Title: Interactive Activities in Music Using Macromedia Flash Streaming Audio and Video in Blackboard
1Interactive Activities in Music Using Macromedia
Flash Streaming Audio and Video in Blackboard
- Dr. Steven Kreinberg
- Temple University
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- kreinberg_at_temple.edu
ATMI / CMS San Antonio, Texas September 2006
2What is Flash?
- Term is used interchangeably to describe both the
authoring tool software and the media player
(Flash Player) that displays the published output
(.swf files). - Optimized for delivery over the Internet using
the free, downloadable Flash Player. - Extremely small file sizes enable quick download
of content. - Cross platform and cross browser compatible
- Content can be embedded or linked (streamed)
- Has its own programming language (Actionscript)
3Flash Authoring Tool
- Enables the development of Rich Internet
Applications - Audio content (supports .wav, .aiff, .mp3, among
others) - Video content (supports .avi, .dv., .mpg, .mpeg,
.mov, .wmv, .asf) - Vector and bitmap graphics
- Photos and other media (.jpg, .tiff, .pdf among
others) - Enables the creation of
- Animations
- Games
- User interfaces, such as interactive navigation
bars for web sites, animated buttons, hypertext
links to content on the Internet audio and video
jukeboxes, for example. - Flexible messaging areas that change often or
over time, such as news items, announcements, and
messages. - Interfaces with databases for user input and
output.
4The Flash Player
- Flash Player is installed on approximately 97.3
of the worlds Internet-enabled
computers.Source http//www.adobe.com/products/p
layer_census/flashplayer - Content also can be placed on mobile devices,
such as mobile phones and PDAs. - Flash .swf files can be converted other file
formats to enable display on video iPods and
other similar devices.
5Use in Blackboard
- Perfect platform for developing content within
Blackboard course tool. - Most students already have Flash Player installed
on their computers - Cross-platform and cross-browser compatible
- Fast downloads
- Interactivity
- Aurally and visually rich applications
- Instructor can supplement course text material.
6Three Ways to Create Content
- Embedding
- Creates large file sizes
- Progressive download
- Allows linking of media content
- Creates smaller file sizes for faster downloads
- Allows user choice in selecting the content
download - Streaming
- Allows linking of media content
- Creates smaller file sizes for faster downloads
- Allows user choice in select the content download
- Does not download any content to the local
computer - Requires Flash Communication Server
7Flash Components
- Ready-made components that minimize or eliminate
need to program in Actionscript. - Components already contain the programming code.
- Developer can add additional programming, if
desired, for further interactivity - MediaPlayback Component (Flash MX2004) and FLV
Playback Component (Flash 8) play audio and/or
video in .MP3 or .FLV encoded files. - Flash Video Converter, which ships with Flash
MX2004 Professional or Flash 8 Professional),
converts audio and video content for use within
Flash. - QuickTime Pro, Adobe After Effects, Final Cut Pro
(among others) also export to .FLV for use in
Flash.
8Navigation Using Components
- Labeled Frame CuePoint Navigation
- Slide CuePoint Navigation
9Labeled Frame CuePoint Navigation Demo Graphics
Appear onthe Next Three Slides
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13Slide CuePoint NavigationDemo Graphics Appear
on the Next Three Slides
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17How to Encode Audio and Video for Progressive
Streaming in Flash
- Use the Flash Video Exporter that ships with
the Flash program 7.2 and higher. - Once installed, export files to the .flv format
from within Flash, or alternatively from within
several popular software packages, such as Adobe
After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and QuickTime Pro,
among several others.
18How to Place Flash Progressive Streaming Content
in Blackboard
- Create content in Flash. Publish the Flash file
(.swf) and the HTML container. The Flash .swf
file is displayed within the Flash Player, and
the HTML page contains the Flash Player. (These
publishing options are found in File Publish
Settings within Flash). You will end up with
two files - Filename.swf
- Filename.html
19How to Place Flash Progressive Streaming Content
in Blackboard
- Create a zipped (.zip) file using any standard
compression program, such as WinZip
(http//www.winzip.com) that contains the
following files - Filename.swf
- Filename.html
- ALL of the media files (.mp3 and/or .flv) that
your Flash presentation uses as streaming files.
(Embedded content does not have to be included
here, since it is already contained within the
Flash .swf file. You only need to include the
streamed content, such as your video files in the
.flv format and your audio files in the .mp3 or
.flv format). - You will end up with one .zip file that contains
all of your Flash, html, .mp3 and .flv files.
20How to Place Flash Progressive Streaming Content
in Blackboard
- Launch Blackboard. Create an Item in one of the
Content Areas of your Blackboard site. - To add your Flash content to your Item, click
File to Attach - Select your .zip file ONLY.
- Under Special Action, select Unpackage this
file - Click Submit to upload your content to
Blackboard. - DO NOT leave this page while your content
uploads. - When your content has loaded, Blackboard will
list ALL of the files contained in your .zip
file. - Select the Filename.html file
- Click Submit to load this selection.
- Thats it! Enjoy your content from within
Blackboard.
21Finding More Information
- Flash
- http//www.adobe.com/products/flash/flashpro
- Components
- http//www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/components.html
- Development
- http//www.adobe.com/devnet/flash
- Screens
- http//www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/screens.html
- Video
- http//www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/video.html
- Mutopia Project
- http//mutopiaproject.org
- This is an incredibly rich source of free music
in the Public Domain. You can obtain scores in a
variety of fomats (including PDF) and MIDI sound
files of the music, all of which are
downloadable.