CPD23 Thing 18

Beyond Print Screen

The past few weeks I have been immersed with our new ILS but I wish I had known about things such as Zing and Screen-cast-omatic. I have had to do a few documents to let staff know how to do things in the new system and I can see how Zing or Screen-cast-omatic would have helped immensely in order to show how to use things.

I have looked at the demos for both products and prefer Screen-cast-omatic -- it is simpler and more straightforward. Zing seems to be trying a bit too hard. But I would have to actually use both tools and see which I preferred.

A few thoughts about using such products. First, is the need to work out carefully what you are going to be presenting. I am used to communicating by writing but not so used to communicating by video. It requires some differences in thinking, in planning and presentation. Second, I wonder what is required by others to view these screen casts. It is implied, but not directly stated, that they do not need to download the products. I hope not. Third, is there a time limit on how long your screen cast can be?

Screen casting is a great development for online teaching. We have used it in the past to help our patrons learn how to search, place holds and such. I hope we will continue to do so in the future. We have not made such use of podcasting but I know that some libraries do so. Or they use podcasts like a little radio show or blog post.

We still tend to operate very much in the written word I wonder how long it will take us to begin to operate more in the spoken words and dynamic visuals?

Week 9, Thing 21

Podcasts



I am not a big one for podcasts. They seem like a neat idea -- listen to things on your own time but it is another thing to have to keep up with. I did explore the directories and found some library related stuff -- it is interesting that the Open Stacks blog is also available as a podcast.


I tried to add NPR to my Bloglines account but it didn't work. Okay they show up but there is nothing in them. And I did this back in October. Oh boy, just crashed Bloglines because I hadn't looked at things for a while. Oops.


I did also go ahead and setup an iTunes account and even subscribed to some free shows (Splendid Table as 1 pm on Saturday is not a good time for me) but I have yet to download or listen to an episode. It just is another thing to listen on the MP3 player. Generally, I would rather listen to either the current radio or a book. I am hoping with my new player I can do the latter a lot more easily.


I am pretty lazy when it comes to what I listen to. I like listening to radio well enough and NPR generally fits my mood. I can't listen when I am working.

But this is a tool that others find appealing and seems to be something libraries should explore ways to use. And go beyond the radio broadcast or lecture replay into something different. Not sure what but there have to be other things we could do. Oral history projects. Get people talking about why the love OPL. That might be fun. Record what you like about the library. Hmm. Might have to suggest that one.