Programming School Dropout and Redemption

I've been avoiding telling folks this but it is time to come clean and start again. I am the beauty school dropout in Grease.



I hate quitting anything. Really, I can be guilty of hanging on for dear life until I get it done. Well, life snuck up on me and went booger-booger.

Strike 1. I was doing okay. I wrote my first program and thought my homework was done. What I failed to realize was there were a whole bunch of lessons underneath the first one. I catch that mistake two days before the first quiz and try to cram it down.

You can't do that with an intro Python programing class. I tried but it was painful.

Strike 2. My day job at the Salt Mine got crazy. I can't go into details but let me just say the widgets were asking questions of the whatsits and the whatsits were waiting on the doohickies and in the meantime salt is flowing all over the conveyer belt.

It was lunar baby, stuff was flying everywhere and all I had was a spoon.

Strike 3. I came home and tried again. I'm in Lesson two. I'm still learning vocabulary and programing at the same time. The dude shifted from vocabulary to concept and then from concept to implementation.

I was still on understanding the concepts when bango zoom he was talking about the rafinstinbonk.

It was over. I cured up in my bed, I knew I didn't have a flipping chance.

A Possibility for Redemption

A new session of the class is starting up on April 16th. I'm stubborn. I do not like not learning what I set out to learn. You don't get to be this old without picking up some life skills.

Boomer power baby!

I am gathering supportive tutorial materials:

Videos

Khan Academy has some programming videos:



I can watch or listen to these on my phone via YouTube.

Tutorials

One size does not fit all and I'm looking for re-enforcements.

• At Python.org there is a Beginner's Guide page for non-programmers to access tutorials and resources.
• There is another interactive tutorial at Learn Python.org.
• Python Turtle is for kids and those willing to think like one. There is no shame in my game. You download the software and the follow the instructions to learn concepts in order to move the turtle.
• Yes, there is a podcast for just about everything, this one is for young programmers so if I add the numbers my age I could be youngish.

What About Life?

I know. I could be setting myself up for a fall again. Salt is still shooting across the room but the flow is now in check for the time being. If I can get a better bead on the topic before the new session starts I'll sign up again.

If not, slow and steady will have to be my workflow. Monty would have wanted it that way.

(The programming language was named after Monty Python, which is nice to know but I still feel like a git.)

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Video Geek Lab - Business and Product Support Resources

This is the fourth segment virtual handout on the BlogHer09 Web Video/Videoblogging session of the Geek Lab. There is a lot of pure bunkum that is being perpetrated in this area. Lurk, observe and do not give your money until you are sure that the person or company has demonstrated experience.

This means that if you see a tacky looking slide show and they claim to be “video experts” who will teach you how to create video for a price, move along. Also Search engine optimization is not the same as producing good content be it text, audio, photos or video.

The flim flam is excessively high so be very picky about these type of content providers. What I am trying to say is the true goal is the same for all types of web video; to communicate a message.

You first need to understand what you want the video to do for you. Yes, I know for a fraction of you the goal is to make money.

I have to tell you most successful money generating people I have met, and I do know some Benjamin packing people, have in common is that they have a product or service that they believe in AND that there is a clear benefit to the consumer.

The benefit has a value of X . Honestly the focus has to be on what can you do for your potential customer before she or he commits to buying your service or product.

What Has This Got to do with Web Video for Business?

This is your opportunity to by pass your local TV and radio stations who will not sell you time to promote your product and service.

This is your time to help your customers understand what your product can do for them and explain it on your terms. Your occasional or ongoing series of videos can help make that decision.




Cori Chavez's goal is to help small business people using video with the equipment that they have. Her focus may be to be known as an expert. I don't know. But the videos on her blog do not talk about her knowledge. They demonstrate help and assistance to the viewers and potential customers.

Videos can help in product support or demonstrating how to use, wear or incorporate a product into a consumer's lifestyle. At BlogHer I received a DVD from a woman who is promoting Pilates for desk jockeys. When my box of stuff arrives I'll put in the name of the video.

Now I'm do not have an exercise blog, and I am not the first person you think of when it comes to physical fitness. But if someone asks me about desk based back and abs exercises I now have a resource for them to check out. I do know folks with back and fitness problems.

I can refer them to the website that if they have good sense, demonstrate one or two exercises that would cause a person to buy the DVD. This is Social Media 101.

Are you catching my drift? The business videos you create have to support the needs of your potential clients and customers. Not how great the product is or could be for them.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Do not lie of deceive people. It is wrong. People will talk. And not everybody gets to go to the Country Club prison.

Equipment:

• Upper Level Digital Camcorder
• Prosumer Camcorder
• External good quality microphones, tripods, lighting.
• Hiring professional assistance to start.
  

There are many kinds of business videos. These are business video examples and I make no judgment or endorsement of the products or services presented.

Cisco Systems Business Video Portal

David C. Skul - video on YouTube on 5 Tips for Effective Web 2.0 Marketing. I then backtracked to his website to find out about his services and other resources that I will post below.

Gerry Oginski at The Lawyer's Video Studio is promoting the use of video for lawyers.

IRS video explaining the benefits of Retirement plans with captioning.

Megs Concession Supply has videos that demonstrate concession food machines and products.

Poor Specimen.TV caters to surfing enthusiasts and those that remember back in the day of the surf film. You purchase and view videos online.

WellcomeMat.com is a portal for real estate videos and real estate video services.


As you can see the video quality is all over the place. Yes thousands of folks are trying web video for business but only a few are doing it correctly. There will always be room for quality. Content rules but quality for business video is equally important. Like the Instructional tutorials you gotta have a plan. These following people can help.

Creating Business Video Resources

Bill Myers Online – working on independent distribution before the Internet and has adapted to the changes. Review the sample articles and videos for free.

Cori Chavez at New Video Monday is targeting small business owners who want to use video. A new effort but she does have good video content.

David Skul's RelativityCorp.com page on business and marketing web videos. Both articles and video content.

Web Video University's blog where you can sample videos and the quality of the instructor, Dave Kaminski work.

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Video Geek Lab - Documentary and Journalism

This is the third section of the BlogHer09 Video Geek Lab. This one concerns resources for those of you interested in documentary videography, citizen journalism,video activism and presenting fact based videos.

• Web Camcorder - you will have to work harder on the video but it can be done.
• Digital Video Camcorder - upper level with more controls and features.
• Prosumer Level Camcorder
• Audio/Microphone Concerns
  
• Tripod/Monopod

You might need better quality equipment and a bit more skills to create different versions for distribution. In addition, you might need to learn some of the techniques of traditional and web based journalism.

News University – free and paid web classes on journalism issues, storytelling techniques and new media. You will also want to hang out at the Poynter Institute for Visual Journalism page.

Online Journalism Review - Tips for shooting better online video (2007). Technology has improved since this article but it is still solid information. You should also read What Are The Ethics of Online Journalism and How To Write for the Web because slapping a video on a blog is not always the complete story.

Many of us will find ourselves interviewing people. Here are some tips from Serena Carpenter:

How to shoot video interviews

View more presentations from Serena Carpenter.

Audio and storytelling resources at Transom.org Please read Curtis Fox, Elizabeth Arnold and Studs Turkel on the many paths to storytelling. You will also find information about microphones and recoding software.

Knight Digital Media Center - Camcorder information specifically for those people interested in journalism.

For journalism, social media and related information visit Serena Carpenter, Amy Gahran and Amy's posts at Poynter.org

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Video Geek Lab - Creating Instructional Tutorials for Users

This is the second section of my BlogHer09 Geek Lab on finding instructional video resources. You might be interested in creating videos for demonstrating a skill or a product, presentations or screencasting. Instructional videos can be done on an occasional basis or as a normal part of you blog/vlog.

Examples of Instructional/Tutorial Videos

There is such a range of content that can and will be produced that these are just examples. Whether to support your blog, product support or to advertise your business these are some idea generators our of thousands more I could show you. Use these as idea generators:

• Explaining A Software/Service - Survey Monkey Screencasting Page and also view the videos at DemoGirl.com
  
• Explaining A Concept - CommonCraft Twitter Research in Plain English
• How to perform a task such as opening a bottle of wine or a collection of food recipes at iFood.com
  

Certainly you will need to be aware of the core skills resources but you will also have to be knowledgeable about how to present information, how to deliver it via video and keeping your users wants and needs in mind. EHow has a simple outline of the instructional video process.

• Web Camcorder
• Digital Video Camcorder or Prosumer Camcorder
• External Microphone
• Lighting
• Tripod/Monopod

If you are going to teach via video then your instructions and how you demonstrate them have to be perfect. You have to plan for that perfection. This kind of video require more planning but it does not have to be a time sink if you set up a workflow or system of how you are going to record the video.

Creating Presentation Resources

It is long past time that the presentation community and the video community got to know each other. There is much common ground. This is my peanut butter and chocolate moment. So for those of you new to presentation concepts check out the following Slideshare presentation by Kelsey Ruger:

Visual and Creative Thinking:What We Learned From Peter Pan and Willy Wonka

View more documents from Kelsey Ruger.

Now you are ready to check out the following:

Beyond Bullet Points - If you are using either PowerPoint or presenting by video you need to read this book. If you are cash impaired, check out Cliff's website and blog.

Nancy Duarte - just go and explore the whole shebang. This is one of her pages on using receipt tape to storyboard an idea.

Video of Garr Reynolds speaking at Google on presentation concepts. You should also check out Garr's blog.

You should also visit Presentation Examples blog, Kathy Sierra's post on Stop Your Presentations Before It Kills Again, and download Andy Goodman's book on Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes.

Making Video Tutorial Resources

Tim Carter's Ask The Builder Video on Making Instructional Videos is a great demonstration on the mechanical process of how to construct a video tutorial and he reminds you that it shouldn't be painful to watch.

Tom Johnson at I'd Rather Be Writing goes into more detail about his process in creating tutorial videos.

Videomaker articles on creating instructional videos from Alice Patterson (it is from 2000 but good advice) and secrets on video training.

Screencasting Resources

Review of Free Screencasting Software at MakeUseOf.com
Torely at Mashible's How To Master Screencasting in Seven Steps

For business level screen tutorials and look at creating information products for profit visit ProCasts at http://procasts.co.uk and read the post Screencast Tutorial #1.

On many websites and blogs you are going to see name TechSmith and Camtasia. There is a reason for this. The software works. For casual or occasional users you might want to check out Jing. If you are an educator, professional presenter, or live in the presentation realm of the sciences then you should swing over to the Camtasia Learning Center.

Camtasia is expensive and there are low cost/free/open source alternatives like HyperCam, CamStudio and others. But if you need a functional no hassle system and your job depends on it, yes, Camtasia is it.

On the Mac side there is ScreenFlow, Screenium and Screenflick.

Full Disclosure: I have owned Camtasia Studio for two years. I also have purchased SnagIt. I was recently gifted with an upgrade to the new versions of both programs. Thank you Betsy!

But I did want to mention the upgrade. I do believe in letting you know when I have received items. I don't want to talk about transparency without standing up for my beliefs and not acting accordingly.

I receive no money or other types of compensation for this blog. Because of my prior videos and Creative Commons licenses from musicians that have permitted me to use their music for non-commercial purposes; I do not have advertising content on this blog.

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Video Geek Lab - Core Skills Video Resources

I gave a short presentation at BlogHer09 about the resources available to help folks create videos. This will be a series of virtual handouts and additional resources I did not have time to share.

This section will cover resources on basic skills for those folks using the following devices:

• Web Cameras
• Web Camcorders
• Digital Still Cameras with Video Recording

If you plan on recording personal commentary/talking head videos, occasional outside events and recording people in casual settings then your needs are basic. You can produce good video with these recording devices if you understand their strengths and their limitations.
For personal narrative and quick commentary web cams are very useful. You can tell your story, give highlights from a conference or use it as a creativity tool.

Web Camcorders are best used outside for spontaneous events, recording life in the city, tutorials, digital storytelling, citizen journalism, documentation and whatever else comes into your head.

I think this is where the future technology will merge into; the ability to shoot quality photos and record video has to come together. In the meantime, manufacturers of upper level still cameras are working to find the best way to balance both mediums.


Strengths and Weaknesses

The strengths are ease of use, portability and with the Web Camcorders and upper level Digital Still Cameras improved video quality.

The main limitation is light. You need lots of it. This is true if you are recording indoors with the web cameras, web camcorders or inexpensive digital still cameras.

Another limitation is audio. You might record ambient sounds that you can't remove. Those sounds can spoil a good video. There are ways to compensate for those liabilities.

If you are new to creating web video or videoblogging preparing and uploading your video these are the most helpful and accessible resources:

FreeVlog
http://freevlog.org

Make Internet TV
http://makeinternettv.org

Currents TV
http://current.com/make.htm and http://current.com/make/resources.htm

Yahoo Videoblogging Group
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging

CamcorderInfo.com
http://www.camcorderinfo.com

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PresentationCamp L.A. – What Do You Want To Know?

I've told folks last week about PresentationCamp L.A. I wish I knew about it sooner but such is life. My previous post mentioned the serendipity that caused me to become aware of the techniques and skills of presentation. There are very similar to writing, blogging and storytelling.

So this video is for folks that could not attend or wonder why would you give up a Saturday to do this? There were professional presenters, entrepreneurs, people that worked in non-profit organizations, life coaches, representatives from engineering and health sciences. The common intersection among us was the need to transfer what we know to another person.

What are the questions? How do you do it. So at the beginning of an Un-conference/BarCamp experience the participants decide on the day’s agenda. Cliff Atkinson and Lisa Braithwaite kick of the day with the invitation to “ask for what you want.”

For more information or to check to see if there are other videos or notes check out the PresentationCamp wiki.

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PresentationCamp L.A. Pre-Ramble or A Tale of Two Books

The PSA project was and is making me crazy. I know what I want to do, I know the information I want to convey but I need to deliver it in an accessible and visual manner. I also want to teach people how to do this as well but I have to simplify the process.

Yes, I don't lack for things to do.

Here is the thing, I am not a designer, educational media specialist or the slickest video kid on the block. I don't have to be but I needed help.

I stared looking for books and resources on how to convey information that could help me with the stories I need to pass on down the line.

I decide on Slide:ology by Nancy Duate. Off I go to the local bookstore. Not in stock. Store #2, nope just sold out.

Hit up on Store #3, where I call before I make a move, and "Yes, we've got it."

They didn't have it.

I look down and I see this book, Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson. I open it up, flip the pages and it seemed to speak of the processes on how to do this and understand what the audience needs from people who present information.

Sold. I'll order the other book online. Time marches on.

Ok a full three months pass by without ordering the book.

A few days ago a friend e-mails me that she just learned via the Apple Store how to bring her Keynote slides into iMovie and export into a Flash movie format.

I sent her a link to Cliff's website. I also check out the Beyond Bullet Points blog and that is how I found out about Presentation Camp L.A.

It was a mind inspiring day. I'm editing video so I hope to have something soon. It is that time thing, don’t have as much as I need or want.

Oh yeah, the purpose of this pre-ramble. I got a copy of Slide:ology, iMovie 09, and When Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes by Andy Goodman.

Serendipity has often meant to me to surrender to the possible you can't see. Or getting whacked upside the head with a lot of information at one time. It is a good thing but it still knocks me out when it happens.

I mean that literally because it took three hours to get home (Dang that Metro!) and I conked out shortly after.

It was great but a really long day. In another ramble I need to re-think why I don't drive.

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Shaking Out the Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera – This Could Be Love

I knew I needed something. Wanted something. My old standby was good. No complaints. Yet in my heart I knew there was something more. Sure I’ve heard folks talk about The Flip, crazy about The Flip and I checked it out. I like the size, the video were acceptable and it looked easy.

But it didn’t hit the spot. So I kept looking. It was between the Creative Vado or the Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera in terms of video quality, storage and ease of use. Oh yeah and the high definition thing. Well, I could not find the Creative Vado locally to see if it would be a good match. Friday night I was in a store. I turned the corner. Before my eyes was The Flip, the Zi6 and all the other pretenders to the throne.

The Flip Ultra was in white. Nope – I would have it in multiple shade of gray by nightfall. The Flip Mini was enticing. Very small. But the Kodak had a large screen, a SD/SDHC slot and the ability to take AA/Rechargeable batteries. Not to mention recording in standard or 720p HD if I wanted or needed it. In 30 or 60 frame per second as well as 640 x 480. Sold!

This is a brief look at some test footage. I edited it just a bit. I did have to render it in standard definition but you should be able to see the quality of the macro mode. In macro mode if you are 2 inches away you can dive into the pores of a budding flower in great detail

Shooting was a revelation. I didn’t think a little video camcorder could do high def, even if it is only 720p.

I could see clearly it and was pur-dy! The recorded video dimensions are 1280x720. A big honking file, as it should be. Beautiful video. You can also record in 60fps but really, I can’t think of a good reason to do so unless you are planning to do slo-mo on the cheap. There are other reasons to shoot in 60fps but not for casual recording.

Here lies the problem, no matter if you have a HD Flip of Zi6. If you plan to upload it to any of the video services you are uploading a really large file. Now if the video absolutely has to be in high definition that is fine. If not, you will wind up compressing your great video to standard definition.

The standard def conversion of HD video looks good. If you don't need to record in HD it is ok for now. If you have a HD television and you plan on showing videos then yes, it makes sense to record in HD. If you are doing presentations it will look great. Web video? Hmm - it depends. Most of the time web level video is fine.

Which kinda defeats the purpose of having high def video. The bandwidth isn’t there for most of the planet or it will eat into allotted usage. Uploading a HD version of a 50 second video took 50+ minutes. Even if you upload a compressed version, and, you will have to, the Flash video format will add gunk to the video.

But even with that said, it ain’t half bad.

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