My father with his father and grandfather.
Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Miss you. Love you.

Screencasting

Wondering about using screencasting tutorials for basic things (email, double clicking) when customers have low level or no technology skills. How helpful will that be?
And become frustrated that we need to develop tutorials to show customers how to use our systems.
(wanted to note for awhile seeing loads of ppl use the library search box to get to yahoo)

Screencasting with Polly-Alida Farrington
http://lib20.pbwiki.com/

How is screencasting different from webcasting? or podcasting? or videocasting? Oh MY!
Screencast: capture of what is happening on the screen. Software will capture mouse movements etc. Can add arrows, text, sounds, directions...
idea: dead end page-- a tutorial on how to use the catalog. do you need help searching?

Examples of screen captures and call out boxes (directions saying CLICK HERE!)
audio definitely enhances the experience. more interactive. (thinking tutorials in other languages- both in the callout boxes and audio)
seeing some examples-- having difficulties formating for various sized screens. needs to be able to fit various sized screens.

thinking about the use of these screencast for internal staff training. (downloading audio, internal staff blog)

ireadblogs: articulate will format powerpoint into slides online. can add audio.

olin library @ cornell: research minutes (90 seconds) holds the attn span. concise and well edited. hosted on youtube. gets the main point across. goofy. fun. (a good example) what are the essential factors about the lesson. one point per screencast.

screencast storytime: can be run at home. storyhour?

preparing for your screencast:

• write down all that you want to share. cross out most of them.
• what they NEED to know.
• 2-3 min max
• use staff members with a lovely voice
• practice the click-thrus a few times
• if using web resources, remember to clear the history to ensure all the links are fresh (and clean!)
• ensure passwords are kept private

screencast planning guide: http://www.notess.com/screencasting/screencastworksheet.pdf
plan out the steps. focus on one skill set.

Wink Demo:
capture options: screens per second, input driven (mouse or key press), manual capture (users presses a key when they want to record)
wink is free and can be wonky.

ideas:
sign up for an email account. printing. downloading audio. accessing databases remotely. custom search in refusa. craigslist or ebay brief overview tutorial for upcoming classes.