HECC Flash Workshop

Buzzword--Flash Word Processor

2007-11-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

Buzzword is absolutely amazing. This is a Flash application that does a great job of online word processing. You can work alone or collaboratively. It even saves your files in your account. Nicely done Flash front and UI with a database.

This is the most exciting technology I have come across in a while!

Dancing Elves

2007-11-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

Well in my opinion this is better than the dancing hamsters. Kids love putting their picture, or someone else's picture, on these groovin' elves and sending them off to family and friends.

Regardless of where you place it on the annoying scale, pretty neat use of Flash. Comes from creators at PixFusion. (Notice it is even patented.)

Go ahead and ElfYourself.

IU Jacobs School of Music

2006-11-15T11:03:00.001-08:00

Indiana University's School of Music has a fantastic interactive timeline that is produced with flash. This is quite impressive in design and interactive qualities. Check it out on the school's about page and click on the link--Historical Timeline toward the bottom third of the page.

Terra Incognita Productions

2006-11-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

Terra Incognita Productions has cranked out quality interactive education websites for some time. They have done work for museuems and university projects and it is often outstanding. They also use flash well and not just to use it.

Check out their productions for yourself!

I Shake You Warmly By the Hand

2005-11-16T09:43:00.001-08:00

This is a site with games, interviews, galleries, and a plethora of information on Roald Dahl. I have used it for several years with my six grade students to help kick off Dahl's autobiography, Boy. I was impressed when I first saw it, and after seeing many more Flash sites--I am still impressed.

Plunder

2005-11-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Vicki Mast from Franklin College sent me an interesting educational site by the Musuem of Natural History. Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga uses Flash,computer elfin magic, and the power of Thor to bring interactive learning. It is particularily interesting how they combine html and Flash together.

Rustboy

2005-11-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

Rustboy is a documentary of Brian Taylor's creative process of a computer animated film. Flash works great to collaboratively showcase the whole process from sketches to final film clips. Also, Taylor has made a great site with a particular style, great feel, and excellent navigation. Hits the mark in both content and function.

Mini Cooper

2005-11-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

There has been several car sites that have cashed in on the power of flash for demos and even manuals. Still, I never get tired of them. Mini Cooper is a pretty cool flash application where you can put together the Mini you want. Try either the Union Jack or checkerboard mirrors. (It is only too bad they do not have a simulation for driving one, and a blessing I could not just click "add to my cart.")

Mr. Picasso Head

2005-11-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

Mr. Picasso Head is a interactive use of Flash were you can create your own picassos. The back end will also save the work and has a gallery of user submitted art.

Flipbook! is a similar Flash application were you can make your own flip book. (I went to college with a guy who made a picture book of a tractor crash that had like two hundred pages. He feigned illness from high school one day to finish it.)

Lost

2005-11-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Here is fairly recent site for a popular television series. (My parents have added this to their watch list as well as the fifty some CSIs.) It is a good example of entire flash user interface. Even the video is added using Flash. It also has been stylized by the new filters in Flash 8 like blur and glow. Check out Lost and leave some comments about what you think. Lost

You can also check out Making Fiends which some of you may have noticed on the side bar. It is a great example of creative animation done in Flash. (My kids love these.)

Cycles

2005-11-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

Before we meet for our workshop, I wanted to share some inspirational Flash websites. Hopefully these sites will provide scope and cast a vision of what you might do with Flash. Feel free to comment here about the sites you view. You are welcome to comment on style, content, HCI (particuliary navigation and use of Flash to accomplish usability), or anything else about the site that you liked or did not like.

The first site I will offer up is Cycles. It is about African art and culture. It is done by an excellent team called Terra Incognita, who has delivered some impressive educational Flash sites. They really create interactive documentaries to be used by learners of all types.