Non-Linear Editor for Text-Based Screencast

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-linear editing tool for text-based screencasts, enabling flexible modifications of recorded text changes while maintaining overall consistency, which was difficult with previous linear approaches.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel non-linear editing method that allows arbitrary modifications of text-based screencasts through selective history rewriting.

Findings

Enables substitution of arbitrary parts of a text screencast.

Preserves overall consistency of the screencast after edits.

Improves flexibility in editing recorded text changes.

Abstract

Screencasts, where computer screen is broadcast to a large audience on the web, are becoming popular as an online educational tool. Among various types of screencast content, popular are the contents that involve text editing, including computer programming. There are emerging platforms that support such text-based screencasts by recording every character insertion/deletion from the creator and reconstructing its playback on the viewer's screen. However, these platforms lack rich support for creating and editing the screencast itself, mainly due to the difficulty of manipulating recorded text changes; the changes are tightly coupled in sequence, thus modifying arbitrary part of the sequence is not trivial. We present a non-linear editing tool for text-based screencasts. With the proposed selective history rewrite process, our editor allows users to substitute an arbitrary part of a text-based screencast while preserving overall consistency of the rest of the text-based screencast.