Public Domain Photo Project:
telling a story with pictures
30 points (out of 200)

DUE March 11

  1. Find. An inspiring Univeristy-based digital archive on a subject you’re extremely interested in. Do this immediately.  Find a minimum of 15 images that you will use in a slideshow to tell a non-fiction story.  You will need to determine these images are in the public domain or can be used nor noncommercial purposes. Remember:  LIBRARIES HAVE COMPLETELY EMBRACED THE DIGITAL AGE and have an enormous amount of digitized photographs.  Here’s where you can start: 

 

It’s likely you’ll want to investigate other databases.  Enhance your photographic reach by searching:

BEWARE OF FLICKR, GOOGLE SEARCH, & YAHOO IMAGE SEARCH:  These are commercial photo databases.  Note:  Flickr has some Creative Commons search areas at the bottom menu of your topic search results.  Flickr also connects with the Library of Congress (LOC), but it’s best to find LOC images from the source.

2. Determine PD or Noncommercial status. Scour online documentation (here’s an example)and/or contact the librarian(s) in charge of the digital collection to get permissions to use your images in a noncommercial online slideshow.  When contacting librarians don’t be shy: this is what they do, this is what they live for.  They have a public duty to serve you.  Email is ok but wimpy and you’re an adult you can handle it: call them and talk to them: calling is MUCH QUICKER.  Document your PD status in a table (described below).

3. Pay attention to Image Quality.  Make sure the images you find are of the HIGHEST possible resolution. To find image size Control Left Click on image file and select "Get Info" or highlight file in folder and go "Control I" for "Get Info." Download the images in a separate folder and name them according to how you list them (1. NAME...) on the form (described below).  You will need to convert all images to jpgs if they aren’t jpgs already. Photoshop is the best way to do this and if you don't know how ask me.

4. Create a Table in Word to carefully document your photographic research (Table/Insert/Table):  A word document in the form of a table with the following categories:

      1.  IMAGE + link to the original source:  where you found the image.  Make SURE that this link is active, and that it’s connected to the page that contains background info about the image. 

      2. Description of image + detailed notes from the website: WHEN YOU WRITE YOUR CAPTIONS FOR THE SLIDESHOW, BE VERY CAREFUL THAT YOU DON’T PLAGIARIZE THESE NOTES (AS THEY WERE WRITTEN BY SOMEONE ELSE).

      3. Photo contact information; other relevant public domain and or noncommercial status info about image.  BE SPECIFIC. (see best practices)

      4. Proof that this image is highest quality:  pixel #. TO GET PIXEL SIZE, LEFT CLICK ON THE IMAGE'S FILE NAME AND SELECT "GET INFO" ON THE POP UP MENU.

Here are two examples of excellent tables (I’m sorry, these examples are missing the “description” category:
Example 1
Example 2

 

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5. Create an Interactive Non-fiction Slideshow.  Using the 15+ images you have cleared with librarians, and importing them into SoundSlides. you will tell a comprehensive visual story with your own captions. You must NOT plagiarize but create original, research-based captions.  You can download a demo version of Soundslides onto your computer; you will need to have a Flash Reader OR you can go use the Soundslides software in the lab. 

We will demonstrate how to use SoundSlides in class; it is very user friendly and you shouldn't have problems with the software, but here is an additional tutorial if you need extra help.  The challenge of this exercise is to make a slideshow that is compelling both in terms of visuals and storytelling, and that is completely free of copyright concerns.

  • Theme:  You should choose a consistent theme. The focus is documentary style/nonfiction for your content…we’re not doing fictional stories with this exercise.  Your slideshow should be modeled after the slideshows we view in class (these are also prevalent in the New York Times multimedia section and in the interactive narratives website). The slideshow should NOT have anything to do with yourself or your friends, and it should NOT be cheesy and overly sentimental.  It should be historical and factual.

 

  • Captions:  Keep the captions short, yet try to be a little poetic, try to WRITE WELL.  Your captions must be original, be based in solid research, and must say something extremely worthwhile.  Look again to the New York Times as a guide.  Not every caption needs to even be an entire sentence, BUT, your captions should NOT duplicate what your photos are showing.  They should let us learn something new, take us to another level in terms of understanding your subject matter.  They should be well-written and NOT contain any typos. 
  • Saving your Slideshow:  Save your slideshow on a CD and bring it to class on the due date, when we will view it in class. LABEL YOUR CD WITH A SHARPIE. You need ALL the folders within your project saved to the CD to make the slideshow work (not just the .swf file).  When all those folders are in one place, you activate the slideshow by opening up either the index.html file or the .swf file (marked with a little blue "f" in a circle). But you need all the other folders and files in that same folder saved on the CD, b/c the .swf file will draw upon them in playing back your slideshow.  For example, in the image I'm attaching, I want to copy all of  "Project 4" (I could have named the project anything, but here it's Project 4) onto a CD, so the CD will have all the accompanying folders.

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You will be graded on the professional quality of your table as a document verifying public domain status, the creativity of your topic and the depth of your research, writing/audio/photos and how well they apply to your theme as a well-constructed non-fiction narrative, and the overall effectiveness of your slideshow presentation. 

  • What NOT to do: Don’t create a slideshow that is completed the day before the assignment is due.  Don’t plagiarize from the captions that came with the digitally-archived photo.
  • What you SHOULD DO:  Create a slideshow that has the maximum target audience.  Create something that will move people, get people to think. Create a slideshow that has some artistic potential, that requires some work and thinking on your end.  Plan ahead, and start early. 

SLIDESHOW BEST PRACTICES.

Check out the NYTimes Interactive Slideshow website

TO HAND IN:
1. A TABLE IN WORD/DOC FORMAT.
PLEASE EMAIL THIS DOCUMENT TO fabos@uni.edu (big files are okay: it goes straight to my gmail).

2. A CD WITH A THE ENTIRE "PUBLISH TO WEB" FOLDER INCLUDED.