Using Screencasts to Communicate with Local Government

A few months ago the District of Columbia schools shut down eight schools because of under-enrollment. The DC Public Schools administration -- along with the DC government's Office of Planning -- is seeking ideas for the best possible community uses for these vacant schools. A call went out to interested parties to share possible usage ideas.

In typical bureaucratic fashion, proposals were to be submitted in hard copy -- with 10 copies needed, along with the proposal on a CD-ROM. I interpreted that to mean that they also accepted proposals in video form on the web, as long as the videos were less than 20 minutes in duration.

I'm an adjunct professor of education and a supporter of the FIRST robotics movement. FIRST robotics was founded in 1992 by renowned inventor Dean Kamen. I've seen a FIRST robotics teams up close at Banneker Academic High School in DC -- and what I saw was quite simply amazing: youth learning tons of skills and knowledge in an active, engaging way. What I've heard about the other FIRST robotics teams in the city has been equally impressive and inspiring.

So with the help of other FIRST robotics enthusiasts in the DC-area I created a screencast and emailed a link to this 16.5 minute QuickTime video to Howard Ways at the DC Office of Planning. (An alternate link to this video can be found here.) You'll need a recent version of QuickTime to view this 136 megabyte file. QuickTime can be download for free from Apple's web site.

Most of this presentation was created using free software programs, including OpenOffice, Firefox, and Audacity. The presentation was pulled together using ScreenFlow, a popular new screencasting program for Macintosh computers.

I uploaded this video to the Internet Archive, which provides free, unlimited hosting for media files.

I don't know if the people at the DC Office of Planning will view this video I sent them. I did my duty, though, which is to convey to them the best possible use I could think of for that closed school building. I did so in collaboration with other educators whose work I tremendously admire.

In the future, you'll be seeing many more uses of screencasts to communicate matters of civic interest. Screencasts are not just for explaining how to use computer software or web site services. They can be a useful tool to convey just about any idea.

Phil Shapiro
The blogger is a community activist, an adjunct professor of education and a technology commentator in the Washington DC-area. He can be reached at: philshapiroblogger@gmail.com

Prior blog postings -

YouTube Reaches a Billion Video Views per Day

After Lightning Strikes, One iMac Becomes Two

It Feels Like Freedom is Coming

Book Review - Google SketchUp for Dummmies

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