The new Digital Design Studio in Tisch Library is allowing Tufts community members to produce all kinds of exciting, original media. Many people wonder what comes next after they have produced their files. Where can I publish them within the Tufts network?
Spark has a number of tools on it that allow you to host and publish privately, to Tufts only, or indeed to the entire world if you so choose. The Spark site and its associated tools are freely available to anyone with an active Tufts Username and Password and, for the most part, are self-service. If you need assistance with using any of the tools please check in at our consultation desk in the Digital Design Studio.
Spark Podcasts
The Spark Podcast tool allows anyone to manage their own podcast channel for others to subscribe to. Using the tool the podcast manager can upload their media files (video, audio, or any other file type). The tool takes care of automatically regenerating the podcast feed. Users who have subscribed to the podcast via their iTunes, Winamp, or other podcast reader will have the new media automatically made available to them for viewing.
Examples
- Bio 13 uses Spark Podcasts to disseminate recorded lectures.
- The Department of Education uses Spark Podcasts to publish a series of highlighted events, personalities, and programs related to its activities.
- Romance Languages uses Spark Podcasts to host language recordings.
Spark MediaMarkup
- Bio 13 uses Spark Podcasts to disseminate recorded lectures.
- The Department of Education uses Spark Podcasts to publish a series of highlighted events, personalities, and programs related to its activities.
- Romance Languages uses Spark Podcasts to host language recordings.
Spark MediaMarkup
The Spark MediaMarkup tool allows Tufts users to upload media files of various types (e.g. all popular formats such as mp4, wav, mov, mp3, etc) and share them privately, Tufts-wide, or world-wide for viewing and annotation. Viewers with edit rights to the media can provide comment and feedback at specific time stamps within the media file. In this way MediaMarkup is a powerful tool for review and assessment of student work.
Examples
- Electrical and Computer Engineering use Spark MediaMarkup to host recordings of student presentations. Instructors and peers can then provide feedback to the student regarding their performance.
- Friedman uses Spark MediaMarkup to publish panel discussions. They use the annotation feature to provide a linked table of contents to specific parts of the discussion.
- The Music Department uses MediaMarkup to publish recordings of drum and dance performances. The instructor then uses to annotation feature to highlight the various components of the performance along with constructive feedback for the performers.
Spark WordPress
Spark WordPress is a state-of-the-art web publishing platform that is used for a wide variety of curricular and co-curricular purposes (e.g. program web sites, faculty portfolios, student groups, etc.). A variety of different media files can be embedded into the content of a WordPress site. We have installed the Anarchy Media Player plugin which:
will play any simple href link to mp3, flv, Quicktime mov, mp4, m4v, m4a, m4b, 3gp as well as Windows wmv, avi and asf files, in the appropriate player on your web page.
The WordPress versions also add buttons to the Rich Text Editor for embedding Flash swf and Director dcr movies as well as YouTube, Google Video, iFilm, DailyMotion, Revver, Metacafe, MySpace, Apple iTunes iMix, and GoEar players.
Examples
- The Jumble site publishing videos from a variety of sources to highlight Tufts activities.
Spark Wikis
The Spark Wikis tool allows Tufts users to create collaboratively edited web sites. This is very useful for group projects, writing papers, managing a departments internal knowledgebase etc.
Users can upload and embed a variety of media files into their wiki pages. Wiki page permissions can then be set to allow access only to certain individuals, the entire university, or to the world.
Spark WebConferencing
The Spark WebConferencing tool is our internally hosted instance of Adobe Connect. This tool allows Tufts users to set up and conduct web-based conferences. The is useful for distance education initiatives, group projects where the participants are geographically dispersed, and for conducting webinars.
The following file types can be uploaded and shared via Adobe Connect: *.ppt, *.pptx, *.flv, *.swf, *.pdf, *.gif, *.jpg, *.png, *.mp3, *.html, or *.zip