Well, Did You Read the Instructions?

In the wonderful age of Google, blogs, and YouTube, gone are the days of laboring through a do-it-yourself project with incomplete or completely absent instructions. At the time of this writing, the holidays are approaching and tis the season of internet searches for turkey recipes and blu-ray player trouble shooting. In this context, I found the fourth assignment of this class to be universally useful.

We created a series of instructional screen capture images using of a computing tool with Screencast and a corresponding instructional video using Jing. Links to both Screencast and Jing will be added to Clickety Von Linkety.

Both Screencast and Jing are (you guessed it) free and oh-so-easy to use. Jing allows you to add arrows, highlights and other comment mark-ups to your screen-captured image. With these features, you can capture images and create play-by-play instructional content of anything you can view on your computer. Jing also allows you to create videos by recording your actions as you maneuver through a process on your monitor. In my example linked below, I created screen captures of a federal subpoena.

The federal court system uses an electronic filing system called ECF. All documents filed with federal courts and uploaded to their server. The federal court system also provides links to online-fillable-forms such as the subpoena I used in my example. As the example shows, I used Jing to take screen captures of the subpoena and add text and arrows to provide instruction on filling out the form. Next, I used Jing to create a video demonstrating how to fill out the subpoena using the form’s interactive fields.

I uploaded the subpoena tutorial screen captures and video to Screencast.com. This website allows you to upload content (images and video from Jing for example). You can manage your Screencast library by creating folders and playlists of your material.

For casual users, the free versions of Jing and Screencast offer sufficient features. However, there are upgrades available for purchase.

Instruction is a necessary component of virtually all aspects of life. Jing and Screencast allow you to instruct by demonstration rather than explanation in an easily accessible and efficient method. I will most likely continue to use this as I progress through my Master’s degree, not only to offer instruction to others, but to create refresher instructions for myself as I encounter new software applications that may take time and revisiting to master.

Professionally, it’s difficult to think of an instance where I would not be able to use Jing and Screencast. As my example demonstrates, litigation is moving steadily toward becoming a paperless industry. Jing and Screencast can be used in any number of scenarios to give instruction on updated or complex legal forms.

Below is the link to my Jing/Screencast project:

http://www.screencast.com/t/g8l9lQKFOV