by Guy Ball, Senior STC member, Orange County (CA) Chapter
Reprinted from the December 2006 issue of TechniScribe. If you reprint this in your publication, please send a PDF copy or link to the author.
While text is still best for presenting many types of reference and procedural information, video can be very effective when illustrating product features, clarifying system configurations, and supplementing complex written procedures. The trick is to merge the two so they complement each other and deliver a dynamic documentation package as either an online or CD-based “Web seminar.”
Although the multimedia concept has been around for some time, creating a seminar like this traditionally requires a good-sized team of writers, videographers, graphic artists, subject matter experts (SME), and a manager, to keep the team working smoothly. If you already have a large staff or access to graphic professionals, congratulations!
Our staffing situation is totally the opposite. We have to make do with a single writer and a few subject matter experts (SMEs). The plus of this situation is that it allows us to deliver the final product faster and less expensively—both important considerations for our cost-conscious management.
We take advantage of our low-cost (but high-quality) video camera and simplified video-editing software to deliver additional “visual documentation” to our service support team and customers. For us the trick is to look “clean” and professional while not getting caught producing a Hollywood extravaganza that would demand tons of staff time and weeks of extra work with little extra benefit. Instead of “fancy,” we make sure our content and delivery is effective both from communications and cost perspectives. (more…)
