This photo is a historical document: it shows President Obama and members of his administration in the White House on 2 May 2011 during the commando operation against Osama bin Laden.

The photo looks like a lot of other photos on the web, but has something special: Embedded within it are hot spots for more information.

So if you move your mouse pointer or a finger on the picture will be displayed to you via circular symbol points at which additional information can be accessed.

And the beauty is for website owners: With the web service thinglink.com you can create as you wish own mouse-over tags for your photos. Thing Left's also a plug-in for WordPress blogs.

The video explains how it works:

Thing with these links not only text labels can be embedded in any pictures, but also audio, video, or complete web sites. Even their own original sound, you can link in damped by Thing with photos.

The example shows a page of advertising in which, among other things, a video is embedded:

The standard for creating professional presentations is probably still Microsoft's PowerPoint. But there is another way. For the preparation of my next lecture I have extensively tested the presentation tool Prezi this week. The tool is not new, but worth a try anyway.

What is different about Prezi?
In the usual presentations a la Microsoft is linearly clicked slide by slide, always pretty in turn, sometimes visually refined by an animated transition or a built-in film animation. Since the first version of PowerPoint has this knit little to nothing changed.

Prezi makes it different: Here the films are not dull lined up, but stored and arranged in a freely scalable area. Text, icons, images, video or PDF files can be placed anywhere with an easy-to-use menu, all components can be moved, resized, rotated, or group. Of course the options entice really dig deep into their bag of tricks - but rather for the author is Responsible then yes, not the tool. Graphically Prezi is very flexible, it can define your own layout styles and offers a convincing simple operating concept.

Those who wish can also specify a sequence path for his presentation: Linear which is then even, but can also be re-directed to any point in the presentation of the big picture. To control a specific slide with Prezi so it needs no wild back-and-forth-clicking but in a more confusing contents. Instead, it simply zooms in and out at the desired location in the presentation into it (see screenshots). Beautiful thing.

(Thanks @ Anja Timmermann for the recommendation)

This video shows the principle:

Related Links

Prezi.com

In an editorial conference workshop I recently asked a young writer, why they are so readily and frequently engages in their articles to nouns, especially to those from the Substantivierungskiste. In their exercise product is teeming with words such as "start", "light" or "energy".

She gave me a disarmingly honest answer. "I think it sounds kind of clever"

When you read in books, newspapers and on websites is then recently I noticed that it probably stands not alone with this opinion even among professionals. As our German language popes can therefore still struggling so much - all calls to provide the nominal style punishable seem futile. In a book about Web 2.0, for example, the author formulated the following sentence:

But in the social network (sic) put much more: it holds considerable potential to improve the interaction with the readers, listeners and viewers, for internal information and communication and to improve collaboration, communication and knowledge management in the newsrooms and media companies.

What?

To my mind, it sounds stilted unnecessary. The fundamental problem with sentences of this type is that they send the readers into the abstract, they obscure the meaning. The author has when writing - indeed had anything specific in mind, but unfortunately the 14 nouns used in the second sentence disguise the fact - maybe. Even though I do not know, of course, in detail, exactly what the author wanted to say with his sentence, he could have said it more clearly. Something like this:

But in the social network puts much more potential: it encourages the readers, listeners and viewers to participate. It intensifies and accelerates the mutual information between colleagues in the newsroom. And allows any employee at any moment, to access exactly the information that is currently required.

This version sounds really stupid now than the original sentence? I can not find.

My Tip: Add any writing tool box is a hammer for smashing superfluous nouns.

When would always want to sneak too many nouns in a sentence, they take this hammer in his hand and cut them on top of each extraneous noun. Fixed! And remember: Above all derived nouns are a nightmare because they are nothing more than prisons for fresh and cheerful verbs.

In "energy" for example, the verb put, "generating" in "Start" maybe "start", an "account" in "consideration". So they smash the Substantivierungsmauern, liberate the verbs from their cells and take them into their sets. You will see: The less nouns are used, the more effect the sentences. Or does it sound now still smarter if I rephrase: Reducing the number of nouns in the sentence structure requires regular clarification regarding the sentence to be switched with a statement?

Copyright: Gemini Observatory / AURA

From the research site usage is known that users are particularly keen interest in photos that freeze the action of a special moment photographically. Not by chance, for example, to press photographers gather at major football tournaments on penalties routinely behind the goal at which to be shot: you aim with their cameras out, the moment which decides on victory and defeat, capture the image.

Access to otherwise inaccessible
Why motives of this kind are so attractive to many observers probably has to do with the fact that it is our inherent visual system impossible to produce still images. So strong are photo opportunities especially those that go beyond the physiological ways of seeing and provide access to otherwise inaccessible visual spaces.

What is true of the photo, is quite similar for the moving image. Again, there are technical options to expand visual perception. These options include the highly popular among users timelapse videos. On the video platform Vimeo.com about lapse videos are one of the most popular categories.

The time-lapse principle is very simple: To produce reasonably smooth movements, a film needs to be shown to its viewers with at least 12 frames per second. Natural-looking movements in the film require that a motion sequence is played back at 24 frames per second. Thus, a (film or photo) camera needs at intervals of 1/12 second to 1/24 second can capture still images to record movements as moving image.

Compress real time
The motion effect then adjusts itself when the time intervals are increased between shots. In a certain period of time so relatively few recordings are made as it is common for natural-looking movements. Then you play these recordings at that pace from that generates a motion illusion, with at least 12 frames per second, then the film is time compressed unnaturally: The film seems like he played with the fast-forward button.

For those who want to try it yourself, video professionals have useful tips. These come from the pen of Dalas Verdugo, he writes for the Vimeo Video School:

• Turn off the autofocus, you do not want this Spontaneously changing during your shoot.
• Keep the camera motionless. Your subject will be doing all the work.
• Set your camera to manual exposure. You do not want this changing every frame.
• Use slow shutter speeds to blur motion in the frame for a cool effect.
• Fast shutter speeds give a more choppy look.
• Take an image about once per second. This rate is up to you.
• A device called to "intervalometer" Automatically can take frames for you at set intervals.
• film / photograph your subject for a long period of time. At least one hour.

The most important tip from the small list is important to make sure that the camera position does not change during the recording, the camera does not move. So you should use it for their lapse photography as a small tripod.

Above all, the following applies: Pick an exciting motif. Interesting are often precisely those time-lapse, the movement can be slow-moving objects are visible. For example, an opening flower, the life of a shadow, the melting away of a scoop of ice cream.

It plays almost no role in the way, whether you use a photo or a film camera. Only the processing process is different: Photos are arranged with an image editing program as a lapse, filming with a video editing program.

Time Lapse via smartphone app
And who wants to make it quite simply, the simply downloads a lapse app on his smartphone that will do the whole thing automatically. For example, for the iPhone, there is such iZeitraffer Tools, Everyday or Timelapser.

These two videos were produced with the app Timelapser and an iPhone 3GS. The smartphone was attached with a flexible tripod at the railing of the ship.

Twitter is a conversation? Or is it text? Or is it - as with chat - both? How exactly this is hardly decide.

It's a fact: A tweet can have 140 characters - nothing more. And that's what makes Twitter so interesting: Whether nonsense, news or neurotic - who (wanted) will trigger reactions send his message twitter meet the Zwitschergemeinde and there, his thoughts have a few characters to sum up.

Of tricks and tweaks for optimal Tweet texts there is no shortage here on the web actually. Frequently, however, they tend to scratch the surface, and are based on the technically-oriented frameworks. Therefore Tips for Tweeting usually see this:

• You have exactly 140 characters.
• Use the 140 characters are not fully out. This leaves room for the fast Retweet (RT = a forwarded tweet) of followers.
• Use # hashtags. So you can fine-tune thematically targeted and assign specific topics your tweet.
• Use shortened URLs (short URLs). So you save valuable characters for the actual statement.
• Retweet! So you show what's important to you and that you are willing to share your information.

While that is good to know. But it says nothing about appropriate content, topics or about keys.

When I look at what I hang tweets remain relatively frequently in the Twitterverse, then it is mainly Twitterers with an unmistakable voice.

Each of these parts has its own timbre. The spectrum ranges from informative to presumptuous about bitchy - just like in real life. Flair Tweet There are so basically cacophonous ways.

If you look at the whole thing systematically, can establish certain basic patterns, and can essentially be reduced to 3 types of voices. Kevi The writing consultant Leroux Miller puts it:

I think this boils down to three basic choices (...). You want people to

DO Something. You are calling them to some kind of action.

Something THINK. You are sharing something helpful or educating them.

Something FEEL. You are building rapport by giving them content did makes them laugh, cry, smile, feel included, or whatever. Never discount the value of rapport. As Maya Angelou says, "I've learned people will forget what did you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

DO, THINK, FEEL leave - so these are the typical basic goals when tweeted. That is the theory.

In practice, there are now more than 300 million Twitter users have (May 2011). In recent weeks, I've picked out some timelines from this jumble words-and more closely viewed to find out what tricks successful use Twitter inside and twitterers.

Episode 1: Sibylle Berg, writer, columnist Mirror Online

The first example is the timeline of the writer and Spiegel Online columnist Sibylle Berg. With her this little "texts-for-Web" series starts at the tonalities typology of Twitterns. If you the following sentences stylistically somehow appear out of round: No paragraph of my brief profiles has more than 140 characters. How on Twitter.

• Twitter profile: @ SibylleBerg

The Statistics: Sibylle Berg reached their tweets a growing number of followers. As of June 2011: more than 15,000 followers. Please click on graph to enlarge.

• character profile (in brackets: the respective number of characters):

Sibylle Berg is the scratch brush. At least on Twitter. Your Biotext: "Buy nothing, fuck anybody." (102)

So, how well they zuzwitschert their 15,000 followers, I'll take her from not. (79)

They like and extensively deals with the topic of "men". Husbands picture it draws in clean lines. (109)

She has an eye for inscrutable, under complex film that background info. (79)

Whether it breaks before the Twitter head over to the exact wording? Hmm. (126)

Either way, your timeline shows a distinctive line. (60)

Your singing is always interesting, often provocative. (53)

She speaks in all registers, would appeal to the DO THINK directed to the drives and their games with the FEEL. (116)

• Typical Sibylle Berg tweets:

EXAMPLE 1

DO: She throws with Linktipps around, commenting touched in shortest form. The cliffhanger tension animates to click on. (130)

TWEET: bought! http://5magazine.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/doggie-lover-doll-by-pet-smilling/

TIP: Good link tips followers make good mood. (50)

EXAMPLE 2

DO: You openly calls on them to do something or not do. (66)

TWEET: all follow, join, forward @ Avaaz http://t.co/JXL9XKA

TIP: make any appeals followers the question: Let's me or I'll do it? And you're right in the middle Response ping pong. (132)

EXAMPLE 3

THINK: Your thoughts popping up in their timeline as text snippets in an MTV pop video. (91)

TWEET: sometime is also the fucking word: calmly die at an angle the journalist heads. beside the corpse of: at eye level

TIP: Personal thoughts are the raw material for introduction. From the virtual world slips a real, at least real-looking person. (126)

EXAMPLE 4

FEEL: You scatters occasionally, what it is doing and also indicates the time of day. The generated images. And proximity. (125)

TWEET: good night friends http://twitpic.com/52u6ch

TIP: create images in which you are to see. This creates an I-am-here feeling. (Um, also in this case.) (131)

EXAMPLE 5

FEEL: She speaks directly to their followers. (45)

TWEET: you want a song. you get a song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ3bxfcT2mI&feature=related

TIP: Tell your Followergemeinde: I perceive you. Or like this: Have something for you. (94)

Related Links:

Infographic: Socio-demographics of the Twitter community

The TfW Practice Tip: The optimal time window for Twitter

For your amusement: Twitter and Facebook replayed on the road