eZedia World e-Newsletter

eZedia World - vol. 7
eZedia's Monthly e-Newsletter
October 1, 2001

Welcome to a new issue of eZedia World. As we settle into the fall season, eZedia World would like to welcome all of our existing and new readers and, as always, hope you find our monthly e-newsletter informative.

In this issue:

1.	eZedia and the Ameritech Technology Academy
2.	Not Just Another Pretty Face: A Guide to Interface Design
3.	Did you know about the eZediaMX Record Object?
4.	What's New At eZedia

1. eZedia and the Ameritech Technology Academy
by Jane Frank
Ameritech Technology Academy

The Ameritech Company gave the State of Michigan a two million dollar grant to train 2000 Michigan educators in integrating technology into the classroom. The Michigan Department of Education (MDE), the Offices of Governor Engler and Senator Levin, Michigan Virtual University, Michigan Institute of Educational Management (MIEM), the Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL), and the Michigan Education Association (MEA) all contributed to the grant project. Thus, the Ameritech Technology Academy (ATA) was born.

This was a lofty goal. Every school building in the state could apply to the program. Participating buildings sent a four person team, comprised of the principal, two teachers, and a fourth member (media specialist, tech person, secretary, etc.), to an intensive two day training. Four lab sessions, including lesson integration, multimedia presentations, and professional development made up most of the training.

Many software products were highlighted during all aspects of the training. In our quest to introduce participants to the latest and greatest programs, eZediaMX was chosen to introduce the backgrounds of the ATA trainers. The program ran at the beginning of each session as an automatic introduction. The special features of eZedia added an exciting dimension to the presentation.

By the end of the two days, each team developed a plan to train the rest of the educators in its building in how to integrate technology into their classrooms. During the year, a site trainer will also visit each participating building to follow-up and assist each building with its individual integration plan.

We hope all of the 1200 Michigan educators introduced to eZedia in the summer of 2001 will try the program with their students and create projects to enhance learning.

Visit: http://www.ameritechacademy.org/

2. Not Just Another Pretty Face: A Guide to Interface Design

eZedia Inc.

Developing any multimedia project should start with creating an outline, story boarding, and collecting media. Once this is done you need to give some thought to navigation, interactivity and the design of your project. This is called interface.

What exactly is interface?
In the world of computer science, interface describes the point of interaction or communication between a computer and any other entity, such as a printer or human operator. In terms of multimedia and content integration, interface is the layout of graphic and textual controls in conjunction with the way the project responds to user activity. Interface elements include buttons, icons, menus, backgrounds, title bars and titles, and text and/or feature areas. A planned interface design allows users to intuitively follow and move about your project.

If you are an artist, graphic designer or multimedia developer you can create beautiful backgrounds and 3D spinning buttons, but that does not necessarily create a strong, functional interface. No matter what your background or profession, follow the guidelines below when building your multimedia interface to create an easy to use project in eZediaMX.

1) Theme
Defining the theme of your project will help you to create an appropriate interface. The theme should reflect the audience that will be viewing your project and the message you need to communicate. Is your project meant to be entertaining, informative, contemporary or technical? Will your project feel fun or serious? What style, colors and fonts will you use?

2) Navigation
Navigation allows users to follow a particular path and access desired information. There are three styles of navigation:

Linear

Linear: Linear navigation moves the user in a straight direction, from one slide to the next through all the information.

Hierarchical: Hierarchical navigation allows the user to choose a path. Information is classified according to various criteria into successive levels or layers - just like a book divided into chapters.

Random

Random: Random navigation has no specific path or pattern. The user does not know where they will end up. This is used for games, tests or training materials.

3) Interactivity
Interactivity in a multimedia project provides the tools for the user to interact with content within the project and enable navigation. Tools for interactivity include: Buttons, Icons, and Menus.

Below are some questions to ask yourself when adding interactivity:

- Will the buttons, icons or menus be global and appear on every frame?
- Are the icons intuitive? Will the user know what they mean?
- Will the user get lost in an endless loop?
- Is it easy for the user to get back to where they started?
- Are navigational buttons in the same location on every frame?
- Do the buttons, icons and menus complement all the other interface elements? Do they match the background?

4) Color

Color can be used effectively to create an interface that is uniform. Match the color of your background to buttons, icons and all other interface elements. Color can also be used to communicate different sections, a shift in ideas or to highlight important information.

5) Consistency
If you come away with one thing from this article, I hope it is this last point. Providing a consistent interface will help your user navigate and eliminate confusion. Apply a consistent layout, only use one or two different fonts, use a limited set of complementary colors, and maintain the same style throughout the project. Always have a title on your frames using text or a title bar, and keep the positioning of navigation and buttons in the same place.

Download eZedia's Interface Wells. They include matching backgrounds, title bars, buttons and feature shapes to help you build your interface!

3. Did you know about the eZediaMX Record Object?
This month in eZedia World we look at the Record Object and what you can do with this impressive tool. Located in the eZediaMX toolbar, it is the second icon and is one of the four Media Tools.

The Record Object allows you to record audio to use in your eZediaMX document, or project. You can record sounds using your computer's own microphone or an external microphone connected to your computer. From recording your own voice to music to sound effects, you can bring your eZediaMX project to life with this simple tool.

To get you started, click on the Record Object icon. The Sound Record dialog box opens.

Click on the Rec button, to start recording. The Minutes value shows you the length of your recording and the Level indicates the volume of your sound source. When you are finished, simply click on the Stop button and your recording ends. Now, you can either play back your audio by clicking on the Play button, cancel your recording by clicking the Cancel button, re-record by starting over again or save your file by following these steps:

1) Close the Sound Record dialog box by clicking on the OK button.
2) Name the file using the Save Movie As dialog box. Be sure to put .mov at the end of the name to save it as a QuickTime file.

After these two easy steps your sound recording will be automatically saved as a Movie Object and will be added to your open eZediaMX frame.

With the Record Object tool, you can:

- create a geography lesson with recorded voice-overs
- make a Halloween slide show with spooky sound effects
- direct your own music video with movies and music
- prepare a portfolio presentation with personalized messages
- and much, much more!

If you would like to see how the Record Object is used, download our Guatemalan Adventure showcase. After you've downloaded the showcase, open the file in eZediaMX to see how it was made.

4. What's New At eZedia

2001-2002 Golden Web Award
Congratulations! eZedia wins the 2001-2002 Golden Web Award. The Golden Web Award is presented to those whose web design, creativity, originality and quality content have achieved levels of excellence deserving of recognition.

Events
eZedia is on the road again! Look for us at the following October events.

9th Annual Instructional Technology Conference for Miami-Dade County Public Schools - Miami Beach, Florida
October 9 - 11, 2001

Education Technology Conference - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
October 15 - 17, 2001

SchoolTech Expo - Chicago, Illinois
October 18 - 19, 2001

Tennessee Education Technology Conference - Nashville, Tennessee
October 30 - November 1, 2001

eZediaMX 3.0
And, last but not least, look for the new release of eZediaMX, version 3.0, packed with lots of exciting new features. Coming this fall!

Look for the next issue of eZedia World on November 5, 2001.

eZedia World welcomes subscriber feedback, story ideas as well as editorial contributions to our monthly newsletter. Please e-mail us your ideas at ezediaworld@ezedia.com.

© 2000-2001 eZedia Inc. All rights reserved. eZedia, the eZedia logo, and eZediaMX are registered trademarks or trademarks of eZedia Inc.