Woices

This week, I was asked to record three sample audio clips on a free audio repository site. For photos and videos, I knew exactly where I needed to go - Flickr and YouTube. I use these sites so much and force them on my students. Audio - no clue. I embed all of my audio clips directly into my Moodle site.

So, I explored the blogs of my classmates to see what they were using for ideas. I followed Kelly's lead and used Woices for the first time. In fact, I followed her example to experimenting with the speech-to-text abilities. Thank you Kelly for the great ideas.

Woices is an interesting tool. In just a few clicks, I created my account and updated my profile with my photo and information. Click "Create" and "New Woice or Echo" and I was ready to record. It links your "Echo" to a specific location, so you have to link your "Echo" to a spot on the map. At first, I found this strange and a small invasion of my privacy, but then you realize that you are not giving an exact address.

Recording was super easy. Click the large circle and it starts once it gets permission to use your microphone. Since I was using the Text-to-Speech feature, I had to struggle a bit. If you are not talking within five seconds of clicking record, everything stops. It takes me longer to click "Start Speaking" on my Mac! I had to get creative and verbally introduce my clip.

Overall, I am pleased with the abilities and approach to Woices. I am sure with more playing that I will see the real potential of this tool and its need to connect all "Echos" to a geographic region.