Blogshare- Power Director. Blog #8

 The thing that stuck out to me after completing the readings is that a Makerspace is not one set thing but rather a response to the patrons’ or students’ needs in the creative process. Dr. Moorefield-Lang states in her lecture, “we’ve started looking at the needs of our communities and we’ve realized we need to make this more of what our patrons want.”  Which is a sentiment echoed in the article The Makings of Maker Spaces, Part 1: Space for Creation, Not Just Consumption. “Just as libraries are reflections of their patrons, Maker spaces can reflect the needs and desires of the local residents”(TechFifteen, 2021).  With that in mind, I decided to create a hypothetical Makerspace for the Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA) which I toured with my daughter a couple of weeks ago. SOA is a magnet school for arts-minded children divided into several art areas which include instrumentals, visuals, performance, and writing. The school is already well-outfitted with the materials for creation, but I wanted to come up with a way to supplement what they had already in place. 


I found an entry in the School Libray Journal’s blog Teen Librarian Toolbox, which you can read here that discusses the tools that are needed to create movies in the Makerspace. Among the five-item list is the software for Power Director, highly-regarded for video editing. When I began researching Power Director on YouTube, I had trouble finding a short video that highlights the basics because there is so much that you can do with it. It has special effects that can animate photos, create portals ala Dr. Strange, or manipulate colors in the media- for example, the Colorsplash effect, which makes the media black and white aside from one color. 


Here is the link for a collection of videos to help navigate Power Director.


What intrigued me the most about this software was the potential for collaboration. Collaboration and the inter-mingling of skills is one of the intentions of a Makerspace. Having this program in this particular school would provide an activity in which many of the arts area students can participate. If Power Director is used to create a movie then the theatre majors can be the actors, the instrumentalists and vocalists can make the score, and the visual artists can explore the effects to decide how the movie should look. 


I also considered how this software would be useful for the library staff themselves for promoting the space on social media. The blog recommended doing any filming on an iPad which a lot of libraries already have access to. Just add a greenscreen and the capabilities grow tremendously! It could be a lot of fun and a great addition to a creation-driven space. 


The Makings of Maker Spaces, Part 1: Space for Creation, Not Just Consumption. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2022, from http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/


TechFifteen. (2021, May 18). Makerspaces Summer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWQ6B4UnZaA

Comments

  1. Kacee MerrittNovember 6, 2022 at 4:08 PM

    Hi Meg!

    I completely agree with you that makerspaces should be centered around the library’s patrons. Just like anything else that the library has (books, resources, and programs), the community should inspire what and how the librarian serves them. Reading all the articles and exploring blogs this week has made me excited about incorporating a makerspace into my future library. Makerspaces are relatively new to me and your suggestion of creating a movie is incredibly unique. When I’ve pictured makerspaces in the past, I always thought of using simple craft materials. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but incorporating technology allows students to learn digital skills alongside science, engineering, and math. Thank you for sharing the video editing program, PowerDirector. It’s something that I’ve never heard of and would be a good option for Windows technology.

    Kacee Merritt

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  2. Seth WarnerNovember 6, 2022 at 8:29 PM

    Thanks for sharing this cool resource. As a student, I definitely would have been like a moth to a flame for anything related to video editing, and I suspect some school library makerspaces avoid it because editing video requires familiarity with software and sustained periods of working on a single project. Prior to your post, I was not at all familiar with Power Director, which looks pretty comprehensive from the video you shared. What age group do you envision being the youngest to successfully use Power Director with a high level of independence?

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    Replies
    1. The Shelf lifeNovember 7, 2022 at 6:03 AM

      Hi Seth. Thank you for your comments. Because I want to be a secondary school librarian I always envision that age range but I think with established ground rules and responsible guidance it could potentially start younger. This program also does slideshows which can be used to display students artwork in a creative way and you could do stop motion with it which I think would highly appeal to a younger crowd.

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