The things in this Thing are pretty old hat to me at this point. I've been using SnagIt for years to put screen shots in the database guides I create for students or email answers to student requests for help. And I also use Grab when on my Mac. In fact, it's how I captured my Wordle word cloud to put in the previous Thing.
I've used various tools for screencasting. The first one I created was about 2 years ago, using Wink. I didn't find the learning curve very steep, and it has a surprising amount of functionality for a free program. While it didn't take long to record my capture, it was extremely time consuming to edit my tutorial to get it the way I wanted it--adjusting the timing and adding branching. I have since given up on Wink in favor of Adobe's Captivate, which makes it a lot easier to edit my captures.
Primarily I use these tools for creating full-blown database tutorials. However, over the winter I discovered Jing, and have been using it heavily since. Since there are no post-capture editing options, it doesn't have the functionality of Wink or Captivate (or Camtasia, for that matter), but it fills a need for creating "quick and dirty" videos. Students often ask me for help via email. In the past I would answer their questions with a combination of screen shots and blow-by-blow text descriptions of what to look for and where to click. With Jing, I just create a short video of what they should do, upload it to Screencast.com, and email a link to the video. The students have found this approach very helpful, and it takes much less time to make the video than to explain the same concepts in the text of an email.
Showing posts with label email. Show all posts
Showing posts with label email. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
More with Thing #25 -- Post by email
I decided to test posting by email using my iPod Touch. It's easy,
but time consuming to type with only one finger. I can see it might
be helpful if I was doing live blogging somewhere and didn't have a
computer with me. But pretty much anywhere I'd have email access I'd
also have web access to post directly. So email posting doesn't seem
terribly useful.
but time consuming to type with only one finger. I can see it might
be helpful if I was doing live blogging somewhere and didn't have a
computer with me. But pretty much anywhere I'd have email access I'd
also have web access to post directly. So email posting doesn't seem
terribly useful.
---------------------
Sent from my iPod Touch
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thing #7 -- Web Communication Tools
Regarding email: one tip I received from a colleague is to not check email first thing in the morning each day. Her reasoning was that you already know what you need to get done first each day, and checking email can distract you from doing it. Get the priority done first, and then look. I'll admit I don't always follow this. Usually I'll open my email right away and glance through the new messages for any that need immediate attention (with fairly strict criteria for those). Everything else I leave until later in the day. One other thing that helps is filters, and even separate email addresses (I have several accounts) for things like listserv messages. Then they're not cluttering up my work inbox, and I can get to them when I have time.
Creating a set of mail templates sounds useful, and my email program provides the ability. I haven't really made use of it yet, although I've played around some. Mostly if I think I may want to reuse the text of a message later I keep it in my "Sent" folder to cut and paste later. I'll admit this isn't terrible efficient!
My library has been providing IM reference for about a year and a half now, using Trillian, which, like Meebo, allows us to consolidate several IM accounts into one. It doesn't get a whole lot of use, and we plan on making the service more visible on our web site to improve this. One of the problems is remembering to log on to Trillian when we begin our reference shift. I'm a heavy IM user, in both my work and personal life, so it's not a problem for me. Other librarians aren't in the habit so much. Due to the low use, I haven't found it a problem to be monitoring our IM accounts while at the reference desk. Students usually understand when I tell them I'm helping someone else online. Plus, depending on the nature of the questions, sometimes it's possible to help both simultaneously.
I'm aware that some libraries provide online reference via SMS as well, and I'm sure it would be useful for our students--judging by the numbers of them seen texting around campus (and even sometimes in library instruction sessions). We haven't yet explored what the technical requirements are to make it possible, however.
For the most part I've found web conferencing beneficial, although technically trying at times. I've "attended" a few different Minitex webinars, the first over 5 years ago and the most recent last month, as well as one from OCLC. In addition I've attended web conferences from the Library of Congress and The Blended Librarian. All of these have primarily been informational presentations, with little to no interaction between presenter and attendees outside of a Q&A period at the end. Still, it's a way to get valuable information without having to physically gather in one place.
Creating a set of mail templates sounds useful, and my email program provides the ability. I haven't really made use of it yet, although I've played around some. Mostly if I think I may want to reuse the text of a message later I keep it in my "Sent" folder to cut and paste later. I'll admit this isn't terrible efficient!
My library has been providing IM reference for about a year and a half now, using Trillian, which, like Meebo, allows us to consolidate several IM accounts into one. It doesn't get a whole lot of use, and we plan on making the service more visible on our web site to improve this. One of the problems is remembering to log on to Trillian when we begin our reference shift. I'm a heavy IM user, in both my work and personal life, so it's not a problem for me. Other librarians aren't in the habit so much. Due to the low use, I haven't found it a problem to be monitoring our IM accounts while at the reference desk. Students usually understand when I tell them I'm helping someone else online. Plus, depending on the nature of the questions, sometimes it's possible to help both simultaneously.
I'm aware that some libraries provide online reference via SMS as well, and I'm sure it would be useful for our students--judging by the numbers of them seen texting around campus (and even sometimes in library instruction sessions). We haven't yet explored what the technical requirements are to make it possible, however.
For the most part I've found web conferencing beneficial, although technically trying at times. I've "attended" a few different Minitex webinars, the first over 5 years ago and the most recent last month, as well as one from OCLC. In addition I've attended web conferences from the Library of Congress and The Blended Librarian. All of these have primarily been informational presentations, with little to no interaction between presenter and attendees outside of a Q&A period at the end. Still, it's a way to get valuable information without having to physically gather in one place.
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