From CUNY Academic Commons

altocharge2.jpg

“Kitchen Table Utilities”: quick and dirty, low-threshold projects and tools that you can use right away on your kitchen table. No big workshop or IT support or a studio or server room required.

The Kitchen Table idea is related to the “maker subculture ” We’re seeing more and more faculty, and students, too, involved in this new kind of DIY aesthetic. This is typified by what you’ll see in Make Magazine and at Instructables and WikiHow .

On to the Kitchen Sink! (these categories are flexible and overlap) (AND PLEASE ADD MORE!!) All prices listed are educational if applicable, commercial means you must pay to use,free means you don’t have to pay and freemium means there are free and paid versions, OSS means it’s open source software. Also by free, we really mean no cost. Free libre software has additional requirements besides just being available at no cost.

Please feel free to create a wiki page on which to place your comments or reviews of any of these items with a link to it immediately below the description of the item on this page of the wiki.

Contents

Multimedia Toolset

  •  iLife Apps[desktop MAC] (commercial) that might be helpful ($49 or free with new MAC purchase) iMovie GarageBand iPhoto iPhoto ’09 Tutorials : Video tutorials on how to import and organize photos, edit and improved photos, and share photos.
  •  Adobe Creative Suite[desktop] ($360-$600, or free) This contains industry standard software Photoshop (photo images) and Illustrator (vector images) plus Flash (animation and interactive web apps), Fireworks (images), Soundbooth (audio), Premeire (video), After Effects (video effects), InDesign (print projects like books, magazines). What makes this more interesting is that CUNY just signed a contract to get a large number of licences for the University which can be installed on any University computer. There will be a person at each campus responsible for determining which computers get licenses. Sorry, no home installation. But you can get it installed on a CUNY owned laptop.
  • It is also free to GC students through Citrix Remote Computing here.

  •  Aviary[browser] (free) The folks at aviary decided to basically recreate the Adobe Creative Suite as browser-based tools. They used to charge but now they’ve gone free (they seem to be striking deals with sites like Facebook to have their tools licenced). Tools include Phoenix (images), Roc (music), Talon (screencapture, FF and Chrome plugins), Myna (audio editor), Raven (vector images), Falcon (image markup), Toucan (color editor), Peacock (effects editor). Ironically many of their tools are created using Flash. They have a new HTML5 photo editor that you can embed in your site.

Timelines

  •  Dipity [browser] (freemium $5/mo and up) creates an interactive timeline, integrating different web applications such as GoogleMaps and YouTube as well as other links from news sources, etc.
  •  Tiki-Toki [browser] (freemium $5/mo and up) also creates interactive timelines, with native support for integration of YouTube/Vimeo, Flickr, and RSS feeds.

Mapping

General

  •  Google Maps[browser] (free) allow the user to create interactive maps that can be embedded into any website.
  •  Google Earth[desktop, browser] (free) is similar to Google Maps but has increased functionality.

EcoMaps

  • HabitatMap [browser] (free) is an online mapping and social networking platform aimed at increasing awareness of the impact of the environment on health.

Real Estate

  •  Street Easy[browser] (freemium) real estate search and listing site, similar to trulia, focused on NYC area.
  •  trulia.com<http://trulia.com> [browser] (free for non agents) real estate search which includes listings, maps, comparisons all in one place.

Map Making

  •  Umapper[browser] (freemium) create embedable Flash maps
  •  Social Explorer [browser] (freemium) creating customized maps and reports based on census data and American Community Surveys. This is created by a CUNY prof, it seems like we should have a license for it but if anyone knows add info.

Historic Maps

please add some more!

Data & Tables

data sources

* www.census.gov[browser] (free) Census Bureau official website. You can find area profiles, population, housing, and business information there.

* www.infoshare.org[browser](free) collects Census and American Community Survey data; allows users to: profile an area, compare area across a region, and produce their own tabulations. Data can be saved for use in a variety of popular spreadsheet, presentation, and mapping programs.

data collection & analysis

* [1](free) Allows users to take and create wiki surveys. A data collection tool that has the scale, speed, and quantification of a survey while still allowing for new information to “bubble up” from respondents as happens in interviews, participant observation, and focus groups.

* [2](free) The Blog Analysis Toolkit (BAT) is a free, Web-based system for capturing, archiving and sharing blog posts. Blog posts are acquired via RSS feeds, and stored in a database where they can be accessed and shared by other researchers.

* [3](free) 140kit provides a management layer for tweet collection and analysis. Raw data cannot be passed through to the users, but any analytical process can be run across your dataset, and the data is held for as long as the user wants. When new analytical processes are created, they can be run on existing sets of data. 140kit does not claim any control of the analysis, however it retains ownership of the data collected.

* [4](free) ANNIS2 is an open source, versatile web browser-based search and visualization architecture for complex multilevel linguistic corpora with diverse types of annotation.

* [5](free) Bookworm enables you to graphically explore lexical trends across a huge digital library.

* [6](free) Computer Aided Textual Markup and Analysis (CATMA) provides a visual interface for text markup and analysis using a “query builder” and more powerful query language. A number of statistical and non-statistical analyses are built-in.

* [7](free) Dataplot is free, public-domain software for statistical analysis, and non-linear modeling.

data annotation and visualization

* [8](free) Allows users to share, annotate, organize, format and edit digital video documents. It also aims to provide an interfaces where users can participate in interactive discussion and analysis of audiovisual content.

* [9](free) AnSWR supports qualitative analysis of word-based data records. This entails a set of methods for organizing, displaying, processing, summarizing, and interpreting information.

* [10](free) Interactive tool for selecting most appropriate colors for maps and other visualizations.

* [11](free) Omeka is a content management system designed for the display of library, museum, archives, and scholarly collections and exhibitions.

* [12](free) Gliffy is a tool that makes it easy to create, share, and collaborate on a wide range of diagrams.

* [13](free) GPS Visualizer is a free, easy-to-use online utility that creates maps and profiles from GPS data.

Video

Video can be a useful tool for viewing class materials, creating lessons, and designing student projects.

Viewing and Embedding

  • Download Helper[browser add-on, FF only] (free) is a Firefox extension that allows easy downloads of YouTube videos
  • Keepvid[browser] (free) is a website where you can download YouTube videos in mp3 or other compatible format by entering the address of the desired video and simply selecting “save”
  • Screencast.com[browser] (freemium, $10/month pro allows you to upload and organize videos and also provide related PDF files. You also have control over privacy. Free version limited to 2GB storage and 2GB transfer per month.
  • Vimeo[browser] (free) an alternative to YouTube with a higher resolution and more sophisticated appearance
  • YouTube[browser] (free) has additional functionality that allows for annotation of the video with live links attached

Editing and Creating Screencasts

  • Camtasia Studio[comercial desktop MAC/PC] ($99-$299) this is the 800 pound gorilla in the screen recording and editing arena with a price to match. MAC ($99) and PC($299) actually have different functionality.
  • FFmpeg[desktop GNU Linux] FFmpeg is a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video.
  • iShowU HD[desktop MAC] ($30 – $60) Screenrecording software that just does screenrecording but does it well for cheap with low RAM usage. Keystroke recording, multiple file type output, No video editing.
  • Jing[desktop MAC/PC] (freemium, $15/year pro) an excellent tool that allows still and video screen captures. A severe limitation is you are only allowed 5min of screencapture. No video editing. A product of TechSmith who also makes Camtasia. @cstein wrote a post about it and Screencast.com.
  • Record My Desktop[desktop GNU Linux] (OSS) linux app to record desktop, you’ll probably also want one of the front ends for it. Uses only open media formats.
  • Screenr[browser] (free) Screenrecording, kind of like Jing in that it’s limited to 5min. But it’s designed to publish to Twitter, or at least the URL to twitter. You sign up for it through OAuth and your Twitter account.
  • Screencast-O-Matic[browser] (freemium, $15/year pro) Screenrocording limited to 15 minutes in free edition.  
  • Snapz ProX[desktop MAC] ($70) Screenrecording and screencapture for the MAC. Allows you to record both or either system audio and mic. Similar to Camtasia but no video editing.

Draw on Desktop

Useful for annotating anything while screencasting. These tools can also serve the educational purposes of creating or enhancing visual tutorials, demos, presentations, etc.

  •  OmniDazzle[desktop MAC] (free) allows you to visually manipulate your screen in a variety of ways. The desktop effects range in utility; some are sheerly entertaining while others can assist educators and other professionals in conveying ideas. Some of the more useful features of Omnidazzle are the ability to annotate the sceen, to isolate pieces of information (these tools enable the content on the entire screen to be digested in a variety of ways), to visually reveal connections, to direct attention by enhancing areas of the screen (helpful for collaboration, presentations).
  •  Desktastic[desktop MAC] ($13) offers tools for annotation purposes, allowing you to visually manipulate desktop content by adding text, drawing, applying color and images, and more to your screen. Desktastic enables users to erase edits or to save and export the screen with their alterations. These tools can be put to some of the same annotation and presentation purposes as Omnidazzle, however the features you can create in Desktastic are visually more basic (if you want ‘dazzling’ graphic effects, go with Omnidazzle).
  •  Xournal[GNU Linux] (free) is an application for notetaking, sketching, keeping a journal using a stylus. Provides the look and feel of writing or drawing with pen and paper with electronic saving, duplicating, and exporting capabilities. It is free software (GNU GPL) and runs on Linux and other GTK+/Gnome platforms. It is similar to Microsoft Windows Journal or to other alternatives such as Jarnal, Gournal, and NoteLab. A drawback of Xournal is the lack of collaborative features that applications like Jarnal offer.
  •  Ardesia[desktop PC] (free) is a tool for sketching and making artwork, creating on-screen presentations, adding comments to existing applications, highlighting elements or pointing out items of interest. Ardesia facilitates collaboration through its ability to show online presentations and demos from your screen in real time to anyone in the network.

Audio/Music

  •  Audacity[desktop] (OSS) is a free, open-source multi-track audio recorder & editor. It can record live audio & capture streamed audio, and has a spectrogram view and data analysis functions. Features: full editing capabilities; remove background noise; alter volume, frequency, pitch (independent of tempo); record voice-overs (for podcasts); remove vocals; This application runs on your computer (not on the web).
  •  Logic Studio[desktop MAC] ($199.99 for the app) is a powerful multi-track recorder, mixing/mastering software with live-performance assistance (Mainstage). This is professional software used in recording studios and performance venues, and has many instruments, effects and Apple Loops.
  •  Sibelius First [desktop PC/MAC] ($119.99) is a music notation software. You can notate any kind of graphic representation with this, even though it is intended for music. There is immediate compose & playback and it has a feature which can scan items and translate them from old manuscripts into clean modern script. The newest edition has a variety of publishing and sharing tools. Free 30-day trial here. Plus it’s named after a Finnish composer
  •  Finale [desktop PC/MAC] (desktop PC/MAC) is another music notation software, but can be bought and downloaded in pieces for recording, annotating, writing & printing music, etc. Music is share-able via their site, where authors can see and share work.
  •  Noteflight  [browser](free intro/basic level service, $49/year higher level service) is a online music notation editor that allows you to notate music scores and then print, link, embed and share scores online with audio playback. There are 10 different instrument sounds in the playback function, and you can import/export MusicXML and MIDI files.

Translation/Language

There are 2 types of machine translation. The statistical type translates based on frequency of word combinations and the other, with syntactic rules.

  •  Google Translate(web-based) is a free service that translates short amounts of text into a variety of languages. Many language pairs are mediated by a 3rd or even 4th language in some cases, making the translations sloppy at best. It is a statistically-based system, but very useful for understanding the general meaning of a text. It can also determine the language (if the language is one of the ones they have data for – this will not work for all languages!)
  •  Apertium (web-based) is a free, open-source language-independent (not mediated by another language) rule based Machine Translation tool. There is a limited number of language pairs, but it allows users to enter linguistic data of a language or pair of languages to map from one to the other.
  •  Babel Fish (Now “Bing Translator”) (web-based) is a free translation service, it offers a statistical system, and has data for over 38 languages. This is best used for translation on large, multi-dimensional projects, and has a direct plug-in for Microsoft Translator Hub. This is also a statistical method, but the upgrade can be optimized for particular projects/ data sets by creating models.
  •  “wordreference” (web-based and app available for mobile devices) It is a translation website which offers a variety of languages and language combinations. It is a word for word translation. It also offeres a forum for discussion of certain terms.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking systems allow users to save and share links to web pages, as well as to add content descriptions to the bookmarks for the purposes of organizing and retrieving resources with ease. Can be used to collect and collate references, to store and share images, etc.

The following social bookmarking tools can be used by educators in the classroom, for instance to have students participate in building and organizing resource collections. Because users are encouraged to create a tag when they bookmark a resource, it can be a prompt for students to think about different ways content can be interpreted, evaluated, and categorized as well as to analyze the connective linkages created between resources when they are collected under the same tag.

  •  Del.icio.us [browser] (free) is one of the oldest and most used social bookmarking sites. There are plugins which allow you to easily add bookmarks from Firefox and Chrome.
  • View this social bookmarking project video tutorial with instructions for creating a Delicious account and creating your first bookmark.
  •  Digg [browser] (free)
  •  Flickr[browser] (freemium $25/yr) is a photo storage and sharing web site. All photos can be annotated visually, allowing for an explanation of key elements of a given photo. Downsides: while the photo will embed on other web sites, the annotations are only visible when you look at the photo on Flickr.
  •  iMapFlickr is an app that allows you to create custom Google Maps from your geotagged Flickr photos to embed in your website.
  •  Zotero [browser] (free) allows you to properly cite, collect, and organize information from the web.

Media

  •  Voicethread is a web-based service which allows you to upload & arrange images/slides, then add audio commentary and written annotations. You can also draw on the screen to highlight portions of a slide. The final result is easily embeddable. Multiple users can comment on one VoiceThread, allowing for a conversational approach.
  •  CKM (30 day trial) is a web-based “digital lesson” recorder – audio, video and illustrations can be combined into lessons that can be streamed or downloaded. The program comes with textbook illustrations, graphs, maps, quizzes, lesson plans, etc.
  •  YouTube has additional functionality that allows for annotation of the video with live links to other Youtube videos attached. Learn more: Youtube Video Annotations .

Web Page Annotation

Web page annotation is an online method of commenting or annotating a web page. It will allow a given user to “mark up” a webpage as a text.

Here are some web page annotation tools:

  •  Digress.it[browser, requires WordPress] (free) Allows commenting on a paragraph level basis of WordPress posts.
  •  CommentPress[browser, requires WordPress] (free) Allows commenting on a paragraph level basis of WordPress posts.
  •  Diigo[browser] (fremium)
  •  Scrible[browser, requires download] (free) Allows commenting on a cached webpage, which can either be sent to others or saved in cloud storage.
  •  WebNotes[browser] (free for basic web annotation, membership for more advanced options) Allows comments, highlighting, and annotation on webpages and can be organized/saved or sent to others.

Presentations

Powerpoint

* Prezi [browser] (free with an .edu email account) an interactive slideshow presentation that can include images, videos, sounds, and text.
> Some Thoughts on Prezi

* Slideshare [browser] (free) is a slideshow player that supports Word, Powerpoint. PDF and iWork pages files. You can also add an mp3 file to play as a soundtrack to your slideshow, as well as embed a youtube video within your slideshow. The slideshow can be embedded in your website.

* Haiku Deck [app] A free app to create image-based presentations. Type in a keyword and the app searches open access images via google images that are conceptually related. Only allows minimal text.
>

Graphics

Image Sharing

> Flickr[browser] (freemium $25/yr)
— Flickr Help/FAQ/Photos : Directions on how to upload and edit photos on Flickr.
— How to Upload Photos to Flickr : Video tutorial of how to upload photos to Flickr.

Visual Editing

> The GIMP[desktop GNU/Linux] (OSS) the lin
> Aviary Tools[browser] (free) Phoenix and Falcon let you combine, edit and annotate images, a lot of functionality.

> Sketchup This is a 3d rendering tool. Educators and students in the fields of architecture, urban planning, engineering, construction, interior design, industrial design, graphic design, film and stage design use SketchUp.  Here is a video of its application to higher ed.

Screen Capture taking pictures of your screen

> SnagIt[desktop MAC/PC] ($38) full featured screen capture and annotation software. This would be useful for students presenting material found on the web to the class. It could be usefull to formulate and display a critical orientation to websites. Also by Techsmith (Camtasia, Jing)
> Skitch[desktop MAC] (freemium $20/yr, sale $15/yr) allows you to take and annotate screenshots. Skitch.com also allows sharing photos.
> Awesome Screenshot[browser, Chrome] (free) capture all, visible or part of a web page.
> Screenshot[browser Firefox] (free) firefox addon, capture all, visible or part of a web page.
> Grab [Free] – Application built into MacOSX, located in the Utilities folder.

Screen Capture taking pictures of your screen

  •  SnagIt[desktop MAC/PC] ($38) full featured screen capture and annotation software. This would be useful for students presenting material found on the web to the class. It could be usefull to formulate and display a critical orientation to websites. Also by Techsmith (Camtasia, Jing)
    > Skitch[desktop MAC] (freemium $20/yr, sale $15/yr) allows you to take and annotate screenshots. Skitch.com also allows sharing photos.
    > Awesome Screenshot[browser, Chrome] (free) capture all, visible or part of a web page.
    > Screenshot[browser Firefox] (free) firefox addon, capture all, visible or part of a web page.
    > Grab [Free] – Application built into MacOSX, located in the Utilities folder.

Blogging

  • [WordPress.com] (freemium. $99/yr for domain name and mapping and other upgrades) allows you to create unlimited amount of blogs. Can have multiple authors
  •  Blogger
  • Tumblr
  • Edublogs

Publishing

  • Scribus [[14]][desktop] (free) Scribus is a professional page layout OSS for Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops. It is for working on print-based documents of all kinds. OSS alternative to Adobe’s InDesign.
  • Blurb[[15]] [desktop, browser or Adobe plugin] (price varies per service) is a self-publishing platform that allows users to create and print books on demand. Blurb offers a range of formats, sizes and image options with prices starting at 3.95 per copy. Authors can also promote and sell their books through Blurb’s online bookstore and retain 100% of the price markup.
  • Lulu[[16]] (price varies per service) Self publishing, printing and distribution service with option of free ISBN and distribution through Amazon. Lulu also offers cover design, editing and publicity services as well as services specific for higher education [17] such as text book printing. If publications are sold, Lulu collects 20% of the author’s margin. Open content licensing is available.
  •  Anthologize [[18]] (free) is a nifty, open-source Word Press plugin that allows users to turn select blog posts into a variety of formats such as PDF, ePUB and TEI. See their suggestions for educational uses [19], such as turning course blogs into a book.
  •  PressBooks [[20]] [browser, requires WordPress] (fremium) is an open source Word Press plugin that allows users to publish text in ePub, Mobi and PDF format for free.
  • Tactilize [[21]] (free for most uses, professional account available for $16-$20/month) is a free app that integrates publishing and social media specifically for the iPad. The app allows users to share, buy, discover and publish all forms of multimedia content in the form of “cards” which are arranged inside “collections.” Content is shared with other Tactilize users as well as through Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.
  • FlipViewer [[22]] proprietary software designed to turn PDFs and other digital documents into interactive “flip” books with images, audio, video embedded. $ unknown – but there is a tiered pricing system based on how much power/add-ons you want.
  • AdoramaPix [[23]] (price per service) is a self-publishing service for premium quality photo books. Printing costs per book starts around $18.
  • CreateSpace [[24]] (price per service) is an Amazon company which offers digital and print publication and distribution. Publication tools are free, though Amazon does collect a share of profits if publications are sold. CreateSpace also offers a range of professional editing, design and marketing services.

Diagrams

  • Visio[Desktop PC] (2010: $199 2013:?) Part of the Microsoft Office suite of products. 
    > Gliffy [browser] (free basic/$5 a month) 
    >Creately [browser]($5 a month and up) Designed for group collaboration
    >Cacoo [browser] (free basic/$5 a month and up) Real-time collaboration
    >Jumpchart [browser](free basic/$5 a month and up) Diagrams to create website architecture 
    > Pencil [browser, Firefox] (free) open source

Storage Space and File Sharing

These sites provide online storage space and opportunities for file sharing with others.

  •  Box.net[browser, desktop, mobile] (freemium, $15) Like Dropbox this also allows online file storage and sharing. It does not have the folder on your desktop that is synced. Box.net is much more focused on sharing documents and collaborative editing. You can actually edit some file formats through the web site. Also you can make comments on documents. You can 5GB free and 1GB file size limit for free version. “Business” version is $15/month for 1000GB storage and 2GB file size limit.

If you are inactive on the site for more than 120 days, your files will expire.

  •  Dropbox[browser, desktop, mobile] (freemium, $10-$20/mo) This service gives you 2GB of free storage space. (If you have a Samsung device, you can get up to 50G free.) It also has a program you can download for MAC or PC that creates a special folder on your computer. Anything you save to the folder is automatically uploaded to the web site and synced across all computers where you have Dropbox installed. You can share files or folders. “Pro” version ranges from $10/month for 100GB to $50/month for 500GB.

If you are inactive on the site for more than 90 days, your files will expire.

  •  Figshare[browser] (free) Figshare provides up to 1GB of free private storage for research data and unlimited searchable, public storage. It is specifically marketed for those doing research and claims to accept any and all document formats and easy citations for those seeking research. Its main purpose seems to be to provide cloud storage for research that will grant you full credit for your work.
  •  GoogleDrive[browser, mobile] (free) This service gives you up to 5GB of free storage space. It will allow you to create and save documents in online cloud storage and share these documents with others in the GoogleDrive network. Everything is stored privately unless you choose to share it.
  •  iCloud[browser, mobile] (free or premium options) Designed to back up settings and data for iOS devices only. Up to 5GB of storage free and increments of 10GB of storage available for purchase.
  •  MEGA[browser] (free, premium options available at mega.instra.com) Up to 50GB of free storage space. By paying annual fees, you can get between 500GB and 4TB of online storage.
  •  SkyDrive[browser, mobile] (free or premium options) Up to 7GB free cloud storage. 20GB, 50GB, or 100GB can be added as ‘premium’ options that you pay for.
  •  SugarSync[browser, desktop, mobile] ($5/mo to $55/mo) Free trial available, but otherwise an all paid site. 30GB – unlimited GB of storage space. This is also a backup service. It adds option to view pictures and stream media through computers and mobile devices.
  •  Ubuntu One[desktop](free, premium options available) This service offers up to 5GB of synced cloud storage. You can get up to 20GB additionally by referring friends. There are also options for music purchase/storage and sharing available.

Note Taking

  •  Evernote[browser, desktop MAC/PC, mobile] (freemium, $5/mo) This is a note taking software that in addition to allowing you to create notes and clip information from web pages also allows you to upload images. It does OCR on the images and so you can do searches for text in the images. Free version allows 60/MB uploads per month of notes and attachments, $5/mo gives you 1GB and other benefits.
    > Springpad [browser, mobile] (free) This is a note taking, tasking and organizing system. More like a personal assistant. Allows you to organize information in a digital cork board. It also attemps to automatically organize information as it comes in. If you put in a product it might do price comparison.  It has alerts and reminders. And you can share info on public pages.

Home | Web 2.0 Teaching Tools and Resources