RE: Video vs The Written Word

["Lauren" <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>]

Try to dog-ear, highlight, bookmark, review while for a walk, or make a note
next to your favorite part of the video.

Lauren

> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On 
> Behalf Of Peter Neilson
> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:25 AM
> To: procrastiwriter
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Video vs The Written Word
> 
> Advantages:
>   - WTFV may be easier to enforce than RTFM.
>   - Some people cannot read.
>   - Some people can but do not read.
>   - SMEs may believe their work is done when they've mumbled 
> before a camera.
> 
> Disadvantages:
>   - Very hard to update.
>   - Bohhhring videos are bohhhhhhhhring.
>   - Snazzy videos are often content free.
>   - Hard to discuss the three major points in an hour-long 
> video without re-watching the entire video. (You can't just 
> turn to the second top-level head, but instead have to hunt 
> for it in the unscripted ramblings that pass for video documentation.)
>   - If the quality is poor (as it usually is in amateur 
> videos) each viewer must perform the sifting and integration 
> work normally done by a tech writer. May have to invent 
> questions to ask to learn material that should have been 
> covered but wasn't.
>   - The handout for the video, if any, becomes the outline of 
> the document that should have been written.
>   - If the quality is to be high, it'll cost as least as much 
> to get it right as it does to write a set of docs.
> 
> Pitfalls:
>   - In any crime, the principle question is "Cui bono?" Who 
> wants the videos, and what do they (personally) gain?
> 
> Maybe I am too old and out of touch. I have not watched TV 
> since about 1985.
> 
> procrastiwriter wrote:
>   > Out of the blue, a few key people are hell bent on using 
> videos (e.g.
> > Camatasia) over anything else and I fear that they see it 
> as a way of 
> > not having to worry so much about improving the written 
> documentation. 
> > In principle, I'm not against using videos for things like 
> tutorials 
> > and examples, but it's not area that I've explored before. 
> I would be 
> > very interested to hear what people think about using video 
> tutorials 
> > in technical writing, for example:
> > 
> >   - When do you use them?
> >   - What are the merits?
> >   - What are the pitfalls/drawbacks?
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