I have to respectfully disagree with you Art. A video isn't necessarily a shortcut. A good video is experiential. A good video shows you what the words mean, and some of us learn better that way. There are three ways to learn: reading/listening, watching, and doing. In my experience, using all three sequentially works best. Read, watch, and then try. Reading, or even listening, doesn't always make it clear or memorable. Sometimes, experiential learning is best. (Although, as a former technical writer, I must agree that the quality of writing is crucial.)

IMO, the problem is not with with media chosen (e.g. video or written, public/office presentation) but with the quality of the presentation. That quality is directly related to the skill, training and preparation time of the presenter.

You can't just turn the video camera on and start rambling. I've seen videos from so-called experts that I cannot bear to watch because the actual information content per minute is near zero. Same with some written reviews. Poorly done work produces poor results in any media.

But with some thought and prior preparation, a video can be very useful, especially when describing, for example, assembly/dis-assembly of something.

There are good informational videos and bad informational videos. The unfortunate fact is that the good ones are few and far between. Part of this has to do with the fact that good presentations are usually the result of thoroughly understanding the subject, planning ahead, scripting the message, and a certain amount of rehearsal. The lack of any, or all, the above usually shows in the final product.

Some of my disinclination toward videos has to do with my being on a dial-up connection where a minute of video may take better than half an hour to download. During this time the download process slows my web browsing. I can't count the times I've invested the time and bandwidth on a video and been deeply disappointed by some half-informed rube blather on. It wouldn't be all bad if it was just entertainment. But for actual reliable information it is usually an abysmal failure.

They aren't often survival related but may of the videos I downloaded and felt good about the time and bandwidth invested were TED talks:

http://www.ted.com/talks

The principle is that you find someone with expertise and an interesting message and give them about ten minutes to explain ground it took years for them to cover. The forced brevity, combined with a need to cover a concept in a well-rounded way, requires a well focused and lively presentation.

If more of them were like TED talks I'd feel better about the typical You-tube fare.

Now that I can relate to. I'm spoiled by high-speed. Dial-up drives me nuts, especially when you wait patiently for a download that turns out to be crap.

That's an actual consideration as my husband and I consider moving to a more rural area.

I dont think of it as being spoiled these days. I have not visited a site that wasnt 90% animated flash or java that wont load quickly even on my broadband. The internet has changed and moved on passed dial up. Pictures are in HD full size with little to no editing for file size, videos on youtube are maximum allowed 2.5 gigs now if Im not mistaken Music alone is roughly 1MB per minute! None of this is viable threw Dialup these days and yes I know people manage to do it still and in fact I know someone in person who does just this.

http://www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm


Just look at how that is compared to websites today! The pictures are what we consider thumbnails now!

I hear ya man, but at some point you've got to move along with the technology or accept being left behind. You can't blame people for leveraging technology that is widely and cheaply available. If not for this progression, we'd still be living in the dirt and dying at around 40 years old.