BP5_2010012_Web2.0Tool2(Voice Thread)

If you are a person who loves to look at pictures whether they are old, new, yours, someone else's, and are always wondering what the story was behind them then this site is for you. Voicethread.com allows you to upload a picture and then comment on it. Now you are probably asking yourself, "self...how is this different than all the other sites that allow you to comment on a picture?" Well let me show you.

Click Here.

Now you can use video, audio, and text to leave comments to enrich the experience. My initial thought was for a history class viewing photos of the Vietnam War taken by a veteran. He/she could explain where they were, or how they were feeling to give the students a sense of realism. There is something very powerful about someone telling a story with pictures and in their own words that are auditory to the audience. Another application could be for an art class as students comment on what they see when looking at Michaelangelo's La Pieta or Van Gogh's The Starry Night. English classes could use this as a way to tell a digital story perhaps by having each student add four lines of text.

The nice thing about voicethread.com is that if you use it for educational purposes the site has included several security features that will allow correct collaboration for your classroom. For instance, the students can not invite anyone who is outside of the educational thread set up by the instructor. You don't have to worry about them pasting it on Facebook and then finding 100 comments left by bored teenagers on a random Saturday night. Another positive is that the information stays beyond the school year. So the kids can continue to add, view, and work together long after the class is over.

On a personal usage level, I also thought it would be really cool to get the old photos from my grandparents and have them narrate as kind of a living history of my family. So that my children, grandchildren and their children would have a chance to not only see their relatives but be able to connect with them on a more personal level.

Check it out, mess around with it, comment on mine if you would like, but let me know your experiences with it because I am really excited about this site.