Creativity Tools
Media Weaver
Media Weaver (Humanities Software, Inc.) provides a fairly extensive menu of images and a scant-by-comparison menu of sounds and movies to plug into Microsoft Word documents. The program, designed as a creativity tool for students, allows them to enliven their essays with photos, sounds, Quicktime movies, and graphics. A tutorial guides you through the main elements of the program, which is fairly intuitive for those familiar with Adobe PhotoShop and Word. Simply open a word document and begin writing. Whenever you want to insert a Media Weaver element, place the cursor where you want to multimedia-fy, click on Insert, and presto!. There are some problems. You can’t create your own images or sounds – you’re restricted to what the program offers. And the selection is fairly limited. A young essayist chronicling the journeys of early Spanish explorers may have to refine his or her idea of including sounds of creaking masts and crashing waves to fit the limited audio palette available. Need cries of Land Ho? Sorry, a barking dog will have to do. Media Weaver is a good program that’s beginning to show its age. An infusion of fresh multimedia elements would give this title a boost.
- October 1996
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