Finishing Up

I'm still working on my last video (rights management) which is requiring some extra time because I've been going back and forth with the lawyer at CDL to make sure that my script and slides are perfect in terms of legalese and copyright code.  Right now the ball's in her court as I wait for one last question to be answered.  Once I hear back from her, making the video should be fairly quick (fingers crossed!) as I have already captured most of the screenshots and made all of the powerpoint slides.  I will just need to screencapture the slides and audio record my voice...and then put it all together!  I'm hoping to hear back from her tomorrow so that I can start my weekend off finishing this video and uploading it to Vimeo.

In the meantime, I have been working on uploading all my other tutorial videos to Vimeo.  The ones that are complete and have been approved can be found at the Web Archiving Service Vimeo Portfolio on the CDL Vimeo page. 

For direct links, click on these:
Analyze Capture Results
Compare Capture Results
Analyze Reports
Archive your Domain

The two I have left to add are Exporting XML, which is currently awaiting approval from my site supervisor, and the aforementioned Rights Management video.

Cross-Eyed by Copyright

Okay, not really, but my final tutorial video is on rights management and what the Web Archiving Service does to comply with various aspects of section 108 and the Fair Use guidelines.  This is proving to be much more meticulous than the other tutorials I have worked on!  I spent the last few days making slides for the presentation and then wrote up the script I plan to use.  I sent these documents to my site supervisor so that she can run them by someone in their legal department before I actually create the video.  I want to ensure that everything I say is accurate and true in the legal sense!

Besides my final tutorial video, I have been working on the PR video that my site supervisor is interested in.  I created a mini video using Powtoon and shared it with her today to see if it's anything like what she had in mind.  She doesn't actually know I've been working on it since she's been at a conference and we haven't had a chance to meet.  I'm curious to hear her opinion!

I meet with my site supervisor on Saturday morning so until then, I'm going to continue to work on the PR video (just in case she likes it) and will wait to hear back about my script.  Almost done!

One More!

This weekend I am working on my final video tutorial for WAS.  The topic is Rights Management and I'm actually taking a break from writing the script to write this blog post!  My plan is to finish up the script today and make the video tomorrow so that I can send it to my site supervisor for review before our Skype meeting next weekend.

After I finished up the XML Export video and the Archive your Domain video last weekend I sent them in to my supervisor for suggestions.  Looks like there's one thing I need to change about the XML video, but I'm going to wait until we have a chance to Skype about it before I do the editing.  I'm not entirely sure that I understand what she wants and it seems best to wait rather than to edit and potentially re-edit.

In addition to these final video tutorials, I have spent much of my time lately researching animation tools.  My site supervisor expressed interest in me creating a fun PR type of video for the homepage "if there is time".  I'd really like to be able to fit this into my schedule as I've enjoyed working for my site supervisor and it would be great to be able to help her with this.  I'm hoping that we can talk about what should go in the script next weekend and that I can create the video the week after that.  I figure if I have done the legwork of researching which programs might work best and practicing with them a little bit, actually making the video might fit into our last week of the semester. :)

Animation Research

This week I've done a lot of research on ways to create videos that are animated and fun.  If there's time when I'm done with my tutorial videos, my site supervisor would like me to create a PR type of video that is fun and explains the basics of what WAS is.  I have collected a variety of sites that have videos like this for the purposes of inspiration and have begun to compile some potential programs that I can use to make the video.

I'm actually not done with the tutorial videos yet and am therefore working out of order, but it's easier for me to be able to work on the tutorials on the weekends (since I need to be on my home IP address in order to access the dev site).  I've been doing my research at work so that my time here isn't "wasted".  Sometimes students want to stay after school in my room to work on their art projects and I start to stress that I'm not going home to work on tutorial videos.  In order to make my schedule more flexible and my stress levels lower, I've been staying after school in my classroom, but working on the research portion of my internship while I'm here so that I don't feel overwhelmed when I finally get home.  It works out well that I can get some work done while my students get some work done and I know that I will be ready to jump right into this PR video as soon as I finish up the tutorials.

Editing and Perfecting

Last weekend when I met with my site supervisor on Skype we went over the videos I have completed thus far and talked about some areas she would like me to edit.  It turns out that some of the features in the current dev version of the WAS site are actually not going to exist in the final version because they are just too finicky.  I've got a pretty good grasp on ScreenFlow now though, so I was quickly able to go in and block out those features with boxes so that they just look like they were never there!  Sweet!

I also managed to finish up the last of the Analyze Capture Results videos this week, which was the one on Reports.  I emailed it to my site supervisor on Monday and she promptly emailed me back with areas to fix.  She is awesome at replying quickly to emails which makes it really easy to get things done even when we aren't going to meet for a few days.  Her quick reply made it so that I had time to edit and fix the video before we met this weekend.

The attention to emails will be especially important over the next 1.5 weeks as my site supervisor is going on vacation.  We Skyped this morning and mapped out my remaining videos for the semester so I have plenty to work on.  She said she probably won't be as prompt at replying to emails, but that she'll definitely get back to me if I need something before we meet again on May 4th.  I'm hoping to have completed all of the tutorial videos by that point, as well a new PR type of video that she's interested in seeing on the homepage.  She feels like that's an add-on that isn't a big deal if I don't get to, but I'd really like to accomplish everything she's hoping for since otherwise I'm sure I'll feel like I didn't quite finish the job. 

I'm pretty excited about how things are turning out and definitely feel like I'm on a roll to successfully complete everything by the beginning of May!  Yippee!

Heinz Time: Playing "Ketchup"

I had finally gotten into the task of actually making videos when spring break put a hurdle up.  I spent last week chaperoning 18 high school students on a whirlwind tour of Paris.  I didn't think I'd have much time for grad school work (or very good access to WAS stuff), but I grossly underestimated how packed our days would be and how exhausted I would be by the end of them!  A typical day involved leaving the hotel around 8am, touring/sightseeing/museum-lecturing/shopping/eating/etc. and getting back to the hotel around 10pm!  As tired as I was, I think the crazy schedule was beneficial...there was no time for the kids to get up to any shenanigans because they were all too tired!
I got back last Sunday, but with being back at work Monday and the jetlag hitting hard, the week was a rough one in grad school land.  I did manage to finish up another video today though.  Just in time to meet with my site supervisor tomorrow morning!  We haven't met since I completed the first video so I'm looking forward to getting some feedback before I get too far along with the rest of them.  Then it's just a matter of getting back into a routine and cranking out a video or two per week!
I think I can, I think I can...

Analyzing Capture Results

My first video has been submitted to my site supervisor for review!  In theory, it's not the whole first video since I have actually broken the topic for the first video down into three smaller videos and have completed the first of those.  (One of my goals in creating new video tutorials for WAS this semester is to make the videos short and to the point so that they are more useful to WAS clients.  The current tutorials available on the site are in the 10-15 minute range, but I'm aiming for 3-4 minutes max.)  So at this point the Overview video about analyzing capture results is done and awaiting feedback from my supervisor.  Next up I will be creating a short video about Duplicate Reduction and one about utilizing the Reports Tab.  Those three videos will make up the first of my 5-6 video goal for the semester!

I'm looking forward to receiving feedback from my supervisor and making any necessary adjustments.  It will feel good to have my first video completed and ready for upload to the WAS Vimeo site!

Making Videos

I've finally started making my tutorial videos!

After hitting a final few snags (I hope) this week, I was struggling for "access" again.  My site supervisor had made me a participant on some projects within the Web Archiving Service to use for demonstration purposes, but then I didn't have access to these same sites within the new development site.  So basically I could login to the new site, but couldn't demonstrate from there because I couldn't see anything!  After a bit of a frustration meltdown (one snag too many!?), I simply began making my videos with the old site.  I probably should have emailed my supervisor for advice, but I was tired of hitting access walls and just needed to feel like I was accomplishing something!  I made the first minute of my first tutorial and then quit where I couldn't go any further without the new features from the development site.

My supervisor and I met this morning though and she was able to give me access to those same demonstration projects on the new development site.  Phew!  She also took a look at what I have so far and seemed pleased with it (albeit pointing out that it needs to be on the new site).  Although I'll need to remake the video that I've worked on so far, it will be quick and easy now that the script is written and I know exactly what screenshots I want to capture.  I also know that I'm on the right track in terms of tone and pacing.

I plan to finish this first video on analyzing capture results over the next week before I leave for France next Saturday.  I will be traveling with 18 high school students on an art field trip and I have let my site supervisor know that I will be unable to work on the project during that time.  When I get back, it will be nearly April and I'll need to crank out the rest of my videos pretty quickly.  I plan to make 5 or 6 total which will be roughly one per week when I return.  Time to get going!

Access!

I finally have access to the WAS dev site.  Yippeee!

After many emails back and forth between me, my site supervisor and the IT department at WAS, I am finally able to access the as yet unreleased dev site from my home computer!  We were trying for access both from home and work, but I'll take what I can get.  I think either way would have had pros and cons.  During the week, I am definitely more productive if I just stay late at school and work on grad school things in my classroom.  On the weekends, I am much more likely to be productive at home than I am to drag myself into work.  Regardless, I am thrilled that I can at least access the site from somewhere!

My site supervisor and I didn't have a chance to meet this weekend since she had to deal with some family stuff, so my goal is to have the first video created and ready to show her by our meeting next weekend.  I am sure she will have tons of valuable feedback to give me so I want to get this first tutorial done as quickly as possible so that I have lots of time to make adjustments and can also use her feedback to guide the creation of additional videos.

I'm still a bit curious when the site will go live since "late February/early March" was mentioned and we're nearing on the middle of the month.  It no longer matters as much, but I'd still be interested to see the site live.  My access provides me with the ability to use all the new features that will be added, but it doesn't actually look any different so I guess I'm a bit confused by that.  Something to ask my supervisor next week...

I'm looking forward to actually getting into the video creation part of this internship (that's what drew me to it in the first place!) and to be catching up on my hours.  What a relief!

Fingers Crossed!

Hopefully this won't jinx it, but it's looking like the WAS IT team might just about have my access to the new website figured out.  In the past, I have always gotten a connection timed out error when trying to access the new site, but after much emailing back and forth this week with one of the IT team members, I can actually get to the login screen!  Next step, getting a new invitation to register and trying out my new login information.  I'll keep you posted...

Patience

I don't feel like I'm accomplishing huge tasks at the moment, but I have been working on some small things to help prepare for the video tutorials I'll be creating.

1.  I talked to my site supervisor about which slides she liked best and we've decided on the following images:

Title Slide

Ending Slide

My site supervisor really likes the pop of the orange title, but we both agreed that too much text in orange would be hard to read.  I tweaked a few other things and feel confident that these slides will be cohesive with the new site when it is live.


2. My site supervisor added me to the WAS listserv so that I can directly communicate with WAS users.  I've sent out one email simply thanking people for answering my questionnaire and letting them know what videos they can look forward to seeing in the next few months.  Maybe when some of the videos are actually created and accessible on the site, I can email again to let users know they are available.

3. I attempted to write an outline for my first video.  As previously mentioned, I still don't have access to the new site so this is proving to be a bit difficult.  Watching the old tutorial that I am replacing mostly left me with questions about how the new site will look instead of giving me a clear idea of how to set up the new video.  I have broken it down into a few categories that I plan to go over with my site supervisor, but when it comes to specifics, I may need to wait until I have access to the new site.  Hopefully I'll get some good news when we meet this Friday in regards to the release date.  She was hoping for early March so keep your fingers crossed!

At this point, I'm starting to fall behind on my hours a bit.  I'm not too worried since I know that the actual video creation is going to take the bulk of my time and therefore I will definitely be putting in more than the 9 hours per week after the site goes live.  It's more of a guilt thing at this point.  I started the semester off thinking that I would put in 9-10 hours per week and it is just not turning out so consistent.  I need to remind myself that it's okay to adjust the schedule I created and budget for 10-15 hours per week after the site goes live to make up for some of the shorter weeks I'm experiencing now.  Since I'm aware of the longer hours I will be putting in later, I can budget for them now by working ahead in my other class and planning ahead at school.  Of course, this will all get a lot more stressful if the site doesn't go live in the next week or two, but I'm trying not to worry about that yet...eek!

The Waiting Game

Maybe that's not an entirely accurate title.  I do have plenty of things to be working on, but it looks like I'll be playing the waiting game with access to the new WAS website.  The IT department has tried several times, but I just can't get into the network from off-site.

In the meantime, I am switching over to Screenflow since Camtasia didn't work out and I am getting started writing my first script.  The survey responses I have received were overwhelmingly in favor of an "Analyze Capture Results" video--23 of 28 respondents picked this choice!  I'm a little intimidated because this is probably the area of WAS that is still the most confusing...hence everyone wanting a tutorial video about it.  My goal for the next week is to create an outline for the video with key points and a script of what I will say.  Obviously some of this will need to be readjusted once I have access to the visuals to go with it, but hopefully getting things prepped now will save me time later.

I have also been working on some "branding" for the tutorial videos.  WAS has a new logo to go with their new website and I have created some title and ending slides to put into the videos based around the new site.  I'm hoping to make everything look like it goes together so that the tutorials and the site are cohesive once they are uploaded.  I have emailed my site supervisor asking her to take a screenshot of the new site so that I can ensure that my slides are cohesive.  Right now this is what they look like:

Title Slide

Ending Slide

I anticipate tweaking them a little once I see the screenshot and then I will be able to include them in each of the videos I create!

*Update:  I've received the screenshots of the new site design and altered the slides accordingly.  I'm not fully convinced that I'm happy with the background color (may make it a little lighter), but I'm going to think on it awhile.

The new site design

Title Slide

Ending Slide

Troubleshooting

I feel like I haven't accomplished much this week, but that is probably due to the fact that I have hit a lot of snags.  Turns out I will likely not be able to use Camtasia after all.  My site supervisor provided me with a Windows license key, but I'm unable to split the hard drive of my Mac to run Windows because I simply don't have enough space.  Looks like my options at this point are either to shell out the money for Camtasia Mac or to use ScreenFlow which is a very similar program that my husband already has on his computer.  I'm a bit frustrated that I spent so much time learning Camtasia when I might not even get to use it, but I think ScreenFlow is very similar so hopefully it will be quick to get back on track.

I have also been unable to obtain network access this week.  The IT department at WAS tried to use my home IP address to make a hole in their firewall so that I could get at the new website before it goes live.  This didn't work so I then provided my work IP address to see if that would work, but no such luck.  I'm not really sure what's wrong...is it my IP or the work around they are trying to do?  Either way, I'm at a standstill in terms of accessing the new version of the website.  My site supervisor is hoping it will go live sometime in early March so in the meantime I will do as much as I can to write tutorial scripts and then plan to actually film my tutorials after the site is live.  Not the ideal situation, but hopefully something I can handle.

On a more positive note, I finished up the survey I was writing and my site supervisor sent it out to all the WAS clients.  Within a few hours we already had 15 responses!  Yay!  I'm looking forward to going over the results and figuring out which tutorials clients are most interested in having on the WAS website.  This will help me prioritize which videos to make first and hopefully I'll be getting into the nitty gritty of storyboarding and script writing next week!

Camtasia and a Survey

This week I have spent a lot of time learning Camtasia, the video editing software that I will be using for my internship.  The program has a lot of really great features that will allow me to capture screenflow footage and audio, incorporate other media, and add effects and transitions.  So far I have watched all the tutorial videos posted on their website and created a practice project using the features so that I will be prepared when I start making my own videos.

One snafu of the program that I hadn't considered is that I use a Mac and my internship site has license keys for the Windows version of the program.  Right now I've been using the free 30 day trial to test things out, but I'm going to have to split my hard drive and install Windows in order to be able to use the license key my site supervisor provided me with.  Kind of a pain in the neck, but I also don't really want to buy the Mac version with my own money...it's nearly $100!  Luckily I have a supportive IT department at my regular job and they are going to help me with the hard drive split and Windows installation.


My site supervisor also got back to me about the idea of surveying the current WAS clients to find out what they would like to see videos about.  She suggests that we create a list of potential video options and have people choose the top 5 or 6 videos that they would like to see.  We'll also provide an open-ended question at the end of the list so that people can add additional answers or information if they feel like we left something off. 

I'm proud of myself for speaking up about this idea.  My site supervisor likes it and seems glad that I spoke up with something that she hadn't considered at first.  I'm a very shy person and don't always feel comfortable speaking up about ideas I have with people that I'm not very familiar with, so I'm glad I didn't keep my mouth shut in this case!  Next step: create a rough draft of the survey and share it with my supervisor!

Gettin' Organized

I feel like I'm starting to get into a routine with this internship!  My site supervisor and I just had our second Skype meeting.  Our weekly slot keeps getting moved earlier and earlier on my Saturday morning (her Friday afternoon) and as much as setting an alarm for Saturday is a bit of a bummer, I'm glad to have the time to really dive into my questions.  We met for an hour and 20 minutes this week and most of the time was spent going through a list of a million questions related to web archiving that I had compiled since our last meeting.

I didn't really think about the archiving aspect of this internship when I applied for it since I was more interested in the video development side of things, but getting a crash course in web archiving is proving to be a pretty awesome bonus.  I don't really see myself being an archivalist in the future (and I haven't taken any classes in it), so the exposure is nice and I like learning something new even if it wasn't on my radar!

This past week, I watched a 50min. training video and went through a huge powerpoint presentation on my own, testing out the WAS service and taking notes as I went.  I got a really good feel for what WAS is doing and, after asking my site supervisor all of my questions, I really feel like I have a good grasp of what's going on at WAS.  I realize this wasn't a particularly formal orientation, but the format worked well and allowed me to explore on my own.  In the long-run, I feel like this helped with my understanding because I had time to experiment and try things out instead of simply listening to a presentation.

My internship is fairly loose in terms of guidance at the moment.  My site supervisor knows she wants better instructional videos on the website, but doesn't yet have specific ideas about what videos.  At this point in the planning process, we are working together to figure out what videos I should make.  I suggested we poll the current WAS customers to find out what they are interested in seeing and she liked that idea.  Over the next week, she is going to ask around her office to find out what the best way to approach customers might be (open-ended question, priority list, guided survey?).  We want to have a useful list and she is a bit concerned that customers will either provide really broad answers or will just want videos about everything (not our goal).

In the meantime, I am continuing to explore the videos that already exist and am going to start experimenting with Camtasia, the screen-capture software that my site supervisor recommended.  We haven't quite solved the network issue that came up last week so I also need to track my IP address and send that to my supervisor so she can get me access to the new interface.

So far, I'm really enjoying the flexibility of this internship.  I like that I am learning a lot about web archiving and that I also have the chance to bring ideas to the table.  My site supervisor has been very supportive in answering my questions and seems open to the suggestions I have brought up.  I'm looking forward to getting into the video creation process.  Script-writing, here I come!

Off to a Running Start!

I feel as if I have officially jumped head first into this semester!  The first week of class proved to be overwhelming as I juggled the beginning of this class and my Hyperlinked Library class, got organized for my first meeting with my site supervisor, worked at my regular job, and did all the other living my life types of things that seem to fill more time that I anticipate.  I know that once I get into the routine (which will hopefully happen in the next few days!), things will begin to feel less stressful and the semester will clip along at a blinding pace.  Here's an update on the past week:

I'm a Google Reader enthusiast!  I have to keep a blog for both this class and my Hyperlinked Library class.  That means I also have loads of new blogs to follow as I keep track of what my classmates are writing about.  I've been using Google Reader for a few years now to keep track of my obsession with cooking blogs.  This past week, I spent a good deal of time adding my classmates' blogs for this semester to my feed and organizing them so that I can remember who is who and what is what.  Now I just need to catch up on reading all of the posts!

At the risk of sounding like a Google advertisement, I also spent a good deal of time creating and organizing Google Docs in my Drive this past week.  When I worked as a student assistant for Pat last spring we used PBworks to organize our files and I really liked having all the information I was working on in one cohesive place.  It made it easy to access from anywhere, easy to organize and easy to share.  I decided to attempt a similar technique with Google Docs for my internship.  I have created a timesheet file, a brainstorming file and a meeting notes file.  I also made a videos folder and I plan to take notes on each old video I watch so that I can then use them to determine the best way to revamp the information for the new videos I'm creating.  At this point, my supervisor has not expressed any interest in seeing all these files, but if she does, it will be really easy just to share the folder with her.

On Saturday morning, I had a Skype meeting with my supervisor for the first time since my interview for the position.  Getting organized before my first meeting with my supervisor was really helpful.  I felt like I had good (and informed) questions to ask and I was able to share with her what I had done so far even if it wasn't a ton.  We determined that I need login rights to the WAS curator website and that I will likely need network access.  This second necessity could prove to be complicated.  Apparently WAS is in the process of revamping everything so my videos will need to demonstrate the new process...which is not yet live online.  The only way to access the new site is on through the network though!  My supervisor thinks I may be able to do this if they create a special hole with my IP address.  I hope it works!  I'm a bit nervous since my IP is not in the States, so I'm crossing my fingers that we can get something worked out. 

So what's on my to-do list for the upcoming week?

1. Use that login information to explore the curator tools on the WAS site and take some notes about what I don't understand (my supervisor will provide me with a thorough explanation of everything soon, but wanted me to explore on my own first).

2. Read all those blog posts that I'm behind on!

Introducing the Intern...

I'm Caitlin and I live in Seoul, Korea.  My undergraduate degree is in Art Education and Art History and I have been lucky enough to spend a good chunk of my teaching career internationally.  Here in Seoul, I teach high school ceramics and general art to middle school students.  Before Korea, I lived in Ecuador and before that I lived in Honduras.  I really love living in Korea (and especially teaching ceramics), but at the moment, I am definitely missing the tropical climate in Honduras!  Growing up in Wisconsin should have me prepared for these freezing temperatures, but my body seems to forget every single year!

I've been hoping to complete a virtual internship ever since learning that a such thing exists!  I know how important it is to have the chance to gain real-world experience (student teaching was key during my undergrad!), but I was worried that I wouldn't have the opportunity because of my location.  I'm excited that that won't be the case though!  This semester, I will be working with the California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service.  They have expressed interest in updating their video tutorials so I will be in charge of creating more user-friendly videos and potentially a more fun "marketing" type of video to promote web archiving.  I'm really excited to get started!