Screencast Information
A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture, often containing audio narration. Although the term screencast dates from 2004, products such as Lotus ScreenCam were used as early as 1994.[1][2] Early products produced large files and had limited editing features. More recent products support more compact file formats such as Adobe Flash and have more sophisticated editing features, allowing relatively easy changes in sequence, mouse movement, audio, etc.
A screenshot is a picture of a computer screen; a screencast is essentially a movie of the changes over time that a user sees on a computer screen, enhanced with audio narration.
Contents |
Uses
Screencasts are useful for demonstrating and teaching software features. Creating a screencast helps software developers show off their work. Screencasts are a useful tool for ordinary software users as well, to help report bugs (the movie takes the place of potentially unclear written explanations) or to show others how a given task is accomplished in a specific software environment. Screencasts are excellent tools for learning how to use computers, and several podcasts have started to teach computer users how to use software through screencasts.
Considering the high cost of instructor / faculty led training and the relative ineffectiveness of typical computer based training (CBT) systems, screencasting is likely to become a very popular technique for imparting high-quality knowledge at a low cost.
For example, organizers of computer related seminars may choose to routinely record complete seminars and make them available on DVDs to all attendees for future reference and/or sell these recordings to people who cannot afford the fee of the live seminar or don't have time to attend it. This will generate an additional revenue stream for organizers of seminars and make the knowledge available to a broader audience, so generating a win-win situation for everybody.
This strategy of recording seminars is already widely used in fields where using a simple video camera or audio recorder is sufficient to make a useful recording of a seminar. Computer-related seminars need high quality and easily readable recordings of screen contents which is usually not achievable by using a video camera to film the desktop which is usually projected onto the wall by a projector.
A drawback of most commercial screencasting programs for Microsoft Windows is their inability to make videos of OpenGL applications, though Demo Builder, Fraps, and Growler Guncam can cope with this.
More recently, the popularity of inexpensive desktop screencasting software has created a cottage industry among internet marketers claiming that their screencasting techniques will increase sales for online businesses like eBay and monetized blogging.
Educators are now using screencasts as another means of integrating technology into the curriculum. Students can record video and audio as they demonstrate the proper procedure to solve a problem on an interactive whiteboard.
Origin of the term
In 2004, columnist Jon Udell invited[3] readers of his blog to propose names for the emerging genre. Udell selected[4] the term screencast, which was proposed by both Joseph McDonald and Deeje Cooley.
The term screencast has established use in publications as part of Internet and Computing vernacular.[5]
Hardware
An alternative solution for capturing a screencast is the use of a hardware RGB or DVI frame grabber card. This approach does not have the OpenGL limitations mentioned above, and places the burden of the recording and compression process on a machine separate from the one generating the visual material being captured
See also
- Comparison of screencasting software
- List of screencasting software
- Online lecture
- Slidecast
- Screenshot
- Video capture
- Video podcast
References
- ^ "Lotus ScreenCam? - comp.groupware". Google. http://groups.google.com/group/comp.groupware/browse_thread/thread/27420a10ad7c1715/a9768e26257e1790.
- ^ "Screencam - comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.multimedia". Google. http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.multimedia/browse_thread/thread/4b2de5d8c86773ba/a1d187a304126448. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- ^ Udell, Jon (2004-11-15). "Jon Udell: Name that genre". InfoWorld. http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2004/11/15.html#a1114. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- ^ Udell, Jon (2004-11-17). "Jon Udell: Name that genre: screencast". InfoWorld. http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2004/11/17.html#a1116. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- ^ See e.g., Braun, Linda (2007). Listen up! Podcasting for Schools and Libraries. Medford: Information Today, Inc. ISBN 9781573873048. , Notess, Greg (2006). Teaching Web Search Skills. Medford: Information Today. ISBN 9781573872676.
External links
| Look up screencast in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
| This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive and inappropriate external links or by converting links into footnote references. (September 2009) |
- O'Reilly Digital Media: What Is Screencasting, a screencasting guide by Jon Udell
- Capturing Screencasts on a Mac - Complete overview of screencasting on the Mac, including workflow, software, and editing.
- Top Tips to More Effective Screencasts
Categories: Container formats | Graphical user interface | Film and video technology | Training
|
Noun
Screencast Wikipedia screencast (plural screencasts)- A digital recording of a computer screen output.