Creating a multimedia presentation with digital images is not nearly as difficult as

Transcription

1 Welcome to Using the kiosk for Presentations. Here you will learn how to use the CSU IMAGE Project's web kiosk to collect data, and how to use that data in a digital presentation. Introduction The methodology is the same, only more efficient...and it keeps getting better Creating a multimedia presentation with digital images is not nearly as difficult as you think. In fact, this tutorial is determined to prove to you that it is simpler and more efficient than using the traditional 'slide and slide carousel' method, with many advantages. If you think about it, software companies, professors, and computer gurus all over the world have spent years creating software that is both powerful and simple to use. When was the last time the slide carousel has gotten an update? Has slide-engineering technology improved so dramatically in say, the last ten years? If you know your way around a computer, you can do it... If you have a computer with internet access and software to make a presentation, such as Microsoft Powerpoint, you have everything you need to make a digital presentation. Then you bring the file on a disc or on your computer to the presentation room or lecture hall, connect it to a digital projector et voila! So why learn this at all? The greatest advantages to this method are permanence and flexibility. Permanence meaning you don't have to take the slides back to the library, only to assemble them again next time you want them - just keep the presentation file on your computer. Then next time you have to give the lecture, just bring the file, plug it in and go! You can make as many presentation files as you can store on your computer, or you can put them all on a CD. Imagine having your entire "101" class lectures all ready to go before the semester begins, or every class or conference presentation you've ever given all archived - and they can be used and re-used!

2 The presentations are also flexible - if you decide to remove images, add new images, change the order of the 'slides', or even add movies, it's as simple as 3 or 4 clicks with your mouse. Simply find your images on the database and insert them into your Powerpoint file. Many professors use digital solutions to make their presentations. It saves them time, stress, and has proven to dramatically increase the value of their lectures. Presentation Software This tutorial will show you how to make a presentation using the most widely used software, Microsoft Powerpoint. There are, however, many other software applications that will aid in image management and creating presentations. Some are less costly and don't offer as robust a feature list, and others are available only on certain operating systems. A few are mentioned here: ImageAXS Pro: this software is available from Gallery Systems (the company that develops the database our kiosk runs on). ImageAXS is very compatible with the kiosk, and it will run on Windows systems, on Mac OS 9, or in the Classic mode of OS X. Click on the following link to learn more: ImageAXS Pro iphoto: this is a very powerful program for managing images and making presentations, and is available only for Mac OS X. It also can be downloaded for free from Apple's web site, visit the following link to learn more: iview: this program functions similarly to iphoto, and is available for Mac OS 9 and OS X, and Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP. There is a trial version, and full versions cost $30 and $90 for a professional version. Visit the following link to learn more:

3 Extensis Portfolio: this is the image management tool. When you're ready to make your own database, consult this extremely powerful and robust application. It is available on all Windows and Mac systems, and has a trial download. You can find more information at this link: What these tutorials will do for you This tutorial will show you the basics on getting your images from the Kiosk image database ( and putting them into a Powerpoint presentation. Microsoft's Powerpoint software is the standard tool for making multimedia presentations. There are many other similar programs, but Powerpoint is the simplest to use and the most powerful. The following steps will instruct you on the simplest and safest way of finding and saving images. Then you'll have a permanent collection that you can take anywhere. The Steps Essentially, there are three basic steps to making a digital presentation. 1) Find your image in the kiosk gallery. 2) Download the image and the image record information to your computer. 3) Insert the image into your presentation. The first section of this tutorial will provide basic information on using the kiosk.

4 This first section will provide step-by-step instructions for searching the kiosk, and how to retrieve images and the image information for use in your presentations. It contains three sections: 1) finding images. 2) getting the images and information onto your computer. 3) organizing your data. Finding Images on the kiosk Step 1: Enter in your internet browser. When the site loads, take notice of the menu on the left side of the window. The 'search' and 'collections' buttons are the two primary ways to locate images. We will use the 'search' button first, as it tends to be the most efficient method for finding specific images. >>The main navigation menu.

5 Step 2: Click the "Search" button. This will bring up the search page. You can search by any number of fields, which will sort through the images in the database and limit your results. The more fields you search by, the more restrictions you are placing on your search. The process works from left to right: first select a field to search in the first pull-down menu. Then, assign a value to the field. For example, if you chose 'PERIOD' as as your field, you could select "ANCIENT" as the value; if you chose 'NATIONALITY' as the field, you would select the first letter of the desired nationality in the value menu, and then select the proper nationality from the pop-up window. >> The search page...follow the pull-down menus from left to right.

6 Step 3: Locate your image from the search results The number of images (records) displayed in your results is affected by how restrictive your search is; you may have one or five records, or 5,000! If you see the desired image right away, click on the image itself to see the full-view. If you did a general search and you do not see your image right away, click on the pull-down menu and search or scroll through the records until you find your image. >> navigating the search page.

7 Step 4: View the full-size image The kiosk offers you a number of ways to look at the records and sort information. Whether you clicked on the image, or the text, or selected a record from the pull-down menu, you need to navigate to the 'full view', because that is where you will get the image and record information from. No matter what view mode you are in, you can easily get to the 'full view' mode by clicking the image. Below is an example of the 'full view' page. If your browser looks like this, you are ready to move on.

8 Step 5: Download the image. For Windows users: -click with the right mouse button, and a menu appears. -select 'save image as', or similar command. -save the image to the desired location on your computer. For Mac users: -press the control (ctrl) button and click with the mouse button. -select 'download image to disk' or similar command. -save the image to the desired location on your computer. >> the right-click menu in Windows Internet Explorer >> the control-click menu in Mac OS X Internet Exp

9 Step 6: Download the record information. The record information is the caption located beneath the image. It contains the name of the image file, the title, date, period, location, current repository, and copyright holder. You may wish to retrieve the record information, for this way you will have a corresponding record file for the images you download, and it will help you keep track of them as you enlarge your collection. If you are familiar with copying and pasting text, this procedure is no different. a) with the mouse button, click and drag over the text, starting with the first field you wish to copy. b) select 'Copy' from the 'Edit' menu in your browser. this copies the selected text to the clipboard. c) go to the desired word processing program (Microsoft Word or Wordpad on a Windows computer, or SimpleText or TextEdit on a Mac). d) select 'Paste' from the 'Edit' menu. The record information should now appear in the document.

10 A word on organization This tutorial teaches you to use the image database's kiosk to create your presentations. However, this is not the only use for the kiosk. You can collect images in the manner described in the preceding steps to study for exams, create educational web sites of your own (be sure to read the copyright sections of the web site to make certain you are using the images accordingly). Keeping these in mind, it logically follows that you will amass a great amount of images during your searching; so, organization is key to realizing the true potential of the database. While creating and utilizing your own organizational methods, consider the following guidelines: 1) What is your purpose for collecting images? If you do not have a primary purpose for collecting images, they will be very challenging to sort. Do you plan on using these images for your lectures in a class? Are they study aids? Are they for a web site you are creating? Answering the all-important 'why' question is the most significant step in defining a good organizational strategy. 2) Be sure the system makes sense to you. Above all, the system of logic you use to organize your images does not have to make sense to anyone except you. Answering questions like 'What do I plan on using these images for (lectures, studying)?' and 'How do I want to make the image and caption accessible to me (folders for each period, artist, class)?' before downloading any images to your computer could save you extra work later. 3) Devise naming and sorting conventions that are flexible. You may wish to make additions to your collection as time passes. A good rule of thumb regarding organization of this type is 'expect change'. You will have new needs, new classes, new lectures or web sites to deliver; be sure how you organize your images and image data can be modified to meet your needs. Obviously, you can't possibly foresee all of your future needs, but creating lots of folders with logical names that make sense to you will help aid in organization. 4) Begin organizing right away. Beginning with the very first image, download it to a location on your computer

11 that is already set up to receive the image. For example, make a folder for each class you will lecture in, each site you will make, each class you are studying for. Or, arrange them by artist by making folders for each artist; arrange them by period, by style, make folders for each century. Make a text file for the image data of each image in your lecture, or make one large text file for all of the images in your lecture...the possibilities are endless. However, start early; If your images and image information are organized from the start, you will easily be able to retrieve them as necessary. Now, it is time to put the images into a presentation!

12 The Presentation The following pages will provide instructions for creating a digital presentation using the images you have gathered. This step-by-step tutorial will use Microsoft PowerPoint; other popular software programs will be discussed in subsequent sections. It contains three sections: 1) building in PowerPoint. 2) finishing touches. 3) delivery methods. Building a presentation in PowerPoint is very similar to making one with a slide carousel. Opening PowerPoint and starting a new presenatation is like getting a blank carousel; inserting slides into your presentation is like finding slides in the slide drawers and dropping them into the carousel.

13 Step 1: Open Microsoft Powerpoint and start a new presentation. Select 'New Presentation' from the 'File' menu. On a Windows computer: a) select 'New from the 'File' menu. b) select 'Blank Presentation' from the dialog and click "OK" On a Macintosh computer: a) select 'New' from the 'File' menu. >> the 'File' menu in Microsoft Powerpoint for Mac OS X. Note: There are many versions of PowerPoint for both Windows and Mac systems, as you can see they are fundamentally the same. Newer versions of PowerPoint will prompt you at the beginning to create a new presentation, others will wait for your command. Either way, you can start a new presentation by selecting 'New Presentation' (or similar command) from the 'File' menu. Step 2: Select 'New Slide' from the 'Insert' menu. The 'Insert' menu is where you will place a slide into your presentation. When you select 'New Slide', you will be prompted to select the type of slide you wish to create. As you can see, there are many types; slides for just an image, for image and text, for titles, charts, and so on. In our example, we will select a slide that allows us to place an image, along with some image information text.

14 Step 3: Select 'Text & Picture' from the 'New Slide' window. >> the 'Insert New Slide' dialog window.

15 Step 4: Click the noted areas to add your content. Look at the presentation window (shown below). On the right side is the template of the slide. You can click wherever it is indicated to add the title; simply click and begin typing. You can also click to add text on the side of the picture in the same manner. >> Simply click on the indicated placeholders to create a title, text for your image, and the image itself.

16 For the image, click on the image placeholder in the same manner. You will then be prompted to locate the image on your computer. Simply browse to the folder you created with the image in it, select it, and click OK. You should see the image replace the placeholder. If your slide looks similar to the figure below, you have made a slide! >> the "Text & Image" template, with title, text, and image content added. Step 5: To add more slides, select 'New Slide' from the 'Insert' menu and repeat the process. Now that you understand the basic process, you can feel free to experiment. You can add more slides from the same 'Text & Slide' template, or use different templates to achieve the look you desire. You can create as many slides as you wish, just be sure to save often!

17 Step 6: To save your work, select 'Save' from the 'File menu. Just as in any program, save your work frequently. Notes on managing your slides As you create more and more slides, you will notice a convenient list of them forming in the left side of the window. This is an excellent way to keep track of and manage your slides, and it provides very detailed information. Slides can also be re-arranged using the 'drag-and-drop' method. >> the PowerPoint presentation window on the left side is the list of slides, on the right side is the individual slide being viewed

18 The slide carousel analogy is very prevalent here - slides are being added one by one to the digital 'carousel', and can be arranged much in the same way that real slides are lifted out of the carousel and dropped into a new slot. Only here you have control over placing text, adding two more more images on the same slide (for comparison), and you don't have to return the 'carousel' to the slide library when you are finished! When you have finsihed building your presentation, proceed to step 7. Step 7: Select 'Save As' from the 'File' menu. You will notice that as you have been saving your presentation, the presentation file has had the extension '.ppt'. This means that it is a PowerPoint file. In order for your presentation to be a nice professional package, you should save it as a 'PowerPoint Show', or a file that will have a '.pps' extension. This will bundle all of your slides into a single file that you can simply double-click on later and it will open as a full screen show. Think of saving as a PowerPoint show as putting the lid on the carousel and snapping it into the projector, and double-clicking on it as turning the projector on.

19 Step 8: From the 'Format' pull-down menu, select 'PowerPoint Show'. >> the 'Save As' dialog window. Select 'PowerPoint Show' You should now have a presentation file with the '.pss' extension. This file can can be transported to any other computer with PowerPoint installed, and it will function exactly as it does on your computer. Any computer connected to a digital projector will run this file properly. Step 9: Double-click on the PowerPoint Show (.pps) file you created to view your presentation. You should now be treated to a full-screen showing of the presentation you just made. If you connect your computer to a digital projector, you will be able to show your presentation exactly as if you were using a slide projector!

20 Step 10: Press the right and left arrow keys to move forward and backward in the presentation. To navigate in your presentation, simply use the arrow keys on the keyboard. The right arrow key will advance one slide, and the left arrow key will revert to the previous slide. For quick reference, below is a list of each step. In the kiosk: Step 1: Enter in your internet browser. Step 2: Click the "Search" button. This will bring up the search page. Step 3: Locate your image from the search results. Step 4: View the full-size image. Step 5: Download the image. Step 6: Download the record information. In PowerPoint: Step 1: Open Microsoft Powerpoint and start a new presentation. Step 2: Select 'New Slide' from the 'Insert' menu. Step 3: Select 'Text & Picture' from the 'New Slide' window. Step 4: Click the noted areas to add your content. Step 5: To add more slides, select 'New Slide' from the 'Insert' menu and repeat the process. Step 6: To save your work, select 'Save' from the 'File' menu. Step 7: Select 'Save As' from the 'File' menu. Step 8: From the 'format' pull-down menu, select 'PowerPoint Show'. Step 9: Double-click on the PowerPoint Show (.pps) file you created to view your presentation. Step 10: Press the right and left arrow keys to move forward and backward in the presentation.