"Common Elements of Effective Screencasts"
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About the AuthorJoseph Friedman was born and raised in Los Lunas, New Mexico. He graduated from New Mexico Tech in 2010. He now works doing freelance marketing for local Albuquerque rock bands. Contents |
Novel Ideas and Applications for ScreencastingThe forefront of screencasting knowledge seems to be online, in blogs, articles, and wikis instead of literature. This might be due to the nature of the medium and how it is currently being used and shared. Mistakes Screencasts can show how common mistakes occur and what to do to get back on track. David Anderson proposes the idea of including mistakes in screencasts in his blog. He suggests that by showing a popular mistake, and how to recover from it, the user gains insight into error recovery and the thought process of the screencaster. This technique could have applications in tutorials and conversational demos. Screencasts and Cinema Screencasts can make use of cinematic techniques in order to make them more engaging for the viewer. Effects like cutaways, establishing shots, close-ups, depth, and green screen might give the screencast a more artistic appeal, but at times these effects are just flashy and distracting. Cinematic effects should be used in moderation, and mostly apply to Concept and Feature Story screencasts. Cutaways A cutaway is a brief (<5 seconds) cut to a different view. A cutaway shot could show hands actually pressing the hotkeys instead of representing hotkeys with text. Also, a cutaway could introduce the narrator to the user. Establishing Shots and Close-Up Shots Establishing shots and close ups go hand-in-hand. An establishing shot shows the whole screen in context and a close-up shot shows just the area of interest. It is important to have an establishing shot before the close up in order to root the users understanding of the big picture. Establishing shots can be avoided by using inset close ups (Fig. 2). Depth Depth is shown by presenting the 2d screencast image at an angle to give the appearance of a three dimensional computer screen. This pseudo-3d perspective is essentially superfluous: there is no reason to display 2d information in 3d (Guttormsen, et al 2001). Andrus argues that this effect holds the user’s attention because the content is more visually interesting. View his screencast on Adobe After Effects for an example (Andrus). Green Screen Use of a green screen allows a video of the narrator to be placed concurrently with the screencast. This technique connects the audience with the narrator, and allows more non-verbal communication (body language, gestures, etc.) to occur. However, this effect takes time and equipment, and it is not necessary for every screencast. This effect essentially steals attention from the screencast and places it on the narrator. View Scott Skibell’s video to see green screen narration in action. Screencasting ShortcomingsThere are some areas in which screencasts are lacking, difficult, or frustrating. Screencasts do not offer much interactivity, except in a linear sense. The user can pause, play, or skip to sections of the video only. In some cases, a higher level of interactivity would not necessarily be better. Consider that a specific set of complex instructions would be harder to understand if it was presented in a non-linear fashion. Also, there is no dialog between the narrator and the user, the information is a one-way street. Most sites allow users to comment on individual screencasts, which can help bridge the gap between the user and screencaster. Screencasts also have trouble accommodating for accessibility. Closed captions could be helpful for the hearing impaired; however the captions will detract from the overall screencast by causing cognitive overload in the average user. Consider offering a separate screencast or having a transcript of the narration provided along with the screencast. Screencasts also must be updated regularly to stay current with newer versions of software. This problem becomes further confounded when a user with an outdated version is trying to find an appropriate screencast. Finally, there is the basic drawback of this technology: it is not portable, and it relies on theinternet to stream or download. ConclusionScreencasts have the potential to be a very effective medium. They can show and tell effectively because they access both the verbal and the visual cognitive channels. Screencasts also adapt to the core principles of minimalist documentation, as well as multimedia documentation. Screencasts are accessible as well as easy to create and share for the average internet user. This makes screencasts viable for many niche areas such as tutorials, distance education, commercial/marketing, software reviews, feature story, concepts. Screencasts also have applications in usability testing. For instance, a screencast can record a users’ first experience with a program or product, along with running narration. In the end, remember that screencasting is the just the medium; users’ knowledge is the content. The goal of effective screencasting should be to make the medium more invisible so the users are thinking about the content. |