uTIPu demo: Recorded with their TipCam and using their free hosting. No editing is available. I’ve set the demo to “invite only” which means I just have a URL to share. Since uTIPu does give any embedding code, I’ll not try to embed it in this post.

Webinaria demo: I recorded with Webinaria, added one text call out, and uploaded at the medium quality setting (which seemed disappointingly low to me). I have it set to private, but that just means you need the URL to see it. Since Webinaria does not give any embedding code, I’ll not try to embed it in this post.

FreeScreencast demo: I had to install the Windows Media Encoder to get the Screencast Recorder to work. But once I got that installed, I was able to make this demo. FreeScreencast gives two embed options as well as the link option above: 640×480 and full size. I’m trying the 640×480 embed code below which is still too large to fit well into this blog layout.

Jing Project demo: I’ve created some examples with Jing previously, but to be fair, I wanted to try the same content with Jing hosted at Screencast.com. And here’s the embedded example which I just recorded smaller than the previous one to try to have it fit better here:

Screencast-o-matic demo: And finally, the Java-based Screencast-o-matic can be linked or embedded as well, but I’ll skip the embedding due to the use of Java and the iframe.

I have not tried this software before. I’m downloading it, installing, and activating it as I type this, so I hope to have some type of review of it up in the future. If you happen to read this in time (deadline is June 14 at midnight PST), download the file, unzip it, run setup, then run activate. To check if you got it registered in time, click the small “order” icon (shopping cart) in the upper right and make sure it says that “DemoCreator has been registered.”

Contrast those with the silent screencasts that LexisNexis offers showing its new Academic interface that will be launching in beta in January and go live summer 2007. These will be available within the new interface as well. But for now, to view these, go to the Redesign 2007 page and scroll down to the tutorials section under Features. Or use the links I’ve extracted below.

• Overview
• Selecting Sources
• Working with Results

I assume these have no sound since someone assumes they’ll be viewed in a library. Despite my interest in the new interface, I lost interest in these screencasts fairly quickly. The pause and other controls are at the top, rather than at the bottom like on most online video players. Even though I could control the pace, I found it a bit slow and confusing. The Selecting Sources tutorial kept giving a “You try it” option where I can click on a particular button, but then the next step did not have me click anything. I’d rather have more information, like an audio commentary.

So there are my conflicting evaluations of two screencasts with no audio commentary. I’m curious to hear if others have the same or different reactions to these.

Here’s my preliminary list of tutorials to view, in case anyone planning on attending the session has a chance to look at these ahead of time.

• NYU: How to find a book, HTML and Video versions
• Yale: Researching a Topic in 4 Easy Steps
• UIUC: Reserves Tutorials
• TILT: Texas Information Literacy Tutorial

Notes and comments on Writeboard (pass of monterey)