Thursday, May 29, 2008

Thing 8: Share Your Creations

I'd like to preface this post by stating, for the record, that I couldn't complete the 23 things in the alloted time so here I am in 23 Things Summer School. I take the short bus, I smoke cigarettes instead of eat lunch, I wear the same pants for days, and my parents don't talk about where I am all day to their friends and neighbors. That's pretty much me now.

And so, with my conscience cleared I can focus on the task at hand: Sharing My Creations.

Who saw this one coming, huh? Compound my above mentioned humiliation with having to get creative. Just like that. Right outta the remedial gate. Can you even believe the quarter I'm having here? Anyways...

I tried the database option first just cuz I had to see a database, designed by the kind of person who would willingly design a database in their spare time!!!! For FUN!?!?!? Seriously. This is like a whole new breed of masochist. When I was in Baton Rouge I worked on setting up a database that was to be used to search the city archives. It was a nine month project and by the end of it I felt like I had given birth to an angry COBOL programmer. [Editor's note: That's some 400 level Computer Science humor for those of you sitting there with the question mark in the cloud bubble floating above your head.]

Long story even less interesting; I couldn't get the sample database on lazybase to open. The lazybase database was so lazy, it couldn't even open itself. How is that for irony? I guess the "Award Winning Fiction" database will remain a mystery, wrapped in an enigma and smothered in a provocative secret sauce. To me at least.

Sharing photos online? I've climbed that mountain already folks so I moved onto the fertile territory of slideshows. If you're anything like me, you will appreciate my disdain for PowerPoint presentations. I could go on and on about this but I'm not gonna tell you anything you don't already know, now am I? See? Thanks for being so understanding.

Of the four slideshow services provided on the 23 Things site I went with Slideshare. It's kinda like YouTube for PowerPoint presentations. [I know what you're thinking. Don't EVEN say it] It's a really great way to backup slide shows or, if you travel and need to do presentations, you avoid all those tech problems with software compatibility. Seeing as how it's web based, all you'll need is some kind of internet connection. And who doesn't have that, right? The other three slideshow options provided the tools to actually create a slideshow. They each had some kinda nice features but were limited in functionality or in ease of use (intuitive) or providing useful "Help" options.

Here's a bargain basement slideshow of a story I made up called Joe Kennedy & America. [This is a totally fictitious story and any resemblance to people living or dead is completely inconsequential] I didn't have time to illustrate it so it's just the text. It's a children's story that is supposed to be narrarated by a paunchy guy, with a bushy mustache and a bullhorn. He's on a stage, addressing a theater full of sullen Victorian-era scientists in lab coats. Now what kid would't love that? Yeah, I know.

Don't believe those punks at Slideshare. I would never abridge your access to anything as important as a slideshow presentation. If the link below isn't working, use the direct link above. Then tell the people at Slideshare to go and shine it.


eFolio Minnesota looks pretty fun. I did the tour but didn't have time to do anything with it.

I like the fact that all of these "Share Your Creation" options are free and web based. Anyone could walk into a public library, get on a computer, create some really nice looking presentaions in a relatively short amount of time and share them with others.

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