VoiceThread

Thanks to Jeremy Zweiacker in Tech Prep, I just learned about VoiceThread (click on "What's a VoiceThread anyway?"). It's a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or phone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.

Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded on web sites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs as archival movies.

With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. All with no software to install.



VoiceThread offers a number of different account types. Free accounts can create presentations, add audio and text commentary, and can use most of the service's features. Pro users, in exchange for a $59.95 annual fee, get more storage space for documents, files, and video, 30 free archival exports, and some unlocked features not available in the free accounts. The free account will likely be enough for most casual users, but serious slideshow creators may use up the free account's 75MB storage limit quickly and opt for the 10GB the Pro account offers.

VoiceThread also partners with educational institutions (at little or no cost) and businesses to bring the service into the classroom or the boardroom. The service is remarkably sharp and richly featured, and it offers a truly unique and interesting way to assemble and provide feedback on multimedia of all types. The service's presentation creator is remarkably easy to use, and the sheer number of ways you can share your presentation make the service compelling.

I think there are many applications for VoiceThread. Anything from classroom assignments, projects, presentations or even a holiday greeting. Check out the Thanksgiving examples.