About the AuthorDanielle Rose has lived in New Mexico her whole life. She has a B.A. in English from New Mexico State University and hopes to soon complete her B.S. in Technical Communication from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. She is looking forward to joining the work force. Contents |
Concerns About Using VSMThere are many concerns that should be addressed when discussing VSM. For each feature this thesis has mentioned for VSM sites, a specific concern pops up. Addressing every concern specifically would triple the length of this paper. Many of the concerns for specific features have been covered under the information guidelines of each VSM site. This section attempts to address two of the largest concerns a technical communicator might have when attempting to use VSM sites: video creation and concerns about the audience. Video creation has several subcategories of concern, almost all of which fall under the header of cost. Cost concerns can fall under three main subcategories: time and effort, software, and hardware. Audience concerns have two subcategories, who has access to videos, and how to deal with feedback. 1. Video Creation The creation of videos is a task that might be thought of as more trouble than it is worth. The main concerns when talking about video creation are cost, time and effort, software, and hardware. All of these concerns are interlinked. One of the most immediate concerns in the creation of videos is the cost of their creation. The cost of video creation is the topic that bleeds into most other topics of concern about creation. 1a.) Cost The cost of creating videos will vary depending on the purpose of the video and the type of video that is created. Cost concerns include the hardware that is required to make the video, such as a camcorder, or a voice recorder; or the software that is required to produce and put together a video, such as video editing software, and screen capture software. Cost is also a concern when considering the requirements of computers which will combine the hardware and the software to complete the video. Software and hardware each require their own set of guidelines, and there are methods that can be employed to minimize the cost required for software and hardware as can be seen in their respective sections. Cost refers to not only monetary concerns, but the cost of the time and effort needed to create a video. 1b.) Time and Effort A potential drawback to video creation is the time and effort required to make, edit, and post a video. Technical communicators interact with a large body of software, so the potential effort needed for video creation can vary depending on levels of expertise. Videos can be quickly created for small projects if the creator has the proper education in the hardware and software required. A clean, crisp, and smooth professional video that involves a person as the focus takes a larger amount of time and effort to create, than a video that is just a voice talking in the background while images or slides are seen. If a technical communicator has a need for the features that VSM can provide, especially on a reoccurring basis, then the time and effort required to learn how to produce videos is well worth it. There are many new technologies that work to make video creation easier. Hardware like the “Flip” camera makes it easy to record a video and then plug in the camera to a computer for easy uploading. It is a handy device that allows for a quick and easy video, with no editing. Videos that only require music in the background or voices over images, like those of a PowerPoint presentation, or a screen capture demonstration require less effort than videos involving a person, or host, as the visual focus. The effort and time required for image, text, and voice creations would necessitate the knowledge of screen capture or video editing software and the time to put together the video.  Figure 4: YouTube Uploads Videos that have a person as the focus, or the host, often require the most effort and time. The video creator must have the proper hardware to record the host, and multiple recordings may need to be edited together to get a clean and cohesive video. Factors such as lighting, image, and sound quality affect the final video more in this style of video. Because of the requirements for a high quality video of this type, this style of video requires the most time and effort, as well as cost. The size and length of the video is something that must be taken into consideration for all of the video styles. Each VSM site has individual length and size requirements for videos. Figure 4 shows an example of YouTube’s guidelines for video formatting. If a video is too long or too big it can take a large amount of time and effort to edit the video to fit a VSM site’s requirements. The effort required can be minimized with the help of certain software, or hardware (like the Flip camera mentioned previously), or by choosing a VSM site that allows larger videos to be posted. As a final resort, a video could be split into several smaller videos and then numbered and linked together on the user’s site, or channel. 1c.) Software There are two main types of software that can be used to help create a video. These are video editing software and screen capture software. For both types of editing software there are free versions (like in Figure 5) and versions that can be obtained for a charge. Some software will allow a free trial for a certain amount of time so a user can experiment with the software before buying it. A user will determine the type(s) of software needed to create a video depending on the type of video needed.  Figure 5: CamStudio In most cases of video creation video editing software will need to be used to create a video. There are many different types of video editing software, all with their own individual features. Explaining the differences and how to choose which software is appropriate would be a paper by itself, but it is recommended that users determine whether the software features allow slides, music, and text to be added and mixed together; or only allows for the deletion and editing of scenes from a completed video. This can help determine the software needed and whether screen capture software will also be needed. Screen capture software is also used regularly in the technical communication field and will either capture images, or record video of actions on a computer screen. Some names of video editing software, and screen capture software can be found on the “Addition Resources” page (pg 23). 1d.) Hardware The most important type of hardware that will always be needed for video creation is the computer. A computer that will be used for video creation will likely need a fast processor, a large amount of physical RAM, a sizeable hard drive, and a fast internet connection. The cost of a computer is negligible depending on whether a computer with the correct specifications is currently available or not. The other two main pieces of hardware that will need to be taken into consideration are a camera and a voice recorder. As with most areas of concern on the topic of video creation, the type of video that is needed will determine if a camera or voice recorder is needed, and, if so, what type. There are many different varieties of cameras and voice recorders available on a large scale of prices. The only way to determine what is necessary for a video creation project, is to determine the type of video, the needs of the video, and then look at the features of cameras and voice recorders. 2. Concerns About the Audience A technical communicator’s primary concern is always the audience. With VSM sites technical communicators need to not only consider who the audience is, and how the audience will interact with and interpret videos, but who should or shouldn’t see the videos, and how to deal with comments and feedback to videos. 2a.) Who Has Access Most VSM sites are free and accessible to people across the globe. This accessibility is a contributing factor to the popularity of VSM sites and the reason YouTube receives about “70% of [their] traffic from outside the United States” (YouTube). But because these sites are formatted to be accessible, it also makes it practically impossible to limit who has access to videos. Technical communicators need to consider what videos should remain private, and their options for privatizing videos. They also need to think about the access that non-professionals will have to videos. 2b.) Private Videos There are many different VSM sites on the internet. This article mainly focuses on features and applications for VSM sites as a whole; however, there is one VSM site that should get a special mention. The VSM site Vimeo.com is of particular interest to technical communicators, and other individuals, who are concerned with the audience for particular videos. Vimeo allows for passwords to be applied to videos so that they may be made private. YouTube also offers the option to make videos private. YouTube does not password protect the video, but allows the video to be viewed only with the exact web address. It will not allow the video to appear within YouTube’s search function for anyone to access. 2c.) Dealing with Feedback Addressing the potential feedback that a video might receive is one of the most daunting tasks when working with VSM sites. One of the first things to know about feedback on VSM sites, is that comments to a video do not usually require a response. The next thing to know is that unless the video has been posted privately, comments can come from peers and laymen alike. The largest concern with regards to comments and feedback would be how to deal with “unwanted” feedback in the form of crude, negative, or off topic comments. Depending on the VSM site, comments can be hidden, marked as inappropriate, or deleted. There is no need to respond to unwanted, off topic comments. It is often wrong to respond to an inappropriate comment as it carries the chance of drawing more attention to that comment. Again, at present there is no “proper conduct” for responses, it is mostly a matter of responding as if the conversation was occurring face-to-face. |