Jing+Project

**Description**
 The [|Jing Project] is a screen capture and screen-casting tool from [|TechSmith]. It is called an "always-ready-screen-capture" program because it spontaneously captures images and videos with a click. A very cute and compact application some refer to it as the “three-legged dog” while others say a "sun with three rays". Jing takes visual communication to the next level by making screen capturing and screen-casting easier by providing one program for both. Simplicity and minimalism are the key features of this application that makes it very user-friendly.

The Jing Launcher, a yellow transparent ball appears on the screen like a miniature sun after the program is downloaded. It snuggles anywhere on any four sides of your computer screen as a half sun. The yellow ball animates into a yellow ball with three rays of cross-hair (Capture), photo set (History) and cog (More) when the mouse pointer is placed on it. If you just want the icon in your task bar and not the sun you can change it in the preferences.

The Jing Project not only captures images but lets you annotate and customize the captured image by putting figures, text and arrows and make it self-explanatory. Any part of the computer screen can be selected for capture. The video capture is one step ahead giving the audio/voice recording facility as you make your video.

There are multiple ways to get your content to yourself or to your audience. The captured images and videos can be shared to your local hard drive, uploaded to an [|FTP] server, a network drive, embedded on your blog, copy an image to your [|Clipboard], or upload it directly to your [|Flickr] account. Another way to share your contents in a secure way is by using the [|Screencast.com] account. Jing's integrated with Screencast.com, a web-hosting back end service for videos recorded off your computer. Once you've recorded a video, you can save it to your Screencast account, and immediately get a link on your computer screen to embed it in a blog or send it to somebody on [|Skype] or via e-mail.

The Jing Project is a [|freeware] an [|open source] program and so is available for anyone to download and use. It is a [|cross-platform] application so runs on both Mac ( 10.4.9 and later) and PC ( XP and Vista). The Windows user require the [|.NET 3.0 framework] to run the Jing Project.

**History**
The Jing Project is just over a year old as of July 2008 with not much history to boast of. The creator of this project is the TechSmith corporation. Though Jing is new, the TechSmith corporation has been around for a while (estd. 1987) with products like [|Camtasia Studio] for screencasting and [|SnagIt] for screen capture. The company has provided practical business and consumer software services and tools. Today it is one of the leading corporation that creates programs to capture, record and enhance digital content from their computer screens so they can share information and knowledge and allow others to observe, analyze and learn from their experiences. The Jing Project made it to [|PC World's] 100 Best Products of 2008. Jing is called a project because it is not yet a product nor is it a [|beta].

Jing project release for both Mac & PC July, 2007. Jing project version Mac & PC (1.2.4) 18th July, 2007 (ability to run on 64-bit system) Jing project version Mac & PC (1.2.5) 1st Aug, 2007 (drag the sun without holding shift key) Jing project version Mac & PC (1.2.6) 29th Aug, 2007 (Check for Update button) Jing project version Mac & PC (1.3) 10th Sept, 2007 (HTML embed code to share) Jing project version Mac & PC (1.4) 28th Nov, 2007 (share to FTP, Flickr) Jing project version Mac & PC (1.5) 14th April, 2008 (memory usage minimized) Jing project version Mac & PC (1.6) 8th May, 2008 (Save and Copy button restored)

Impact on Teaching and Learning
It is a handy tool for teacher's and student's alike. It brings a new dimension to teaching in online classrooms and also in teaching face-to-face classrooms with presentations. Screencasts are little movies that users create, on a Mac or PC, of what they see on their computer screens and what they say. It's the ideal way to explain things when words just won't do. Therefore it is a great tool for creating tutorials and quizzes.

With the Jing Project, its easy and fun to explain, entertain, inform, train, educate, and engage others by sharing their online experiences. Jing can capture a still image or record exactly what a user sees on a computer screen, including what they say, and how they interact with any Windows or Mac application or website. In a course like ETEC 602 where we learn about new programs and tools and the practical application of teaching, Jing would be a simple tool used in a minute to create a tutorial or explain how an tool or program works.

Not only creating tutorials and quizzes it has never been so easy to share and upload your content. Easily store your content to you local drive or network drive, upload through FTP and embed images and videos into blogs. The content can also be automatically uploaded to Screencast.com and the user is given a link instantly. The user can share that link with anyone or everyone.

Practical Applications
__**Educators**__ **:-** Class presentations Tutorials & Quizzes Online classes __**Business**__ **:-** Tutorials on explanation of a tools or products __**Students**__ **:-** project presentations Screenshots and screencasts are perfect visual elements for adding impact to online conversations by sharing your content via E-mail Instant Messaging Social Networks Blogs Community Groups and Forums.
 * __General__ :-**

[|The Official Video Tour]



[|Skype + Jing = Cool]



[|Flickr & Jing]



[|Jing is Quimple ( Quick Simple) A how-to of the game Summing]



[|MediaRoll (great feature with Screencast account)]



[|Tutorial for purchase & registration in POPP program (created by me on Jing)]

**Criticisms**

 * Screenshot with timer and filters for image effects not yet available.
 * No advanced screen capturing like Full-Screen DOS capturing, extended window etc.
 * Only .png & .swf file formats for saving the images & videos respectively.
 * Jing uses a lot of memory.

Nelson, Perry. 2007, July 31 [|IT'S NEWS TO ME, The Jing Project] Blog on new tools. Retrieved on Thursday, September 25, 2008. Pick, Michael. 2007, August 3 [|WebTVwire, Desktop Recording Tool, The Jing Project] Software awareness site. Retrieved on Thrursday, September 25, 2008. Needleman, Rafe. 2007, July 18 [|Screen grabs made easy with JING] Technology news site. Retrieved on Thursday, September 25, 2008. Sullivan, Mark. 2008, May 26 [|The 100 Best Products of 2008] by PC World. Retrieved on Thursday, September 25, 2008. 2007 TechSmith corporations Jing Blog archive. [|Jing Archives] Retrieved on Thursday, September 25, 2008. Publisher's description and Editor's review. [|TechSmith on Jing Project]Retrieved on Thursday, September 25, 2008.

[|Screencast] Company website

[|Wikipedia] The Original Wiki
 * [|Jing Project] The official Jing Project website ||
 * [|Jing Blog] The Jing Project blog ||

[|TechSmith] Company website

Author
Created and written by Rashmi Chhetri, student Master's of Educational Technology, College of Education, University of Hawaii, Manoa.