On Wed, Apr 11, 2018 at 11:36 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 29 March 2018 at 21:35, Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: >> >> MP4s mean that now, not only does it take MUCH longer to create the >> document, we can now waste MUCH more of the reader's time! >> I find it very annoying that when GOOGLE'ing to find a simple answer, many >> of the first hits are YouTube. > > I got a room full of very surprised looks a couple of years ago, > interviewing for a tech-writer position, when I said that I hated > online videos as instructions, finding them far too slow and > inefficient.
I totally agree. I read faster than most people talk and I retain more information. I'd much rather read 1,000 words than watch a 3 minute video. > This concept shocked everyone in the room, AFAICT. Not surprising given how many generations have now grown up watching TV as their major input mode. > Then I realised something -- something connected with my career change > to tech writing. > > A lot of people _can't_ express themselves in text. Some don't care > and let fly with all their spelling and grammatical errors, > mostly-missing-and-the-rest-incorrect punctuation etc. Yes. People can ramble into a mobile phone and upload to YouTube but actually _writing_ the same process... not everyone is a writer. There are times when video instruction makes sense - describing, for example, a chemical reaction that produces major visible change in a few moments is better to watch than to try to describe. The vast majority of stuff? Teaching programming? I don't want to watch 2 hours of someone editing text... give me words and perhaps a screenshot or two if there's something too complicated to simply write about. I've taken several MOOCs. The only saving grace is the 2X and 4X buttons on playback. -ethan
