As a team out of the University of Washington explains in a new paper titled “Synthesizing Obama: Learning Lip Sync from Audio,” they’ve made several fake videos of Obama.
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Fake news: you ain’t seen nothing yet
Generating convincing audio and video of fake events, July 1, 2017
took only a few days to create the clip on a desktop computer using a generative adversarial network (GAN), a type of machine-learning algorithm.
Faith in written information is under attack in some quarters by the spread of what is loosely known as “fake news”. But images and sound recordings retain for many an inherent trustworthiness. GANs are part of a technological wave that threatens this credibility.
Amnesty International is already grappling with some of these issues. Its Citizen Evidence Lab verifies videos and images of alleged human-rights abuses. It uses Google Earth to examine background landscapes and to test whether a video or image was captured when and where it claims. It uses Wolfram Alpha, a search engine, to cross-reference historical weather conditions against those claimed in the video. Amnesty’s work mostly catches old videos that are being labelled as a new atrocity, but it will have to watch out for generated video, too. Cryptography could also help to verify that content has come from a trusted organisation. Media could be signed with a unique key that only the signing organisation—or the originating device—possesses.
Estimated Hours of Learning: 28 Certificate of Completion available upon request
Learning outcomes
After participating in this eCourse, you will:
Gain experience using some of the best apps available and understand how they enable learning
Learn how to evaluate and review mobile apps
Learn how tablets complement laptops, and how their capabilities are creating new learning opportunities
Learn how apps are being used by people with special needs, and where to find additional resources for learning more
Receive guidance for creating your own app guides, offering workshops, and advising colleagues
In this 5-week eCourse, you’ll learn about the most useful apps available on tablet and mobile devices and how they can be applied in your library to create the best learning experiences for your patrons and students.
Mobile apps are empowering for people of all ages and abilities. Contrary to the popular idea that apps are only useful for “consumption,” the best apps are being used effectively as tools to enable learning and knowledge creation. In this eCourse, Nicole Hennig will show you how to incorporate apps as learning tools at your library.
Readings about security, writing, mobile apps in academia
Your thoughts on the readings (discussion forum)
Optional app review assignment
Week 3 – Reference
The Apps
Dictionaries, encyclopedias
Unit converters, maps, languages
Specialized reference apps
Subscription databases & citations
Readings & Discussion
Readings about jailbreaking, platforms, & mobile web
Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines
Your thoughts on the readings (discussion forum)
Optional app review assignment
Week 4 – Multimedia
The Apps
Art viewing
Art creation
Photography and photo editing
Music listening
Music creation
Video viewing and editing
Readings & Discussion
Readings about technology & children
Your thoughts on the readings (discussion forum)
Optional app review assignment
Week 5 – Accessibility & More
Accessibility features of mobile devices
Readings & Discussion
Readings about assistive technology
Your thoughts on the readings (discussion forum)
Idea generation assignment
Ideas for using apps in library programs & services
Apps that wow
How this eCourse Works
The eCourse begins on June 5, 2017. Your participation will require approximately five to six hours a week, at times that fit your schedule. All activities take place on the website, and you will be expected to:
Read, listen to or view online content
Post to online discussion boards
Complete weekly assignments or activities
Instructor Nicole Hennig will monitor discussion boards regularly during the five-week period, lead group discussions, and will also answer individual questions. All interaction will take place on the eCourse site, which will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s recommended that students log into the site on the first day of class or within a few days for an overview of the content and to begin the first lesson.
Adobe Spark is a suite of free tools for creating images, videos, and simple web pages. Key features of Adobe Spark’s web app include an integrated Creative Commons image search tool, the option to download images as JPEGs, and the option to download your videos as MP4 files
Sharalike is a good option to consider when you want to create an audio slideshow. To create an audio slideshow on Sharalike simply import some images from your computer, your Android device or from your iPad, drag them into the sequence in which you want them to appear, and then add some music. Sharalike offers a small collection of stock music that you can use or you can upload your own music.
PowToon is a popular tool for creating animated videos online. PowToon provides a drag-and-drop editor for creating animated videos. The videos that you create feature digital paper cut-outs on a colorful background. Think of PowToon as an online tool for creating videos in the style made popular by Common Craft. PowToon provides drawings of people and objects that you can arrange on blank canvas. After adding your narration to the arrangement you can publish your video.
Magisto is a video creation tool that allows you to quickly drag videos and images from your desktop and or Google Drive account to your Magisto account. After you’ve uploaded the media that you want mixed, select a theme and music for your video.From the video clips and images that you upload, Magisto will select the best portions to remix and blend together. Magisto creates your video after you’ve completed the steps of uploading media, selecting a theme, and choosing music. The final video is emailed to you. In addition to the web-based service Magisto offers a Chrome app, an Android app, and an iPad app.
Chrome app called CaptureCast. CaptureCast, produced by Cattura Video, allows you to record the screen on your Chromebook as well as input from your webcam. To record a video with the webcam on your Chromebook open CaptureCast in your browser then allow it to access your webcam and microphone. You can specify how high of a resolution you would like to use to capture your video. You can also choose your audio quality. If you have an external microphone connected to your Chromebook, make sure that you have it enabled before you start recording. When you have finished recording in CaptureCast you can save your video on your Chromebook or upload it to YouTube, to Vimeo, or to Google Drive.
imbus Screenshot is a tool for creating screencast videos on Chromebooks. It is easy to install, includes customizable countdown timer, and offers multiple ways to save and share your videos. Screencasts recorded with Nimbus Screenshot can be saved to your local drive or to an online Nimbus account. I chose to save to my local drive then upload to my YouTube channel. You could also save to your local drive then share to Google Drive or another online storage service.
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more on video editing in this IMS blog https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=video+editing
If you go to the Facebook Live Map and browse the live feeds, you’ll often see people talking about nothing in particular, with unflattering close-up camera angles and scratchy audio. People often shift their phones from hand to hand when they tire of holding them, and brush the mic without realizing it.
#2: Invest in a Mobile Phone Setup Budget: $150-$300
iPhone Setup When choosing a mount for an iPhone, consider the iOgrapher ($60), shown below. Attach the 37mm wide angle lens ($40) if you want to get more people or surroundings in the video. Android and Windows Phone Setup The Saramonic SmartMixer ($149) fits any phone (including the iPhone) and incorporates both audio and video stabilization in one piece of gear. The mics are stereo, and you can angle them however you want to capture multiple people talking.
#3: Broadcast From Your Desktop
Budget: Free-$600 Going live from your computer allows you to bring in guests to interview, add pre-recorded video, graphics, titles (so people know who the hosts are), and more.
You can use the built-in camera on your computer or a USB camera, like the Logitech C920 ($99).
OBS OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is open-source software, which means it’s available for free.
OBS is a great option, but it doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of paid software to make it intuitive or easy to use. You’ll need to do a bit of setup and testing before you go live.
Wirecast Wirecast ($495) has been around for years and has come a long way in the last few months as Facebook Live has exploded in popularity. The interface is a little more intuitive than OBS, but still requires some setup and experimentation.
Adobe Spark Video is an elegant, easy-to-use tool for creating animated videos that tell a story. It’s available as a browser-based cloud app or as an iOS app. You can get it as a single app or install the 3-in-1 tool to access the Spark Post and Spark Page companion apps too.
What’s great about Spark Video is that it’s quick. You can create a compelling animated video story in just minutes without any design experience, and work on your project from anywhere. As a cloud-based tool, your progress is saved and synced automatically, so you can work on it on mobile or desktop whenever creative inspiration strikes.
Animoto
Now let’s look at a tool that’s similar to Adobe Spark, but gives you more flexibility over your content. Animoto is an affordable, cloud-based tool that offers an assortment of choices and customizations to create a one-of-a-kind video to tell your brand’s story.
This tool gives you a little more control than Adobe Spark Video. You can start with a blank canvas (choosing your own colors, styles, and frames to more closely match your brand) or adapt one of the tool’s wide variety of templates.
YouTube Director
YouTube Director is a revolutionary tool to create video ads for business. Geared toward small local businesses, it’s a foolproof way to tell a compelling story in a short format.
As you follow the prompts, you’re guided to capture images, video, and voiceovers. Then you can post the video and run a video ad campaign on YouTube.
Best experience with VR goggles: Google Cardbox, HTC Vive etc. (please ask for more info if needed). If you have goggles, choose “VR Mode” (1), if viewing on your computing device (desktop, laptop, smart phone, tablet) and/or don’t have goggles, choose “Panorama Mode” (2)
Save
If you would like to brainstorm ideas to apply Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and/or 360 video in your courses, please let us know…
Whether you’re using a smartphone or a DSLR camera, one thing Roberto recommends before recording is to check the environment. Look for and remove any distractions from the background. For example, if there’s noise from cars driving by you can change your location. If there’s a part of your office that needs to be cleaned, you can tidy up.
He also says you should think about the context of your background. For instance, when Roberto does personal vlogs as motivation for creatives and entrepreneurs who might be thinking about giving up, he uses his bookshelf as the backdrop. It’s appropriate because there is literally a collection of people behind him who put something out there and could have quit just as easily.
Roberto also notes you should consider audio, the lighting in the room, and take a photo of the shot, to check framing and composition, before you film. The photo gives you a way to make sure the video will be shot at the angle you want. Roberto shares that if he’s filming with his camera, he’ll use the remote or a timer to take a photo of him in the shot. With a smartphone, he says you can use a selfie stick, or tripod, or the timer feature.
Adobe Premiere Clip, which is simple to use. All you need is a free Adobe account, which you can sign up for via email. It can upload video directly to YouTube and Facebook for you. It also has color grading filters, lets you loop background audio (they have a few tracks which are royalty free), mix down the audio, edit clips together, cut things out, and more.
Plus, if you have professional software, like Adobe Premiere Pro at home, you can do a rough cut of everything in Premiere Clip from your phone, and then save it to Creative Cloud, go back to your desktop, and then tweak and do all the advanced editing there.
