Slideshare
From LIS 460 Summer 2007
posted by --Covintre 23:51, 15 July 2007 (EDT)
Contents |
Slideshare defined
Slideshare is free online service which allows users to upload and then share presentations and slide shows. It supports several different types of presenting programs: PowerPoint, OpenOffice, Keynote, and PDF files.
Like other social networking services, users are able to tag their presentations. Rate and comment on others' work, and embed their presentation into a blog or other website. The site was created in late 2006 by an international pair--one in India, one in the US. The goal of the website is to help people share ideas.
There is no fee to use this service, though a login is required for uploading presentations. The maximum size for a slide show is 30MB. Shows that are larger, must either be edited or split into two (or more) presentations. Once a file is uploaded, it is visible to the public. Terms from slides can be searched via search engines. The user who uploads a presentation can choose to make the slide show available to be downloaded. Slideshare is linked with Creative Commons so various attribution licenses are supported. In addition, these presentations can be retrieved at any computer without need for USB drives or other storage devices. In other words, presentations in Slideshare can be held before a conference for the presenters use and then reviewed afterwards by guests. Like YouTube, a presentation can be viewed in the small screen or take the full screen of a monitor.
There are a few drawbacks to the program. Flash is required in order for the presentations to be seen properly. Any sounds, animations, or movies within a presentation will not be visible via Slideshare. In one sense this flattens presentations, but so long as a user knows this ahead of time, it should not cause much difficulty. In addition, there is no way to set privacy settings for these slide shows. Currently, all presentations are public. Once a show is uploaded, there is no way to edit it within the program. A user must upload an edited version to make that accessible.
For more information or to answer specific questions, check out the site's FAQ page.
Slideshare in the library community
Perhaps it is the meeting of Library 2.0 and Web 2.0, but there are numerous library related presentations available on this site. A high number appear to be lectures on the web 2.0 wave and how Libraries can get on board.
A few of the many Library Presentations on Slideshare
These can all be viewed in full screen mode, some are able to be downloaded:
- Contentdm Interoperability for ALA conference in New Orleans. Now we can all imagine we went there.
- Evaluating the Quality of Instant Message Reference Service through Transcript Analysis given at 2007 ALA 13th Annual Research Reference Forum. Want to know about current library research, slideshare helps get you there. Downloadable
- Exploring Libraries and Our Users in the Web2.0 Realm by Brian C. Gray. Discusses Second Life library life, and other elements of this class. Downloadable
- Growing your next generation of patrons by Lexie Robinson and Beth Locy Who are the "Millenials?" Downloadable
- How 2.0 makes your life easier by Jenny Levine, aka The Shifted Librarian This fun game, by ALA staff member helps cememnt the idea that technology can level the library playing field.
- Intro to Web2.0 and Library 2.0 by Dave Pattern. Two great things that taste great together.
- New Technologies and Library Services: Harnessing Web2.0 to improve information provision by Phil Bradley Bradley essentially explains our course and the technologies we've been learning about.
- Public Libraries and School Libraries: how the twain might meet by Simmons student for LIS406 Discussion of ways the two can begin to work together. Downloadable
- Technology Trends in Libraries today and tomorrow by Rachel Vacek. What makes this a bit different that other listed slides is that at slide 45 and beyond, she really starts to discuss upcoming shifts in technology for libraries
- Top Ten Reasons Libraries are still important by Chuck Hamaker. This simple presentation is both quick, funny, and rather informative.
Slideshare in a school community
Teachers & Administrators
Teachers can sometimes be known to reinvent the wheel, creating an assignment that someone else has already done. Using Slideshare, teachers and administrators could browse through pre-existing presentations and use them as is or download to personalize. Departments, schools or districts, could create accounts for their teachers where school community members could view what others are doing without concern of computer compatibility (so long as they have Flash installed). In addition, Slideshare could act as emergency storage for lectures and lessons. Storing presentations on Slideshare could open school server space. A school could have emergency lesson presentations already set on the Slideshare for days when one person needs to fill in for another.
One of Slideshare's groups is called the Edutech group. This group collects presentations related to technology and education. Currently there are 51 presentations in this group. There are other groups as well, including k12education, but Edutech has the most Slideshares at this time.
Professional Development Presentations
- Inquiry Based Learning by Janetta Garton. This presentation explains how this teaching style could work and why it would be effective in a classrooom. Downloadable
- Making Peace with Parents This presentation has tips on how to deal with challenging parents. Essentially, a professional development day is already here on the web. Downloadable
- Reading and Writing in Social Studies Lengthy but informative. Downloadable
Presentations for Parents or Students
- 21st Century Learning
- Heart Diseases
- Ideological Reaction to Industrialization This appears to be a lecture with the important teaching points for a class
- Open House 2006 One social studies teacher explains his courses so that parents who missed the Open House can still be informed.
Students
Like a podcast collective or collaborative blog, students could use Slideshare to upload presentations for a teacher to review. A teacher in Argentina has does this, and her students' work can be found here. It would also be a way to share their work with the rest of the class and allow students to comment.
In addition, students with different types of presentation software would not have to worry about compatibility or how to transport the item from home to school, as it would be accessible via Slideshare.
- 70's Fads a quick overview of fashion and fads this could be the type of finished product a student would share
- Welcome to the library Made for a 4th grade class to introduce them to the local public library, this type of slide show could be used to introduce students to the school library as well
- What is Communism? This presentation has a date error which makes me think it was student, not teacher produced...
Library Teachers
As Web2.0 helps Library2.0 evolve, it will also effect schools. The ability to store presentations online allows a library teacher to consistently present on a topic no matter the environment (so long as a computer with internet access is available). Library teachers can post their information literacy and library introduction lessons so they are easy to find as well as consistent.
Collaborative opportunities for teachers are also available for Librarians. If a good lesson is shared on wikis, then more time can be spent working on other library tasks.
This site also opens doors for seeing how other librarians communicate technology to their school communities. Since these presentations can be embedded into blogs, library teachers who have an active blog could highlight new books through a Slideshare presentation.
Information Literacy Lessons
- History of Writing and the Joy of Reading This could also be used in staff development at library advocacy
- Lesson on Biographies by Covs
- Student introduction to wikis by Melissa Brumsted
Instruction for Staff Development
Questions I still had
The majority of these answers came from the Slideshare FAQ
My question: Can presentations be restricted only to certain viewers or just to the creator?
Answer: At the moment, nothing uploaded to Slideshare is private. Slideshare only supports public presentations. Keep this in mind when uploading. Perhaps you will want to omit certain names, and you would want to be careful not to use images or names of students for whom one did not have permission. Perhaps schools will need to create a technology waiver in addition to the Acceptable Use Policy.
My question: Once a slideshow is uploaded into Slideshare, can it be edited?
Answer: Slideshare does not support editing capabilities as this time. This means, if you want to fix errors in a slideshow it would need to be downloadable first. Being able to download a presentation is an option, but it is not always taken. There is the potential for a catch-22 with the "not editible" and "no privacy settings," 1-2 punch.
On a more hopeful note, Slideshare does support Creative Commons, so those presentations that are downloadable can often be altered without worry.
References and Articles
- Gushing about slideshare from the blog Living on the edge
- Introducing Slideshare from Tech crunch
- Slideshare.net
- Watch scrapblog and slideshare net tuesday on blip.tv Information from one of the co-founders
