What do Storytelling, Timelines and Jamming Have In Common?

As a former student of summer sessions offered by the National Storytelling Association in the mountains of Tennessee, I am committed to the oral interpretation of story.  And having spent nearly 35 years as a school library media specialist I truly am a lover of the written word.  That being said online applications as another option for sharing stories is a venue that needs to be explored. 

Capzles has most recently been mentioned by Kelly Tenkely in her blog, iLearn Technology.  In that blog she states that she has discussed it on previous  occasions so I thought that I should check it out.  In a nutshell Capzles is a venue where a multimedia timeline can be created.

Users must be 13 years of age.  To join this free site a screen name and password are necessary.  Users are asked for their first and last name as well as an email address. 

Once a user has joined and logged in, across the top they have the option to search other Capzles, single moments, profiles or take a flying leap by selecting a category or tag of their choice. 

Four other selections are available once the site is entered:  My Stuff, Explore, Create and Share.  I spent several interesting hours designing my first Capzle by picking the Create tab.

  To the left of your Capzle screen are the tools to make your timeline.   Under Title and Description once the obvious fields are filled, font style, font size and color can be selected.

As a user you can choose from their categories as well as add your own tags by selecting Tags & Categories.

When adding Content an image, video, MP3, Word, Excel, Powerpoint or PDF files can be uploaded as a single moment or put in stacks.  A blog entry which will appear as a single moment is an additional option.  Within that screen you can make that blog entry as plain or complicated as you desire.  Additions can be made to stacks.  Each moment or part of a stack can have the title or description altered as well as the tags or categories, date/time and privacy.  By filing in multiple fields an entry can be added to a map and information about the device used to create that moment can be included.  If you add an item by mistake it can be deleted as can the entire Capzle.

Design Your Capzle allows the user to select a predetermined background, upload one of their own, and manipulate colors.

You can upload a single song or create a playlist under the Add Background Music option.

It was my desire to have music playing when my Capzle was viewed and I have been wanting to explore the web 2.0 application UJAM.  The site is in two words---the Ritz. 
Once the user has completed simple registration it is free to use.  When starting you can record vocals or instruments, rejam a song template or upload an audio file.  A blending of multiple choices can create almost any desired effect for the final product which for my purposes was complete in every way.  The finished song can be saved in your online folder, made into an MP3 file that can be saved to your computer or shared on Facebook.


Having a song as part of my Capzle I can now click Finish and share it via post to seven different social networks, embed it, send it by email, feed or link. 

I have been wondering how best to track my Elementary and Middle School Picks of the Week as they disappear when a new one if posted.  Designing a Capzle would be perfect.  For students it would be a visual way to track the books they read each year adding short comments or for us too! 

http://www.capzles.com/0e405d83-d01c-4486-8f13-8c39f3d4f703


QR code generator



View my Capzle by clicking on the link above or the QR code.