Is video a new fit knowledge presentation?
We need knowledge fast, clear and well-designed. There are many ways to do that. It’s my passion to choose the right one. I once wrote a column about this choice. Depending on the kind of knowledge sought after, I recommended the use of natural language, formal language, decision tables or decision trees. The column is titled “Choose the Right Tool for Your Job”. Many business analysts know only one ‘knowledge representation tool’. The result is said by the saying:
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
So I shared my knowledge about other tools by writing a short column, with examples, published by BRCommunity and hoped that people find and read it.
Is a short article the best way to share my knowledge?
Last year my daughter showed me how she learns about cooking, make-up or a difficult topic in math. She is using vlogs and videos as her primary source of knowledge. I have to admit that it’s very efficient. The combination of a spoken message and a running example works. It helps the message to be committed to memory.
Could I make a video version of one of my columns?
I decided to find out and learn more about this medium. The objective: attractive look, length of less than one minute, and an explanation of four knowledge representations with an example. My designer came up with the idea of a pen telling the story, we had a graphical animator and sound specialist. Here is the result:
I learned from the way they worked that:
- The spoken narrative is the starting point.
- Simple line drawings and text can be transformed into an animation in several hours.
- Good timing is important. The visual effect has to be in pace with the flow of the voice.
- It’s amazing how much you can do in one minute.
What I also learned:
- YouTube ads are distracting and people miss the first seconds of the message. That’s why I now publish directly on LinkedIn.
- The video must be placed in a context. When a video is available on a recipe site and named “How to Prepare a Duck,” the context is clear. But there is no channel for business analyst recipes titled “How to Represent Knowledge”. That is why I am now combining the video with a post.
- Animation is a great way to explain a complex structure in small steps and a short time. Customers already asked if it can be offered as a result of analysis projects to complement a business rules specification.
- New tools, new professionals and the internet make animation technology, professional voice and sound (like honking cars) available for a reasonable budget.
Meanwhile I will continue with my posts on the future of business driven software development, rules in standard software (COTS) and the rule observatory. Hopefully I am able to complement some of them with new videos and learn more.
