SlideShare has just announced that their "slidecasting" feature will be discontinued. Slidecasting is a nifty service that allows a slideshow (such as one might create in Powerpoint or Keynote) to be synchronized with audio content. In other words, it allows you to narrate your slides.
Nifty, yes, but apparently not popular enough to warrant ongoing maintenance. The folks at SlideShare cited lack of widespread usage in today's announcement.
At the end of February, users will no longer be able to create new slidecasts. At the end of April, existing slidecasts will be zapped into oblivion. Actually they will be converted into static presentations, i.e. plain old slide shows sans audio.
Attentive readers of this blog will know that I, Bart Everson, CAT's resident Media Artist, have created several slidecasts for eager faculty members who were unable to attend my workshops.
So, this is last call for slidecasts.
- Global Immediacy: Using Video Telephony to Bring Distant Guests into Your Classroom
- Social Bookmarking: Using Delicious
- Web Logs and Scholarship: How Blogs Are Changing the Nature of Academic Discourse
If you are interested in these topics, check out these presentations before April 30, at which point they will go silent.
This should serve as a cautionary note. Technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Free services offered by internet companies are liable to vanish quickly.
Photo: At the Immigrant: last call for blackout beer / CC BY-NC 2.0/