Interactive Imagery

One of the best lists I look for each year is The Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education gathered by Larry Ferlazzo, educator and blogger at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... An application he listed was also mentioned on Twitter in November by Heather Moorefield, Education Librarian at Virginia Tech and former chair of the American Association of School Librarians Best Websites for Teaching and Learning committee.  Believing a picture is worth a thousand words, only limited by the viewers imagination, past experiences, and access to information, when a web 2.0 application for using a single image becomes available, I am anxious to give it a try.

At the site Marqueed's stated goal is to aid the creative process by simplifying the sharing and discussion of images.  This service is free of charge and open to those who are 13 years or older (as long as they are human).  Features are:

• easily add multiple images
• add collaborators
• markup and discuss images
• activity feed keeps track of progress
• quickly grab images from other sites
• real-time notifications
• works with tools you already use
• snapshots of web pages and
• labels and descriptions keep you organized.

Click the orange SIGN UP, IT'S FREE! to begin.  Enter in your first and last name, email address and a password.  You can also sign up using your Facebook or Google account.

Upon signing up you are greeted with a three step pop-up window; upload images from your computer or grab from the web, add annotations and markups and invite others to collaborate.  When you close this window your dashboard appears.  Across the top are icons representing:  

• Collections Home
• Notifications
• Invite Friends
• Bookmarklet
• Add Marqueed to Chrome and
• Profile, Settings, Upgrade, Help, Bookmarklet and Sign Out.

Beneath these is a banner listing the number of your private and public collections.  To create my first collection I typed in a title and clicked the blue CREATE button.  Your collection workspace window appears.  

In the upper left-hand corner you can change your default setting of private to public.  On the right side names and email addresses can be added for collaboration and viewing of your collection.  To insert images on the board by uploading from your computer,  click the blue ADD IMAGES button on the right.  Images can also be brought in from the web by entering in a URL, from a Dropbox or Google Drive account.

Click on an image to begin annotating and marking.  (Before and after an image is altered, it can be edited (title, description and labels) or deleted by mousing over, forcing the icons to appear for each action. A new window opens for annotating and marking.

In this new window you can draw on the image (pencil icon) or create a box around it.  After you select a portion of the image, a text box pops up so you can add comments. (Note: Do not use the return key to add extra space.  Your comment will submit.) When your comment is submitted, another box appears underneath it; perfect for collaboration.

In the comment section if you wish to add a link to a website or to a YouTube video, it becomes active.  When you wish to share your project click on the green SHARE button in the upper right-hand corner. You can share via an email address, direct link or on Facebook. 

After you have closed the enlarged working window, you are taken back to the initial collection page.  All your added images are shown as well as the activity feed on the right.  Here is the link to my one image collection.

I enjoyed using Marqueed.  It could not have been simpler to use.  In the comments when website and YouTube video links became active, I was thrilled.

Students could use it as I did to highlight author or illustrator websites attached to a title.  If there is a book trailer for a title, add it in too.  Images of maps or places of interest could be annotated for projects.  I can see using this for author studies, genre exploration or maybe even for a Mock Caldecott project next year.   This is an exciting application and I highly recommend placing it in your virtual toolbox.