1 / 16

Casting a Wider Net: Screencasting for Reference and Instruction Anne Haynes and Jennifer Laherty, Indiana University, B

Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008. Casting a Wider Net: Screencasting for Reference and Instruction Anne Haynes and Jennifer Laherty, Indiana University, Bloomington . ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Standards for Distance Learning Library Services say that:

mike_john
Download Presentation

Casting a Wider Net: Screencasting for Reference and Instruction Anne Haynes and Jennifer Laherty, Indiana University, B

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Casting a Wider Net: Screencasting for Reference and InstructionAnne Haynes and Jennifer Laherty, Indiana University, Bloomington

  2. Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Standards for Distance Learning Library Services say that: “Academic libraries must … meet the information and research needs of all [their] constituents, wherever they may be.”

  3. “Screencasts are recordings of a video of screen activities, including mouse movements and clicks. An audio commentary can be added to the video to explain the process.” Source: Peterson, Elaine. “Incorporating Screencasts In Online Teaching” The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 8, No 3 (2007). http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/495/943 . Accessed Sept. 1, 2008 Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 What is screencasting, anyway?

  4. Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Another definition: “Screencasting software allows librarians to quickly create streaming videos describing how to search a database or other e-resource.” Source: Carpenter, Cathy and Steiner, Sarah. “Using Web 2.0 Technologies to Push E-Resources” Issue Date:  23-Feb-2007 Publisher:  Georgia Institute of Technology. http://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/13640 . Accessed Sept. 1, 2008.

  5. Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 http://camstudio.org/

  6. Recording software: CamStudio (free) (http://camstudio.org) Captures both audio and video • Headphones and microphone: we used one that plugs into the computer as opposed to a wireless set • Speakers: to listen to playback • Playback software: QuickTime (free) (http://www.quicktime.com) Needed by users to play back recording Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Hardware and Software Requirements

  7. IT staff agreed to host CamStudio in a small enclosed room equipped with computer and speakers to mitigate outside noise • We borrowed a microphone headset from our Information Commons colleagues • Our IT staff also demonstrated how to test the play back on a computer connected to the Internet on a dial-up modem Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Working with Library Information Technology

  8. Video options: MS Video 1, 60, 50, 20 • Screen size: 1024x768 pixels • Recording region: full screen Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Settings in CamStudio

  9. After recording, the file was a 45MB .avi file. We were advised to reduce the file size as this was quite large and wouldn’t download well from dial-up Internet connections. Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Compressing the File

  10. We tried compressing it ourselves with free web software such as MediaCoder (http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/), but found the file unviewable with many of the typical viewers, such as: • QuickTime, free: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download • RealPlayer, free: http://www.real.com/ • VLC, free: http://www.videolan.org/ • Windows Media Player, free: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/ Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Compressing the file, continued

  11. Asked our University Information Technology Services center for help, since the Library Information Technology unit did not have a video compression system in production. • Eventually found someone at University IT level who works with video files. They used professional software called Agility from Anystream (http://www.anystream.com/). They also recommended a software program called Sorensen Squeeze by Sorensen Media (http://www.sorensonmedia.com/). Both require licensing fees. • We compressed the file to about 6MB and it became a .mov file Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Compressing the File, continued

  12. We made it available on a web page with embedded code so that the video would launch when the page was viewed if the user had Quicktime installed on their machine • For users who don’t have Quicktime installed on their machines, we point them to where they can download the software • We also include a text file of the script Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Placement of Screencast on Library Website

  13. From March 1 - September 15, 2008: • The Distance Education page had 1603 page visits • The DE screencast page 20 page visits • Data provided by Google Analytics Haynes & Laherty, Indiana Library Federation, 11/19/2008 Use Data

More Related