When I read online, I bookmark resources that I find interesting and useful. I share these links on my blog about once a month. This article contains links related to AI image generation and editing, accessibility, e-learning distribution, behavioral engineering, and other useful resources.
AI image generation and editing
Consistent character AI
A tool for creating character images with the ability to edit expressions, poses, head positions, and more. Currently in beta phase. There’s no free plan, but it has more options than most similar tools.
Free AI Photo Editor – Use AI to edit images online | hand-drawn
Freepik’s online image editor includes some non-AI features, such as cropping and color adjustment, as well as some AI features, such as generating changes and AI backgrounds. The free plan has a limited number of builds and downloads.
AI consistent character creator: poses, faces and avatars
This is another AI character image generator worth testing.
magic quill
MagicQuill is an online image editing tool that focuses on artificial intelligence restoration of existing images. Upload an image and draw the shape of what you want to add or change in the image. The tool guesses what you want and generates text prompts for you. If it guesses correctly, you can run it and generate the edited image. If you guess wrong, you can adjust the hint. Open source tool with CC license; you can obtain the source code and run it on your own server if desired.
Accessibility
vidi scribe
AI generated video audio description. This is a way to improve accessibility and make movies more accessible to blind and low-vision users. Creating message descriptions manually is time-consuming, which means most organizations skip them. This can be a quick and cheap way to improve accessibility.
Accessible typography
Busting myths related to typography and accessibility. Adding a space after the period improves accessibility.
Alternative text: what to write
How to write good alt text? Which images require alt text? This article from the NN Group answers both questions. I learned something new about adding periods at the end of alt text. This framework of image usage and how it affects alt text is also helpful.
Summary: Images are decorative, functional or informational. Skip alt text for decoration. Describe functional actions. Deliver a message to get a message.
Even if the alt text is not a complete sentence, it must end with a period. This period ensures that screen readers pause after reading the alt text.
eLearning Distribution and Tracking
Is XCL a replacement for LMS? |Mark Burthelemy Consulting
Mark Berthelemy reviews Build Capable’s new XCL tools. This is a way to track training completion and other data without using an LMS, just provide a link to a course or resource. XCL is currently in beta, so some of the issues noted may be resolved later.
SCORMridge: Secure and seamless delivery of SCORM content
This is a tool for distributing SCORM files without providing the actual complete file, useful for licensing content to clients. This can also be used to update a single published source file and have changes propagated through multiple LMSs at different sites.
behavioral engineering
Shift focus from learning to performance
Tom McDowall shares an overview of Thomas Gilbert’s Behavioral Engineering Model, a way of thinking beyond training and looking at other interventions that support improved performance
BEM helps us shift our focus from learning to performance. We don’t just make sure people know something, we make sure they can actually do something.
BEM breaks down effectiveness into six key factors. These are divided into two categories: environmental supports and personal attributes or behavior libraries. By studying these factors, we can identify factors that are hindering performance and how to resolve them.
email marketing
I’ve Tried Every Email Marketing Tool – These Are the Best (2024)
Review of email marketing tools, narrowed down to MailerLite and Brevo. Well organized explains the process of narrowing down the list and which features are important.
Other helpful resources and tools
Cassidy | An AI workspace for your team
Want to use an LLM like ChatGPT but need a more secure option? Cassidy is designed to work securely within organizations as enterprise artificial intelligence.
Fugatto AI Audio Generator – Use AI to create unique sounds and music
The tool isn’t available yet, but it promises to be able to generate sound effects and other messages based on text prompts. A particularly interesting feature of my work is the ability to change the emotion of existing audio samples. Many of today’s AI dubbing tools work well for neutral narration, but they are all limited in their emotional range. This might be an improvement.
Leonardo: Color Tools for Design Systems
Tools for generating and analyzing color schemes. The website includes a tool for creating color scales for material visualizations so that all colors within a range have sufficient contrast. This is different from typical color scheme requirements and therefore requires special tools.
Other resources
Check out my complete link library or my previous bookmarked posts.
