With web 2.0 there are a huge range of tool to help you work. I have been investigating some recently to help creative collaboration. Here are a few ideas:

Brainstorming -

1. Mind42 (mind maps)
2. Mindmeister (mind maps - incl iApp (£))
3. Xmind (downloadable app for mind maps)
   
4. Prezi This is a web app designed as an alternative to Powerpoints and the domination of bulleted lists. Might be good for outlining ideas, pitching stories etc.
   

Collaboration -
(real time)

1. Etherpad (Google has recently acquired this technology and the future of the free service is not clear).
2. Google Docs, either presentations or documents.
   
3. Facebook, for groups and communication
   
4. Celtx studio. I have a test account.
   
5. Acrobat.com has 'buzzword' for documents and presentations too. Slicker than Google Presentations. But only embeds pdfs like Google (so not documents).
6. iPaper embeddable documents!! Really aiming as a way of publishing. Works in VLE like Blackboard/Minerva.
   
7. Evernote Its possible to share research through their note sharing facility. iPhone app, Firefox add-on, downloadable application. Here is a shared notebook. I can add research so all can see. But others can only read it. It is an easy and very quick way of gathering and sharing material. But its one sided. Creating a generic account might be one way around this. But you could share a 'look book' or scrap book for filmmaking etc
   

Distribution (cross platform)

Dropbox (Docs and PDFs work well but text files don't on my iPhone) Optional download App that lives in the Mac Finder window. Really neat idea. You can share items from your dropbox. Last year this seemed very slow, but it seems to work better now.

box.net - free 1GB up to 25MB file size.

The future will be strongly influenced by Google Wave. Its buggy and in beta now. I've messed around with it alittle. One to watch next year.

regards, Mike J

Re cycling HDV tapes - Don't

Last year we decided to switch from SD DV to HDV. (How much do I regret that decision?)

I have already blogged about the issues we had with just playing the material in QuickTime outside of Final Cut. In view of the problems we had we decided to switch back. We recycled the tapes and even took the precaution of pre striping them in SD DV. Then we sent the teams out to shoot. When they returned, we started the capture and logging. that's when the timecode issues started. OK, its one of the 3 Sony Z1's. Nope they all had the same problems. Its due to the deck we striped with being faulty. Possibly but unlikely. We guess its the original HDV timecode. Wouldn't you assume that recording over timecode would have erased the previous?

The advantages of HDV over Standard Definition 16:9 video are clearly outweighed because of the disadvantages. In fact if the time spent trying to get the stuff into the edit then out of the machines were spent on planning, shooting and editing the quality of the film would be more significantly benefited. ( Have I calmed down yet?) Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Researching and web 2.0

The web is an amazing place to research but you need to be organised. Since you have to blog as well, but not combine the two?

If you set up iGoogle and Firefox carefully they can help you do this. I use both quite a lot. I have added 'extensions' that add functionality to the browser. For example Delicious bookmarks, add to netvibes, Evernote web clipper, Screenshot pimp, Zotero and Xmarks. I also use a portable version of Firefox so that these are configured and present when I use my browser. With your home page set for something you use all the time - set several - and they'll open when you launch the application.

Searching the web.

Searching with Google using + and - and "" to refine your search.
The advantages of using tabbed browsing should be obvious. Its also worth learning a few keyboard short cuts:

• CMD + T opens a new tab
• CMD + L highlights the current URL
• CMD + C copies
• CMD + V pastes
• CMD + X cuts ( and places on the clipboard)
• TAB key shifts to the next field or box

Don't just use Google. Find other ways of accessing the web's store of information. Delicious is a store of peoples bookmarks. It makes a good place to search. Search blogs. You can take even fuller advantage of web 2.0 by using the power of RSS with Google alerts, yahoo searches or even Yahoo Pipes. This way the information is filtered by choices you have indicated. I find Twitter increasingly useful - its often a case of finding a good person to follow. Here's a good introductory guide written by my Colleague Katherine Reeves.

Google docs give me a suite of applications - online versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I can access these anywhere and share the documents created there too.

When you embed a Google Presentation it's worth noting that this is a feed. Any changes made to the file will be updated in the embedded version too. You need to make it 342 x 410 to fit the Blogger template.

Lastly, it's good and fair practice to credit and link back to your sources. Derek Pierce, as Beatsystem, kindly allowed me to use his music with students. Where you have uploaded your edits with his music you should credit him and link to his website. This way if someone wants to know more about the music he gets the click through. I should have reminded you at the time. Sorry Derek.

Solutions to recent transcoding problems

Transcoding is the process of changing a file from one format to another. Last week having edited as aif students needed to convert to a Wav file. Its common to have to do this converted from one to another and back again. The conversion to MP3 is also very common. These are all different CODECs.

Here is a post I wrote earlier this year about Switch - a free Mac app that makes it easy to convert from one audio format to another.

The file conversion site Zamzar is another favorite of mine. This works on all sort of file types - image, document, media.

The producers of Switch also make a free - multi platform audio editor called Wavepad Sound Editor, it looks good and will do the conversion to multiple formats too. The open source fav is Audacity - which I have found to be good. for simple stereo editing Sound Studio is neat and very mac-like. It only runs of Mac and doesn't convert to MP3 sadly, oh yes and costs $80.

You have to get used to understanding formats and develop your own toolbox and workarounds. There isn't an easy cheap one stop shop. Or maybe there is? Let me know.