Thing 6 : Video

I like a lot of the ideas for using video which are mentioned in Thing 6; there are some we already do here at the Robinson Library and some which I think would be good to try. Although I’ve not had any opportunity to make any videos myself, we do use them. We have a YouTube channel which consists of a few ‘How to’ videos.  A lot of my colleagues recently attended Camatasia training so I’m sure in the future there’ll be a lot more.

We’ve been brainstorming ideas for Welcome Week this year and have been experimenting with apps such as Animoto and Viddy.  A colleague of mine produced a short video with Animoto promoting a recent event. To be honest I’m not sure how much I like it; I think I would need to have a proper look myself before deciding. The idea of producing a video for induction has been proposed and I think this may be in the works. We’ve had library videos in the past which were professionally made by our now defunct AV department.  Hopefully with all the video making apps available it’ll be quicker and easier to make our own videos.

I like the idea of digital signage. At the moment we have plasma screens around the library highlighting events and resources. We use PowerPoint to produce these but I think incorporating videos and animation would be a good way to capture students’ attention.  I’m not sure how easy this would be though.

As with all of these new tools, I find myself not having enough time to play with them to see what I like best, but I’m sure I’ll come back to them in the future.