A Multimedia Scrapbook is a website that allows you to gather together text, media, video and audio in one place. You could use Website Makers, Blogs and Wikis, some Timeline tools or even some Presentation tools such as Voicethread to make multimedia scrapbooks. However, on this page I have focused on tools that are designed specifcally for the purpose of making such books.

1. Glogster - The strength of Glogster lies in the appearance of the pages that can be created. Media is added to the page very easily and you can then apply a wide range of themes and other objects such as picture frames to your inserted media. Glogs can be inserted into other pages such as the one I inserted into the homepage of this site. The style of Glogster will appeal to teenagers but you will need to take care with the public posting of Glogs as some may be inappropriate. Even in the few months that I have been using this tool the tone seems to have taken a downward turn with more and more bad language and inappropriate material getting posted. Perhaps because of such concerns they have launched an educational version which is much more secure. Student Glogs can be made private and only accessible to invited members. There is also a comment and rating function for the Glog. You could do a group project by giving the same user name and password to several students. The tool is used for a variety of purposes and quite a few people use it to post poems or thoughts in a more graphical form. Glogs can be printed by following the instructions in the FAQ section but ultimately this defeats the purpose of having a multimedia scrapbook which is best appreciated when viewed live. While the student site is an improvement, It should be noted that the address is simply glogster.com/edu and it would therefore be very easy for your students to end up on the wrong site if they forget the 'edu' part of the address.



2. Stixy - After signing up you are given a brief but useful tutorial. You can begin without validating your e-mail. You are presented with a blank piece of electronic paper and can begin editing. There are no templates as you get with Glogster which is a pity. You can add notes (with hyperlink), photos, documents(word etc.) and to do lists to a stixy. (No video yet). There is also a calendar which might be useful for group work . Collaboration can be achieved either by sharing user name and password, sharing a web address or by invitation through e-mail. You can make the Stixy view only or leave it open for editing. There is also a password function for added protection when sharing and I think this is probably the easiest way to allow editing. Click Here for an example. The password is darren and you should be able to edit this page. Where Glogster's strength is in its presentation, Stixy's strength is in the ease of collaboration.

3. Scrapblog You can begin without validating your e-mail. You can begin with a theme or blank page, there is a wide choice of themes available. Photos can be imported from picasso etc. Balloons, shapes, words ...you name it you can add it to your scrap blog. As this is a multimedia book you can also add music and video as well as controlling page transitions like a presentation. Scrapblogs can be private or public. Group collaboration would need a common user name and password to be used. This is a short example I created. While you cannot print from the website there is an option to buy a printed book of your scrapblog. You could offer to purchase the best student book which would be a nice addition to any open day.



4. ClipClip - Your e-mail account must be verified before use. This tool must be downloaded into your browser and works like a traditional scrapbook. You use your scissors to clip part of a webpage and then share this clip with others. Probably more of a social bookmarking feel than a scrapbook. Click Here for an example.

5.Nota - Currently in Beta testing and only available through invitation. It is an interesting looking tool and may be one worth keeping an eye on as it develops. I particularly look the like of the chat function which would aid group work. The only disappointment is that there are no themes to get you started.



7. Rememble - You can begin without verifying your e-mail. The page you are re-directed to has a number of video tutorials to watch. You can add video, images, audio and text via your computer or mobile phone to create what is known as a Memble. The results are shown on a timeline which can then be set up to view all additions or only audio, video etc. You can add comments to each element on the Memble although these are not shown on the timeline. The comment tool was not working on the day I used it so I don't know if they should show up or not. You can also create a Group Memble.



8. Tumblr - This site does not require e-mail validation before starting to use. You can make your Tumblr private or public. There are a small number of templates to choose from. The end result is probably more truly a multimedia website than a scrapbook but it is much simpler than website making. Click here to see an example.

9. Baagz - You must validate your e-mail before use. Contributors have to be set up at the beginning and sharing is through e-mail. You could give several users the same user name and password as an alternative way of sharing. This is a very simple tool and while not as sophisticated as some it does allow pictures, text and video to be added easily to give a reasonable looking scrapbook. Click Here for an example.



10. Zoho Notebook - One of a range of Zoho tools, the notebook allows you to create a page with the full range of multimedia elements in it. There are no templates so the final look is entirely dependent on what the student can create. Items can be moved anywhere on the page before you use the Pin tool to fix them in place. You can create several pages in your scrapbook. In the example I have created the first page includes the Multimedia elements while the second is a website page. This is a fairly unique feature and you could imagine how students could gather together important webpages they have discovered. The webpage is live so perhaps they could use the other pages to comment on a particular website. The books can be published or shared by e-mail. When sharing by e-mail there is the option to allow the visitor to view only or edit the pages. Click Here to view example.

11. Vuvox - The tool can be started without validating an e-mail account. There are 3 main tools here each of which deserve your attention. The first is a Panorama Collage tool. Here you can create a collage of several different photos and include hotspots which link to media, text and other sites. This in essence makes it into a multimedia scrapbooking tool. You can choose to make your Collage or have it automatically generated. Images can also be imported from picasa. flickr etc. There is an example below.



12. Wallwisher - This is a simple and effective tool where multiple users can paste text, pictures and videos onto a wall to form a collective project.