Background
One of the areas I’ve developed quite an interest in over the last year or so is the production of screencasts and video tutorials that model and demonstrate new technologies and new ways of working – I’ve also grown to love making them. However along with the use of video has come a dramatic increase in the size of the files I’m working with.
CamStudio has served me well for the last several months (and dozens of videos), however the AVI files that are native to the application can be massive. For example a 10 minute recording at 85% quality yields a roughly 350 megabyte file. So when it comes time to upload these for sharing and distribution it can be literally hours before the videos are available and the process can be finished.
So I’ve begun to explore new ways of working in the hopes of coming up with a model that will be more conducive to rapid deployment of screencasts.
The following video clips outline my experiences with the current iteration. This is very much a work in progress – and as such the clips serve as much to document my own progress as they do to share my experiences with others. However the results seem promising, so I wanted to pass along my findings so far.
The Model
The model includes the following:
- Jing for recording of screencasts: http://www.jingproject.com/
- A self-hosted WordPress blog for hosting and delivery of files
- The SWFObj WordPress plugin for embedding of SWF format
According to the website, “Jing is free software that adds visuals to your coversations”. The program is available for both Mac and PC platforms (I recommend recordmydesktop for Linux) and is a really quick and easy way to capture and present your demonstrations or training in a dynamic way.
For free JING licenses the only available file format for recordings is SWF, or Adobe Shockwave. From what I experienced tonight this offers really nice quality for low-moving content (like images and text) while keeping the file size quite small. A 5 minute clip for is around 12 megabytes for example.
SWF not supported by YouTube, Blip.TV
The problem that’s introduced in use of SWF file formats, though, is where to store and deliver the screencasts. Despite YouTube’s support site indicating SWF files were supported, when I tried to actually upload one it failed during processing. At Blip.TV I didn’t even get that far; they wouldn’t even let me start the upload. So the prospect of using SWF immediately eliminates most of the big players in online video.
As a result I decided to look into hosting and delivering the files from my blog’s server. This required the introduction of a new plugin that could cope with SWF files – of which there seem to be several to choose from.
At the moment I’m gone with one called SWFObj WordPress plugin by OrangeSPLOTCH, though it’s likely I may experiment with others to determine the most effective solution.
New media players required for SWF Files
The other hurdle I’m facing in the use of SWF files is how best to share them. I am a firm believer in open source, open education, and making content and resources freely available for reuse and reinvention. As such I plan on including download links to the files alongside the embedded instances.
The problem once again, though, is in a relative lack of support for SWF files by most current media players. So in order to play these files people will need to download and install a new program.
Fortunately a quick search in Google for “open source swf player” reveals there seem to be many to choose from. I’ve yet to investigate this area fully, but for the moment the ones worth looking at are:
SWF & FLV Player for Mac: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/swfflvplayer.html
Gnash for Linux and PC: http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/
More investigation required
This brings us to the present, and the areas that still need investigating. It’s early days in this experiment and therefore too soon to come to any firm conclusions on whether this is a worthwhile change to make. In particular the perspectives of readers and viewers regarding the screencasts will be important to determine. Also in terms of reach and impact it may prove that circumventing YouTube and Blip.TV is unwise, and that I can make the greatest difference – and be of the most use – by exploring as many distribution channels as possible.
All these are questions I’m exploring and considering. If you have thoughts or perspectives on this matter I’m all ears! In the meantime the following clips will hopefully add a visual element to this discussion.
The clips are best viewed fullscreen. To do this, either click on the monitor in the lower-right hand corner of the video player or click on the download link.
Part One: Jing Overview, Installing SWFObj WP plugin, uploading SWF files
[swfobj src="http://techticker.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jing_wp_pt1.swf" align="none"]
Right-Click and Save-as to Download: http://techticker.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jing_wp_pt1.swf
Part Two: Embedding SWF files, SWFObj Settings, SWF Players
[swfobj src="http://techticker.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jing-wp-pt2.swf" align="none"]
Right-Click and Save-as to Download: http://techticker.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/jing-wp-pt2.swf
