California Map Mashup Link

Graphic Novels for Kids Mashup Link

Testing my first attempt at a mashup. From Yahoo Pipes. I’ll try again tomorrow. I just wanted to play a bit and to make sure the technology worked for me.

One of the most startling discoveries for me this week was in thinking about how teens use SMS and IM while they are doing just about everything. It is as much a part of their life as the telephone was for me as a teen. They are in the course of an evening, communicating throughout their online time with classmates about assignments and social issues simultaneously. My own children do this, but I’ve never put two and two together as to how they rely so heavily on IM and texting to communicate with each other; they would be lost without it. According to the Syrsi Dynix presentation Engaging Youth in Their Own Terms, teens treat IM like their phone. Whether or not the older generation will agree with them that this is a good idea is not the point, we must recognize that this is the way it is. When Sarah Houghton-Jan and Aaron Schmidt mentioned that email for teens is something they do to communicate with older people, it made perfect sense to me; the only time my kids use their email is to communicate with adults. Ouch.

It of course makes sense that IM reference services are a great way to help users of this generation. There is an immediate gratification for getting an answer the moment you need it.

I used the IM reference service at the Cal State Monterey Otter Library this past week. In speaking to the librarian, he told me that this is a service that they have been offering for a little over a year. Users have been overwhelming positive about the service. He even put some of the responses on the text box that they received from survey results. “Whoever thought of this is a genius” was one of them. The librarians like using the service as well, although they do have a concern about how to service the users when they have an IM and a live reference question at the same time.

There are considerations for IM reference. The reference interview, which can be challenging to conduct when there is no face-to-face interview, is one of these challenges. Also, how does a librarian answer an IM request when they are in the middle of a reference interview? One last one to think about, is what does the user do if the status of the librarian is “online” and yet there is response to the user’s request for chat?

Houghton-Jan and Schmidt make a strong argument for IM reference in their presentation in that, users can put the library screen name into their buddy list, so that the library is right there every time the user turns on their IM service. The library becomes part of the user’s community and makes a connection with the user on a personal level.

Another positive thing about IM reference is that it is so easy to use. Users don’t even need to download software if they choose to chat on the embedded widget the library provides on their webpage.

Finally for the library, the cost is free. Just the sheer number of libraries incorporating IM reference services at the library is an indication of the usefulness of this tool. The Library Success Wiki has an entire page devoted to Libraries Using IM Reference

There are commercial virtual reference services that some libraries are using, and that are offered 24/7.
The Maryland AskUsNow! reference service allows you as a user to select your library so that the librarian answering your question has access to the databases and resources available to you. They even have a section on their main page where there is a list of favorite resources and links to these resources to further help the users. A nice feature of the Maryland AskUsNow! reference service is the ability to push the website onto the users browers as well as sending an email of the chat transcript.

I had an opportunity to use the ASKNOW! Service, a 24/7 reference service offered by the California State Libraries and accessed through the Contra Costa Public Library system. There was no guarantee that I would get a librarian in my area or even the state. I worked with a librarian in Washington DC. The question I had was on drought resistant plants in my area and she really didn’t know how to help. She directed me to a so-so website and offered to send my question to my local branch. Five days later I did receive an email from my local library, which was, in my opinion, a long time to wait.

Another service offered by some libraries is live homework help for primary and secondary school students. The Contra Costa Public Library offers such a service and is available during posted hours. These services require a library card number to use them.

SMS and PDA Device Consideration in the Library

This is another area that more libraries are trying out namely text and modifying screens on websites for mobile devices.

More and more people are using PDA devices such as Blackberrys and iPhones and there are a number of libraries that are designing the content of web pages for mobile users. Stanford University’s Lane Medical Library is one such library and Athabasca University Library in Alberta Canada is another. Libraries must think of these users as they move forward and try to provide access and services for users on the go.

Texting and SMS services are another way that libraries can reach users. According the librarian at the Cal State Monterey Otter Library, there is less use for text reference and the questions are more of the short answer nature as in hours and computer availability.

As discussed in the Elluminate session this past Saturday with Debbie Faires, SMS can work effectively with users as Blackberrys can send emails to libraries, and libraries can respond back to the user’s mobile device via email as well.

A blog I found on the Library Success Wiki called The Digital Reference Blog talks about Bryant University Library. This school bought a smart phone and a service plan for about $240 a year. This has yielded about 420 text messages in the course of a year. Students can text questions to reference desk. With the amount of text messaging that young people do in a day, it makes sense to reach out to them to offer library services this way.

Another thing some libraries are doing, as discussed in the Elluminate session, is SMS integrated into OPAC systems, where the user can receive texts sent from the OPAC to their mobile phone. This is useful to get a call number if you are already out in the stacks. Bryn Mawr Library is a library that offers this service.

VoIP in Libraries

According to Farkas, there are not many libraries offering VoIP services to their users, but there are libraries that use it for communications between colleagues in different states. VoIP requires more effort to make contact with a user. The user and librarian will most likely need to schedule the call, and there is also software that must be installed. VoIP is an effective way to offer reference services to people with visual impairments. Organizations such as InfoEyes provide services that allow visually impaired users to connect with a librarian over the Internet.

Another consideration for VoIP (as with chat services) the user and librarian must be on the same system in orders to have successful communications.

Of the three forms of synchronous communication we discussed, this is the least one I’ve seen used. The element that VoIP brings to online reference lacking in IM and SMS is the vocal element.

Gaming in the Public Libraries
When I think of video games, I think of my kids – especially my boys.  Yes we have a Wii and a Playstation 2.  We’ve had Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution and countless other games where hours of efforts have gone into beating the boss and moving onto the next level.  As my boys get older, especially the teenagers, this is what they do a lot of.  What they are NOT doing a lot of, is going to the library.  What they also do a lot of is “hanging out downtown”.  Wouldn’t it be great if the library were the place they choose to hang out in?  In reading and listening this week, I realize that this is precisely the age group that we should be trying to attract to libraries.

In looking at what the Ann Arbor Public Library has done with their gaming program, it appears that they have struck a chord with the youth of their community.  They have attracted a large number of patrons into the library with their gaming programs.  Just the sheer volume of comments on their gaming page blog shows me that they are providing services to the community that fills a need.  The library as a place of community is working here.  These young users, the patrons that will hopefully be using the library in the future, are seeing the library as something vital to the community.

In Eli Neiburger’s book, Gamers… in the Library? as discussed by Jenny Levine in her SirsiDynix podcast, the content of the video games adds value to the library.  On top of reading and critical thinking that goes along with playing a video game, there is desire for these games to be available at the library, and as radical as adding video games to the makeup of a libraries collection and programming may appear to be, one need not look back far to find similar controversy with the addition of romance novels and fiction to the library. There are those who say gaming does not have a place in libraries. The same was said about fiction, romance novels and even graphic novels, but can you imagine a public library without fiction? Neiburger points out, it is not up to librarians to make judgments about content.

As Jenny Levine points out in her Sirsi Dynix podcast , kids react differently to libraries when you offer gaming.  It creates a safe place for teens in the community and helps to build a community that probably doesn’t exist right now.  And it’s not just about the play aspect of the games; there is literacy involved in these games.  There is reading, processing and visualization, all within an environment that has kids problem solving and working with data patterns that they will most likely experience in their future work, as computers and computer data are a large part of the future.

ALA this past month as came out with the Librarians Guide to Gaming Toolkit. This toolkit is a big boost to libraries looking for justification for starting gaming programs in their libraries.

The introductory video on the ALA gaming page
, is a helpful guide to how best to use the tools provided.

As Beth Galloway points out in this video, gaming addresses “critical thinking, problem solving and a constant learning cycle” all-important to literacy.

Gaming in Schools and Academic Libraries
In Social Software in Libraries, Meredith Farkas points out that as the original gamer generation becomes older, those who become teachers or game developers are developing and using online games to promote learning and literacy.

Jenny Levine points out in her Sirsi Dynix presentation that according to a Pew Institute survey, in 2003, 100% of all college students had played videos games.  Playing video games to this generation is like watching TV to the baby boomer generation.  It makes sense to offer some instruction in the form of video games, given the amount of students who can relate to video games, and the incoming teachers who can also relate to these games.

There are games that can be played, or accessed by linking on the library webpage.  There is one of my favorites, www.freerice.com that gives help in vocabulary, basic math facts, languages and more – all while helping feed the world. There is also Arcademicskillsbuilder
where elementary school students can practice math facts and grammar rules in single player and multiplayer games.

At a higher level, the University of North Carolina has made information literacy into an online game with the information literacy game
Let’s face it, kids, even college kids, love to play games, why not use it for instruction?

The Fletcher Library at Arizona State University has created a Trivial Pursuit-like game called Information Pursuit that teaches information literacy.  It’s a bit of a gimmick, but it works.

At Penn State, there is an Educational Gaming Commons . “The PSU Educational Gaming Commons is creating a community of users who will support both physical and virtual infrastructure to promote the broad impact of gaming within the teaching, learning, and research environment”.  This is not necessarily gaming in the library, but it shows gaming being used in an educational way in an academic environment.

And college kids enjoy playing computer games to let off steam.  Levine mentions that there are some libraries where students can come in during finals and play some games to let off some of the stress of finals week.

Will there be gaming at the Soon to be Finished Lafayette Library and Learning Center?

There’s no definite answer here.  While the county has put out an email to the branch libraries that discusses a press release that will go out to solicit game donations (with specific criteria) in “an effort to enhance teen programs countywide”, the decision was made to not promote this request in Lafayette.  According to Youth Services Librarian Donna Lenhard, nothing has been set in stone for any gaming programs in Lafayette for the new library.  This is a shame, given that the new library will have over 6500 square feet with a separate teen area, a perfect time and place to start a teen gaming program.

After doing a bit of reading about making things work in Second Life, I knew I really needed to just dive to really understand what this is all about.  I started by teleporting directly to SJSU SLIS .  I then grabbed the free backpack that was there and checked out the contents.  I was able to update my wardrobe with a pair of jeans and spent a little time customizing my avatar. I then explored around a bit to try to get a feel for teleporting and moving around in general. I appreciated getting friend requests from some of my classmates and having some interactions within the SL world.

After looking at the wiki posted on the class website with links to Second Life libraries, I teleported around a bit to take a look at some of them.

The first one I went to was the Alliance Virtual Library .

I visited here several times, usually in the late afternoon/evening and never found a person there until Friday night – but before this fun evening of hanging out with some librarians, I visited some other libraries.

The second library I spent time in was the Consumer Health Library.

In this library, there was an expansive amount of information available in all areas of health.  This library was created with a grant from the National Library of Medicine.  There are classes that take place on such topics as HIV/AIDS and there is all kinds of information on such topics as anxiety disorders, diabetes, and drugs and supplements.  There are links to Medline Plus, Health Encyclopedias, Mayo Clinic and other informational sources.  There are classes and workshops continually being held.  Consumer health information is provided in a virtual environment.

I then wanted to see what (if anything) public libraries are doing in SL.  I visited the Olathe Public Library in Kansas (a suburban community 20 miles Southwest of Kansas City).  This library is located in Cybrary City II in Second Life.  I had originally tried to visit the Monroe County Library system, but when I teleported to the SLURL for the Monroe County Library, I started walking around and stumbled on the Olathe.  While I have a landmark in my inventory for this library, I cannot find the link to put on my blog so you can teleport.  The Monroe Library SLURL will get you close though.

The Olathe Public Library is trying to enhance its services while providing its staff an opportunity to join in the library community of Second Life.  This library provides a reference schedule by clicking on one of the monitors in the virtual library.  Their plan is to provide 24/7 reference service, and although they are not there yet, they have very good coverage at any given time, not counting the late night hours.  There’s a Kansas history room, online books about Kansas, and links to various Kansas libraries. There is information on Kansas geology, notable books, the Kansas constitution and other notable Kansas SL communities.  If a librarian is not there, there are very clear instructions on emailing a Second Life Librarian.  There are links to databases from the Olathe Public Library, and One of the most useful things I found on the website, was the Alliance Virtual Library directory of libraries in Second Life, where I found a link to teleport to the NASA CoLab Library and Archive. I suppose I could have found this link at Info Island, but it was handy to have it here none-the-less.

Up to this point, I had tried to keep and open mind about Second Life, but I was still lukewarm about how much I liked it.  My visit to the NASA CoLab Library
and the conversation I had with the librarian there changed my opinion about Second Life completely. I had a great experience visiting with a librarian at the NASA CoLab Library and Archives.  The librarian’s name is Archivist Llewellyn. I was actually quite surpised to see a live (not robot) avatar in the library when I entered (it was about 9:15 PST).  She was visiting with a person when I entered the library and excused herself from her friend in order to give me a tour.  She was quite proud of the space that she had created and happy to show me around. Archivist Llewellyn is an archivist in real life, and has worked with all types of scientists including a Nobel prize winner. The funny thing was that I was a bit clumsy moving around and she was quick and graceful and also very patient.

There are statistics of how many people come into the library on a given day.  In the past 17 days there have been over 2,000 people visiting CoLab and many of those came into the library.  In the library there is an exhibit of women in flight along with archival photos, as well as African Americans. There is a telescope with photos of various planets, galaxies and comets etc. and a live streaming video of NASA TV, and there is a really cool teleporter – which I was very clumsy getting into but figured it out.  There is also a cat named Dewey who lives in the library (a replica of Dewey from the same titled book) and purrs when you pet him.

Archivist Llewellyn then took me upstairs to show me her digital archive in Second Life that she is working on.  She had me look into one of the storage spaces to see the archives that she has created. She also has a Real Life archival project going up on a Spaceport America project next month.  She is usually there on weeknights and weekends, and she is currently working on creating books that can be seen in the library.

She gets many questions on space and astronomy from visitors to the library.

When I went there again on Friday night, she was there again working with someone on a book creation.  She absolutely loves SL and you can tell she takes a great deal of pride in the space that she has helped create.  But this is not where my visit with a Second Life librarian ends.

I also decided on Friday night to go back to the library at Info Island. When I arrived, I was greeted by Juana Manuel, who was the reference librarian working the library this night. She has participated in Second Life for two years now and in real life works at the library at Texas State University.  She works about 2 hours a week at the Alliance Library in Second Life.  During the time I spoke with her, another librarian, Waldron Rino came in the room from Toronto.  He has been a librarian for 20 years, and though he does not volunteer at a Second Life library, he does like to spend time in Second Life.  He’s been in Second Life for about 2-1/2 years now.  I really enjoyed talking to Juana and Waldron, and Juana gave me several landmarks to go visit, such as Hangers Liquides, The New Relic ad Dresden Gallery.

When I sat down to review my notes, I realized that I hadn’t asked questions about face-to-face reference service and how she had prepared to work as a reference librarian in SL. I teleported back to the library in hopes of finding Reference Librarian Juana again, and not only did I find her and Walden, but several other visitors as well – a bit of a gathering. There was another reference librarian named Veronica.  I was immediately greeted by Juana and Walden, and before I knew it, I was in conversation with several of the guests.  Veronica is a SJSU MLIS grad who works at a private high school in Orange County so we had lots to talk about.  It was actually quite fun talking to this group of librarians and the other people as well.

Here’s what they all said about how they prepared for their SL reference work – practice practice practice!  Also, observing others doing reference work in the libraries was helpful.  There is also training given for volunteers working in the libraries.

Here’s what they all said about how SL compares to Real Life interactions and that is, they said that they treat SL reference interviews the same as they treat a face-to-face reference interview.  You have to treat it like real life.  They all chimed in to say that in SL, no one asks where the restrooms are or for a restroom key – although there are lots of questions about clothes.  They really enjoyed joking around with each other.

They said there are classes and events that are held in SL, and the services that are available in SL are similar to those available in real life.  They all enjoy the social aspect of the SL experience, which is of course why they were all there this night.  I thanked them again for letting me crash their party, and they were more than happy to have me visit.

I did explore around inside the library a bit before I had my visit with Juana, and was quite surprised at the amount of information available here.  There were spaces to explore fashion, sports, geography, book reviews and weather and environment to name a few.  There was also a news and magazine area for Second Life periodicals.  This was a good space to tour around in.  I was surprised at how large this library was.

After looking around this past week or so in SL, there are a few things that stand out for me:
First of all, it is way more fun if you’re out there meeting people and striking up conversations.  It’s easy to approach someone and say “hi”.  It’s interesting to also see people fly in and out of places where you’re having a conversation.  I was having a conversation with Bazz at SJSU when a person came over and joined our conversation about SL, she was a librarian from New Mexico and really encouraged us to give SL a chance.

Secondly, I think librarians are just the best people both in Real Life and Second Life!

Thirdly, it appears to me, that those in the fields of science and education have used Second Life the most effectively.  I think that libraries have done a great job as well, but in areas where there’s a scientific or educational focus, there’s seems to be lots of interesting things going on. I especially thought the Virtual Hallucination experience
that UC Davis put together to show the world from a schizophrenic’s point of view was powerful.

Finally, the key is to know where you’re going and have events and sites to visit that have been recommended – the library comes in real handy here.  Part of the experience is being part of the community.  It’s great that a group can get together from Northern and Southern California, Toronto, Texas and anywhere else in the world.  I really enjoyed seeing how people’s individuality shined through in their avatars.

I had gone into this week being a bit skeptical, but came out actually liking Second Life a lot more than I thought I would.

Also, in creating such a large number of tutorials (I counted 15), adding audio is a lot of work and changes made to screencasts with audio is more labor intensive than changes made to visuals only.

With the widespread use of computers to access library resources, screencasting is the perfect medium to provide instruction on how to use the various online tools.  Patrons can use screencasts at their own pace, viewing multiple times if necessary, and taking however much time they need to understand the instruction being given.

In Alaska, The Alaska State Library has a series of screencasts for state employees helping them to access various documents and information relevant to their jobs.  These screencasts are short (2-4 minutes), in a flash format, and contain both video and audio.

Finally, I found the archive of tutorials on BlipTV for the ANTS project to be a great resource to see some great use of database tutorials. The EBSCO ERIC Thesaurus Tutorial uses both audio, video and callouts in a well paced, easy to follow short screencast.  It takes you through a pretty advanced searching.  This is a perfect example of how a user can follow the tutorial at the their own pace.

Some Screencasting Advice
As noted in the Farkas text, the School Library Journal article That’s Infotainment, and Show and Tell the Easy Way: An Introduction to Screencasting, Paul Pival’s talk from the Sirsi Dynix Institute, screencasts should be kept to a minimal amount of time, 2-3 minutes maximum.

There’s a couple of reasons for this, the first is technical, as the size of the file in screencasts can get quite large, so keeping the length down to 2-3 minutes is helpful to keep the file a reasonable size.  The second reason is that the attention span of the viewer is not that long.  Giving small snippets of information, broken down into 2 or 3-minute segments makes the task of watching a screencast manageable.

Screencasting is easy to, and there is a variety of software available for anyone willing to invest a little time to learn the technology.  The costs range from free to several hundred dollars, depending on how much you want to do in the screencast.  The That’s Infotainment article offers some good pointers for creating screencasts:  storyboard, script, pre-load files and do a trial run before you hit “record”.  All good advise!

The Downsides
With all the advantages of screencasting, there are some downsides as well.  Farkas points out that even if you create small screencasts, video files are large.  This problem is twofold.  First, if a user has a dial up connection to the Internet, there is a significant amount of time the user will have to wait for a screencast to upload.  While more and more people are using broadband connections, there are still those who use a dial up modum, so this is something that should be taken into consideration.  Also, there is the issue of space on the library server to store the video files.

One more problem is that the various database interfaces that the tutorials aim to teach about constantly change.  As we all found out this week, it takes some time to record a screencasts, especially if audio is added.  Keeping screencasts instruction current requires a commitment of time. The library must have the resources to keep the screencasts up to date.

Vodcasting in the Library
As with podcasting, vodcasting can enhance user satisfaction with library services.  I had fun this week exploring the variety of resources available for viewing that libraries have put out to promote their services and offer fun ways to learn.  One of my favorite instructional videos I found this week was from the Rutgers University Libraries . The video is on plagiarism and is in three parts. Part one talk about what plagiarism is and the consequences. Part two gives examples of plagiarism and part three plays an interactive game “The Cite is Right” about correctly citing sources for academic papers.  It has a cinema flair to it, and I thought it was quite effective in holding the viewers attention and providing good information.

Another series of videos I enjoyed viewing was from the Gale sponsored video contest on Librereo to promote books or authors.  My personal favorite was Barbara Tuchman.  What a fun way to promote something in your library.  Libraries offering links to videos like these is a great way to entice patrons into the library either virtually or in person.

And Those Pesky Vodcasting Considerations…
Of course there is the practical consideration of storing all the videos on the libraries servers.  I found in looking at many of these videos, (as Debbie also noted on one of her resource pages this week) that many libraries host their video content on YouTube.  Of course, there’s always the possibility that we will wake up tomorrow and YouTube will be gone, along with all of its content, but it seems that the benefits outweigh the risks here.

The other consideration is the cost for video equipment for filming.  On top of the equipment cost, like screencasting, there is the commitment to learn the video editing technology.

Video is a great medium, however,  to reach out to patrons.  Videos are fun to watch, and showing libraries in this medium can attract users who might not think to use the library. Teens can be used to help create promotional videos for the library, thereby encouraging them to use the library more.  I found a blog that displays Library Videos– I especially liked the “Teens Rap for Their Library” video.  These types of promotional videos are a great way to get more people interested in the library.

Another consideration for screencasts and vodcasts is the format that the movie is played on.  According to Paul Pival in his SirsiDynix presentation, 97% of all people with computers have the ability to watch flash movies.  That’s a big percentage.  Despite the fact swf files take a long time to upload, in order to reach more people, it seems that creating videos in this format is the best way to go.

There are many ways that libraries can encorporate screencasting and vodcasting onto their webpages.  These technologies are a great way for libraries to employ the current technologies of the day into the life of the library.

Locating Grolier Database Flash Screencast

I now have a pretty good understanding of all these movie formats. If the best way to learn is by your mistakes, I have learned well this week.  Oddly enough, I have not been frustrated at all.  With each backstep, things have become more and more clear for me.  I know I have a lot to learn yet though!

This tutorial shows how to log onto Ed1stop and locate the Grolier Online database.  It is meant to be used by 5th graders at the elementary school where I work.

Grolier Online Database Tutorial

Screencasting Experiences

Choosing the Computer

I found screencasting to be a bit more challenging than podcasting, despite the fact that I was healthy this past week.

Before I even got started, I determined that I was at a slight disadvantage this week since I work on a Mac.  Everything I read in this week’s readings and on our class webpage, coupled with the information I found from digging around on various discussion boards about creating screencasts in Flash format for Macs, lead me to the conclusion that my Macbook was not going to make an easy week of it for me.  I am fortunate in that we do have a PC in my house, so I decided to do my screencast on the PC with Camtasia 6.  Since my FTP program was installed on my Macbook, I did a quick test to make sure a could successfully copy a file from the PC, bring it up to my Mac and transfer it to my directory on Amazon. My test was successful, so I was up and running.

I found the tutorials on Camtasia quite helpful, but for me, I really needed to start playing with the technology before it started to make sense to me. I ended up looking at many of the tutorials two times – once before starting, and once after I had some time to play.

Time to Get Started

The first thing I did, was determine what I wanted to make my screencast about. I decided to do a screencast of how to log onto the subscription database at my school, locate the Grolier Online database, and show how Grolier Online is set up.  This is a screencast that is geared to a 5th grader. While I show the username, I do give the password.

I had no trouble recording the visuals.  I did create a storyboard along with a script for my screencast, and did a couple of run throughs before recording.  I also tried to record the audio while I was recording the screenshots, but that was definately the wrong way to go.  When I tried to delete the audio track, I realized that this track cannot be deleted, so I had to silence the track and record my voice on a different track.  It still worked but was a little messy.

I found the audio recording the trickiest part of the screencast.  Maybe because I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I found coordinating the words to the pictures a bit tricky.  It’s hard to watch the screen and the script at the same time. It took me quite a few tries to get a take that I was happy with.

Editing Tools

I didn’t really like the auto zoom in and pan feature.  I wanted to have a little more control over how things zoomed in and out of the screen, and I found this tool a bit annoying.  I had a little trouble at first getting the hang of creating zooms and pans manually, but after a while, I felt pretty comfortable doing it and the control was much better.  I also cut out some dead space to tighten up the visuals, as well as a few funny breaths I took while recording the audio.

Then, I was ready to add on some callouts for emphasis.  I added some highlights, arrows and a couple of spotlights.  When I was working with the callouts, I started feeling much more comfortable with the editing features of the program and marking spots to start and stop them as well as adjusting their lengths and positioning after I created them.  The more I did, the easier it became.  I realized things that I could have done better in the editing of the screenshot before I started the callouts.  But, overall, I felt I got over the hump of my learning curve.

Finally, I decided to add an intro.  Although I probably wouldn’t put this on an instructional screenshot like the one I did, I wanted to have a chance to play with this particular tool.

Producing the Screencast in Different Formats

I found the producing of the screencasts quite easy, as well as getting my files over to the Amazon directory, and my Quicktime movie up on YouTube and both formats up on my blog.  I found that when I produced the video as a flash movie, within the folder that is created, there was an mp4 of the screencast. I uploaded that to YouTube and then took a look at the instructions again when I realized that I still needed to save in the Quicktime format and upload that to YouTube – still that was not problem and I was able to do this without a problem.

After spending quite a few hours working with the program, I feel pretty comfortable using it.  I feel fortunate to have the PC downstairs to work on and the extra 15 days to create my screencast for the Cool Tools screencast.