Hello everyone:

I recently sent out a post telling everyone to set up their profile to Watch our Discussion Forum. Typically you would log in, Click on Discussions, and then see an Easy Edit Button with options beside it including More Tools. You would select More Tools then Watch Page (if you are on the page you want to watch - such as the Discussion Forum page.)

Unfortunately, I was told that someone was having difficulties. When I went to the Discussions Page, I noticed that the Easy Edit - More Tools options were not on this page. http://ants.wetpaint.com/thread/ They were however on other pages such as the Home Page.

I did notice that if you opened a Specific Thread (like Choosing a Software), that there was a Watch this Page link at the top. This means you can tell it to watch a specific thread, but as far as I can determine the option to watch the Discussion Forum in general (so you will be notified any time someone starts a new thread) is missing.

I have e-mailed Wetpaint about this and am awaiting an answer. I want this to work so Library Screencasters can talk with their colleagues and learn from one another. If it is not corrected, the only thing I can think of would be to use an RSS Aggregator that does not need Feeds provided by the site.

I will let everyone know what I hear when Wetpaint responds.

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane

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Everyone should be pleased to learn that we are no longer having trouble converting files to m4v and this means that our episodes are now available via iTunes!

To Subscribe to episodes via our iTunes feed, go to feed://liontv.blip.tv/rss/itunes/ and select Actions - subscribe to iTunes.



Big thanks to Paul Betty for making sure the folks at Blip.TV worked on this until it worked smoothly! Paul also got LION TV to send episodes to the Internet Archive earlier this Fall!

Cheers,

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane

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Screencasting with Jing is different from using Camtasia Studio from the same company, Techsmith.
Camtasia has a large feature list, you can edit it forever...
Jing produces a flash video that does not allow editing. Jing creates embed code and stores it in your free account at screencast.com. However, you cannot edit the dimensions in a Jing video in the same way you can edit embed code from a Camtasia Studio swf.
We have started using Libguides and they have a box that runs embedded video within a box. This is ideal for very short flash videos. I am not scripting them and keeping them under 90 seconds.
A sample one is at http://camosun.ca.libguides.com/CanadianHistory under the Tab "Tips - video format"

What seems to work is to create a page for these videos.
If you toggle columns,the left and centre column is about 725 pixels wide.
If you want to keep 3 columns, the centre column can take a video 475 x 400 pixels. I have found that a video in the left column is too small to display properly in the box and I am trying to avoid having students go to full screen by default.

Resize your browser window to about 800x600.
When you start Jing, set the capture to 700 pixels wide by 400 high, although the height is less important.
Or 475 x 400 depending on your design.
I think the 2 cols could go to 720 pixels or so and still fit.

Capture a video, upload the embed code to screencast, then paste the embed code from your clipboard into the libguides embedded video box.

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I saw the following posting on the Springshare User community:


"06-02-08 04:11 PM - Post#232

I believe this may have been discussed previously, but I cannot locate that earlier post.
I'd like to use some of the ANTS tutorials (http://www.screencast.com/users/ants/folders/Da tabase%20Tutorials) as embedded video on my libguides, but the videos are too large to fit into the center column boxes. I've edited the width and height in the code, and while this does reduce the size it also only makes that small portion of the video visible. Has anyone figured out a trick or how-to to making these videos smaller without losing any of the visual content?"

Kate
UWM

To answer the Question, one thing you can do if you are using Libguides it to use our tutorials at LION TV (see http://Liontv.blip.tv/ ) It not only has embedding code - the dimensions of which you can alter - it has more. In particular, you can embed these tutorials and then use the Full Screen Toggle to bring up the full screen in a separate window (thereby making it larger and not losing any content.)

I embedded several in my libguides. You can see them at:

http://libguides.brandonu.ca/content.php?pid=11352

http://libguides.brandonu.ca/content.php?pid=18094

I do hope this helps.

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane
Kate
UWM

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How can you collaborate on a tutorial?
You can be a content expert or you can be the one with the software license.

When you are considering doing an animated tutorial, the project may seem daunting when you think of everything you need to do.
Get an idea, write a script, then record it and do the editing. Even if you are pretty good with Captivate or Camtasia or Viewlet builder, the front end takes work. The planning is just as important as the recording, even more so.

I saw in this wiki that Bill Badke had committed to do a tutorial on Research questions. I had no pressing project and am on Professional Development so can try new things. I proposed that we work together on this one.

So, we split the work.
Bill knows a lot about information literacy, I have developed my skills on Camtasia. We live 80 km apart so needed a virtual workspace.
He wrote the script in his space on PBwiki and invited me as an editor. You can see the script at
http://badke.pbwiki.com/Research-Questions

After an unrecorded run through, I added a few sentences in places where I thought I needed more narration to cover the length of time that a slide needed to be on the screen.
Slides and Camtasia were a new thing for me. I have used Camtasia as a way to capture a flow of changing computer screens. This project needed something else, so I created the visual part of the script in powerpoint, then recorded the narration as I clicked through the powerpoint show.

If you are working with faculty and they can create content in powerpoint, that is probably an easier learning curve for them than working out a script for an internet search project. You can add the voice and do the production and uploading.

The final product is at DSpace:

http://hdl.handle.net/1880/46628

From my initial proposal to the completed project was about 6 or 7 days, so you can execute your ideas very quickly.

Richard

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I have realized that knowing how to produce a tutorial in Camtasia does not mean that I have to do it alone.
Just like in the real movies, there are functions that can someone else can do.

One of our librarians was between projects and on a quiet reference desk.
I asked her to write a script for the Sage Criminology tutorial.
She made a great script in a 3 column table. Narration in the left, mouse action in the centre and callouts in the right.

I put it through a dry run, testing my cadence and how the narration matched the mouse movements. I added some narration, deleted a bit, then recorded and produced in about 4 hours total.
So if you are a subject ace and someone at your library can produce in Camtasia, team work will even out the workload and produce a better tutorial.
Richard

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Thought I start a thread, similar to Richard's, for Adobe Captivate questions. I've been using Captivate for about two years now. Started with version 2.0, now working with 3.0. Rumors suggest version 4.0 is coming out sometimes this summer.

A good place to start is Silke Fleisher's blog. She is a product manager for Adobe Captivate, and often posts tips for using the software.
http://blogs.adobe.com/silke.fleischer/

And of course, don't forget about all the documentation from the Adobe website: Adobe Captivate Resources
http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/captivate/

Paul B.

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The other day we were told by the Screencast.com site that there is a new version of Adobe Flash available and were encouraged to upgrade to it any time we clicked on a tutorial. Well, I did so, and the message disappeared. But the Gods of Technology dicatate that for every fix there is an equally idiotic counteraction. So, in this case, we discovered that the new Adobe (v9.0.115.0 released on 12/03/07) garbles the sound on any SWF file created using Camtasia Studio. Camtasia Studio has reported the problem to Adobe, but until they fix it, some of our Camtasia Tutorials (so far those created by Richard Baer) are being affected.

More information about the problem, and possible fixes, can be found at Google Groups:

http://groups.google.ca/group/macromedia.players.flash/browse_thread/thread/39e741913527f5b4

It has both the Camtasia support response and the Adobe Support Response listed. It also has a patch for anyone developing tutorials using Camtasia Studio.

I do hope this helps.

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane

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Hello:

First of all I wanted to welcome everyone to the new ANTS Discussion Forum on the ANTS Wiki. We hope to use it for discussions related to the project, as well as for discussions related to creating library tutorials using Shockwave Flash (be it with Captivate, Camtasia, Viewletbuilder or Wink).

The first item on this posting relates to updating our list of tutorials for development. In particular, the ANTS Working Group would like to update its list of e-resources identified for development. As all of you are aware, there is a vast array of new e-resources on the market and we would like to know if people think that these new - or existing - e-resources need a tutorial developed for them.

Recommended tutorials for e-resources should be posted on our List of E-resources Identified for development (See them listed under How to Contribute on the Navigation toolbar on this Wiki). You will see that we have a format that is easy to follow. (Name of E-product, vendor, under development or Completed.) Simply follow the format when posting ideas.

We also now have a list of Information Literacy Tutorials Identified for Development. Any ideas not on this list can easily be added there as well. Please feel free to add to it.

You may also wish to ask your collegues if they have any ideas and have them post them on this wiki. Simply tell them to go to http://ants.wetpaint.com/ and register for an account. They can then add their ideas and assist us in updating our list.

Again, welcome to this forum and do (1) invite others to participate and (2) feel free to post your ideas on our wiki. We welcome discussion and input!

Cheers,

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane

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