Genii Weblog


Civility in critiquing the ideas of others is no vice. Rudeness in defending your own ideas is no virtue.


Thu 18 Sep 2014, 02:00 PM
I had so much fun with the animated flowchart yesterday, I stayed up late last night making a brief tutorial, and then did some polishing over my lunch hour. I used Camtasia 8, but the technique is easily transferable (from what I can tell) to Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro or any other professional level video editing software. The video is only two and a half minutes, but I think you'll find it interesting if you've ever wanted to do more with your videos. You can check out more details and some pro tips at mini-lessons.info/Video1.
 
Best viewed in HD. Closed captions have been provided for following in English or improved auto-translation.
 
 
 

Copyright © 2014 Genii Software Ltd.

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Wed 17 Sep 2014, 12:46 PM
I've been playing with some different techniques to show how CoexLinks Fidelity works compared with how IBM Notes/Domino works, and decided to mix up the flowcharts and demo. It's been interesting and fun, but I realized I could use a GIF (albeit, a large GIF - sorry for the bandwidth) to show the technique without forcing anybody to watch a whole video. I reduced a few of the effects and shrank this to 640x360 to fit the blog and keep the size somewhat reasonable. The actual video is in HD and has music and a few more effects, but I haven't decided whether to load it as is (it is only 45 seconds long), or add another demo which uses the Message Store.

So, what do you think? Obviously, I'm hardly the first person to use animation and such with flowcharts and demos, but it is new to me and I learned a lot (some of which I'll probably share in a tutorial so others can use them. 

Of course, it you want to try CoexLinks Fidelity for yourself, we're not going to turn you away.


Copyright © 2014 Genii Software Ltd.

Tue 16 Sep 2014, 10:01 AM
My wife is an educator, and one of the concepts she tries to pound into my thick, unreceptive skull is that different people learn in different ways. Meaning that some people learn by reading a description, some people learn by watching a video, some people learn by diving in and trying without "bothering to RTFM". And yes, some people learn by reading a flow chart. Different strokes for different folks, or horses for courses as the British are said to say.

In deference to those whose learning styles may work that way, or to anybody who is curious about how CoexLinks Fidelity works on the inside, here is the flow chart I came up with. (I'm not a flowchart pro, as you can see here.) Click here or on the image below for a full size version with legible text.

Feel free to critique my flowcharting, though I may break into a tone deaf rendition of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off!". Trust me, you don't want that.

Inline JPEG image

Copyright © 2014 Genii Software Ltd.

Sat 13 Sep 2014, 08:39 AM
My latest story video is up on Youtube on TheStoryTimeChannel, and I'd love to hear what you think. I tried a different approach as far as effects and all, but mostly I hope you enjoy the story, which was first published in a print anthology a few years ago and then in my short story collection, Savage Fire. Now you can listen to it free. If you enjoy, please give it the thumbs up. You can also subscribe so you hear about new stories as they come out.

Copyright © 2014 Genii Software Ltd.

Thu 11 Sep 2014, 09:22 AM
Over the past year and a half, I've posted many videos on my primary Youtube channel (not to be confused with my new StoryTime channel). Many are tutorials on Gimp, Youtube and general topics, but there are also several that are product demos or product tutorials on Midas and CoexLinks Fidelity. These have been successful, but I face a new sort of issue I hope you can help me figure out.
 
When a video grows out of date due to a new version or revised sample, should I create a new one that is up to date? Probably, I should. But if I do, should I delete the old one and lose both its view count (and implied credibility) and search indexing, or should I leave it with a big link to the up-to-date video and set up a search results competition between old and new with the chance that people won't follow the link to the new video but will simply get annoyed and leave?
 
Fundamentally, are videos more like blog posts or more like product pages? I would never go back and re-write old blog posts, though I might provide a link on them to an updated blog post. On the other hand, I'll always update product pages to reflect the current reality.
 
The question is complicated more by the fact that each video takes a fair amount of time, and if I am reworking old videos, I am not making new videos. When the video is an important demonstration of features, such as Message Store in CoexLinks Fidelity 3.5, this time is worth it. But what of my Out of Notes series of videos? Those were created as I was building in capabilities for Midas LSX V5, and some things changed. Some of the videos cry out for updating, such as Out of Notes, Part 5: To SharePoint, but others showcase features that have not really caught on much, such as Out of Notes Part 2: Capsule Views. So, should I create new versions of old videos or create new videos and treat the past as the past?

Copyright © 2014 Genii Software Ltd.

Fri 5 Sep 2014, 11:27 AM
I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, if you are going to put out videos for an international audience (such as the Notes/Domino community), add closed captions. Youtube has made this easier and easier, though it is still a fairly time intensive and annoying process. But the value goes beyond providing access to the hearing impaired, though that is a good reason in and of itself.
 
There are four advantages to using closed captions:
 
1) People who are hard of hearing or watching in a noisy place can follow along more easily;
2) People whose native language isn't English (or who find your accent hard) can follow along more easily;
3) People who want to see a translated version in their native language will get far better translation from accurate captions; and.
4) People who need to watch with the sound off can still watch your video.
 
Tip: If you watch full screen, the captions will show below the video as opposed to superimposed over it.
 
Trying to practice what I preach, I went back and added closed captions to two of my recent videos which didn't have tghem. They are below. 
 
 
 
 

Copyright © 2014 Genii Software Ltd.