If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
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Below are tools and resources that can benefit you and other VR providers. Save your patron's time and your effort!
Tools for creating instant videos and sending them to patrons: Jing and Screenr
Instantly annotate/mark up screen captures and send to patron:
Library learning object repositories
Have ideas for other handy tools? Edit this wiki page - contact the AskAway Coordinator for access.
Create Instant Videos
Jing Videos - Create instant videos that you can send patrons while chatting - save yourself a lot of typing!
* Jing Info - What it is and why you should use it --- * Jing Videos - Library of generic videos to save you time
Screenr - Much like Jing, it allows you to create videos of website navigation, which can be useful if there is a complicated set of steps a user must follow to get where they want to go, or if they are having trouble understanding your directions. However, Screenr offers the advantage of being quicker and easier to use than Jing; it does not require you to download any additional software (other than Java, which is usually already installed on many computers), and does not require creation of an account. Instead of logging in to Screenr, you use accounts you already own with other social networking sites.
Requires you to have the latest version of Java installed
Requires that you have an account with one of the following in order to publish your screencast:
Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Linked In, Yahoo, or Windows Live
There is a simple three-step process to record a screencast:
1. Click the button that says "Launch screen recorder." Then resize the frame, which is the dashed line that will appear after you launch the recorder. The frame will appear on whichever window you navigate to. Remember to include everything that you will want to show up in your video, including scroll bars and menus.
2. Click the red "record" button, which will appear in a toolbox on the lower left-hand corner. Once you click record, you will not be able to resize the frame, so it is important to do that in step one.
3. Click "Done." Screenr will then take you to the page where you will log in to one of the social networking sites above to publish your screencast. (You will also have the option at this point to delete the video.) After you've logged in to one of your social networking sites and the screencast is published, you will have the option to share the video, which will generate a URL that you can then send to your chatter.
Additional tips:
As with Jing, sound will be automatically be recorded with the video so you may want to mute the sound on the recorder before beginning (click the microphone icon next to the red record button, and choose the "No audio when recording" option).
Be sure not to reveal Ask Away usernames and passwords when demonstrating password-protected resources. One way to avoid this is to make sure you are already logged in to the particular resource before recording.
For non-Ask Away use, you might consider embedding instructional Screenr webcasts into course pages or other pages on your library website.
To view a demo of what a Screenr video looks like, see the example at the following link (to expand to a full-page view, click the icon next to the Screenr logo on the lower right-hand corner): http://www.screenr.com/toYs
Instantly Annotate Screen Captures
sharedcopy.com - Annotate/mark up screen captures and send them to your patron instantly.
sharedcopy.com is very well thought out. You need to register for a free account but the operation is as seamless as Jing. It operates as a bookmark.
Once you have an account, put the bookmark on your toolbar or favorites. When you need to annotate the page, hit the bookmark and mark away.
Called LION this group has a large number of flash tutorials that are generic enough to use in an AA setting. Each tutorial has a URL to paste into the chat window. It will be helpful to look through the list and bookmark any that might come in handy.
Resources/tools compiled by Richard Baer Feb, 2010 and Stephanie Karnosh, fall 2011.
Have ideas for other handy tools? Edit this wiki page - contact the AskAway Coordinator for access.
Mobile Options for AskAway
(last updated January 2014)
While AskAway services are already designed to provide online reference services, the ability to expand and promote AskAway on mobile devices increases both the reach of the service and convenience for the patron. BC’s post-secondary libraries are exploring how to provide mobile access to AskAway using a variety of methods. Below you will find a quick overview of the mobile AskAway options that are currently available. For a more detailed report on current mobile options for AskAway, download the full report here.
1. AskAway Qwidget embedded on a simplified webpage Libraries are providing mobile AskAway services by embedding a Qwidget on a simplified, mobile-optimized webpage. At present, this works with the newest version of the Qwidget code, as well as the older version that was recently replaced. An example of this can be found via SFU’s mobile library website, by clicking the “Reference and Research Help”, then “Ask A Librarian”. Other libraries that offer mobile AskAway via this method are: College of the Rockies, Langara College, and Vancouver Community College.
2. The AskAway fullscreen interface The fullscreen AskAway interface is also being promoted and used as a mobile option, by linking to it from a mobile-optimized library webpage. An example can be found at Kwantlen University’s mobile library website, by clicking “Contact Us”, then “Chat with a Librarian”.
3. A mobile-optimized AskAway interface Libraries are also providing mobile AskAway services by using an interface specifically meant for mobile chat. An example of this can be found via Vancouver Island University’s mobile library website, by clicking the link for “AskAway Chat Research Help”.
4. A pop-out version of the AskAway Qwidget Another way that libraries are providing mobile access via a pop-out version of the Qwidget that opens up to a standalone window of its own. An example of this can be found at Alexander College’s library website, by clicking the AskAway logo under “Ask A Question”.
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