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Rebuilding Fedora Indexes Screencast contributed by Chris Wilper from DuraSpace
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Guidelines:
A screencast is a video of someone showing how to do something on a computer. Screencast software captures what is happening on the computer screen along with an audio recording of the speaker explaining what he
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/she is doing. Screencasts are an effective way of providing the user communities quick tutorials on specific tasks or functionality.
This guide will help you through the five easy steps to creating a screencast:
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- Pick a topic from the KnowledgeBase table of contents for DSpace or Fedora and give your screencast the same name as the KnowledgeBase topic you've selected.
- Limit what you tackle. An effective screencast lasts about five minutes. If it is necessary to go longer than five minutes, you may want to consider dividing your topic into two or more screencasts, if appropriate (e.g., "Getting Started with DSpace Access Controls, Part One" and "...Part Two").
- Decide if you need to write out a script for yourself or perhaps jotting down a simple outline or some reminders will be sufficient. It may be easier not to juggle a written script while you're navigating through the flow of screens. There is no need to go overboard on the formality, but the audience should be able to easily follow your points.
- Download/configure your computer software for the screencast. In addition to the screencast software (see below), you will need to have an application environment set up for whatever you are going to demonstrate (e.g., internet connection, if required; applications installed, test data pre-configured, etc.)
- Rehearse your presentation a couple of times before recording it to optimize your instructional points, mouse movements, timing and how to use your selected screencast capture software (how to start, pause, un-pause, stop, etc.)
- If possible, plan to use an audio headset with a microphone for the best quality audio recording. Logitech USB headsets work very well, but most any USB headset should do nicely.
- The optimum video resolution for your finished product is 1280 x 720, also known as widescreen, 16/9, or High Definition (HD) video. Try to record at this resolution and define your video output the same way when you save your recording to maximize the viewable details by the viewer
- Save your screencast output as MP4, AVI, FLV, M4V, or MOV.
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Tool | Cost | Platform | Containers and Codecs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Free (Pro is $12/year) | Windows, Mac, Linux | MP4, AVI, FLV (also save directly to YouTubeHD or Screencast-o-matic.com acct) | Runs from browser (Java applet), but records any screen/desktop activities. Has an easy setting for recording in "Full HD" resolution (1280x720). Can auto-letterbox smaller resolution recordings when saving. Very easy to use. Can highlight mouse cursor & all mouse clicks. 15-minute recording limit (Pro is unlimited). Videos are branded with a small logo in lower left corner (Pro version is free of branding). | |
$299 / $179 education pricing (30-day free trial available) | Windows or Mac | MP4, M4V, AVI, FLV, Silverlight, MOV, RM | The most fully featured screencasting software out there, and very easy to use. But, it comes at a higher price. | |
Free for Mac | Mac | MP4, MOV | You have the option to save at HD 720p (1280x720), which is our preferred resolution. Other options include 480p (640x480 resolution) and HD 1080p (1920x1080 resolution). Mac users can easily import into iMovie to make further edits. |
Additional options include (in no particular order):
Tool | Cost | Platforms | Containers and Codecs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Free | Linux | Anything except apple pro | Pure command line tool. For Ubuntu, must build from source (directions), and then command lines like these. FFmpeg is also suitable for format conversion and audio overlay. | |
Free | Linux | ogv (must transcode results, can use transmageddon) | Works out of the box on Ubuntu 11.10 | |
Free | Linux | mpeg(4), avi, mov, others, with sorenson, divx, mpeg, others. | Default versions do not work with pulseaudio, and thus recent Ubuntu installations (Ubuntu 11.4 and 11.10). Workaround is to install from source, and launch with padsp. Provides a GUI, easy to use | |
Free | Windows | AVI or FLV | Lots of options/configurations available (most often compared to Camtasia in terms of options). Not always as easy to use or user friendly as other free screencasting tools (see Screencast-O-Matic or Jing), but it definitely comes with options & tools comparable to Camtasia. | |
Free | Windows or Mac | FLV (Pro version also offers MP4) | Easy to use, but has minimal options. Seem to only be able to record either full-screen or a specific window (no options to record a selected area or part of screen). 5-minute recording limit. Videos are branded (Pro version is free of branding). | |
| Open Broadcaster Software | Free | Windows | MP4 or FLV | A bit of a learning curve, but a ton of options available. For screencasting, you'd want to change the "Broadcast Settings" to "File Output Only" (which tells OBS to record to a file). Can record from multiple sources at once (e.g. Desktop & Webcam). Also supports live streaming (to various online streaming services – mostly for gaming). Here is a decent tutorial for configuring OBS for screencasts. (Tim Donohue uses OBS for most of his screencasts.) |
Making the Recording
Here are some suggestions for making a successful screencast recording:
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If you do want to try the post-production work, and your screencast software allows you to do this, here are some guidelines.
Title Slide:
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Please use the DuraSpace Screencast Slide Pack to create your Title, Closing and optional Organizational Slides. This slide pack is available here.
Title Slide:
- Duration: 5 seconds
Transition From Title to Lesson:
- Insert a fade to black
- Duration: 2 seconds
Closing slide:
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- Insert another 2 second fade to black before the closing slide
- Duration: 2 seconds
Optional: Organizational Slide. You may add an Organizational Slide right after the initial Title Slide using the slide pack if you wish to add organizational branding to your screencast. Please use the following guidelines if adding an Organization Slide:
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- Logo no greater then 20% of screen dimensions
- Corporate tagline and three or four services (optional)
- URL optionalDuration not to exceed 3 seconds
Posting the Screencast Video
Once you have finished the recording and post-production of your screencast video you can post it to a publically accessible location (local repository, YouTube, etc). The screencast can then be inserted into the relevant KnowledgeBase page by using the following syntax in the wiki markup view:
To insert a link to a video or presentation slides, use the following code:
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