I’m going to be on The Forge show today at 2pm EST. The Forge is a monthly web show put on by TechSmith, posted on their Visual Lounge blog. Here’s their description of The Forge: New to The Forge? Wonder what it’s all about? It’s TechSmith’s monthly webshow where we talk about screencapture, screencasting, visual Continue Reading »
Tag Archives: Screencasting
Familiarity Affects Preferences for Text or Video
This weekend I had to replace the solenoid in my Frigidaire Gallery refrigerator. The solenoid controls the flow of water into the ice maker, among other things. I’m not a technician, so when I received the new solenoid and looked at the instructions, I was a little hesitant to do what the text said. I Continue Reading »
Building on Past Successes for Future Directions
I have a lot of flexibility and freedom in my job. That’s part of the appeal. The other day I was reflecting on the best route to take, the most fruitful path I should follow. There are quite a few directions I could go. I could become meticulously detailed about style, knowing the ins and Continue Reading »
The Perfect Voice — Professional or Authentic?
One trend I think we’ll see more and more is the decrease of professional voiceover actors in screencasts when those voiceover actors are merely reading a script they don’t understand. As an example, watch some of the tutorials at lynda.com. The narrators may not be professional voiceover actors, but they are subject matter experts. You can tell Continue Reading »
The Importance of Visual Communication, or How to Build a Dirt Sifter
Recently due to flooding in my window wells, I had to dig the wells deeper. I piled up the dirt and rocks around the outside, and then realized I needed to sift the dirt from the rocks because I wanted to put the rocks back in, but move the dirt elsewhere in my yard to Continue Reading »
e-Learning Event Coming Up This Friday (Utah location)
If you’re in Utah and interested in e-learning, come to the June e-Learning event held by the Intermountain-stc chapter. I’ll be giving a presentation on developing a personal voice in audio. It’s the same presentation I gave at the Summit in Dallas: Chapter member Tom Johnson will present on how to develop a personal voice Continue Reading »
Why Tech Comm Professors Don’t Teach Video
The other week, by invitation, I was at a Missouri State University Workshop for Teachers of Technical Writing. I presented about trends in technical communication and highlighted multimedia, particularly video, as an important trend. Near the end of my presentation, I asked the academic audience why so many teachers don’t require students to create video Continue Reading »
Podcast: Ten Voiceover Techniques (PodcampSLC)
Download MP3 Length: 45 min. A couple of weeks ago I presented on voiceover techniques to an audience of about 35 people at PodcampSLC. I should have researched my audience a little more before the presentation because, from what I could tell, most people were there to learn how to start a podcast rather than Continue Reading »
My STC Summit Proceedings Paper on Voiceover Techniques
When you present at the STC Summit, you’re supposed to submit a proceedings paper describing your presentation. Given that only a fraction of my followers are members of the STC, and an even smaller fraction are attending the Summit, I’m providing my proceedings paper here: “Developing a Personal Voiceover in Audio” (PDF). (It’s allowed under the Continue Reading »
Feasibility, Believability, and Fixability: Three Reasons Not to Use a Professional Voiceover Actor
Here’s a common scenario for creating a corporate screencast. In an effort to create a screencast, the project manager writes a script, carefully storyboarding it in PowerPoint. The project manager reviews the script with a committee several times to make sure it’s perfect, and each member of the committee makes a few edits. Finished with Continue Reading »