Capture

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There’s something about screen capture software as a research tool that doesn’t particularly impress me. It’s not simply that it’s really just like spyware, more that it reduces complex activity and meaning making to behaviour – clicking, linking, visiting, number of hits, and so on. So, I’ve always been a bit hesitant about the use of tools like Camtasia. Morae does similar things, but it also allows you to get video of users - so I can see how this could capture interesting things like discussions, off-line collaboration in on-line work and so on. Here’s an account of a Morae test. ScreenFlash, on the other hand, isn’t so sophisticated, but is clearly a useful demo tool. I suppose it’s just a case of working out what you want to do and then getting the appropriate tool for the job.