Over the next couple of days I will be focusing on “close reading” but with a twist. Did you know that you can close read a video? a sound file? an image? If you did, then good on you. If not, then you are in for a treat. (My idea of fun is rather…idiosyncratic?)
Close reading is an old buzzword. The idea of slowing down and breaking open a text in order to explicate its meaning goes back to the the very earliest Biblical scholarship. Like most ideas it bears a bit of skepticism. In other words use it and don’t be used by it. Given that caveat here is how I closely annotate a video–I use Vialogues.
Vialogues is a free, online, video annotation tool that allows you to upload YouTube, Vimeo, or self-loaded videos (up to one gigabyte) for sharing and comment. It was created and is hosted by Columbia University’s EdLab at Teacher’s College. I have bee using it since 2012.
Here is one that I have created for us to “play” in. It is Monty Python’s John Cleese telling us “How to Be Creative”.
It is a simple process to comment once you have an account with Vialogues (FREE). Once you have practice with a few Vialogues then you can begin to see the power of the tool. I use it for lots of different purposes: personal, professional, and pedagogical
