Adventures in Screencasting    

How do you best assist users whose learning styles are more visual than verbal? Tietjen discusses the benefits and the how-to of screencasting, a mixture of visuals, audio, and complementary text.

Tietjen, Phil. Intercom (2008). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Screencasting

Screencasting Redux    

In a continuation of a previous introductory article about screencasting, Archee continues the discussion by delving deeper into the history, benefits, usefulness, and future of this powerful technical communication tool.

Archee, Raymond K. Intercom (2008). Articles>Documentation>Video>Screencasting

Screencasting: How To Start, Tools and Guidelines

Screencasting, or sharing your virtual desktop via video presentation, has exploded in popularity with the advent of podcasting, and gives you the ability to bring the classroom feel to a media presentation that can be delivered over the Internet. The medium of screencasting is readily available to everyone and with a few tools of the trade you can be ready to produce your own.

Hay, Adam. Smashing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Video>Screencasting

Screencasting Primer

This primer is an introduction to screencasting. It covers the what, why, and how to get started. You will also find examples of screencasts and additional how-to resources.

Kanter, Beth. Wikispaces. Articles>Documentation>Video>Screencasting

What Is Screencasting

A screencast is a digital movie in which the setting is partly or wholly a computer screen, and in which audio narration describes the on-screen action. It's not a new idea. The screencaster's tools—for video capture, editing, and production of compressed files—have long been used to market software products, and to train people in the use of those products. What's new is the emergence of a genre of documentary filmmaking that tells stories about software-based cultures like Wikipedia, del.icio.us, and content remixing. These uses of the medium, along with a new breed of lightweight software demonstrations, inspired the collaborative coining of a new term, screencast.

Udell, Jon. O'Reilly and Associates (2005). Articles>Documentation>Video>Screencasting

Screencasting Strategies

In general, screencasting is a three-step process: capture of audio and video, editing, and production of a compressed deliverable. Camtasia combines all three functions in a single, integrated application, but in principle they're separable. I can imagine using Camtasia (or an equivalent) for capture, Premiere (or an equivalent) for editing, and Camtasia (or an equivalent) to produce a compressed .SWF file.

Udell, Jon. O'Reilly and Associates (2005). Articles>Documentation>Video>Screencasting

Choosing a Screencasting Tool

Checklist of key criteria for selecting a tool to create interactive software demos (so-called screencasts). Software demos are not only used on web sites but increasingly also as standalone tutorials or embedded within online help files and other sorts of software documentation.

Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering (2009). Articles>Documentation>Software>Screencasting

Marktüberblick Screencasting Tools

Marktüberblick über empfehlenswerte Tools zum Erstellen von Software-Demos (engl. Screencasts). Software-Demos werden nicht nur für Marketing-Zwecke auf Webseiten verwendet, sondern häufig auch als Ergänzung zur Technischen Dokumentation von Software: z.B. als eigenständiges Tutorial oder auch als integrativer Bestandteil einer Online-Hilfe oder sonstiger Software-Dokumentation.

Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering. (German) Articles>Documentation>Software>Screencasting

Screencasting as Art: Exploring Cinematic Techniques 

Screencasting has a problem–it hasn’t evolved all that much over the 10 years or so since its inception. We still record the computer screen from a stationary position (dead centered) and we still present this flat, banal presentation to users sitting at their computers, which in and of itself presents problems (you’re looking at a computer screen on a computer screen–where does one end and the other begin).

Andrus, Brooks. BrooksAndrus (2009). Articles>Documentation>Video>Screencasting

The Harsh Truth about Screencasts 

If you watch screencasts, you probably have seen some that are just worthless. How long did you stay to watch? Not long, I am sure. Why am I being so critical? Because it is true.

Schoen, Michelle. Virtual Assistant Demo Girl (2009). Articles>Documentation>Video>Screencasting