ONEMercury Tutorials โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Final Post

Over the course of the summer internship, some things went better than others, but, overall, challenges were minor. I am grateful for the experience, having learned a great deal about metadata, data curation, the field of technical writing and training, and video production. In addition to providing feedback on the Continue reading ONEMercury Tutorials โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Final Postโ†’

Recording Tutorials โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #8

This weekโ€™s progress consisted of lots script-tweaking followed by voice recording and screen capture, and then syncing the two together. To keep consistency, I wanted to get the groundwork done across all the tutorial videos before filling in the visual aids. Iโ€™m saving the demo video for last because it Continue reading Recording Tutorials โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #8โ†’

DUG Meeting Feedback โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #7

I received useful feedback on the four videos I presented at the DUG meeting last weekend. Audience members included librarians and other university employees, federal employees (USGS), DataONE folks, and others, so there were a variety of viewpoints represented. Most members were naive of the current ONEMercury interface. Attention-guiding additions Continue reading DUG Meeting Feedback โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #7โ†’

Off to the DUG meeting โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #6

This weekโ€™s efforts were mostly a wrap-up of last weekโ€™s work in preparation for the DUG meeting: more screencast tutorial recording and editing along various styles. In particular creating a video for the geographic search shows off how some of the visual effects look in a more complex user interface. Continue reading Off to the DUG meeting โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #6โ†’

Scaling back on the DUG meeting questionnaire โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #5

Firstly, thanks to those who took a moment to respond to my one-question poll last week. Opinions were split evenly, with half of the voters preferring different content and half preferring maintaining exactly the same script. In addition to the poll, I got some great feedback from several readers on Continue reading Scaling back on the DUG meeting questionnaire โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #5โ†’

Brevity is the soul of scriptwriting โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #4

I created a draft submission for internal review board approval of our plan to hand out some questionnaires at the DUG meeting. Hopefully the findings will be published, so itโ€™s important to go about things properly. Specifically, Iโ€™ll be showing alternate video styles (more or fewer effects, such as animations Continue reading Brevity is the soul of scriptwriting โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #4โ†’

Prioritizing DataONE and Partner Tools for Screencasting, And: What is Fair Use? โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #3

Screencasting and Copyright Law If we make tutorials for third-party software, we will be showing someone elseโ€™s product. Such display of copies of artwork or music or film carries heavy legal implications, so the question becomes: what about showing footage of software? I am definitely not a lawyer, but I Continue reading Prioritizing DataONE and Partner Tools for Screencasting, And: What is Fair Use? โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #3โ†’

Choosing screencast software โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #1

After a successful face-to-face meeting in Santa Barbara between mentor and intern, we have a nine week project timeline. A major goal for this project this summer is to develop a workflow and templates for making screencasts as a product, so the beginning weeks will be spent researching tools (Week Continue reading Choosing screencast software โ€“ Screencast Tutorials, Week #1โ†’