As we are getting close with the roll-out of the Wiki, I have been exploring the use of How To video tutorials.
The Wiki is a publishing system and it is easy to use, but also easy to mess up. I believe video tutorials would be the easiest way to show our members how to use the Wiki.
It would also make sense to create videos for the forum as well. Some of the tutorials I have considered are
How to post images
How to update username, email address and password
How to format messages
How the Private Message area works.
What other areas would you suggest we consider adding?
Jeff- Good video intro and overview. It steps right along and has no obnoxious background music. Will that or something like be added to the home page “About LotusElan.net” section?
I think that having video links in the wiki is a great idea. I’m sure there will be folks that step up and provide that “how to” content that is a lot harder to explain than it is to show.
As you probably discovered, good videos take a long time an a lot of effort to edit to get them right.
I've found that it is best not to add even gentle background music to videos for Youtube; they have implemented some awful sound normalization algorithm, so that in pauses between the voice over the gentle background music roars into the foreground in a most horrible way.
I am going to have to re-edit one or two of my tutorial videos there (about my Scriptwriters Toolkit) to remove the background music completely.
Bud, I don’t think Jeff particularly meant videos IN the wiki, I think he meant a tutorial video showing how each us us will be able to edit the Wiki to improve it.
Good video! Gives us a presence on YouTube. But I suspect most people find us through a search engine and most of them know how fora work. These are everyday things.
The video is very good and straightforward + informative.
Such videos will be helpful to new members.
I also notice one or two people are posting links to videos - eg recent post about play in throttle linkage (which I couldn’t answer!). With more broadband around this is now practical. And if a picture is better than a hundred words then a video is better still.
The Wiki is a web publishing tool. Every member, who is 1st gear or higher, will have the ability to edit every page. 800 members will have access to edit and change the content within the Wiki.
It is a new software product for many of our members. There will need to be training on how to use it. For example to add a new page to the wiki, is usually a 4 step process. I have made several automation shortcuts to make it easier, but our members will still need to be trained.
We can try to make the wiki as bullet proof as possible, but there will be “mess ups”.
If you look at most Wikis, the number of active members (5 edits per month) is low. We have a possible pool of 800 editors. Of that, we will have about 10 to 20 who will contribute on a regular basis.
Can you manage what Wikipedia is like with over 77,000 active members (at least 5 edits per month)?
Bill,
I can’t wait! The minute detail, the pet theory, the outlandish unfounded claim (citation needed!)
Jeff,
I suspect like most people I will watch your video after I have buggered it up. The manual is what you read after you have obviously got it wrong!
In all seriousness I think it will be a great addition to the site!
Jeff, a good idea I think. Video tutorials for the less frequent tasks, such as adding an avatar, will be far easier to follow for the less technically minded.
Will the servers cope with a rash of explanatory videos for servicing and modification task ? Come back Gary, just need a dog mount for Beauregard to hold his camera
Oh, one final point, the car is called an Elan, not an Elarn
I think the example video is great. Well organized, well paced and at an appropriate speed for the content to be conveyed. I agree that visually explaining something like an avatar can be a bit confusing for people who are more comfortable with a wrench would be very useful.
I thought I new how to enunciate words. Listening to oneself, you begin to realize how you slur words.
What was even scarier is Youtube creates an automated transcript of the video. Several of the automated translations that occurred were:
LotusElan.net => little of the salon dot net LotusElan.net => lotus one dot net
Lotus Elan => lotus along
Lotus Elan => lotus salon
blog => belonged
click => quick
All the videos will be hosted at youtube. You have to tolerate the occasional advertisement in the beginning of the video, but no impact to the servers.
The idea of a LotusElan.net is the birth of a nightmare; it will quickly become an uncontrollable circus beast with any form of honest knowledge being contaminated by here say, unfounded theories & dubiously un-qualified “facts”.
I think I can safely say that I won’t be interested in either contributing to or reading its contents.
Sorry if that sounds nose in the air but IMHO the Wiki will be a possibly dangerous & in any case frustrating place to be!
Wow, John. Talk about sucking the air out of the room.
As usual, John brings up a good point. This is one of reliability of the information.
Reliability of information focuses predominately in these three areas:
Accuracy of information provided
Susceptibility to false information
Susceptibility to editorial bias
We dealt with the issue of reliability when the mailing list started in 1999.
We dealt with the issue of reliability when the forums started in 2005.
We will deal with the issue or reliability when the Wiki starts in 2013.
Will there be difference of opinion? Yes.
Will there be difference of facts? Yes
Will there be disputes, blow-ups, hurt feelings? Yes
Will someone pick up their toys and go home? Probably
Does this sound like life? Yes.
Welcome to living in a community.
Will it be challenging? Yes. Everything in life worth doing is challenging.
There is a line from a movie that comes to mind when typing this response. It is “get busy living or get busy dying”. There will always be the potential for “uncontrollable circus beast with any form of honest knowledge being contaminated by here say, unfounded theories & dubiously un-qualified facts”. I have to ask myself: Do I get busy living and jump in with both feet, or do stand on the sidelines and get busy dying?
The video is good and a good potrayal of the site as we know it but would need to be slower for things people are not already familiar with. However, I realise you are just demonstrating the presentation and not putting it forward as a finished article.
Interesting that you pick-up on the voice-to-text distortions. Your English is excellent but, like all Americans, you do pronounce the name “Lotus along” in the French manner, whereas in the UK we alway say “Lotus El-lan” to rhyme with can, man and van. We already have to boot up our trunks and put bonnets on our hoods so soon we’ll need alternative audio tracks too.
From politeness I was not going to comment on your Texan (?) pronunciation of Elan, but since others have already commented I might as well chip in.
In the UK we pronounce Elan with a short a, same as the end of the male name Alan, or the girls name Ann and a long E; to me it sounded as if you were pronouncing it as Ellon.