Screencasts are awesome
So it was a bit of a challenge this week for me trying to learn how to work Camtasia and actually producing the screencast, but it was fun. I think if I enjoyed the sound of my voice more, I would really enjoy this program, but since I don't, I just got the screencast done and called it done.
Anyways, I can see that screencasting is super awesome for tutorials. If you've got someone that needs a walk through, a screencast is surely the way to go. They see you actually going through the motions and they can see where you're clicking. It's much better than trying to describe something in a podcast or over the telephone. I really hate walking people through the databases via phone because it's really tricky to describe something and get the person the recieving end to execute a task. Sometimes you get so caught up in locating that button that you forget to tell them to click it or they themselves forget to click. Screencasts are also great for people that don't remember too well or need a refresher. Instead of repeating yourself like a recording, they will always have the screencast to refer to. Compared to HTML instructions, screencasts are superior. If you don't crop the pictures in the HTML document with enough context, the picture is nearly useless while screencasts show the entire desktop and where your mouse is at all times. The only advantage I see to HTML instructions is the fact that these documents don't change. It will always be on page 3 while the screencast needs to be rewound or fast forwarded to a specific clip that some people might have to put repeat on. I think ideally, it might be best for libraries to come up with the screencasts but to also have the html document for people to refer to after they've seen the video.
I'm sure I'd use screencasts if I were less frustrated with the program I barely know how to use and I had a few less distractions while trying to record!
