Hangout for experimental confirmation and demonstration of software, computing, and networking. The exercises don't always work out. The professor is a bumbler and the laboratory assistant is a skanky dufus.
Although I have had a webcam for a few months, I did not begin to use it for making my own video posts until I learned of kyte.tv and its integration with Facebook. This catalog of my experimental efforts is for my recollection of what I did and where I put it. It is not recommended content, although it may appeal to the exceedingly curious.
Beside using my webcam in video chats and conferencing, my primary interest is in making videos and screencasts of a "How To" nature. My target is beginning software development and other practices that it is important to know about as a novice computer programmer. I am also interested in digital media and helping people understand what is going on with it.
For my basic setup I am using a Media Center PC running Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. I already had a USB headset with microphone that I use with Skype. I added the Microsoft LifeCam. All software that I am using either came with the LifeCam, with the Media Center PC, or is available as free downloads.
Windows Movie Maker 2. This software is provided with Microsoft Windows XP SP2. I use it with a Media Center Edition 2005, a variant of Windows XP Professional SP2. Because it is already available, I want to use it to learn as much as possible around the basics and the provided editing capabilities.
Windows Movie Maker 2 Creativity Fun Pack. This pack provides some interesting additions that can be imported as Movie Maker 2 components and used for sound effects, audio background and fanfares, and special titles. A number of the title "slides" feature summer graduation and related events.
Wikipedia: Screencast article. Part of my motivation for practicing with the webcam is learning how to make "How To" screencasts on programming and related topics. Although I haven't gotten to that point yet, I am working my way into it, one toe in the water at a time. Jon Udell provides my inspiration.
The Fiddling About Collection
"Fiddling About" consists of trial-and-error experimentation with my webcam in the creation of videos that are uploaded to kyte.tv. I begin, in the oldest videos, getting direct recording from my webcam working. Then I experiment and practice with improvements in technique and in off-line creation, editing and uploading of my own video productions.
The list is in reverse-chronological sequence and I will updated it as there are more additions.
Some tangentially-related videos are included under this list because they are part of the practice and the context. Other videos that are on specific subject matter and not about webcamming are omitted here. These are usually found on Orcmid's Lair.
2007-07-09 Fiddling About #14: Nasty Video Trackbacks 2m17s: A discussion of strange sites caught by the kyte.tv trackback report. This is my first effort at blending screen captures with video and having a continuous audio track through all of it. I messed up a little because transitions change things. I now know what to do. This is also an useful experiment with regard to resolution and fidelity of slides and the video in the stream. There is a Soapbox version and also a full 25.1 MB WMV version for download and comparison.
2007-06-30 Fiddling About #13: Eyes of Beholders 10m50s on a comparison of the "Return to Scale" videos, including some difficulties about wearing glasses and not wearing glasses "on camera." The concern is over what is happening in the video creation and publishing, what is under my control, and what it is that I can or should be doing to get the best quality for the viewer. One untested path involves making FLVs myself from my WMVs, then uploading the FLV to kype.tv so that it is transcoding from something it may handle better. Comments on how complex the process and workflow is, and how sensitive it is to small changes. Rants on the step function between direct capture from a webcam to local capture, editing, and then upload. The second is tremendously more involved than the first.
2007-06-29 Scobleizer kyte.tv: Return to Scale 2m42s: Talking about video trackbacks to Scobleizer's kyte.tv channel. These are other places where a video frame of Scobleizer's channel have been embedded and that have been used for viewing. There is some observation of possible Facebook scaling effects. I also report that the quality degradation I am experiencing is definitely from kyte.tv transcoding and playback. This video was recorded off-line and published in three forms. The kyte.tv upload, an upload to Soapbox on MSN Video, and a direct upload of the 40.1 MB WMV file to Windows Live Folders. The experience is accounted for in Fiddling About #13.
2007-06-28 Clueless #3: Webcamming 101B - Video? 11m13s on how I cratered the original Clueless #1 and generally messed it up. Continuing my effort to compare different transformation paths from captured WMV to viewer, there is a version of this video on SoapBox. The uploaded WMV file is also available for separate download (45.6MB WMV file).
2007-06-27 Clueless #2: What Video Controls? 2m27s: How long it took me to find out where the video controls disappear to when viewing kyte.tv videos.
2007-06-27 Sticky Note #2: No Conversation Here 5m21s: Focus on the degree to which there is no conversation in the video notes, demonstrated by contrast with an accidental conversation that did arise. It appears that video hasn't "gotten" the web yet.
2007-06-27 Fiddling About #12: An Implosion That I Hear? 10m55s: Noticing mistakes I make with regard to wrong-wordings and also when what I say does not convey what I have in mind. Comparison with blogging and RSS feeds and how video notes are not the kinds of conversations that blogs are and the comment system is not comparable either.
2007-06-25 Sticky Note #1: Short Purposeful Takes 6m21s: Experiencing relief after venting on Fiddling About #11, I was inspired to use a single sticky note as a way to make short and simple takes. I noticed a problem with audio drop-outs and resolve to always do a sound check before starting a video recording. I'm Practicing speaking for people who are non-native English speakers. Follow-up 2007-07-08: I haven't undertaken the practice yet (I can use an audio recorder to practice off-line) and I often fill multiple sticky notes for a single video note. This is an area that will be useful to create a regular commitment around.
2007-06-25 Fiddling About #11: "Over the Top" Stinks 7m53s: Reflection on the first week of making video notes on kype.tv and my sources of dissatisfaction. Superiority of daylight ambience, working without facetracking, making shorter video notes, working from an outline/script, sticking to a single topic, and stopping when done. Just stopping. Statement about the additional costs and difficulties of recording off-line, and the advantages that have me prefer to work that way.
2007-06-25 Clueless #1: Webcamming 101A 18m37s: Introduce Princess Psyche (Teh Amor's sister) and discuss the capture to disk rather than kyte.tv. Describe the computer usage, noticing the improvement in web cameras, and choosing Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000. Kudos for packaging, brickbats for installation process. The face-tracking mysteries are resolved and there is now a quantitative basis for comparing a version on Soapbox, and the kyte.tv version. Overall satisfaction with the LifeCam and the latest Logitech cameras is expressed.
2007-06-25 Scobleizer kyte.tv: Ixnay on the Iralvay Ideovay 4m02s: Learning that videos posted with the Facebook Video application is not viewable without installing the application, I proclaim that I am not going to inject myself with that virus. I also determine that the degradation in kyte.tv is not acceptable for screencasts, at least not with WMV uploads. (I later add the application to see some videos of others and I there confirm that the claimed improved quality is not something I experienced with a direct webcam recording.)
2007-06-24 Hooptedoodle #1: Computer Superstitions 17m58s on the topic of superstitions and those that we create around computers, illustrated by how we provide trouble-shooting advice the way people exchange medical-treatment information as if we actually know anything about another's condition. Difficulty of confirmable experience and how support conversations go. I go on from there to socially-engineered e-mail "virus warning" viruses. Source of "hooptedoodle." Riff on the inscrutability of software products and what we make up about that. This is not so much in the same category as my Fiddling About videos. It reflects my comfort level with the medium at this point.
2007-06-24 Scobleizer kyte.tv: The Long Tail of kyte.tv 3m15s follow-up on my 2007-06-23 and comparison with the number of Facebook profiles that have included the Facebook Video application, in comparison with kyte.tv take-up. Comment on "walled garden."
2007-06-23 Fiddling About #10: Knotting the End 8m39s on the yellow shirt, adjusting the webcam's settings and reminiscence of early days of adjusting television sets and Dave Garroway on the original Today Show. Demonstrating face-tracking insanity. What "Fiddling About" comes from. Noticing that videonotes are more like story telling than are blog articles in my case.
2007-06-23 Fiddling About #9: The End Is Loose 4m19s Explanation of what happened to #8 and how the kyte.tv recorder "done" control means "done."
2007-06-23 Fiddling About #7: Loose Ends 4m20s clip adding a loose end about metadata and needing to make consistent with the video; speculating about starting and stopping a kyte.tv clip and wanting to experiment. Teh Amor, the cat, is introduced, along with some lore about how our three cats get along.
2007-06-23 Fiddling About #6: Still More Ambience 16m20s clip on using poor-man's teleprompter, back-lighting compensation misunderstanding, trial-and-error, finding a good posture for facing the camera, difficulty of focusing because of arm reach being too short, speculated impact of digital zoom on resolution, explanation of the live webcamming to kyte.tv and attempts to knit video notes together as part of conversations. Introduces the confirmable experience difficulty and how we negotiate what's working and how we confirm problems. Concern for rights management, problems with mashups, and avoiding misuse of the property of others. Looking for a Creative Commons symbol to embed in my videos.
2007-06-23 Scobleizer kyte.tv: Orcmid - Commenting Viral Video 7m11s on how the video channel is not a comment stream the way a blog comment stream is, because of lack of continuity and coordination of the relationships, difficulty of permalinking, and the viral nature of facebook and the permeable approach used by kyte.tv. Comparison of available statistics. Discussion of rights-management concerns around mashups and especially where artistic integrity may be an issue. Being able to capture or hold archives of my own videos.
2007-06-22 Fiddling About #5: Poor Ambience 4m43s clip demonstrating poor ambient conditions and how badly that comes through, including erratic face tracking. The audio is clipped and saturating.
2007-06-21 Fiddling About #4: Ambient Considerations 7m05s direct to kyte.tv with attention on the impact of ambient lighting on video quality and webcam sensitivity and noticing that the 1.3 megapixel resolution is not preserved by the time of playback on kyte.tv. Importance of microphone, camera position, focusing, and where I have the on-screen camera monitor positioned so that it has my glance appear to be toward the viewer. Beginning to notice how I talk and ways I need to practice speaking directly and carefully.
2007-06-21 Scobleizer kyte.tv: Scoble's Open Window 2m05s Experimental post considering that Scoble's channel serves as a video comment stream and also discussion unmoderated and moderated posts on other people's kyte.tv channels.
2007-06-19 Fiddling About #3: Pajamahideen Revealed Now we go to 3m01s direct to kyte.tv, starting more experimentation with camera settings, face tracking, and video quality. Identify three additional challenges: (1) being comfortable on video, (2) speaking and thinking clearly, and (3) learning to look at the webcam rather than myself in the monitor window. Pahamahideen is explained. I post a window to my kyte.tv channel on Orcmid's Lair in Video Notes: Orcmid's Flying Kyte. I now know how to make kyte.tv video frames in web pages and blog posts. These show the latest in the channel. It will take more work to show a specific video.
2007-06-18 Fiddling About #2: Houston, We Have Audio! An additional 0m23s direct capture via kyte.tv where I made sure my USB microphone was the audio source. We have now established that video and audio capture direct to kyte.tv works at all. From that success, I can see how to increase my video capabilities.
[update 2007-07-16T22:53Z: I added a note that this is just for the record and a catalog that I can use to find my video experiments. It is not a recommendation for viewing, except for the exceedingly curious.]
