This week we were placed into groups and assigned a Web 2.0 tool to research. My group was assigned Storybird, which is a web-based tool that allows its members to create storybooks online. The process itself is fairly simple. After creating your profile, you can browse artwork for your potential book either by looking through the posted pieces of work or clicking on key words like, "elephant" or "sunshine" that take you to a compilation of pieces of art by various artists and portray images similar to or relating to "elephants" and "sunshine". Once you have found an artist you prefer, you use their work to compile a story. On each page of your book, you select and image from the artist and write a caption. This process is easy, but you must be creative because you're only able to use the work of one artist to help illustrate your story. For example, if you decided that you needed a picture of a bird in a nest and the artist has illustrated no such picture, then you must find some other option that would be suitable for your story.
Teachers can create a specific story to coincide with a lesson, parents can create a story for their children, and even children can use the site to create a story on their own with enough instruction. The neat thing about creating these stories is that they do not have to remain online; you can order a hard copy of any story that you write and thus, can have that story in your personal library forever. I think that the site could use some improvements like the issue with the limited artwork and also the fact that there is only one template available from which you design the look of your book. Yet, I like this Web 2.0 tool because it is user friendly and FREE, which are two great features.
This is an example of the book that I created using Storybird.
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