I recently got a press release about Meograph, a new online tool that allows users to create and share interactive stories using Google Earth and Google search. Users can select media that assembled on a timeline. Google map images, llinks, a voiceover, and other media can be used to create multimedia videos.
Founder Misha Leybovich wanted to create the tool so that journalists, educators and individuals could create stories in an intuitive and easy way. “Everyone’s creative and has a story to tell, but not everyone has the skills to use professional tools like Final Cut Pro,” said Leybovich. “We’ve made it easy to create a professional story, using simple structured prompts.”
On the website there are several example of what can be made with the tool. This includes a story about about Whitney’s Houston’s life, the history of women’s rights in the USA, and a news story about the Trayvon Martin case. I spent some time watching the videos, which have a constant background of Google map which changes with each event or key point of the story. The look and feel of each piece is similar to a segment you might see on a news program.
One feature that I appreciated is that videos could be embedded within the story. During the piece that explored the progression of Whitney Houston’s life, I was able to click on a music video of her singing while the map in the background showed the location of where the video was filmed.
The BETA version of the tool is up and running, and you can use it toyou’re your own story that can use events, links, photos and video. Your video can then be embedded in any website or social network. I have not tried authoring it yet – but am thinking about trying it out for one of my classes. Maybe the history of video or knit art…
Image Source:
http://www.meograph.com
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