TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 4:29 PM, Sarah Kiniry <sarah -dot- kiniry -at- cpanel -dot- net>
wrote:
> Itâs hard to judge this kind of thing without knowing more about your
> users â at my company, videos pretty much always have to be backed up with
> (more extensive) written documentation, because weâve found that for the
> average sysadmin, Ctrl+F to find a single setting in a doc is far more
> helpful than sitting through a seven-minute video for it. (But, many of our
> customersâ end users, who are doing less-technical things in our product,
> love the videos for providing that lower-level introductory knowledge.)
>
> Do you (or maybe your companyâs account managers, etc.) have a way to
> directly access your end users? I would think that conducting even a small
> survey of your own specific users would be far more useful and convincing
> than generalized research.
>
> Sarah Kiniry
> Technical Writer II
> cPanel, Inc.
> sarah -dot- kiniry -at- cpanel -dot- net
>
>
> > On Jan 18, 2017, at 3:11 PM, Robin Whitmore <rwhitmore -at- weebly -dot- com>
> wrote:
> >
> > My biggest issue with video is that the contents are not searchable
> making
> > it very difficult to find bits of information.
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 1:00 PM, Wright, Lynne <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Have a look at this:
> >>
> >> https://pronovix.com/blog/cognitive-load-internet-why-
> >> you-should-think-about-it-when-designing-your-product
> >>
> >> It doesn't provide stats, but it provides a good basic argument against
> >> videos based on how they affect the user's cognitive load. Also see the
> >> author's link 'An overview of context-sensitive and embedded help
> formats'
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:
> >> techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
> Of
> >> Stuckey, Ginger
> >> Sent: January-18-17 3:19 PM
> >> To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- techwr-l -dot- com>
> >> Subject: RE: Learning styles for technology audiences
> >>
> >> Thank you for the link.
> >>
> >> After months and months of fighting this battle. I'm still fighting it.
> >> Does anyone know of any studies to back up using video with some kind of
> >> written documentation? This battle is getting old.
> >>
> >> Ginger Stuckey
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: techwr-l-bounces+x2bvshew=southernco -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:
> >> techwr-l-bounces+x2bvshew=southernco -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
> Of
> >> Robert Lauriston
> >> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 2:10 PM
> >> To: TECHWR-L
> >> Subject: Re: Learning styles for technology audiences
> >>
> >> walk.me provides active assistance for web applications. It's much more
> >> sophisticated and user-friendly than videos. If you go to their site,
> >> you'll get a "Let us show you" pop-up, click Let's Go to see exactly
> how it
> >> works.
> >>
> >> https://www.walkme.com
> >>
> >> If your product is not a web application, I'm not sure there's any
> >> equivalent.
> >>
> >> On Wed, Jan 18, 2017 at 11:38 AM, Sarah Lee Hauslinger <
> >> slhauslinger -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> >>> At my current company, the product management team's vision for the
> >>> next generation of their products is to eliminate end-user UI usage
> >>> documentation entirely and provide contextual in-product help using
> >>> video walkthrough tools such as walk.me.
> >>>
> >>> To make a case for using video as an additional learning resource
> >>> instead of a replacement for context-sensitive UI Help, I'm looking
> >>> for information on the percentages of technology users who are visual,
> >>> textual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
> >>>
> >>> Case studies of companies who went to a pure-video documentation model
> >>> and found that their support calls went up and user satisfaction went
> >>> down would also be useful.
> >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy
> and
> >> content development | http://techwhirl.com
> >>
> >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >>
> >> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as X2BVSHEW -at- southernco -dot- com -dot-
> >>
> >> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> >> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >>
> >>
> >> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> >> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources
> and
> >> info.
> >>
> >> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
> online
> >> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
> >>
> >> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> >> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
> >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy
> and
> >> content development | http://techwhirl.com
> >>
> >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >>
> >> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com -dot-
> >>
> >> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> >> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >>
> >>
> >> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> >> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources
> and
> >> info.
> >>
> >> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
> online
> >> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
> >>
> >> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> >> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
> >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy
> and
> >> content development | http://techwhirl.com
> >>
> >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >>
> >> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as rwhitmore -at- weebly -dot- com -dot-
> >>
> >> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> >> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >>
> >>
> >> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> >> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources
> and
> >> info.
> >>
> >> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
> online
> >> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
> >>
> >> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> >> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > *Robin Whitmore*
> > Senior Tech Writer
> > Weebly
> > 460 Bryant Street, #100
> > San Francisco, CA 94107
> > rwhitmore -at- weebly -dot- com
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy
> and content development | http://techwhirl.com
> >
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as sarah -dot- kiniry -at- cpanel -dot- net -dot-
> >
> > To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> > techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >
> >
> > Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
> > http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources
> and info.
> >
> > Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our
> online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
> >
> > Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
> content development | http://techwhirl.com
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com
