Thursday 6 September 2012

Thing 18

Jing/screen capture/podcasts (making and following them)

1. Jing

I could have a lot of fun with this! Taking only ten minutes to download and create my first video (very basic!). I can see a multitude of uses for Jing, if only to start with helping my grandad to do things on the computer himself, without me having to be there! It is so simple to use (I didn't read any instructions) and the option of adding a narration over the top is particularly important. From what I could tell you can only add captions if you  download more software (Camtasia Studio) which does have a free trial, but I decided not to venture that far. With the sound recording option I don't think it is required, but may be useful for a business to make their videos particularly clear. To conclude I think this is a great tool, and being free I will definitely try it out in real life situations!

2. Podcasting

It is a long time since I have listened to any podcasts, my first experience of them was listening to those by New Scientist journal, on my ipod during sixth form. I found them a great way to find out about popular science topics without having to lug a book around on the train. I used iTunes to download the series automatically, and chose which ones appealed most to add to my ipod. I know that the arcadia seminars programme was published as podcasts, and I think they are a very useful way of distributing your information. A little like iplayer in a way, allowing the user to listen at will! I am yet to create a podcast, but I can see the many ways it could be used in a library. At St John's it could be implemented to create guides for students, however I do think visual options are best, or for example to allow people to listen to talks given as part of the Samuel Butler events (see http://on.fb.me/QgWcCu or http://bit.ly/Q7MLqx).