Jumprope App - Creating How-To Guides

October 2021 Update: Toot the horn folks - Jumprope is no more. Kicked the bucket a few months ago. I really like the focus on making it super easy to create a tutorial. Ah well, they come and they go.

Historical Page of the Deceased App

There are some of us that honestly just like to share what we know. But there is a gowning media market regarding selling via education type products. Nothing wrong with that. People have been doing it for centuries.

The tech has changed but the desire to share what we know is in our blood. One of the companies that make it easy to create education products is called Jumprope. Users can create educational guides that can be shared on social media or on a blog or website. 

The How-To guides can be:

• Photos with captions
• Photos with audio
• Photos and video
• Video with captions

How it Works

This is an example video from the company explaining how to create a guide.

What You Will Need

For creating a Jumprope guide, mobile users will need to download the app via Apple App Store or Google Play.

Devices

Android phones and tablets running Android 6.0 or higher.

Apple phones and tablets running iOS 11.0 or higher.

Desktop Browsers: you can view Jumprope guides via any browser but you cannot create them.

What Can You Do With a Jumprope Guide:

• Quickly create how guides and videos.
• Use it to demonstrate skills and expertise.
• Use it as a means to generate income with affiliate links to the products used in the guide.
• Repurpose prior content.

It is one of the quickest ways to create educational type content. 

It is bone easy to do and it cost you nothing to check it out.

TechSmith's The Forge - Videos for Screencasters

Screencasting is a great way to teach, demonstrate or document online activities. People that are interested in e-learning, information design, education or those of us that need to show folks how to do some have all benefited from screencasting software.

I know I have. I have used it to help remind folks how to perform a certain computer task. This was after I explained how to open their e-mail program four times and it didn't stick.



TechSmith has a series of videos called The Forge. Sometimes there are demos and reviews. Chris McQueen handles that part of the series. Matt Smith interviews people that are in the business of using screencasting professionally.

This is a wide range of users so you can be exposed to a range of techniques. There is a diverse community of information creators that want to create better instructional videos. This is a good step toward servicing that population.

Full Disclosure: I have purchased Camtasia and SnagIt. I have used other screen capture software but I do prefer these two products.

Google Demo Slam - Competitive Demo Videos?

Google's Demo Slam is simple to understand. If you make a cool, creative and clearly informative tech demonstration video you can submit it to Demo Slam. It will be placed along side a similar type of video and the teaming masses will decide which one is boss on the sauce.

It must be something innate in the human system to want to compete and declare the best. I'm not sure that having a demo slam is the way to go but this wouldn't be the first time I was out of the loop.


There are some stinkers demo videos that make you want to cringe. It is not a bad idea to view demo videos in order to pick up examples of what to do or not to do. I watch a lot of tech demo videos. I have stories I could show and tell of hideous sound or grainy videos.

Mercy, the number of teenagers creating demo videos is amazing. They are using the format to teach each other skills. True, some of the stuff they are teaching isn't "acceptable" but they are learning how to do it and that has to be encouraged.



On the dark side, the number of people that use the word "whatever" when they make a mistake or render an opinion is equally amazing, but not in a good way.

Dudes and Dudetts, it is ok to zoom in on the thing that you are demonstrating. You don't have to record everything in one shot. Edit, just a little bit.

Yes tech videos could be better.

I think the competitive aspect of it really irks me. I am pre-shuddering at the type of YouTube comments that could be generated. A minor correction turns into a verbal beat down.

Maybe that is what bothers me the most. I don't want someone trying out to get hurt by crusted up trolls. I'll be watching but I hope somebody will be monitoring the comments to keep the flaming down to a brush fire.

Elvira Sweeney's Video On Aspect Ratio

Elvira Sweeney is a Vidder. A vidder is someone who makes fan and fan tribute videos. They also at times create new videos based upon aspects of the original source.

Vidders, like videobloggers and those working in web video are having a dickens of a time with the ever evolving problems of maintaining the desired video frame size and aspect ratio. Many of the free web hosts are displaying videos in the 16:9 format.



Not all of us have HD camcorders. There are a lot of standard definition 640x480 camcorders out there, and standard definition wide screen camcorders as well.

In this video, Elvira does a good job of demonstrating the different aspect ratios of 4:3, 16:9 why it is important to pay attention to how you create and export your video to keep it in the proper ratio.

Just a few things, when she says DVD you think camcorder video format size. Also, I don't have a problem with the letterbox 16:9 bars but Elvira doesn't like them. But I do agree that if the video was shot in 16:9 you shouldn't see bars or pillars on the side.

For more information you can go to Elvira's Aspect Ratio page where she describes how to fix the problems of squishy videos.

Other Posts of Interest

• Audio and Music
• Legal
• Mobile
• Home Page for Mobile Users

Video Tips From Videomaker Magazine

Busy is not the word for it. Should be back on schedule tomorrow but here is a little something I think you will like. Videomaker Magazine has a list of video tips that are very helpful to keep in mind.

There are quick tips on how to shoot good video, record audio and a sample model release that you can either copy or download.

Social Media via Socialnomics by Erik Qualman

I'm going to take it a bit easy for the next couple of days so I've got a few video goodies for folks to check out. This is a video that really talks about the impact of social media.



Slick and formatted to make sure you get the point that engagement is the new currency. For more information about the book Socialnomics or Erik Qualman check out the blog.

What Does Streaming Video Mean?

2019 Update: The vendor site, Learn the Net, has switched focus and now has information about website building and maintenance. The new name of the site is Website Builders. 

The post will remain up for historical value.

If you get mixed up with this video jive you have to be aware of certain terminology. The word for today is Streaming. There are two ways (so far) that you can view a video from the Internet. You can download a video on you computer hard drive or you can view a video that is streamed to your computer, media device or cell phone.

The user clicks a link to watch a video. If the video is available, the first section of the video is delivered for viewing and the rest follow behind in successive chunks of data until the entire video is ready for viewing.

Learn The Internet (had) an old school way of explaining streaming video. Sometimes a low tech visual beats 100 fuzzy words.

Why Is This Important?

If you watch online videos 9.5 times out of 10 you have been watching streaming videos. If you watch videos from Hulu and have had to wait for the buffer then you have been watching a streamed video presentation.

YouTube? Streamed. Good Morning America video clips online? Yes streamed, A live event on CNN? Streamed and multicasting to boot.

As a creator of video you want to be aware of how your videos are going to be distributed. For the most part they will be streamed. The video quality might suffer a bit but that is part of uploading video for public distribution.

Visitors to your video web host might have the option of downloading the original video. Or not. Many times it is your choice if you want users to download an original copy or not.

Dummies.com Video Resources

I don't know everything. What I can do is locate resources that supplement and add to my knowledge base. This is look at the For Dummies series of online resources about video.


I understand conceptually why the For Dummies books are popular. I just really hate the name. And for the record, not all For Dummies books are all that easy to understand; it depends on the topic and the author.

Anyway, to the matter at hand. I'm looking at the content on the website that support various For Dummies publications.

There is a Digital Video Book For Dummies that was published in 2006. The core facts are the same but the technology has moved on quite a bit. Memory card camcorders were in their infancy, Firewire connections vs. USB 2.0, how to connect an analog camcorder and computer technology? Well, let's not even go there.

You can visit the page that has .pdfs of the table of contents and read an excerpt. I'm not making a judgment about the book. It might be the only resource you see in a brick and mortar bookstore. Just keep in mind that with any technology book there is a built in obsolescence factor.

These are some of the resources that are on the website:

• Getting to Know Digital Camcorders
• Shooting Better Digital Video
• Knowing How to Buy a Digital Camcorder
• How to Start a Movie Project with iMovie 09 - For Macintosh users.

A minor quibble is that there is video on some of the For Dummies online web pages but it is for viewing on the website only. Understandable, they want to keep you inside of the website. If you have video why not share it and have folks come to your site to see what else you have?

It is a thought. So dive in and if you like what you see peruse some of the other For Dummies video line of books.

Just keep in mind that many technology books published before 2009 are out of date. That does not mean that the information isn't valid. The technology, equipment and resources mentioned may have changed or the technology mention is no longer necessary.  

Other Posts of Interest

• PBS Tutorials on Place Storytelling
• Minnesota Historical Society Videos on Oral History
• Vimeo's Photo Motion Channel 

Steve Garfield in Hollywood Video Workshop

For those of you looking for something to do on October 27th and you were thinking about purchasing a Kodak Zi8 you might want to hook up with Steve Garfield at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood for a video workshop.

Some of the topics that Steve will cover are (from the website):

• how to tell a story,
• think like an editor,
• plan your shots,
• create interviews and more...

This event is being held at the same time as Jeff Pulver's 140 Conference but it has a separate admission fee.

The Importance of Failure - My Testimony

I have been working on a video for nine hours. I finally got it into a visible form. It is crap. It is better crap than when I started nine hours ago but it is still bad video.

I have joined the video equivalent of the Snafu Video Platoon. You name it, I've done it.


Let me explain. I bought a media player that has a wonky way of accepting videos. I went to look at the web site and there wasn't anything that could help.

There was the user forum but that was a wild west show with burnt out volunteers getting really testy about answering the same questions over and over. I eventually found some of the answers but I needed more.

I went to YouTube where teens had their applied solutions. I gotta tell you, there is a limit to how many "ums" and "whatevers" you can tolerate in a teenager produced tutorial video.

Also, I don't do warez or cracked software. Not healthy for my system or integrity.

So I see a great opportunity to put into practice what I have been studying. I could also make sense of a really bad corporate decision not to support their customers properly. Customers did complain but demonstrating why there is a problem and a solution is a great tool to have.

I knew I could do a better job. I had everything I need. I wrote a script, made screenshots and screen recordings. Followed the plan and ...

I got nothing. My ego is bruised. My rump is soar. Sigh. I don't have that tool yet.

This is what I have learned.

My Blue USB Snowflake Microphone is the bomb, as in I like it. True, it makes me sound like a 16 year old but, like you know, I have vocabulary. No really, I do like it because wearing headset mikes just did not work for me. The plosives were killing videos.

I need to sleep with the Camtasia manual because the Smart Focus feature is focusing on the wrong things. I don't know what I am doing to cause it to focus right when I want to focus left.

Make a decision on the size of the video and conform all media to that size and not try to force squares into rectangles and vice versa.

Software will booby trap you unless you prepare for more than one way to perform a task.

There is no shame is mixing static shots with video for clarity. That only took eight and a half hours to get in my head.

So yeah. I'm bummed. Back to the drawing board.

Failure is important but I don't have to like it.

Bert Krages and Photographic Law

It is important to understand your rights as a videoblogger or user of web video. If you find yourself in an law enforcement or conflict situation with a security guard you need to know your rights. Camera users have been under extra scrutiny since 9/11 and that is not going to change.


You do have rights and responsibilities. Mr. Krages is an attorney and has published a book on photographic law. In addition, he has a guide to what your rights are as a photographer/videographer.

Let me add that when law enforcement is concerned you should be extra cautious; cameras have been confiscated and recordings destroyed. Protect yourself first, make sure you are not interfering with a crime scene/investigation and protect your recording.

Other Resources

• Andrew Hudson at PhotoSecrets also has a free guide to photography and the law. Andrew does state that is not a lawyer and refers to Bert Krages for citation.
  
• Rannie at PhotoJunkie.ca has a Canadian view of photographic rights.
  
• Andrew Kantor has an 8 page Legal Rights of Photographers Guide that you can download.