This site serves students in DGST 101: Intro to Digital Studies at the University of Mary Washington but is open to all. All content here is CC BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
The animated GIF is a form of digital image that is roughly 35 years old, but recent years have seen its resurgence through popular use in social content sites like Tumblr and Reddit as well as its widespread adoption in messaging apps. In this module, learn about the technical history of that format, including why that format was first created and why, most of the time, something we see or use as an animated GIF on the web or via an app is almost certainly not using that format. Explore how uses of GIFs have evolved along with other media, and spend some time making and sharing your own GIFs.
Explore GIFs in History. How do you pronounce GIF? Who made the GIF format and why? What is the current legal status of the GIF patent and how has that changed over the years? Where did the very similar PNG image format come from and why? Are GIFs still popular, or have you seen their use change? How has the art world embraced animated GIFs?
Learn How to Make GIFs. What are the best tools for making different types of GIFs? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a web-based, video to GIF tool like Imgur's versus doing it "the hard way" with a frame-by-frame approach?
Make Some GIFs. Create a seamless, 12-frame loop in GIMP. Convert a video clip into a GIF. Make a cinemagraph-style GIF. Make and share "GIF essay," or series of GIFs (possibly with captions) that tell a story or attempt to persuade your reader/viewer.