I had several responses to my last post about Sensei's use of videos. Rob Rost, from Banner Health, wrote me about his company's use of video to highlight HIPAA security:
Banner Health has recently adopted Youtube.com to promote its business to people on the Internet. In fact, Banner Health is slowly starting to adopt other Web 2.0 applications to promote and create more awareness about its’ mission, values, leadership, and services. I am pleased to announce that the Information Security department has also posted a video YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3CzDU_Fflg). The video is really part of the annual HIPAA security training for all Banner Health employees. The goal of the video was to provide answers to common questions. We also hoped that the humor (along with the under paid actors, but well paid Information Security employees) would make our message more memorable and longer lasting. We had a lot fun making it, and our media department was fantastic. Naturally, I am not going to quite my day job though, unless of course, I receive an Academy award for the best lead wannabe actor in the corporate-education-information security-under 3 minutes-comedy\drama-less than $1000 budget category.
Rob, I agree that you shouldn't quit your day job, but congratulations on making a video that incorporates excellent advice laced with humor. Every one of the "don't do this" examples has happened in the wild and these points can't be stressed enough. Data breaches have become a frightening norm - and I read yesterday that the 2009 cost of a data breach is $204 per record. Scary . . .
I also heard from our British colleague and friend, Ian Henderson of Advanced Forensics. Ian is clearly not an "instructional video" fan:
I’m obviously a Luddite, but I’m strongly against the current fad of using video to communicate everything from how to do something, to the latest marketing pitch. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against video when it’s used appropriately, but I question whether it’s the most effective way to communicate many of the topics it’s being used for at the moment. It’s just so inefficient as a communication tool, most of the time.
Let me give you an example. A few days ago I was looking for instructions on how to remove a hard drive from a particularly tricky laptop. I found a 15 minute video clip on YouTube that dealt with the issue pretty well. I also found a 1 page “cheat sheet” from the manufacturer that explained the procedure very clearly. I printed out the cheat sheet, removed all the screws as per the instructions, carefully placed them on the paper - so I knew where they came from, and finished the entire task before the video was half way through.
I see this time and time again when I look at how people operate these days. I despair about technical support departments who publish a 45 video clip, rather than a decent technical manual. As Ed Tufte pointed out in 1997 one of the reasons for the Challenger disaster in 1986 was the inappropriate use of PowerPoint-type slides to communicate complex technical information. I’m pretty sure he’d say much the same about the way video is being used these days.
I’m really concerned that the inappropriate use of Video these days is dumbing down a whole generation of people who will lose the ability to write a report, read a technical manual or perform proper research using a range of media resources. Video is fine when it’s used for entertainment, or when used appropriately as an education tool, but what I see these days wastes huge amounts of time, for very little benefit. I know a number of companies that have banned the use of Video clips from their tech support people, and insist that all reference material is properly documented i.e. hard copy or electronic equivalent.
This is perhaps one area where the increased availability of video production tools, and the reduction in cost, is not doing us any favours?
Ian, I certainly agree that there are a lot of stupid, inefficient and just plain wrong videos out there. The use of video has undergone such a radical change in the last couple of years that I think we're all exploring a new universe. Who would have thought that so many people would turn to video rather than the printed word? In a time where so many young professionals intersperse "IM Speak" with the English language, I too fear the loss of language skills, never mind the highly skilled art of technical writing. You and I may the last bastions of a dying breed, but I am hopeful that fads, including the "make a video of everything and anything" fad, will pass and that reverence for good instructional writing will remain.
E-mail: snelson@senseient.com Phone: 703-359-0700
