RE: Voice-over in online tutorials - opinions?

[Jim Shaeffer <jims -at- spsi -dot- com>]

Besides your update concerns (which are valid), here are some gotchas based
on past experience: 

1. Never rely on sound to convey required information. It may not be heard
properly on some systems or in some environments. 
2. Let the user disable or at least cut off the sound while it is playing.
If forced to wait for a sound track to complete, users who want to move
quickly get very annoyed. 
3. If you do not control the delivery environment, look out. What happens
when a student hears the sound from his neighbor's cubicle? Also, sound
quality can vary from one computer to another. 
4. You add several new costs (voice talent, recording environment, etc.)
5. You add a new set of things that need to be thoroughly debugged and
tested. 

Caveat: The sound technology I was playing with is now several years out of
date, but I'm confident the pinciples are the same. 

HTH
Jim Shaeffer (jims -at- spsi -dot- com)


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