London Regional ICT Champion

Sometimes when we’re trying to learn a new technique or a new subject – a video tutorial – watching how an expert does it can be more powerful than web or print ‘how to’ articles.

Video tutorials offer a great way to concisely convey a lot of information that might otherwise take hours of writing and drawing diagrams to make the same point. Tutorials are also a great way for organisations to showcase their expertise or point of view to a wide audience.

YouTube is not the only vehicle for hosting web tutorials – a whole raft of web sites have sprung up in YouTube’s wake and we take a look around at some of the web’s best instructional web sites.

5min describes itself as a place to find short video solutions for practical questions and a place for people to share their knowledge – a communal Life Videopedia. subjects covered range from tech, arts, fashion to practical DIY. First up, it’s “What Google Really Has On You” from 5min video.

Howcast has a slightly more professional clean-cut look than the rough-cut appeal of 5min. It offers a wider range of material but seems a lot weaker on technology. The best we could do is “Hyper sonic shut-down of Windows” for folks always in a hurry.

ExpertVillage describes itself as “the world’s largest how to video site”. The site is very slick and professional looking and has a large section covering technology and the Internet. Here Drew Noah explains the basics of Google Documents.

Lastly, we couldn’t finish without a blast from Youtube. Check out CommonCraft’s “Social networking in plain English”

In the next installment we’ll look at the mechanics of putting together a video tutorial for the web.