Prezi Software: "Zooming Presentation Editor"

Prezi is an online software program where registered users create presentations by moving through images and texts on one large infinite canvas. It replaces conventional page by page or slide by slide presentations and offers a new, dynamic, seemingly interactive experience for viewers--significantly extending the interactive features of PowerPoint presentations. Not surprisingly, Prezi has been received well on the web. Since its launch in 2009, in Budapest, the company has established a large market-base and is making a profit. The U.S. office in "San Francisco . . . was established in November 2009 and the company has been cash flow positive since 2010" ("Brief History," 2011, par. 2).

In this course, we are using Prezi to create an image of electrate thought. Last year, our task was to create a static image that turned the expected logic in a different (electrate) direction, but Prezi has additional features that will allow us to work with our image base differently. For example, we can use zoom and pan out features to emphasize or deemphasize features within and among images and text. We can also create a sense of progression or regression with the zoom feature and the image path feature, which allows us to connect images and text and travel visually travel from place to place on the canvas during the presentation. One other interesting aspect of Prezi is that users have an infinite blank canvas to work with. There are no edges to work with. We are able to create frames around objects and groups of objects, though. Also, like in PowerPoint, users can send images and text areas backward and forward on the canvas, creating something like PhotoShop layers.