All across the Web, video has become a powerful learning medium for "how-to" snippets as well as for extensive educational communications. More than printed manuals of yore, video can take users effectively through the right sequence of steps so they truly learn. The presentation describes some systematic methods, including open tools and standards, that content creators use to break video sequences into tasks for effective user assistance documentation development. It also demonstrates how to best manage, search, and reuse content for future productions, as well as how to integrate them to supplement current documentation systems you may already have in place.

1. Video Meets Documentation
Creating Effective Web-Based Learning Tools
Presentation for Boulder Writers Alliance
November 2010
Wild Basin Media, Inc.

2. • Basic Components of Video Integration
Presentation Overview
• Video
• Video Player (and Playlist)
• Document
• OVID Demo
• Mini Walk Through
• Video & DITA (Time Allowing)
• Questions

3. Document
Vi deo
Basic Components
Player
Playlist (optional)

4. Video

5. The Big Picture
From Techcrunch.com:
Google reports that YouTube streams
Two billion videos per day. On
average, everyone on the Internet is
watching one YouTube video per day.

6. Recording Video
Screen-Captured Video Camera-Generated Video
(Out of Scope)
iShowU (Mac)
Captivate (Win/Mac Beta) Concepts to Know:
Camtasia Studio (Win)
Storyboard
Camtasia for Mac Shot List
Rule of Thirds
Jing (Win/Mac) Three Point Lighting
Screenflow (Mac) Depth of Field
SD vs. HD
... Frames per Second
Progressive vs. Interlaced
More Info: Panasonic DVX100B Tutorial Shooting Tips Video Production Wiki The Screencasting Handbook

7. Editing Video
Windows • Premiere Pro
• Sony Vegas
• Windows Live Movie Maker
• Captivate
• Camtasia
Mac • Final Cut Pro
• Final Cut Express
• Premiere Pro
• iMovie
• Captivate
• Camtasia
Linux • Kino
More Info: Ken Stone’s FCP Tutorials Creative Cow Tutorials Top 5 Linux Video Editor Software

8. Video Delivery
Progressive Download
• HTTP protocol
• Downloaded to end user’s computer
• Easy to set up
• Cannot seek
Streaming
• Real-Time Protocols (e.g., RTMP)
• Video does not remain on end user’s computer
• Can seek
• Instant play
• Handles long videos
Pseudo Streaming
• HTTP protocol
• Server-side scripting (e.g., PHP)
• Limited seeking
More Info: Web Server vs. Streaming Server xmoovStream

9. Hosting Video
(Out of Scope)
Server-Side Hosting Options:
• Your company’s server
• Free services:
YouTube, Vimeo, MetaCafe, etc.
• Content Delivery Networks (CDN):
Influxis, CloudFront, HighWinds, etc.
More Info: Free Alternatives to YouTube Flash CDNs

10. Video Players
Client-Side Player Options:
•Silverlight (Microsoft)
•QuickTime (Apple)
•HTML 5 (Open Source)
•Flash (Adobe)
...

11. Flash Player
• Cross-platform viewership: 98%
• Consumes *.flv, *.f4v, *.mp4 video formats
• Ways to acquire the Flash player:
•Create your own custom player with Adobe Flash (CS5)
•Hire a Flash developer
• Use an open source Flash Player
Flowplayer (GNU General Public License)
JW Player (Creative Commons License)
More Info: SWF vs. FLV Flash Video FAQ Video Formats

12. Playlists
A playlist is a file, usually an XML file, that tells the player where to find resources
(i.e., audio, video and images) and provides information about the resources.
Examples:
• ASX (Microsoft)
• iTunes Library Format (Apple)
• Atom (W3C)
• MRSS
• SMIL (Open Source)
• XSPF (Open Source)
...
More Info: Creating Video Playlists for JW Player

13. Why Playlists Rock
Playlists...
• Centralize media management
Example: Assigning start/end values
• Can be versioned, tracked
• Contain metadata that can be searched

14. Anatomy of XSPF Playlist
Title displays
in player
Video in root
directory of
domain
Displays in Starts 10
player as seconds into
thumbnail video

15. Full-Featured Playlist
Namespace
“rtmp” indicates
extends XSPF
that video is
functionality
streamed
with JW Player
Video segment
starts at the 40
second mark
Unique ID of Video segment
video segment ends at the 55
second mark
Closed
captioning file

16. Playlist “Flow”
1.
Link activates
track within
playlist.
2.
Playlist provides
information about
the video to the
player.
NOTE: JavaScript passes information Player plays
between the (X)HTML, playlist, and player. 3. video.

17. Alternative to Playlist
Object Tag:
<object
id="flashplayer1"
codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0"
height="360"
classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
width="700"
name="flashplayer1">
<param name="movie" value="player.swf"/>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/>
<param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/>
<param name="bgcolor" value="white"/>
<param name="flashvars"
value="duration=3180&amp;file=video.mp4&amp;provider=http&amp;autostart=true&amp;playlistsize=200&amp;playlist=right"/>
<embed name="flashplayer1"
height="360"
width="700"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
src="player.swf"
bgcolor="white"
flashvars="duration=3180&amp;file=video.mp4&amp;provider=http&amp;autostart=true&amp;playlistsize=200&amp;playlist=right"/>
</object>

18. Structured
Documentation Eclipse
Plugin
•DITA
•Docbook
•TEI
•S1000D HTML
... Help
XML
Transform
Authoring
PDF
(X)HTML
More Info: Why use DITA to produce HTML deliverables?

19. Review
Document
Vi deo
Basic Components
Player
Playlist (optional)

20. OVID Demo
[[[Add png of OVID]]]

21. Mini Walk Through
Video/Doc Integration
1. Use Camtasia to record/edit video.
2. Export video in .mp4 format.
3. Construct playlist.
4. Play video using playlist within document.

22. Darwin Information Typing Architecture
Video & DITA

23. DITA
• Darwin Information Typing Architecture
• A publishing solution created by IBM that
allows writers to reuse information, reduce
writing cycles and improve content
management.

24. DITA Learning and Training
• Dita Learning and Training
Specialization is a customization of the
DITA core content models.
• Purpose: To create online courses.
More Info: DITA Learning Specialization

25. Information Architect
• Information architect (IA) and
videographer coordinate on project.
• IA & videographer must determine level
of granularity.
• Ditamap: Blueprint for the video
storyboard or shot list.

26. Technical Communicator
• Technical Communicator (TC) can use the video
reference (e.g., <xref>) key, which includes a
preview of video playlist tracks.
• TC inserts video references into XML source.
• Video production uncovers topics that were not
prefigured by IA or TC.

27. Reuse
• Like their text-based counterparts, playlist
tracks may be reused across topics and
documentation sets.
• Reuse of playlist tracks drives down
overall cost of producing video.

28. Questions
These slides and other resources
can be downloaded from Wild Basin Media:
media.wildbasinmedia.com/bwa2010.zip.
Check out Taming
Media Blog at
wildbasinmedia.net
shealy@wildbasinmedia.com