New York City
Seminar 4: Shaping the Future of New York City
Seminar 4: Shaping the Future of NYC
“The purpose of Seminar 4 is to analyze the ongoing interplay of social, economic, and political forces that shape the physical form and social dynamics of New York City. Throughout the semester, students engage in a team research project, sometimes including Public Service Announcement Videos, to be presented at a model academic conference.”
–MHC Web site
The work from Seminar 4 students will culminate in an academic conference.
The following are examples of past projects that I have participated in:
- Shaping the Future of New York City, Professor Naomi Braine (Spring 2013)
- Shaping the Future of New York, Professor Micha Tomkiewicz (Spring 2010)
Skip to:
MHC Seminar 1: The Arts in New York City
MHC Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York City
MHC Seminar 3: Science and Technology in New York City
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