The Fall 2011 release of Mediathread, CCNMTL's open-source multimedia study platform, is now live. This release incorporates a number of UI improvements based on a round of user surveys this summer, including:

• Nomenclature normalized: students now import 'items' via the bookmarklet from online 'sources' designated by instructors. Students annotate 'selections' of these items. Mediathread then stores these annotated selections in 'collections,' where they can be accessed by all members of the class and embedded into multimedia 'compositions.'
• Comprehensive dashboard: a redesign of the Mediathread home page so that all components and activities in Mediathread are available directly from the home page.
• Improved item annotation interface: clipping, drawing, tagging, and appending notes onto individual images and videos in Mediathread are smoother activities.
• Annotations discovery: annotations posted by other class members are now easier to find and access when analyzing individual items.

Besides these major changes, we continue to make minor adjustments to improve user and course administration and reduce load times.

A number of courses this fall are using Mediathread, including:

• Oral History: Method and Theory (Mary Marshall Clark, Center for Oral History)
• The Idea of the Western Hemisphere (Seth Fein, History)
• Why No Great Women Artists? (Prudence Peiffer, Art History)
• Northern Nudes (Stephanie Porras, Art History)
• TV and Film in Tibet and Inner Asia (Robbie Barnett, Weatherhead East Asian Institute)
• Multimedia Blake (Mark Phillipson, English)
• History of Epidemiology (Alfredo Moriabia, Mailman School of Public Health)
• Historiography (Jane Gaines, SOA)
• Social Work Commons instructor analysis site (Ann McCann Oakley lead, School of Social Work)

If you are interested in learning more about Mediathread, start with the project information page. You can also send email to ccnmtl-mediathread@columbia.edu to arrange for a demonstration.