50 Ways is Going Mobile

50ways-mobile.jpg
Based on cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Ian Lamont: http://flickr.com/photos/ilamont/7463062672/
Since 2007 this site has focused on web-based storymaking tools; in 2014, with the help of Darren Kuropatwa, we are expanding the tools to include mobile apps.

Like the web-based tools, each one included here will include information for educators interested in using it, an example of the Dominoe story, and a list of other examples made with the app

The criteria for mobile apps that you will find here are:
  • The app provides means to create a story on a mobile device with two or more types of media (text and images, images and sound, etc) and something that has multiple steps, frames, moments to form a narrative that can exist in any time or place. Ideally it produces something that is different in some form than what can be done via the other web story tools, or that leverages an affordance of the mobile device.
  • The app is free - we expect this might be a moving target; free apps might later have a fee; or the free version is just too limited compared to the paid for one.
  • The app is available for iOS or Android devices (in an ideal universe, the requirement would be both, bit that was too restrictive)
  • The app can publish your story to a public URL (or provides export to media sites such as vimeo, YouTube, Soundcloud, or files that can be put on a web site where it can be accessed).

We specifically are focussing on standalone apps on which you can create a story- for ones (and the existing ones currently in the site) that can be used via a mobile web browser, we will create a new tag to organize them into a new listing.

What to include or not gets tricky, and arguably subjective. We are not trying to create The Universal Mega List of Best Mobile Apps. The idea of a story having steps rules out a lot of apps that may be great for capturing media and posting online, but could not easily create something like the Dominoe story. Something like SoundCloud that can post and audio with a single picture, could, in theory, recreate the audio of the story, with the picture, but that is really just a single piece of media.

Some of the best finds are apps not primarily designed for creating stories, such as the sketching app Inkflow but can still be used to make a story.

What's New Here

See the most current crop of apps we have done so far.

We hope to have at least 10 apps added to the site by mid March 2014 (9 as of March 1) , when we will offer a live, Google Hangout event to share more about the project. You can expect a challenge to help us build up out list of examples. The tool pages for the app has some new features, including a quick embedded google form where you can add your examples directly to the site. Also, we have launched a new Google+ community where you can keep up to date with our work. If you have ideas, suggestions, share them there or via the #50storyways tag in twitter

Considerations for Using Mobile Story Apps
(some general tips I hope Darren writes ;-)

Darren sez: coming soon ... ;-)

See Also




cogdog-watercolor.pngThis site was created by Alan Levine in October 2010, the second incarnation of the original 50+ Ways concept. A 2014 expansion for mobile apps is being co-created with Darren Kuropatwa. Everything here is open to be linked, re-used, re-mixed, re-cast, etc. This particular page was created on Jan 3, 2014 10:45 pm and has been edited 7 times. The last tweak was made on Aug 8, 2014 9:09 am by - cogdog cogdog. Share freely, often, and voraciously by linking to http://50ways.cogdogblog.com/