Sometimes things get better

[andrewducker]

I'd like to thank the BBC for putting the word "VIDEO" at the start of the headlines for all of the stories on their site which are predominantly videos*.

It makes it significantly easier to avoid opening pages which I either can't watch at work, or have no real interest in looking at at home.**

*On the RSS feed, that is. They use a little play button image on the site itself.

**I don't enjoy watching a talking head take five times as long to explain something than it would take me to read it myself. I'm not four, I can read for myself. The only time I'm interested in video news is when the image/footage itself is part of the news - i.e. rarely.

Comments

[pseudomonas]

Yes, exactly this. I hope the apparent trend towards videos in places where there used to be text when bandwidth/technology mandated it is not a long-term one.

[andrewhickey.info]

Unfortunately, I doubt it. The percentage of people who read by choice - at all - is a very small one. People in general prefer to listen rather than read, and to watch rather than listen, and as both the population online becomes ever more representative of the general population, and as technology improves to the point where creating video content becomes trivially easy, I think we can expect to see huge swathes of the web become text-free zones. Maybe by then the spambots will have dropped off Usenet and those of us who prefer text can go back there?

(NB, I am *NOT* here saying that people who prefer one mode of communication to another are better or worse. The above could look like "oh, those chavs/plebs taking over our space and using it for *shudder* video". It's not. Just a statement of preference, not a value judgement).

[cheekbones3]

Hear hear (well, see see).

The amount of times I've tabbed a story just to see that it's a blocked video (or actually a video that's been playing in the background) is too many!

[jack]

Yes

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

> I don't enjoy watching a talking head take five times as long to explain something than it would take me to read it myself.

YES. THIS.

I keep trying to explain to people in web development why video tutorials or screencasts are awful, for this precise reason. Except you don't see the head and you just hear the geek go on about HOW COOL it all is.

[brixtonbrood.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, it drives me up the wall. Obviously there are a few situations when seeing something demonstrated live adds real value, but they are sooooo rare.

[andrewducker]

Yeah - videos that show off in-game stuff are worthwhile. And I needed a video tutorial on putting my laptop key back on. But by and large, I don't need one at all.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I don't know how to pronounce the names of all sorts of people and places that have been in the news, since I haven't watched the news (or listened to radio news) in a good few years. I just read my news.

[andrewducker]

I believe it's pronounced ka-may-ron.

[zz]

at least you know where you are with "nick clegg".
*cough*

[lizw.livejournal.com]

I don't enjoy watching a talking head take five times as long to explain something than it would take me to read it myself.

Same here. If it's a site with a good accessibility policy, I will often go and read the transcript instead, but sadly too many sites still think accessibility is an optional extra. Occasionally I go and make a nuisance of myself by requesting them from sites that don't have good access, too - I figure that letting them know there's a demand from hearing people as well as Deaf and partially-hearing people can only help matters.

[alextfish.livejournal.com]

That's a good plan. Most of the time I don't care enough about videos I'm linked to to bother doing such a thing, but it's a sensible idea.

I'd be interested to see andrewducker do a poll about video vs text preferences. (I could do one on my flist, but it's about six people and I already know most of their opinions on the matter.)

[andrewducker]

That's a good point. They really should be providing transcripts.