The Shame of Listening to My Own Voice (aka My First Jing)

Thing 18 from CPD23 is about Jing/screen capture/podcasts, which are varied tools to help visualize data through screen capture. It has been interesting to see how training has been enhanced through the years from screenshots in static presentations to full-fledged-in-the-moment webinars.

Jing can record single shots or short videos, and will show everything that happens on the screen. This is extremely beneficial went walking through multiple mouse-click sessions that can lead to different screens. I had used Captivate previously, but it almost has too much capability, while Jing gives you a simple start and stop recording menu. You can then upload it to their site for public viewing, or save it in a Flash format. 

Considerations for recording include:

• Microphone. You will want to make sure that viewers of your recording will actually be able to hear what you are saying.
• Concise topic. Jing recordings are a maximum of five minutes.
• Rehearsal. You do not necessarily have to script everything that you are doing, but you will want to make sure that you know what to expect. During one recording I went to click for patron login, but forgot we do not have an SSL certificate on the training server so I got the big "THIS SITE CANNOT BE TRUSTED" warning. Whoops.
• Patience. Things go wrong. You click the wrong link, you start sneezing, the phone rings, your voice cracks because you didn't drink enough water, you lose internet connection. Be ready to do your recording more than one time. Or ten.

I recorded my first Jing session yesterday for member libraries, to show them the new Evergreen public catalog we will have after migration. I will be creating more demos to make available to staff, then make them available for the general public. Since we will not be migrating until the end of the year, I have time to edit or recreate the videos if anything changes in the meantime.

Now, if I could only change having to listen to my own voice on them...