Filed under: Fun, Internet, Photo, Video, Social Software, web 2.0
VoiceThread - oral tradition goes Web 2.0
VoiceThread allows you to imbue your static media (documents, photos, video) with recorded sound commentary, via webcam, phone, text or audio files and share them with anyone. It's an easy to use web app that has a nice wow factor. Now your photo or video collection can be just like the director's cut on DVDs, enriching the original piece with new perspectives from those involved and those who may just want to add ancillary comments like, "good work," or "this bites."
So, say for instance you have an old family photo of your parents in the day. With VoiceThread, you could have your parents leave audio comments on the photo. You could then share the photo with others in your family, giving them a richer insight and context to that moment in time and they too, if invited, could leave comments.
But like the Ginsu Knife set that seems endless, that's just the mere beginning of VoiceThread's features. You can doodle on your images to highlight something you really want to emphasize (or just pointless doodle), and you can video doodle, while stopping playback to convey a point. To see doodling in action, check out the holiday photo with comments after the jump.
Don't fret, If you don't have a mic, - you can use your phone. After you log-in, and go to the media you want to comment on, you can have VoiceThread call you on your phone where you can follow the prompts and leave comments.
VoiceThread has good video tutorials to help you avail yourself to all its features. We also like that it offers special mic set up videos for Windows XP users as well as Mac users. And, we are really looking forward to VoiceThread's new Facebook application which should launch on January 15.
The free account is limited to 3 VoiceThreads with a combined storage space of 75 mb, vs. the pro account which provides unlimited storage for an annual fee of $29.95.
Accepted file types: JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, doc types: PPT, PPS, PDF, DOC, XLS and varying video formats. You can import from your Flickr and Facebook accounts.
Good news for teachers, if you're a K-12 educator, you can apply for a free educator account.
VoiceThread was created by Steve Muth, a toy inventor from NY, and Ben Papell, a real estate developer from south Florida. The beta of the service was launched March 2007. VoiceThread's stated goal is make asynchronous voice collaboration around media simple and accessible.
[Thanks Eric!]