[ Thanks to LinuxLinks.com for this link.
]
“A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen
output, typically carrying audio narration. Screencasting software
takes a series of screenshots of a running application, recording
the user’s actions, and creating a video file. The movies can be
output in a variety of different formats such as Theora, Macromedia
Flash (SWF), AVI, and Flash Video (FLV). This type of software was
brought into prominence by the commercial Windows application Lotus
ScreenCam in 1994.“Screencasts have a wide variety of uses. Screencasts with the
desktop as the background, the mouse as the main character and a
voiceover have become an integral part of electronic learning and
form the basis of the computer-based training industry. This type
of software is also often deployed to describe software projects,
report bugs, and for evaluating technical skills.“As broadband has become mainstream and video-sharing websites
are ten a penny, this has encouraged the development of a wide
selection of free and open source screencasting tools. Not all of
these tools follow the same method of capturing activity on the
computer screen. Some use desktop sharing services such as VNC,
others take a rapid succession of screenshots and join them
together into a video. YouTube is full of recordMyDesktop
screencasts showing all different kinds of captures.”