Unfortunately, I can’t apply to the screencast on Google Analytics I’ve been struggling with and should be editing right now because the deadline looms …. Deadlines and learning your craft in an experimental medium are compatible ..!

So, what I did was to fall back on the approach I’ve used in the past — what I loosely call the documentary/instructional movie approach. Here’s of one about tagging http://www.projectstreamer.com/users/kanter/withntenlogo/withntenlogo.html

For the Google Analytics screencast, I did not bring any domain expertise to the topic! Perhaps that was my first mistake. Do you stick to your comfort zone and only make screencasts on the topics that you know like the back of your hand or do you stretch and venture into a topic or software that is not only new territory but may be difficult to learn?

So, my screencast making was also a method for learning, although it very very slow — especially when you a vertical monopoly on your screencast. I had to do a lot of background reading and interviewing. I blogged all my research notes. http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/google/index.html

That of course, led to readers posting comments and more insights and even connected me with Avinash Kaushik who I interviewed in Ready/Talk and recorded it – using the recording for note taking as the wmv file is not standard and could not be successfully edited in Camtasia ..arrgh.

However, what you have shared has given me some great insights about my approach to this genre vis a vis technical and creative possibilities. Thank you!