I have been using Groove for some time now and try to think of creative ways to implement the program. One of my ideas will probably never amount to anything but it sure has been a hoot. Groove as a platform to tell a story in serial format.
I have wonderful nieces and nephews, God has certainly blessed me in that area. Well, my brother-in-law is a consistent Groove user and has started sending Groove voice mails with my niece sending us messages professing her love. Very cute. To do something back for her I have created a story about a polar bear who dreams of warm weather (hey, we ALL dream of it in Interior Alaska!). She now can't wait for each week's installment of the story.
With Groove I can make a story come alive by adding links to photos in the Pictures tools, sound files in the Files tool and so on. The base tool used is Notepad which allows me to publish a chapter per page. I also created an identity for the polar bear (Roscoe) who is the manager of the space. My niece can chat real-time with Roscoe and ask him questions.
Kind of silly but really neat. Roscoe is now getting more voice mail than I am! And I am having a great time doing this. The kicker is that it really only takes me about 20 minutes or so to crank out a chapter and yet the benefits are lasting.
