Must be a Jing Thing…
I love TechSmith products (dreamy! easy to use! oh-so-friendly!), so I decided to give their Jing project a whirl. This Jing video is my 20 second test of the TechSmith Project. (Note: this used to be an embed, but I switched it to a link. The embed was too big, and other than re-shooting, I could see no other way to resize the video to fit into this blog space.)
Jing promises a quick and easy way to capture your computer screen and share your comments about what you are seeing online. From what I experienced, that’s absolutely true.
However, the instructions at Jing are cryptic and in some cases, inaccurate. So, if you want to use Jing you’re going to have to be good at making some intuitive leaps! For example, the instructions neglect to mention that if you hit “Video” — you have to hit a button that vaguely resembles “Stop” — before you hit “Share”. That should have been easy for me, but for some reason, I chose to follow posted instructions instead. I shouldn’t ought to have done that!
Nonetheless, I was able to puzzle through the odd lack of step-by-step instructions to produce a quickie test video of Jing. Perhaps because I have basic familiarity with two beloved TechSmith products, SnagIt and Camtasia, I found that using Jing was not-too-tough. The embed instructions were straightforward — so other than simply sharing a link, you can embed your newly-created video directly to your blog. Kinda. Just make sure you think about sizing your screen capture before you post.
In spite of my minor troubles with Jing instructions, I think I prefer using Jing instead of Camtasia when I need to “show-and-tell” a quick online “how-to” for a client. Once you get a little bit familiar with the interface, Jing is a dandy quick+dirty screensharing tool. (Is screensharing even a word? 
)
My recommendation: Try Jing. You’ll like it! But instead of following the posted instructions at Jing, follow your instincts. You’ll do fine.
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Comments
I’ve been using Jing a TON lately…for what I’ve been calling “visual voicemail”.
Betsy - One of these days, I’ll make a pilgrimage to TechSmith — whether I’m going to Lansing or not! (You guys rock!)
Thanks for commenting…
I too love jing, but found the same problem with embedding. The screencasts I’ve taken are much too big to fit my blog posts and I can find no way to resize those.
Trey -
I gave up embedding ANY multimedia into any of my blogs. Instead, I usually take a screen shot of an engaging frame of the video and link to the site that hosts it.
Here’s why: many of my RSS subscribers request email updates instead of online feedreader updates. I noticed that posts with video embeds have a hard time making it through email filters, and even if they do, they’re really slow to load, anyway.
I figure if I want someone to see the video, I start with an engaging picture of the frame, and link to YouTube or Jing or wherever. That way, it’s more “pull” instead of “push”. The reader gets the option of clicking through.
And “not embedding” makes my blogs load faster, too!
(My apologies upfront for the semi-long post!)
This is great feedback to read about Jing. I too am a TechSmith fan! We have some faculty who just want to show some basic steps in a video format without all of the bells and whistles provided by Camtasia Studio. I introduced Jing and couple faculty members tell me they like but find the instructions a little confusing.
Here’s a couple questions I have regarding Jing. If you have time, can someone give me their feedback about this. I would really appreciate it!
1) I have faculty save recording as a “File” and choose the “Target Directory” as folder on their computer desktop. From here faculty can easily access their folder of videos and attach them inside the course management system. It worked for me…does this seem right?
2) At the end of each Jing video is a screen that appears that says something like “Get Jing.” Does this really need to appear at the end of each video?
Again, thanks so much for your time.
Corri Edwards
Hi Corri,
Thanks for the great comments on Jing. Let me address you two questions:
1.) Yes, the work flow you mention is correct. However if there is a direct path to the directory on your faculty CMS, they could enter that direct path and have it upload diretly versus the several steps they are currently experiencing.
2.) Jing is a Project that we are offering for free to better understand its use, demand and potential. Part of doing that successfully is having more and more people using it. As a free offering, part of that model is for us to be able to recruit as many new users as possible. As we determine next steps for Jing, we’ll will be considering how to do this more effectively.
I hope this answers your questions and helps make the most of your use with Jing.
Kind Regards,
Tony Dunckel
Product Manager, The Jing Project
TechSmith Corporation
Thanks for sharing this information about sharing video via Jing…sometimes it is so hard to get accurate info online!
Sean
I have always been a big fan of TechSmith products, Camtasia being my favourite. Just had a look at Jing and it could fit in very well with my next project
Cheers for the write up!
Thanks for posting about our Jing thing.
And, thanks for the feedback about the instructions. I appreciate it.
You’re welcome to come to TechSmith for a visit. I’d love to give you a tour and introduce you to the teams. Drop me a line when you’ll be in the Lansing area…
Betsy Weber, Chief Evangelist
TechSmith