Based on Minnesota’s 23 Things on a Stick, with updates by Kathryn Otto

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

Screencasts are recordings of actions taking place on a computer screen. Free software like Wink, Jing, Screen-O-Matic, 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 microphone) to add more explanation of 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. Do your archives patrons have trouble using your website or finding things in your catalog? Do they not know what a finding aid is and how to use it? You can create a video explaining any of these things using just screen shots and text, or using screen shots and audio. Then put the video on your website and/or on YouTube and link to it.

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:

• How Do I .. ? -- University of Washington Library tutorials. Tutorials created by Jen Waller using Captivate.
• Optimizing Pictures in PowerPoint (created using Wink)
• University of Buffalo Health Sciences Library YouTube channel with a collection of screencasts made by Dean Hendrix using Camtasia. 

Screencast Tools to Explore

• No Download Required:
• Screencast-O-Matic (free; Windows, Mac, and Linux versions)
• Screenr (share your screencasts on Twitter and Facebook)
• Download Required:
• TechSmith has
• Jing
• Snagit (Windows version and Mac version)
• Camtasia Studio (Windows version and Mac version)*
• Screencast.com (screencast hosting ranging from free to premium levels)
• (and Morae for screen capture when you’re doing website user studies!)
• GrabIt (free)
• Wink
• Skitch (Mac only)
• Captivate (free trial available)*
• CaptureFox (a Firefox add-on)

* These commercial products have many additional features, like quizzes, branching, video integration, sophisticated controls, and more.

Tasks

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 part of your browser. Hover your cursor over the spot to select which Jing function you want: Capture Images, Record Video, and more.
• Skitch: Watch the demo and then download it for free. Reading the personal testimonies will help you see the value of Skitch.

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

• A How-To:
• Post to your blog
• Embed a video in your blog
• Navigate your archives web site front page
• How to search for something on Ancestry (or HeritageQuest, etc.)
• 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 archives? Personally?

Resources

• “Screencast” article and “Comparison of Screencasting Software” article on wikipedia
• “Screencasting Primer,” by Beth Kanter on Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change
• “What is Screencasting“ post on O’Reilly DigitalMedia blog
• “A Quick Guide to Screencasting for Libraries” on iLibrarian – lots of links to resources about screencasting, a few of which are:
• EDUCAUSE article: “7 Things You Should Know About Screencasting“
• “An Introduction to Screencasting: Why Screencasts are Useful, How to Create Them, and Software Tools that Can Help,” by Beth Kanter, April 25, 2007, article on TechSoup
• “Best Practices in Screencasting” from A.N.T.S. (libraries working together to create open source library tutorials)
• “Screencasting: How to Start, Tools and Guidelines, by Adam Hay, August 19, 2008, article on Smashing Magazine.