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Thing 38 Screencasting

Page history last edited by Ann WS 15 years ago

Thing 38. Screencasting

Screencasting is a way to capture what you do on your computer screen and turn those shots into a tutorial or other online show. 

 

 

Learn

Screencasts are recordings of actions taking place on a computer screen. Free software like Wink, Jing, Screentoaster, and others let you record mouse movement, windows opening and closing, menus activity, forms being filled in and so on. Just about anything that happens on the screen can be recorded. Depending on the program, the recordings can be edited to delete sections and to add arrows, text, and other graphics. In some programs, you can add audio (if you have a mic) to add more explanation what's happening on the screen. The final product is a video that users can view on a web page or download to their computer. I worked on this series of tutorials for

SELCO using Captivate and I can attest that the process of creating tutorials can be addictive.

 


 

There are many free and commercial screencasting products. The commercial products like Camtasia and Captivate have many more features; if you really get into this you should consider one of those. For most of us though, the free tools will work and will definitely give you a good introduction to screencasting.

 

Here are some examples of screencasts. There are hundreds (thousands?) more on the Internet:

Peter Rabbit created using Wink (not sure about copyright here!)

Optimizing Pictures in PowerPoint (Wink)

How Scholarly Search Engines Differ (Camtasia) Under Google Scholar

 

Resources for Screencasting 

What Is Screencasting (O'Reilly Media)

7 Things You Should Know About Screencasting (Click on the Adobe PDF button at the bottom of the page to see the full article.)

A Quick Guide to Screencasting for Libraries (iLibrarian)

 

Screencasting: How to Start, Tools, and Guidelines (Smashing Magazine)

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media   (a lot of great info on screencasting)


Screencast Tools to Explore

No download required

Screen-cast-o-matic

ScreenToaster


Download Required

Jing

Camtasia Studio (Windows-Free trial)*

Wink

Skitch+Skitch.com (Mac only)

Captivate (Free trial)*


* These commercial products have many additional features-quizzes, branching, video integration, sophisticated controls, & more.)


Other Useful Tools

SnagIt (Screen capture for Windows-free trial)

Grab It (Screen capture-comes installed on Mac)

Screencast.com (Screencast hosting from free to premium levels)

 

 

 

 

Do

1. Check out one or more of the following:

 

  • Jing -- Watch the video tour (the link is at the top/left of the page) and decide whether or not to download Jing to your computer (it is free, quick and easy). Once you download it, a yellow spot appears in the upper left-hand corner of your browser. Hover your cursor over the spot to select which function of Jing you want: Capture Images, Record Video, and more. Here is a Jing tutorial created using ScreenToaster.

 

  • Skitch -- Watch the demo and then download it for free. Reading the personal testimonies will help you see the value of Skitch.



  • Tool around ScreenToaster (not a lot of tutorials there yet) and see how you like it.

 

2. Using your preferred tool, create a brief screencast and drop it into your blog your blog. It doesn't need to be longer than 15-30 seconds. Ideas:

  • How To:
    • Post to your blog
    • Embed photo in blog
    • Navigate library Web site front page
    • Make a bowl of soup
    • Tie your shoes
  • Show us your holiday/birthday/vacation photos
  • You get the idea--anything goes


 


 

 

Blog Prompts

  1. Which of the services did you explore? What made you choose the one you used?
  2. How easy was it to use? Intuitive? Too hard?
  3. Can you see using this for your library? Personally?

 

 

 

For the Curious  (optional)

 

 

 

 

Comments (1)

Andrea said

at 8:57 am on Apr 4, 2009

The "How Scholarly Search Engines Differ" link goes to the "Optimizing Pictures in Powerpoint" project.

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