The Distant Librarian

Boolify

Nothing earthshattering, but an Boolify is interesting little site that might help some conceptualize the concept of boolean operators.

Librarians, teachers and parents have told us how hard it is for students to understand web searching. Boolify makes it easier to for students to understand their web search by illustrating the logic of their search, and by showing them how each change to their search instantly changes their results. ...Its primary audience is Elementary and Middle School children, but it may find relevance with others. Ultimately, its goal is to increase learners’ ability to perform effective web searches.

Might be cool to hack it (or ask them) to use it to search a basic library database...

Update released for Camtasia Studio - version 5.1

Still running Win2K at the office, so can't offer any personal experiences with this version of my favorite screencasting tool, but Techsmith has released an update to their current version of Camtasia Studio: version 5.1. As always, you can use it for a 30-day free trial.


Technorati Tags: Screencasting, Techsmith, Camtasia

The Sub Prime meltdown explained (twice)

Two different ways to explain the same weird situation - which one works better for you?

PBS NewsHour (thanks for the link Dad)
The Subprime Primer, explained by Stick Men (contains potentially offensive language)

Hope not too many of you are directly caught in this mess :-/

Podcasting in Plain English

Another CBC Podcast to recommend, or at least a specific episode: Spark podcast.  In the most recent episode they interview Lee Lefever, part of the creative force behind the ...in Plain English series of screenpapercasts.  The title of this post comes from the end of their interview where Lee is put on the spot to explain the concept of podcasting but w/o his usual props.  He did a good job.  Common Craft's latest papercast is Twitter in Plain English, and I think it does a really good job; I'm only on Twitter because other people I care about are on Twitter, and I'm curious to know what they're doing in their day-to-day lives...

Provide feedback on the development of SnagIt and Camtasia Studio for the Mac

Techsmith is currently running a couple of brief surveys to find out what folks think are the most important features for their under-development-versions of SnagIt and Camtasia Studio for the Mac.  Why not take a couple of minutes to let them know what you think:

• Camtasia Studio for the Mac survey (Camtasia is for screen recording as video)
• SnagIt for the Mac survey (SnagIt captures screenshot images)

Technorati Tags: Techsmith, OSX, Screencasting, SnagIt, Camtasia

OSX Screenshot Showdown - Jing vs Skitch

I almost didn't bother with this post after running a quick Google search on Jing vs Skitch and finding nearly 1,000 results, but I went through a fair number and couldn't find anything that actually compared them side by side, so I went ahead.

Both Jing and Skitch are free (currently) programs for Mac OS X that allow the user to take and then annotate a static screen shot.  But they each do a whole lot more as well.  Here's a chart comparing some of the features of each:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Feature		Jing	Skitch
Remote Hosting		Free	Free
Save locally		X	X
Upload to:
	Flickr	X	X
	FTP	X	X
	.Mac		X
Send to Bluetooth			X
Send to Printer			X
Attach to Email			X
File Format Outputs
	PNG	X	X
	JPG		X
	TIF		X
	PDF		X
	SWF	For video
	SVG		X
Video Capture		X
iSight Capture (still)			X
Annotation
	Text	X	X
	Arrows	X	X
	Highlight	X	X
	Boxes	X	X
	Circles		X
	Pencil		X
	Line		X
	Erase and Cut		X
	Fill Area		X
	Undo	X	X
Effects
	Shadow		X
	Flip		X
	Rotate		X
Customized hotkeys		X	X
Resize after capture			X
Drag snapshot into application			X

So on options, Skitch is the clear winner, but that ability to record quick video with Jing is a damn good reason to keep it around.  Plus it's important to note that I'm kind comparing apples and oranges here, as Jing never set out to be an all-inclusive screen capture product. 

There's another important thing to consider too, and something a table can't capture (ha!) is the usability of each product.  You know I can't resist a quick screencast, so here's how I use each one:

 

Technorati Tags: Jing, Skitch, OSX

First Impressions of ScreenFlow

Heh, I forgot we now have a machine in our office with Leopard installed, so this AM I sat down for 20 minutes with ScreenFlow.  It's pretty nice, and the editing features are really slick.  Very nice callouts and zooms and mirror effects.  But no text can be added, which is a really big bummer.  Nor arrows.  And I'm sure you can add additional clips to compensate, but I didn't see any way to add a title screen during my inaugural run.  It was stable for me on one try though.  I only saw variants of .mov files as the output, but you can upload those to YouTube or Viddler for conversion.  More when I have more time, including some sample screencasts.


Technorati Tags: ScreenFlow, OSX, Screencasting

Screencast Editing on the Mac - ScreenFlow

Just a couple of weeks ago I lamented that what was really missing from all the screencasting options for the Mac was the ability to easily edit post-capture.  Well folks, we may have turned a corner.  Vara Software has just released ScreenFlow, which sounds as though it does everything I want it to.  The only drawback for the moment is that it only runs on Leopard (OS X.5), which I don't yet have.  Comments left in the couple of reviews I've read suggest that it may be a little buggy still, but I'd love to try it out.  The sample screencast on their site looks really nice...


Technorati Tags: screencasting, ScreenFlow

EZProxy and OvidSP Round 2 - Removing the Tip Box

Last month I wrote about how to use EZProxy's find and replace feature to change the unhelpful text on a database tab to something more helpful:EZProxy Find and Replace: when the vendor says they can't...  Well the Medical Librarians at U of C had another request; to see if we could get rid of that Tip Box that appears after a slight delay.

The tip box is annoying because the delay in its appearing seems to contribute to the jumpiness of the screen - which is the real problem. There's a delay somewhere and I've seen my students use the system and boxes they tick, or in entering the search strategy, keystrokes don't register as something happens behind the scene and the whole screen jumps around. Tip box or not, they'll have to fix that. I'm hearing it as the #1 complaint on the med librarians' listservs.

I asked Ovid tech support if it could be removed, and they said sorry, nope, even though that's requested even more than the tab name change was!

So again, EZProxy to the rescue.  This one's not quite as elegant, as I was trying to wrap it up on Friday afternoon, but I did some hunting and pecking and learned that there's a javascript being called (after a delay) that's responsible for the Tip Box.  Break that script, and voila, no more Tip Box.

So this time in your EZProxy config file you can use:

T Ovid (or whatever we're calling it)
U http://www.ovid.com (whatever)
DJ ovid.com  (whatever)
Find advertising.js   tips01342.js
Replace advertisin.js   tips0134x.js

Told you it was kinda ugly, but basically we're renaming the called javascript to one that doesn't exist, and thus it doesn't get called.  We tried replacing it with a blank (nothing) but it didn't work, so as soon as we found something that did, we stuck with it.

Here are the before and after pix:

Before:

After:

And no more screen jumping.

Random Tuesday Tech Tip #5 - Aardvark Firefox Extension

The other day I came across a Firefox extension called Aardvark that makes it really easy to clean up websites to print, or even to read online w/o lots of advertisements and fluff around the text.  Here's a quick demo of it in action:

ViewletBuilder 4 for the Mac - now with sound!

Update: whoops, I originally posted this calling it VB 5, but was contacted by Qarbon who pointed out it's actually version 4 (they're still working on 5 for the Mac)

Well hot on the heels of my complaint about not having a tool to edit .mov files, Qarbon shared with me a beta  of ViewletBuilder 4 for the Mac.  Now, they've had a Mac version out for some time, but also for some time the version they had didn't support sound.  They appear to have that bug licked.

While I'm no longer a huge fan of the ViewletBuilder / Captivate model of taking individual screen shots and then animating them after the fact, I do certainly appreciate the ability to mark up the screencast.  Here's a long (15 minutes!) walk through of how to build and annotate a very  basic screencast using ViewletBuilder 5 on the Mac.  If you want to actually see what's on the screen, look for the full screen button in the upper right.

Qarbon offers free hosting for two Viewlets of any size.  Educational pricing for ViewletBuilder is $199.

You can watch the actual Viewlet I built here. (there doesn't appear to be a way to embed)

What's actually missing from the Mac Screencasting options

...is the ability to edit the recording.  Specifically adding callouts; arrows, highlights, text overlay...  that sort of stuff.  I now have copies of both iShowU and SnapzProX, and they both do a really nice job of recording the screen.  Lots of variables like size of capture, frame rate, sound or not, but neither offers the ability to edit the recording, other than to pop it in to Quicktime Pro or iMovie to add titles, transitions, or trim and cut.  Is anyone aware of a Mac product that allows a .mov file to be annotated with highlights, text boxes, arrows, etc?  Can't wait for Techsmith to step in here...

An update on the ANTS project

Hey, remember the ANTS screencast-sharing project?    I've stepped way back from it since assuming my new duties here at the U of C, but it's still going strong, and has undergone some major changes / improvements.    Here's an update that was sent to the COPPUL Distance Education group:

As many of you are aware, we updated our Wiki last spring and we notified this group.  Since then, we have been publicizing it outside of COPPUL and as a result we now have over 50 people registered on the ANTS Wiki.  One reason that we are atracting more and more attention is the contributions made by  our DE group (thank you very much!). Another reason we are growing is due to new contributions coming from outside of COPPUL.  Each time a new tutorial comes up, we are posting them on the ALA Information Literacy Listserv in order to generate interest in the project. It seems to be working.

Interest in the Wiki is also increasing due to many of the Wiki's features
that we are marketing as well.  They allow allow us to create more of a
community on the Wiki.  In particular individuals can:

1. Create individual profiles.

2. Send messages to individuals when they view their profiles

3. Take part in a Discussion Forum.  (It is hoped that the Forum will be used by people interested   in the uses of Shockwave Flash and Building Tutorials... that it will be a community of people who share what they know with others.)

4. Set up their profile to recieve notifications via E-mail and updates about Site activity (by setting up a Watchlist).

5. Encourage others to participate by using its Invite Others feature.

6. Post to the Wiki any time they want to Adopt a Tutorial, update our list
of tutorials for development, etc.

If you have not already done so, it is a good time to register for our new
Wiki and set up a profile.  I have recieved messages from about 4 new members.  Two of them were Distance Education Librarians.  So it is a good community to be a part of.

Both our old ANTS team members, as well as new team members, are also busy
working on several new innitiatives including:

1. A wonderful new site to host our tutorials with a lot of push technology
and sharing technology.  We will tell you more about it as it nears completion.

2. Paul Betty (at Regis University) is experimenting with using Google Analytics to measure Captivate Tutorial use and he will be discussing this at the OCLS conference in March. So look for it if you are attending.

3. Richard Baer (of Camosun College) is having students view different tutorials and provide feedback about what works well and less well.  He is just starting, but already we are getting some interesting feedback that we will share with the group when we have more data.

4. Bill Badke is now focusing on doing Information Literacy Tutorials. He also has agreed to oversee a working group devoted to working on Information Literacy within the ANTS project. It would look at what needs to be created, issues related to Information Literacy and Tutorials, etc.  A second group (focused on the Technology) will oversee the Wiki, Dspace, and the New site. This will allow us to bring specialized knowledge to different aspects of the project.

In December we also added a third new member to the group:  Duncan Dixon of Trinity Western University. Duncan created our CINAHL tutorials and is (along with Paul Betty and Richard Baer) helping with the new site. So we would like to welcome him and thank him for assisting with the project.  We would also like to thank Paul Betty and Richard Baer for the time and energy they have devoted to the project thus far.

As you are aware, the project team did grow this fall. I would like to say that we expanded it for two reasons:

1. To help with many technological develpments that require more hands. In particular, we needed people with expertise in Captivate, Camtasia, Wikis, and Broadcasting sites.  This expertise is important and whenever someone clearly had it, we felt it was important to include them in the project (be they a COPPUL or non-COPPUL Librarian.)

2. We are a project that is now open to non-COPPUL members, and having non-COPPUL members on the actual team, was a way to reinforce that we are more than just a COPPUL project.  This in turn encourages others to participate in this project via contributions.

More works still needs to be done and more help - and ideas about how to improve the project - is always welcome.  To begin however, do take the time to register for the ANTS Wiki (http://ants.wetpaint.com/ ) and post if you have issues related to online tutorials.

Cheers,

Carmen Kazakoff-Lane

Incorporating Screencasts In Online Teaching

From The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 8, No 3 (2007),   ISSN: 1492-3831 - Incorporating Screencasts In Online Teaching by Elaine Peterson.

I'm linking to the abstract page instead of the full text because from there you can choose HTML, PDF, or to listen to the article as an mp3, which sounds surprisingly good to me - neat option!

Abstract
Despite success in teaching the class ‘Organization of Information in a School Library Media Center’ (EDCI 545) online, one component continued to be a problem for students, the Dewey Decimal Classification System. To supplement the instruction, a set of simple screencasts was developed to assist distance education students. Benchmarks were established and a beta test conducted. It is expected that the next online class of students will have increased success because of the addition of screencasts. It is suggested that screencasts be considered as an additional tool for online learners across other disciplines, particularly when using databases that have layered sets of information, requiring multiple mouse clicks.

Interesting to me that while the author used links to the websites of the products she mentioned, the literature review only looked for traditional print literature, despite the fact that there's plenty of evidence in the blogosphere of libraries using screencasts for instruction...



Technorati Tags: screencasting, distance_education

Running Meebo as an application (no web browser needed!)

OK gang, the biggest strength of Meebo, that it's web-based, has also been the biggest strike against it.  For those of us who are using it as a service, it's a bit of a pain to remember to fire it up, and to have the web browser open.  Accidentally shut down the page or have a browser crash and you lose the service.

Worry no more, here's how you can run Meebo completely independent of your web browser, as a desktop application!

You need to download a small application from Mozilla called Prism.  Did I mention it's available for Windows, Mac AND Linux?  :-)  Prism allows a web service (any website) to run in its own window, available with a desktop or startup menu shortcut.  Because it's in a separate window, you don't even have to have a web browser open to access Meebo, and because it can launch as an application,  you can add it to your startup routine so it starts with your OS, just like Trillian or Pidgin can.

It's incredibly easy to install and run; I'll be using it heavily starting tomorrow at the office.  Here it is in action (email and RSS subscribers will have to click through to view):

While this should run on Leopard, there's another application specifically built for the newest OS called Fluid.  Someone try it out and let me know how it works, kay?

How to embed a MeeboMe widget on a Mac desktop

Yesterday I posted a screencast about how to embed a MeeboMe widget right on the desktop using ActiveDesktop.  While surfing around to see who else had made use of this, I found a link to a Flickr page from late 2005 where someone was using ActiveDesktop to show their Meebo account, and in the comments was a suggestion for a Mac application called WebDesktop that does more or less the same thing on OS X.  It's not quite as good, IMHO, in that upon minimizing your active windows you have to click one more time to make the webdesktop become operational, but still, you don't have to have your browser running, and this could easily be made to run upon startup (though of course the Mac won't be starting up nearly as often ;-).  Just something else to experiment with.

Here's your screencast (aggregators and mail subscribers will have to click through to view):

Some screencasting news

I'm pleased to see Greg Notess has been posting again at the LibCasting blog.  The other day he pointed to FreeScreencast.com, which offers the software and online hosting, much like Jing.  I haven't tried FreeScreencast or TipCam, which does the exact same thing.  There are examples on each of their sites though, and the output looks pretty good - check them out!


Technorati Tags: Screencasting, Jing, FreeScreencast.com, TipCam

How to embed a MeeboMe widget on your desktop

Hey, I'm excited about this one!  At a meeting yesterday we were considering additional places we could stick our MeeboMe widget (you may recall we've had it embedded in our catalogue since the beginning of October, 2007).  Someone wondered if we could embed it on the desktop, and I recalled that Microsoft has something called Active Desktop that allows websites to be displayed on the desktop.  So this morning I did some quick checking and it works! 

So first you'll need to create a MeeboMe widget, and then you'll need to create a basic html file on your hard drive, OR you can point to a live website.  Just remember that folks will still want to use their desktop icons, so if you do use a live webpage, make sure it's not too cluttered.

Information on how to turn on Active Desktop is here.

And, um, that's it!

Here it is in action:

 

I don't know if there might be any security or other implications for this - haven't yet checked on that...

Update: My colleague David pointed out that we have over 200 machines in our InfoCommons, and wonders what having them always connected to our Meebo account might mean.  Good question - does anyone have any idea if there's a limit to the number of folks who can be simultaneously connected to a Meebo account?  I'm going to check their FAQ's and maybe send them an email.  Still, the above should work well for a small library...

Update #2: The Meebo Wiki says 100 people can be simultaneously connected via widgets:
"How many people can talk to me at any given time? Is there a limit?
Right now we have set the limit to 100 people who can see you online through your widget. In the future, we may make it a preference to help you do some crowd control. If you’ve got 100 peeps IMing you at any given time, you’re pretty popular and might wanna hit that Invisible mode! You can also disable a widget in the meebo pref pane."

Watch how Molly McDonald makes a screencast

A neat post from Molly McDonald of DemoGirl.com showing exactly how she creates a screencast using Camtasia Studio 4.

Utilizing WebQuests for Information Literacy Instruction in Distance Education

Haven't actually looked at this article myself...

Author: Blummer, Barbara
Source: College & Undergraduate Libraries, Volume 14, Number 3, 18 December 2007 , pp. 45-62(18)

Abstract:
The increasing use of problem-based learning in higher education affords librarians new avenues for promoting the development of information literacy skills among students. Information literacy instruction supports problem-based learning activities by providing students with skills to locate relevant resources for developing solutions to these exercises. The author created three WebQuests (together with tutorials) aimed at promoting faculty-librarian partnerships to deliver information literacy instruction through a problem-based learning approach in the context of course work in a distance learning environment. These problem-based learning WebQuests can be adapted to various disciplines as well as to traditional learning environments. Lastly, these WebQuests promote the development of information literacy skills in students as well as increase their exposure to problem-based learning. doi:10.1300/J106v14n03_03

InfoLit with a sense of humour

The University of Alberta Augustana Library has made their award-winning DVD, It Changed the Way I Do Research - Period: Augustana Talks Information Literacy, available for free online.  Here's a promo teaser from YouTube:

This isn't something to show to your students; it's much more a multimedia explanation of how the InfoLit program runs at Augustana, but it's done in a really fun style - kudos to student narrator and co-writer Kyle Harland!

This 30 minute video (DVD) documents and promotes the vision of Information Literacy at Augustana and the various components of Augustana's Information Literacy Program. These components include 21 for-credit discipline-specific Information Literacy courses embedded into the curriculum, a variety of assessment practices, an annual Information Literacy workshop for faculty and librarians, and Information Literacy Awards for students and faculty.

If you do download the entire 30-minute program, be sure to catch the Information Literacy song 24-minutes in.

Technorati Tags: InfoLit, Augustana

Improving the SFX menu

David Walker at Cal State has a really compelling presentation on why they've modified their SFX menu to look the way it does.  It's a 20-minute Captivate presentation.  If you look after SFX at your school, you really should give this a look.

(thanks for the tip, Jennifer)

Camtasia Studio 5 Review

I mentioned at the beginning of the month that Camtasia Studio 5 was being released, and also that because I'm still on Win2K at the office I hadn't had a chance to play with it.  Still true, but Michael Pick at Web TV Wire has a very comprehensive overview and review of the screencasting product, including some links to additional reviews all the way down at the bottom.  Definitely worth a read if you're in the market for a screencasting tool.


Technorati Tags: Screencasting, Camtasia

Sept PRIMO Site of the Month: Citing Your Sources: APA and MLA Citation Styles

Noticed a really nice Flash tutorial from Eastern Washington University was chosen as the September 2007 PRIMO Site of the Month - Citing Your Sources: APA and MLA Citation Styles.  After learning about citation styles, users have the chance to click and drag various parts of the citation into the correct order, and then check their answers.  Also learned from the interview on the PRIMO site that APA has finally come out with something new addressing the citation of electronic sources: APA Style Guide to Electronic References.  It's only available as a PDF, but site licenses are available.

Camtasia Studio v5 on the way

Techsmith is about to release version 5 of Camtasia Studio, their excellent screencasting product.  Betsy Weber is going to be introducing a new feature each day from now until the release date on October 9th, and first up is a feature called SmartFocus.  Troy Stein, Camtasia's product manager, has a good screencast (how else?) about the feature, and he sounds really excited about it.  I'm not sure how well this will work for library-type screencasts; I worry that the zooming might detract from the whole production, but maybe not.  I haven't had a chance to try the beta of this release as sadly it won't be compatible with Win2K, which is what I'm still running on the office machine.


Technorati Tags: Screencasting, Camtasia