Teaching Audio Slide Shows and Soundslides
The audio slide show – a multimedia piece that combines audio and still photos – is a standard format in most newsrooms and journalism classrooms. And Soundslides, a program created by Joe Weiss, is the standard program used to create them.
Soundslides is so easy to use that it does not require hours of step-by-step tutorials. However, after a few semesters of teaching audio slide shows, I have collected a list of resources that I have found helpful for introducing and troubleshooting the process for beginners.
Examples of Inspiring Audio Slide Shows
For examples of great audio slide shows, I often turn to Interactive Narratives, a clearinghouse for the best of online visual storytelling. The audio slide show can also be a powerful way to profile individuals. For examples of audio slide show profiles, I like the New York Times series One in 8 Million and the Los Angeles Times series pop.u.LA.tion.
When Is an Audio Slide Show the Best Format for a Story?
NewsUniversity has an online course called Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling. It aims to teach which stories are more suitable for multimedia.
To understand the power – and limits – of an audio slide show, read a Poynter interview with Sounslides creator Joe Weiss. He discusses the potential and some common pitfalls of the format.
Also on the BBC’s College of Journalism blog, Kevin Marsh ponders the question: “Why would you choose a slide show when you could use video?”
How to Use Soundslides
The Soundslides user manual is the place to begin when teaching or trying the program for the first time.
Jeremy Rues has created a nice step-by-step Soundslides tutorial for the Knight Digital Media Center.
Here is a PowerPoint presentation I use to introduce audio slide shows and SoundSlides in the classroom.
Also I’ve created a screencast video on how to embed a Soundslides slide show on a self-hosted WordPress blog. This is one of the most common questions I get from students, especially after my class has ended and they are doing their own independent projects.
Tips for Creating a Better Audio Slide Show
To avoid common mistakes, read the post How to Make Your Audio Slide Shows Better by Colin Mulvany.
Mark Luckie lists Five Common Photo Slide Show Mistakes.
Mindy McAdams has two great blog posts on the subject: Tell a Good Story with Images and Sound and Do’s and Don’ts for Slide Shows.
Soundslides Tools
On the Soundslides forum, you can read through questions and issues others have encountered and post your own questions. (I posted a message about a bug last week, and I received a reply within a few hours.)
Soundslides Embed Utility – This tool allows you to post your published slide shows to a blog, or embed them in other pages.
Soundslides Video Converter – This tool converts audio slide shows into an mp4 video file. That way they can placed on sites like YouTube and Vimeo, embedded on free WordPress.com blogs, or viewable on an iPod.
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