hello,
This is in response to the thread "Video tutorials in many languages"
(http://marketing.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=25252) .
We tried to reply to this thread, but when logged in there was no "reply"
button.
Good to see that there are a couple of people interested in making video
tutorials for OO. Our foundation made three video tutorials
(http://www.vodes.net/rev/en/Open-Source/OO-Course/OO-Tutorials/)
primarily intended for students. However, we think the tutorials are
useful in other, more general, instances as well. Tutorials:
http://www.vodes.net/rev/en/Open-Source/OO-Course/OO-Thesis-Template/.
Feel free to tell us whats good and bad about the tutorials on
http://www.vodes.net/rev/btforum/index.php?topic=157.0.
Our experiences:
For the three tutorials we made, we used camstudio
(http://www.camstudio.org/; Windows only unfortunately) and we can
recommend it without hesitation. The problem we witnessed related to the
resolution because of compression that google (and i guess youtube.com)
does and the video gets blurry after being uploaded. This is of particular
importance because people need to see excatly where people click. In part
to remedy this, we added a .torrent file which allows people to get a high
quality version of the customising thesis template.
At this point we are experimenting with Swish (a program which allows for
making flash animations) and audacity. We take screenshots (there are only
a few) and add the soundtrack recorded with audacity. We are quite happy
with the results - in particular with the legibility and size. Have a look
here: http://www.vodes.net/rev/en/Background/BT/Voding/ (12 minutes of
good audio quality and legible animations compressed to 3.88 mb). Its a
bit time consuming to make a tutorial that way but if the tutorial is made
well its an effort worth while. Plus, the animation is easy to modify if
one has the indivual pictures. We like it better than WINK because of the
flexibility it allows us.
Offer to help:
We would like to help in any reasonable and thought through effort to make
video tutorials for openoffice (see below how we can contribute). Indeed,
we see localisation as a key benefit of video tutorials.
As for "thought through", I think one should not make a video tutorial for
the sake of making a tutorial. As Florian points out, its quite some work
and the purpose of a tutorial is still to teach something and not to
produce a video. In addition, in many cases this teaching purpose is
reached and even more userfriendly and less time consuming simply by
writing it down in good old written words. Ive seen all too many video
animations that could have been explained in simple written terms. In
this respect, the existing OO guide is really comprehensive and it answer
quite a lot of questions on how to do things. So it might be useful to
have a discussion first on what should be explained and when tutorials are
actually better than the existing written documents. I think an excellent
way to figure out what is really needed is to "let money decide" (see
point 4 below).
When is a video tutorial really useful?
Still reading this, despite the use of the term "money"? Good. :)
Any suggestions when video tutorials are more helpful than written text?
To me it seems that they have an edge over written text when it comes to
explaining more complex things (like how to use a template) and
to "put explained things into context". Regarding localisation, i really
like John's idea with subtitles. Its not only rather easy to implement for
translators and video editors, but it also brings the huge benefit of
being forced to keep the text (to be translated) to the bare essentials.
In this respect, aegissub and virtualdub are good programs which allowing
for inserting subtitles in .avi easily.
How we can contribute:
1) Distribution of video tutorials relevant for students on VN multi-media
publications
2) Assistance in localisation (taking care of adding subtitles or adding
mp3 soundtracks)
3) Making an improved version of the customising thesis template tutorial
(hope there is some concrete critisism)
4) Providing a fund raising platform for creators (Voding option list):
http://www.vodes.net/rev/en/voding/(E)-Open-Source/(E)-Tutorials-(OpenOffice)/
As for 1), we can offer adding of useful tutorials on our VN publications
(multi-media CD/DVD ROMS intended for students. Among other things, the
publication includes video highlights of the events and a
section on writing a thesis with OpenOffice. We add the current version of
OO, the OO guide, thesis templates and useful video tutorials)
Money for creator:
As for 4), perhaps companies would chip in some money for the making of a
compilation of useful video tutorials? In this respect, perhaps one can
get a list of things that are needed the most? one can put them on the
Voding option list and companies can than in a reasonable way collectively
contribute to the creation of a compilation of reasonable and useful video
tutorials. VN could provide this fund raising platform for free. Terms of
the license (and in particular whether there should be a time delay or not
for those who dont contribute) can be discussed. We are going to have a
presentation on the background of the VN project on 28th of august at a
phd course (http://phdsummerschool.nordict.net/). The lecture will be
recorded and made available. If someone is interested, drop us a line and
we send you the link when its uploaded.
Spanish version of Customising Thesis Template tutorial:
If you click on the link
http://www.vodes.net/rev/en/voding/(E)-Open-Source/(E)-Tutorials-(OpenOffice)/
you see that there is also an option for a Spanish version of the
customising thesis template video. The price is a suggestion only. All
that needs to be done is translation of the spoken words into Spanish. If
you speak (as opposed to write subtitles) its essential to keep the timing
synchronous. If there is interest, for Spanish version of "customising
thesis template" tutorial, it might be a good idea - before any
translation efforts are made - to come up with an improved version of the
thesis template tutorial 2.0 so that only a "community-screened" version
is being translated.
As a second, post-creational revenue stream for the creator: Metacafe pays
for 20 000 views 100$ to the person who uploaded the video. Not that much,
but if its a well made and useful tutorial... The video
needs to be approved for the "producer reward" category. more info is
here: http://www.metacafe.com/producer_rewards/. Alternative is
www.revver.com.
Best,
--
Core Team VN
Stockholms Universitets Studentkar
Box 50006
10405 Stockholm
Sweden
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
