Hello VoiceThreaders,

We're very happy to announce that over 700,000 historical images from The New York Public Library's Digital Gallery are now freely and instantly available whenever you're creating a VoiceThread. Our new Media Browser allows you to search or browse these primary source materials - maps, photos, drawings, paintings, posters and more, and then import them directly into any VoiceThread. Links back to the original location of the images on the web are automatically inserted to make citing and attribution easier for you and your students.

nypl.voicethread.com

We've also created a unique VoiceThread portal at nypl.voicethread.com where you can find and make copies of VoiceThreads created by the amazing staff of the New York Public Library. These Learning Modules include expert commentary explaining the background of the images and provide a starting point for further exploration and use of these source materials in the classroom.

VoiceThread Learning Modules

A few months ago we added the ability for you make copies of your own VoiceThreads and now you can let others make a copy as well. This major new feature allows something we've wanted for a long time, the development of private and public libraries containing reusable VoiceThread Learning Modules. So, if you've created a great VoiceThread that was successful for you, please share it with the community publicly, or just with those in your organization, company, district, or university. When you are editing your VoiceThread just click 'Playback Options' in the bottom left of the screen and then check the box 'Allow others to Make a Copy'.

Flickr Creative Commons Search

As part of the new Media Browser, we've rebuilt our Flickr import feature to make it much faster and most importantly to enable the search and import of images with a Creative Commons License. As with the images from the New York Public Library, we will automatically insert a link back to the original web address of the image. We hope this makes gathering your content faster and simpler.

Comment Reordering

Our most requested feature of the last year is now live and ready for beta-testing. If you are the creator or editor of a VoiceThread you can now reorder the comments by moving your mouse over any comment segment on the timeline beneath the VoiceThread. Just hold down the shift key while over the timeline and then click-drag to move a comment segment to another position. This long-overdue feature will allow you much greater control over the quality of your conversations. We'll be adding more advanced elements soon, so please let us know what you think.

Finally, please continue to share your great work in our VoiceThread Library. The submissions continue to impress as well as educate others on best practices when using VoiceThread. Thanks so much for all of your help developing and sharing them.

Have a great upcoming year and please continue to give us your feedback, it's the touchstone for all of our work.

- The VoiceThread Team.