Our Trip to the National Park

It was amazing the site we saw down at the National Park. I’ve never seen rock formations like that… it was just so beautiful.

Our first day out we spent hiking around, checking out the big famous locations. It was great. It was also very hot and dry. I about finished or a half-gallon of water all by myself before I realized Derek would probably need some on our long hike back. In the end we both survived, but I think I need some new shoes. These boot I have weigh a ton and give me no traction in sand.

Example Post

I think people try too hard or don t do enough. This world lacks a lot of what Goldilocks described as just right! Now, understandably, just right right is tough. Why? Because it s the point where just enough and not too much meet and any time you have an intersection or a sweet-spot in a spectrum you re going to have a high inaccuracy rate. It takes practice and an understanding of what will do and won t do to get to a point where things work. Really, it takes thought! So, let s think about screencaptures. It seems like in the world of screencaptures people either leave the capture completely alone and force me to find whatever it is they re trying to show me (often painful). Or, they do everything in their power to make me look at exactly the thing it is they want me to see by putting huge red boxes around the object or a huge arrow (also painful, and a bit like typing IN ALL CAPS).Both of these methods seem to be not just right , but really examples of just wrong. That s why I suggest you let the cursor be your newest callout, red box, or huge arrow. Think of it. Our eye is already trained to look for the little guy and it s relatively easy to include it in the screen capture.Look at the picture below, do you have any question in your mind what I want you to look at? If you do, please leave me a comment because I m interested in your perspective. For me, this is enough of an indicator to show you where to look. To me, this is just right .

Example Post

I think people try too hard or don t do enough. This world lacks a lot of what Goldilocks described as just right! Now, understandably, just right right is tough. Why? Because it s the point where just enough and not too much meet and any time you have an intersection or a sweet-spot in a spectrum you re going to have a high inaccuracy rate. It takes practice and an understanding of what will do and won t do to get to a point where things work. Really, it takes thought! So, let s think about screencaptures. It seems like in the world of screencaptures people either leave the capture completely alone and force me to find whatever it is they re trying to show me (often painful). Or, they do everything in their power to make me look at exactly the thing it is they want me to see by putting huge red boxes around the object or a huge arrow (also painful, and a bit like typing IN ALL CAPS).Both of these methods seem to be not just right , but really examples of just wrong. That s why I suggest you let the cursor be your newest callout, red box, or huge arrow. Think of it. Our eye is already trained to look for the little guy and it s relatively easy to include it in the screen capture.Look at the picture below, do you have any question in your mind what I want you to look at? If you do, please leave me a comment because I m interested in your perspective. For me, this is enough of an indicator to show you where to look. To me, this is just right .

Working at TechSmith

So, I got a comment a couple days ago from someone who read my blog. Honestly, I didn’t think anyone was reading. It was a really exciting moment, but also shocking. Someone is reading my blog… Oh no! I mean, oh Yes! It was hard to know what to feel. It’s great that someone is listening, but now I know someone is listening and I’m self-conscious.

Now, there is something I need to do before I continue posting. I work for a great company called TechSmith. TechSmith makes a bunch of great products like SnagIt, Camtasia Studio, Morae, UserVue. We also have a hosting site called Screencast.com and we have some codecs we support. Now, I also have to say that the views and opinions on this blog are not TechSmith’s. This is Chris McQueen’s blog, who happens to work for TechSmith. So, anything I do and say should NOT be conveyed as a statement from TechSmith Corporation.

Whew, that feels good to have off my chest.

I love Working on SnagIt

SnagIt is one of the best products out there. I just got back from STC and I heard, “I love SnagIt!” more times than I could count.

SplashCast

[splashcast EPJF2417LC] 

So, we’re trying new things again today.  Saw this on Digg and thought again about how instructors can use free tools to present information.  Or, with this SplashCast site, you could let students create their own presentations and teach the fundimentals of design.  Sure you have to teach the tools, but what’s important is you have them storyboard the presentation and then help them deploy it.  If the application is designed well (and I think SplashCast isn’t too confusing) then the skills learned during upload can hopefully be applied to other applications where you manipulate objects and rearrange them.

The idea is that teachers give students unique opportunities to create something.  Sure you could have them create a paper or a panorama (remember those from grade school?), but sometimes we should use other means to prove knowledge acquisition.

Joost and Lessons Learned

So, I got a beta invitation for Joost. I think I’m coming into this beta pretty late, which is fine.

For those that don’t know, Joost is a video P2P platform. It’s not user-submitted content, it’s all big name channels creating the video (e.g. Virgin, MTV, National Geographic). They’re really focused on the 18-35 male demographic, which again makes sense because that group also tends to be the early adopters.

I’m excited to explore the Joost platform because just like iTunes was first developed for the entertainment market and then supplied free instructional video and podcasts, I could see Joost being powerful in the same area.

What I think will be interesting to see is if the education world can make use of the new internet technologies better than original TV. Sure you have PBS, Sesome Street, and NOVA–but those products took years to develop. What can instructional designers do to bring similar educational materials (and hopefully interesting variations) to market in a timespan worthy of acknowledging?

Where I rank in the World

So, I just signed up with Technorati.  What a humbling experience to see your rank as the NOOB on the blog scene.  I feel very far behind the curve… not that I’m looking for fame & fortunce, but knowing that no one knows I exist is a little depressing.  I understand it will take time and that I have a lot to learn about promotion, marketing, and teaching.

2.6 million… that ‘s a big ladder to climb.

Teaching as Marketing (and vice versa)

There is an interesting post by Kathy Sierra on her blog, Creating Passionate Users, today. As I get closer to becoming a teacher I really see her point. Marketing is the art of understanding your audience or, even better, creating an audience. Teachers have to know their audience to disseminate information and impart learning effectively.

I look forward to working with the marketing departments at companies I work at. They’re usually very engaging and intelligent people. Do you use your marketing department’s reseach? Have you ever teamed up to complete a project that affects your students/customers? I’d love to hear your examples.

Camtasia & AuthorIT

I live in a niche world. Only a small number of people (in the world) are Technical Writers; it’s not a large profession. Also, only a small portion of Technical Writers use AuthorIT. I happen to be one of them. And, of the Technical Writers that use AuthorIT, I’m guessing only a few are interested in placing screencasts made in Camtasia into their websites. Well, if you fit into this niche, you’ve come to the right place. I happen to have writtin a guide explaining how to take your Camtasia screencast and place it in AuthorIT. You can find it here