After having so much fun with toondoo I thought I would see what other comic makers were out there.. I have used Gnomz.com and the Read-Write-Think Comic Creator. On my desktop I use Planetwide Games Comic Book Creator, and if I had a Mac I would use Comic Life.

Here are a few of the better ones that I found. Toondoo still ranks at the top of the online apps, but Comic Life has it made for offline comic creating.

http://stripgenerator.com/
http://www.stripcreator.com/
http://www.fabrica.it/flipbook/index.php

I also found Comics @ Mainada. This site is very much in beta, but it was a neat experiment of repurposing a comic creator. When I realized I would have to freehand draw the comics with my mouse, I thought it would be better to draw out a few words.

Here is what I created, the direct link is http://www.mainada.net/comics/show_strip/2372.

I’m compiling a list of third party tools that educators can use in conjunction with video sharing sites like Youtube for future workshop. I would appreciate it if you shared any other video remixing tools that you have used.

Adding Subtitles

http://www.overstream.net/ – Overstream
http://mojiti.com/ – Mojiti

Enhancing Videos

http://www.bubbleply.com/ – BubblePly (Adds pop-up bubbles on top of videos with hyperlinks)
http://www.gotuit.com/scenemaker/index.html (Lets you bookmark or “deep tag” specific scenes within an online video)
UPDATE: http://www.cuts.com/ Cuts – Add captions, skips and loops.

Downloading YouTube A Few of Many Tools

http://keepvid.com/ – KeepVid
http://www.benjaminstrahs.com/itube.php – Ares Tube
http://www.saveyoutube.com/ – Save You Tube
http://zamzar.com/ - ZamZar
http://www.oyoom.com/ – OYOOM

Online File Conversion

http://mux.am/ - mux video converter

Presentation Tools

http://scrapblog.com/preview/- Scrapblog allows YouTube Video Embedding

Did I mention that ToonDoo is addictive?

I have been experimenting with Scrapblog as a presentation tool for an upcoming workshop. It is a neat mixture of scrapbook and presentation tool. I know my better half is going to love this web site.

I was able to embed photos (your own and a range of sites like Flickr), YouTube videos (You have to hover over them to get the play button), background music, titles, transitions, captions and more into the presentation.

The site has lots of social features, and of course, the ability to embed presentations into your blog. Here’s the one I was working on. (FYI – Some of the links are local to my school district)

View the full sized presentation here. If you use the left and right arrows instead of selecting the “Play Slideshow” button you can stop and watch the videos.

I’m having way too much fun with Toondoo.

This was a neat idea too:

Rajendran a toondude, explained to me that they are working on a cloning tool where you can remix parts of other peoples cartoons in your own cartoon.

He also shared a tip, that I missed when I was importing my photo into a toon.

you can crop your images even better than just straight lines. just lock the loaded image (lock icon is second from left, in the bottom strip), and NUDGE the line connecting the points using the mouse (drag the line…) and you will be able to get much smoother more professional-looking cutouts.

ToonDoo is a wacky way to get creative with comics. You can now create your own comic strips, share them or insert them in your blogs with just a few clicks and drag-n-drops!

I have talked about comic creators in the past, this one seems to take better advantage of the social web. The end product looks better, and it is really easy to embed and share with others.

Toondoo also has a contest:

We’ve all heard about global warming, icebergs breaking up and sea levels rising, just a wee bit, but definitely rising. What’s your take on all this? Create a ToonDoo and have your say!

Now that’s Media Literacy.

Here is one I did on cyberbullying. I was inspired by Andy Carvin’s Ning site on the same topic. http://stopcyberbullying.ning.com/

Steve Hargadon started Classroom 2.0 on Ning for

encouraging broader cooperation and dialog, and for mobilizing an army of folks who are having success using the tools of collaborative technology in their classrooms.

I like the idea of a central social edublogger network pulling together people in order to help each other. I remember that Josie Fraser started an Edublogger Frappr map a few years ago with a bit of social networking.

Classroom 2.0 has lots of potential, with tools to help channel voices for those who choose to contribute. Take a look for yourself. There were about 55 members when I last looked, but it will be the contributors that make the community.

The other component, that I was less thrilled about, was the Classroom 2.0 wiki. I like the idea, don’t get me wrong. I guess I’m just frustrated.

Each of these projects is coming from a different approach, but with similar goals.

http://eduwikipedia.pbwiki.com/
http://goodbaduglyoftheinternet.wikispaces.com
http://www.curriki.org

I’m just hoping that the Classroom 2.0 wiki will sustain interest by a wider community of contributors.

Via John Evans IMYM Tutorials:

A great new site called TeacherTube is up and running. This site is very much like YouTube in that videos can be uploaded, viewed, etc. but the distinguishing feature is that all the videos are geared toward an educational audience. You’ll find step by step instructional videos for a variety of topics like technology, mathematics, history, science and many more.

Started in January of this year TeacherTube has had an increase in activity over the last little while.

Bad Behavior has blocked 612 access attempts in the last 7 days.