Screen Casting

3 Articles on Screencasting:

1.) Screencasting: How to Start, Tools , and Guidelines by Adam Hay
Synopsis: This article tells you why Screen Casting is useful. It says that scree casting can show your ideas and theories rather than just telling them. It also gives you a step by step process in order to make a screen cast. Then, it gives you tips and helpful websites to visit.

Link: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/19/screencasting-how-to-start/

2.) What is Screencasting? by Jon Udell
Synopsis: This article tells us that a screencast is a digital movie in which the setting is partly or wholly a computer screen, and in which audio narration describes the on-screen action. It also tells us that it is not a new idea, it is just new to the public. It gives you genres of screencasts, tools, a how to, and a paragraph about the future of screencasts.

Link:http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/digitalmedia/2005/11/16/what-is-screencasting.html

3.) 7 Things you should know about Screencasting
Synopsis: This article tells you what screencasting is, how it works, and also states both the positvies and negatives of using this method. It also states why it is significant.

Link: educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7012.pdf




Websites to help you Screen Cast:

http://www.techsmith.com/screencast.asp?gclid=CIu2k4K_9pwCFQTyDAodLkdjbw

http://mashable.com/2008/02/21/screencasting-video-tutorials/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/19/screencasting-how-to-start/

Alternatives to Office

Alternatives to Microsoft Office:

1) Corel WordPerfect Office X4
It has PDF, HTML, and XML publishing, includes redaction and password-protection, and supports 60 file formats. It also has a full suite of productivity software to make your workflow easier. It is compatible with documents saved in office format. It does all the same things as Office but is up to 600 dollars cheaper.

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1207676528492?trkid=56796366#tabview=tab0

2.) StarOffice 8
This program provides basic productivity tools and throws in a couple of extras, such as a drawing program. User reviews say that StarOffice is much easier to use the office and has more accessible features. It has powerful and integrated word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database capabilities as well as the extras i previously mentioned. It is also 600 dollars cheaper.

http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/index.jsp

3.) OpenOffice 2
This is Sun's free version of StarOffice. It is the leading open-source office software suite for word precessing, spreadsheets, presentations and more. It comes in alot of different languages and is compatible with any normal computer. It can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It is completely free!

http://www.openoffice.org/

4.) iWork '08
This is Mac's alternative to Office. It is only $79, which is significantly less than office which runs anywhere from $149- $679. It has all the same features and also is compatible with documents saved in Office form. However, it is only for Mac users.

http://www.apple.com/iwork/

5.)IBM Lotus Symphony
It won in the Office Productivity Software category beating out other nominees Microsoft Office, OpenOffice 2.3.1 and Think Free Office. It is Free. It is compatible with Windows and Linux. It supports the file formats of:Microsoft DOC, XLS, PPT; ODF; exports PDFs. It has all the same features as Office.There is web-based peer support; built-in help still being created.

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/buzz.nsf/web_DisPlayPlugin?open&unid=FE560647E043518E862574A40074E72E&category=press