Time to reflect

I worked on the final report for the ‘casting grant project today. I didn’t find the report form very conducive to sharing how I feel the project went, so I thought I’d take some time to reflect here.

Some numbers:

• 1,860 –  views this blog has had so far
• 2,461 – collective views of 6 screencasts created with grant purchased software
• 418 – collective views of continuing education workshop videos created with grant purchased equipment and software
• 2,037 – collective views of instructional videos on ‘casting equipment posted on YouTube
• 1,122 – views of member library podcasts and vodcasts created with grant purchased equipment

The numbers don’t look too bad on their own, huh? Lots of hits, though I can’t tell how many are from people actually in my service area and how many are from people just stumbling onto our content. Nor do they tell you if people actually read, listened, or viewed the entire post, podcast or vodcast they visited.

Then there are some survey results…

A survey was posted on InfoSoup asking catalog users about the screencasts that were posted over that past year. 136 people participated, and of that 136 only 18.4% had actually viewed one of the “help videos.” 67.4% said they were unaware the videos were available and 32.6% said they weren’t interested in video help. Additional comments included “We have dial up and it is too time consuming,” and “I don’t need help.” Those that had watched a screencast thought they were useful or very useful. When asked how likely they were to view an InfoSoup help video in the future, 39.7% said very likely or likely and 60.3% said not likely or unsure. How do I reconcile the large number of views in the statistics with the low level of interest reflected in the survey results? Are lots of InfoSoup users finding the videos and finding them helpful, but aren’t the people who respond to surveys? Or are the survey respondents more savvy than people who find video tutorials useful? I need to think this all over a bit more. (I also found that the survey group as a whole isn’t reading the InfoSoup blog, which I also find disturbing, but not necessarily surprising.)

Another survey was sent to OWLS member library directors. (12 out of 16 responded.) While 100% of the respondents were aware of this grant project and over 80% had viewed the information about it on OWLSweb or this blog, only 2 actually used any of the equipment provided and only 1 took advantage of any training provided. The majority were “not sure” if they were likely to create any ‘casting projects for their library in the future. Time constraints seem to be the biggest hindrance to doing any projects, and most would need lots of help getting started (which is fine by me – I’m glad to help!).

While I understand that our members are incredibly busy, I was disappointed in the level of their participation. I certainly don’t expect ‘casting projects to be everyone’s cup of tea, nor do I expect them to have to squeeze them into an already crazy schedule just for the sake of doing them. I think I’m disappointed because I’ve been so into the technology related to these projects for the last 3 years and have been so excited about the potential they carry for libraries that it’s hard to step back and deal with the reality of life and the fact that things take time. Maybe I jumped into the execution of software and equipment too soon and should have spent more time talking about the whys, benefits, and providing inspiring examples. Would that have helped? Or would people still have been too busy to play…

On a personal level, I found this grant project incredibly useful. I learned TONS about recording, editing, converting, uploading, etc. video and audio stuff, while playing with some cool equipment along the way. I think the InfoSoup screencasts are nice additions to the catalog and hope we’ll be expanding our use of Camtasia to create other patron and staff training tutorials. Posting CE workshops on blip.tv has also been beneficial, as our members tell us that it’s hard to get away from their libraries for programming opportunities.

So, was this project a success or a failure? Maybe a little bit of both, but I’ll consider it mostly a success because I had the chance to play, learn, and grow while providing some help to patrons and library staff along the way.