Open GIFs

[pennybphd]

Confused? New to Github? Visit the GitHub help page on our site for more information!

[//]: # "======================= Even if you know Github well, we suggest you read this. Anything between these lines you can leave or delete, as they won't display anyway when you post (you can check this via Preview changes). They're here to help you complete issues quickly and in a way that will help other participants. If you're posting a new project, or challenge. We suggest you fill out the Google Forms first. ============================"

At a glance

Submission name: Open GIFs

Contact lead: pennyb@gmail.com

Issue area: #OpenAccess, #OpenData, #OpenEducation, #OpenResearch

Region: #Europe

Issue Type: #Project

Types of Support Needed: #Communications, #19

[//]: # "======================= GIFs are a really great way to communicate issues and messages around Open and make people smile, but there aren't many openly-licensed GIFs as most popular GIFs use copyrighted content and others aren't fun to share because they are based on graphics and not real people. Good GIFs, that loop perfectly and make people smile, can be made more quickly and easily than people think. We're going to make and share some. ============================"

What are we working on during the do-a-thon? What kinds of support do we need?

[//]: # "======================= We need people willing to be filmed for up to 10 seconds saying or doing something related to Open that will translate well into a looping animated GIF. It would also be good if people want to learn how to make good GIFs and promote them afterwards. ============================"

How can others contribute?

[//]: # "======================= Let's discuss here.============================"

[//]: # "======================= You're ready to post!!! After posting your issue, the real work begins. Next, you might want to: Tweet a link to this issue with #opencon so others can join in Make another issue to involve people in your work - remember to use your metadata Come back from time to time and update the community on your project. You'll get an email update whenever someone interacts with your issue. ============================"

This post is part of the OpenCon 2017 Do-A-Thon. Not sure what's going on? Head here.

[pennybphd]

I'm going to start by trying to put some instructions in here, a list of potential GIFs to be made and things people can contribute. Bear with me.

[CCoulter11]

Where are you set up? Can this be a drop in and out affair?

[pennybphd]

The apps I use to make GIFs from original content (i.e. not swiped from TV, movies etc):

1. GIF Toaster - best all round app, but iOS only. Convert video, photos or other GIFs into a GIF, with lots of control over the settings. This is important because Twitter has file size limits and different kinds of content will look best at different frame rates, output sizes and lengths. (iOS) Alternative - Try GIF Maker for Android. [Android]

2. GIPHY Cam - can film directly from app, has fun effects and also has a new setting where you can record someone speaking and have their words pop up as text in a speech bubble (iOS/Android)

3. Clips - can add subtitles easily to a video (if you speak the words at the same time as the original video, the words will appear on screen at the right time), which can then be turned into a GIF with one of the other apps. iOS only. (iOS)

4. Vont - put text on videos easily. iOS only. (iOS)

5. VideoShow - edit videos, add effects and text. Android only. (Android)

[pennybphd]

I'm set up in Einstein, and you can drop in and out or participate from afar.

[pennybphd]

GIF Basics

• A GIF is a short looping animated image, like a video without sound.
• Most GIFs are made by making short videos or editing longer videos into short clips and then converting them into GIFs.
• Good GIFs loop 'cleanly' - they make sense without other contextual information and if you watch the GIF loop several times, the start and end points go well together so it seems to be seamless.
• A GIF should be no longer than 10 seconds, and ideally a lot shorter.
• Twitter has a file size limit on GIFs you upload or choose from the inbuilt GIF search engine. This means there will always be compromises to make a GIF work and be usable: image size, length, frame rate etc.
• Most GIFs are made from copyrighted content - don't do that for Open GIFs. Make your own videos or animations and turn those into GIFs.
  • If you upload GIFs to a website like GIPHY then other people can download them to their devices and upload them to Twitter, Tumblr and other websites, or find them in the search engines on Twitter and Facebook. Tag ones for Open GIFs with openGIFs so people know they are openly licensed and fine to use.
• Also upload them here for posterity!

[pennybphd]

How to contribute

• Make your own GIF and upload to Github and GIPHY (tagged openGIFs) and post them here to let us know.
• Come to Einstein after lunch and practice using the apps to make GIFs.
• Make a short video, 10 seconds or less, that illustrates something about Open or the thing you are trying to communicate about. It needs to work without sound - but we can overlay text or subtitles. Then we can make it into a GIF or show you how to. Put people in your video! But only with consent.
• Come up with ideas for people to make into GIFs.
• Agree to be in a GIF, especially if you are from an underrepresented group or want to make GIFs that appeal to people outside the Global North.

[pennybphd]

Ideas for GIFs - please comment with your ideas, or things that need illustrating to help you use GIFs in Open advocacy. Like the Noun Project, but with GIFs. For example...

• a question or challenge, like I hit a paywall! or Why is African research invisible?
• a word or concept, like collaboration, or Open Data.
• a campaign, like We Are International or Bullied into Bad Science.
• an event, like an OpenCon satellite event.
• a need, like money or volunteers or votes.

[pennybphd]

What if I already have a video online I want to make into a GIF? (As long as you have copyright permission!) You can use the GIPHY website to convert part or all of the video into a GIF.

[pennybphd]

What if I want to make an instructional GIF, like uploading something to a repository in a less boring way than screenshots but less LONG than a YouTube video? RecordIt for Mac and Windows lets you record a screencast quickly and turn it into a GIF.

[pennybphd]

What if I want to turn lots of photos or other images (with copyright permission!) into a GIF? You can do that with the apps upthread too - same caveats apply about file size if you want to post it on Twitter.

[pennybphd]

Aren't GIFs inaccessible for visually impaired people? Well, not all VI people are blind, so some people can see them. But Twitter has handy instructions for creating image captions (and don't be lazy with them, if there's a joke in the photo or GIF then put that in!) for iOS, Android and on the web.

[pennybphd]

What are some other innovative uses of GIFs?

• You can use GIFs to show a quick demo of how to do something that would be difficult to describe in words and a pain to watch on video. Here's an example from Huffington Post.
• You can use GIFs for simple but effective data visualisations. Here's an example from NPR.

[pennybphd]

How on earth do I make a data visualisation GIF? I'm not a dataviz expert! Google have a tool for that. It's very easy to use. You don't need a massive dataset to make a GIF - some basic numbers can look great.

[pennybphd]

What about team GIFs in Slack? You could use the GIPHY integration, or you could use Sir Gifs-A-Lot, which lets your team make GIFs using their webcams. This can be a great way to make remote teams feel more connected, and also to generate content easily that showcases the diversity of your group.

[pennybphd]

What's it all about really? I get what GIFs are, but not why? Apart from making people laugh or making them intrigued, GIFs are all about capturing moments, and moments help you to tell stories. Stories help make people more engaged with your idea or campaign or organisation.

[pennybphd]

There are even GIFs showing how to use GitHub and the terminal This government tutorial uses GIF screenshots in its how-to.

[pennybphd]

How can GIFs go badly wrong, and why? GIFs can cause people with photosensitive epilepsy to have a seizure.

There's a really good Motherboard article about it, but strobing GIFs can be used to maliciously target the 3% of people with epilepsy who have photosensitive epilepsy (PSE).

So which gifs are best avoided? Lizzie says to think before sharing any that change colour or change contrast (from light to dark) very quickly, as well as gifs with psychedelic colours and patterns. Spittles says most people with photosensitive epilepsy are sensitive to 16-25 Hertz, though some are sensitive to rates as low as 3 Hertz or as high as 60 Hertz.

This quotation is from epileptic Lizzie Huxley-Jones in a New Statesman article about PSE.

[pennybphd]

What about digital heritage, though? You can make GIFs from multiple photos/other images with the apps mentioned upthread, and lots of people do - with the usual caveats about length and file size, and making a moment rather than a boring slideshow. The DPLA run the GIF It Up competition every year and put resources online and run workshops face-to-face.

People manipulate and animate archival and public domain images for all sorts of reasons.

• 6 Second History is an Instagram account bringing historical images to life.
• Bill Domonkos mixes archival and new imagery to make disturbing and surreal GIFs as part of his artistic practice.

[LaurentGatto]

[pennybphd]

Other cool data things Instructions for how to make complex data visualisation GIFs in R, for those sustainable software folk.

Here's a tutorial for making animated infographics in Photoshop (come on, librarians!).

Data animation resources are available here in GitHub from the data GIF queen, @lenagroeger

[pennybphd]

Kelsey Wroten is an illustrator who makes GIFs by adding dynamic elements to still images. All you comics artists out there (cough, @lorrainechu3n), this is something that you could think about doing. Awesome queer creators have responded to Pride in GIF form.

(Summer Lesbians GIF by Kelsey Wroten)

[pennybphd]

You can add some fun new effects in GIPHY Cam, which make use of both speech and face recognition, but it's a bit buggy at the moment and sometimes crashes or just fails to work.