In this colloquium I will cover two topics: (1) The first part of the talk will cover the measurement of optical emission lines in multiple locations across the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds using the Australian National University 2.3-metre telescope and the WiFeS integral field spectrograph. From these measurements maps of the gas phase metallicity, extinction, Halpha radial velocity, and Halpha velocity dispersion have been made for both Clouds. The optical radial velocity and velocity dispersion maps have been compared to neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) gas maps of the Clouds. The maps provided in this work show details not accessible in the study of more distant dwarf galaxies. (2) The second part of the talk will deal with giant low surface brightness galaxies (gLSBs). These are galaxies that have extremely extended, faint, optical disks and high total dark matter masses. The existence of such galaxies is problematic for the current model of galaxy formation, since the major mergers responsible for the large total mass would likely have destroyed the large optical disk. A pilot sample of optically selected gLSBs have been observed in the radio to quantify various properties from their neutral atomic hydrogen gas, including their HI mass and asymmetry. These observations shed light on the formation mechanisms for these galaxies