Screencasting is an area that I am (amazingly) relatively new to. It is amazing to me that I’ve gone this long without screencasting, given how often people ask me how to do things on the computer. I end up making long, detailed instructions complete with screen captures (still images) and annotations. The same activity probably only would have taken about 3 minutes in a screencast. After having gone through this week’s 23 Things Kansas activity, I have vowed to begin making more screencasts.

It is rather uncomfortable at first, talking to your computer as you do things. It’s also weird trying to fill dead air while the computer/Internet is “thinking” about something. This is a skill that you likely can improve over time the more screencasts you develop.

For my screencast, I did a short demonstration (using Jing) about how to make a book using Wikipedia. Regardless of what you might think about Wikipedia itself, this is a very powerful tool that you might find a need for in the future.