Common Craft Blog

This blog is where we announce new videos & talk about the power of explanation & the change it can create. 

This Week in Love: AeroPress Coffee Maker

This Week in Love is a series of blog posts where Sachi and I share what we love. Browse the archives and follow @weekinlove on Twitter. 

 

This Week in Love: AeroPress Coffee Maker

Remember those orange flying rings called Aerobies? They were a little like a Frisbee, but would fly (almost) forever.  In fact, an Aerobie was used to break the Guiness World Record twice for "longest throw of an object without any velocity-aiding feature."

The inventor of the Aerobie flying ring was an Alan Adler from Palo Alto, CA.  While I loved my Aerobie as a kid, Mr. Adler invented something that gives both of us great joy as adults: the AeroPress Coffee Maker.  Like the flying disc, it's engineered to get results. 

Why We Love It

We both love a dark, rich cup of coffee and drink our share of espresso. We've never owned an espresso machine and have always looked for ways to get the espresso experience at home.  Drip coffee or Keurig coffee makers just don't get to that level of flavor. Plus, espresso machines can be expensive.  The Aeropress is the closest we've come to espresso at home for a fraction of the cost - about $26 on Amazon. (affiliate link)

Here's how it works...

The Aeropress makes one cup of coffee at a time and involves a bit of a process.  For me, it's a daily ritual I enjoy.  People who drink tea know what I mean. The basic idea is that you fill a tube with coffee and hot water and then manually press it through a filter into a cup.  A really simple idea that works.

The Basic Parts

The paper filter goes in the black plastic filter, which attaches to the bottom of the bigger tube.

Fill it with coffee and hot water, insert the plunger and press the coffee into the cup.

  

The resulting coffee is richer and smoother than we thought was possible at home.  Plus, it takes about 10 seconds to clean and is made from durable materials.  All for under 30 dollars (US). 

Quick note on our policy regarding products. As always, This Week in Love is not a paid advertisement. We have no connection with AeroPress aside from loving the product. However, some products we cover may be for sale on websites like Amazon and we may use affiliate links.  This means that if you click an Amazon link from this page (for instance), Amazon will know it came from our website and give us a small slice of the purchase price.  We'll let you know when this is the case, like this:

You can get the Aeropress from Amazon for under $30 US on Amazon. (affiliate link)

Don't miss the next Week in Love.  Follow us on Twitter @weekinlove.

New Video: Copyright and Creative Commons

Today we’re announcing a new video: Copyright and Creative Commons - Explained by Common Craft.
 


One of the exciting things about having Common Craft members is working with them on ideas for future video titles. We provide them tools for suggesting and voting on future titles and this idea came directly from the members. Yaay!

About the video:

This video tells the story of a photographer who learns the basics of copyright law and creative commons licensing. Her story highlights the role each can play in helping creators protect and share their work.  It teaches:
 
• Why copyright law exists
• How to copyright a creative work
• Creative Commons licensing basics
• How both copyright and Creative Commons licensing can help creators
• Rules of thumb for using licensed work

A few photos from behind the scenes:

Sachi Cutting

Materials ready to shoot

Everything on deck

 

 

This Week in Love: PEMCO Commercials

This Week in Love is a series of blog posts where Sachi and I share what we love. Browse the archives and follow @weekinlove on Twitter. 

 

This Week in Love: PEMCO Commercials

It's not often that we're prepared to come out and say that we love a series of insurance commercials, but these are near and dear to our hearts. They're commercials for Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance (with DNA Seattle) and part of a campaign called "We're A Little Different. A Lot Like You."

Why we love them:

Wherever you're from, you know the things that make that region unique.  You know how people think and what they do. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest is no different.  Most people have notions of Seattle that involve rain, coffee, computers, grunge music, etc.  But there's a second level of culture that only the locals see.  

This series of commercials has done an amazing job of plucking those little bits of culture out of the NW and portraying them proudly in commercial form.  They're a little embarassing, but that's what it all about. We think you'll find them to be funny and endearing snapshots of what makes the NW the NW.

Here are a couple of 30 second samples:

As always, This Week in Love is not a paid advertisement.  We have no connection with PEMCO aside from loving the commercials.

Don't miss the next Week in Love.  Follow us on Twitter @weekinlove.

This Week in Love: Radiolab Podcast

This Week in Love is a series of blog posts where Sachi and I share what we love. Browse the archives and follow @weekinlove on Twitter. 

This Week in Love:  The Radiolab Podcast

Over the last couple of years, podcasts have become a big part of our lives.  We work from home and end up sharing our listening habits, for better or for worse.  We've discovered a number of podcasts that we love.  We play them while working (especially doing creative work), cooking dinner, working out, etc. They've become among our most frequently used types of media and we listen through iTunes and Stitcher Smart Radio. We explain podcasting here.

While there are podcasts on nearly every subject imaginable, we prefer informative ones.  We want to be enlightened, to learn something new.  That's why we fell in love with a podcast called Radiolab by Jab Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. It is, by far, our favorite.  At heart it's about science, but more than that, it's about exploration and discovery.  Produced in hour-long shows and twenty minute "shorts", the hosts pick a single topic and dive into the details, usually from several different perspectives, in a way you'd never expect. 

Photo: Radiolab/WNYC

But Radiolab is not just great content - it's great production.  Jad Abumrad (who recently won the MacArthur Genius Grant) runs the sound design and integrates music and sounds in a way we've never heard before. For example, a guest describing an experience is not a flat audio feed. Their commentary usually includes background sounds, the hosts' voices, and layers of sound, all artfully composed into a unique experience. Further, while their discussion is mostly scripted, it comes off with authenticity and friendly humor. 

Here are a few of our favorite episodes:

Parasites

What's gotten into you? In this hour, Radiolab uncovers a world full of parasites. Could parasites be the shadowy hands that pull the strings of life? We explore nature's moochers, with tales of lethargic farmers, zombie cockroaches, and even mind-controlled humans (kinda, maybe). And we examine claims that some parasites may actually be good for you.

Talking to Machines

What can machines tell us about being human? This hour of Radiolab, Jad and Robert meet humans and robots who are trying to connect, and blur the line.

Limits

On this hour of Radiolab: a journey to the edge of human limits. How much can you jam into a human brain? How far can you push yourself past feelings of exhaustion? We test physical endurance with a bike race that makes the Tour de France look like child’s play, and mental capacity with a mind-stretching memory competition. And we ask if robots--for better or worse--may be forging beyond the limits of human understanding.
Learn more about and subscribe to Radiolab for free at Radiolab.org or follow the show on Twitter @radiolab.  We think you'll love it too.

5 Trends Behind the Growing Shift to Video Explanations

It’s easy to look back at Internet history and spot the points of major change. A famous example is the Web 2.0 era which spawned products like Twitter, Facebook and other lasting features of the Web. Some would say we're in the cloud era now, with nearly everything we do on computers being moved to off-site servers. 

Within these big, tectonic shifts are smaller shifts that also make a difference.  YouTube was a big shift that kicked off online video in 2005 and in the years since, we’ve seen the growth of viral videos and myriad artistic expressions in video form. How did we survive without the Honey Badger?
 
But there is one shift, near and dear to my heart, that we’re just starting to see.  The age of the video explanation is here.  Let me explain.
 
Online video, in many ways, has reflected mainstream television.  These productions are usually advertising supported and generally classified by documentary, narrative, drama, comedy, advertising, art, etc. All valuable and productive, but reflecting mainstream history.  
 
With YouTube came the potential for video to be more democratized, more experimental. Suddenly there became room for new uses of video, new audiences, new genres. In 2006, anyone with a video camera and an Internet connection could make videos and share them on a worldwide scale for free. Sachi and I fit that model and Common Craft started to experiment. 
 
In 2007 we saw an opportunity to make videos that explained technology.  These videos were not  instructional or tactical how-to videos.  They answered a different kind of question.  It was not “how do I do this?” but “why should I care?”  We called them explanations and Common Craft’s tagline became “Our Product is Explanation”.
 
To my knowledge this was the first time a set of online videos had been described as explanations, with RSS in Plain English (below) being the original article. 

This video was a viral hit and helped make Common Craft famous on the Web. It worked for a simple reason - it made people care about and see value in RSS. Since then we’ve made videos that have done the same for products like Twitter, Dropbox, Google Docs and now have a whole library of video explanations for use in classrooms and on the Web.  In all, our video explanations have been viewed well over 35 million times. 
 
As these videos gained traction, an increasing number of video producers have joined the fray and started describing what they do as "video explanations" or "explainer videos", which are usually computer animations. At the same time, demand for our services grew and we created the Common Craft Explainer Network in 2008 to help these producers flourish.  Since 2010, we’ve seen more and more producers describe their work as video explanations and adopt the idea that explanation represents a specific skill and type of video, a new genre that’s useful.
 
Now, our success and a handful of producers don’t make a shift.  But a few trends are at work that set this up to be a big deal in the future.  
 
1.  Growing complexity, growing anxiety.  The world is moving faster than ever and people are feeling anxious because they can’t keep up.  They need quick, effective ways to feel confident about ideas and products that matter to them.  Video explanations fulfill this need and there is no shortage of subjects that need better explanations.  
 
2. Growing Use of Video.  Yesterday Reuters reported that YouTube is now serving "4 billion online videos every day, a twenty five percent increase in the past eight months"
 
3.  Growing Demand. eMarketer recently released a report suggesting spending on online video will rise 43% in 2012. That’s one year. Spending begets supply.  I see part of the money in video moving from whiz-bang marketing videos to videos that focus on utility and education, what we call explanations. 
 
4.  Growing Supply. As stated above, more and more video producers around the world are starting to specialize in explanation. These producers are seeing growth potential because organizations are tired of the same old marketing formula and demanding videos that are simpler and focused on explaining more than selling.
 
5.  Growing Mindshare.  Until recently, people have not heard the term "video explanation:. But that is changing quickly. We talk to organizations every day that want a video that explains their product.  Indeed, I imagine a world where an increasing number of compaines see video explanations as a standard way for a brand to communicate. 
 
Video explanations are not going to be the next Web 2.0.  However, a number of factors are coming together that will make video explanations a trend to watch in 2012 and beyond. We expect to see more video producers developing video explanation skills for custom/promotional projects as well as video explanations designed to educate and inform. 
 
We could be at the beginning of a wave that will change how we think about the role of video in helping people feel more confident and informed in the face of a rapidly changing landscape.  Perhaps soon we’ll see that the genres of video have a new and productive member.  Drama, comedy, documentary, advertising and explanation.
 
For a complete list of Common Craft Video Explanations, check out our video library. 

Guest Post: What Communicators Can Learn from a Highsticking Penalty

This is a guest post by friend of Common Craft, Darren Barefoot. He's a writer, marketer, Canadian and a big hockey fan.

During a hockey game in March, 2010, Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara drove Montreal Canadians forward Max Pacioretty into the stanchion that separates the player's benches. Nearly a year later, it still looks like a brutal hit as Pacioretty 's head bounced off the corner of the boards. Chara received a five-minute penalty and ejected from the game. Pacioretty was sent to the hospital.

The next day, Mike Murphy, the NHL's vice-president of hockey operations released a statement about the incident. To the confusion of many fans, he chose not to further punish Chara for the hit. Murphy used a common generalization for the incident, explaining that it was "a hockey play". There was no further comment from league officials on the polarizing incident, but the sports media was host to an orgy of outrage and consternation.

The NHL's pronouncement from on-high was typical of how professional sports leagues addressed questions of the "supplementary discipline of players". They hold discplinary meetings in private, and emphasize expediancy over transparency. Traditionally, the less discussion there is of such incidents, the better.

Last summer, the NHL hired a new chief discplinarian, former player Brendan Shanahan. Fans knew Shanahan's predecessor as sometimes controversial and secretive, and so the new sherriff in town promised "a clean slate" and "fresh eyes".

The tale of the disciplinary tape

Among the changes that Shanahan has implemented, one stands out as a radical departure from the professional sports league status quo. Every time the NHL hands down a suspension--there have been 32 suspensions thus far--Shanahan records a short, explanatory video that the NHL shares with players, team staff and fans.

The videos are not only extraordinary for the way Shanahan openly discusses the NHL's rationale for a particular decision, but they're also terrific examples of coherent, precise explanation. Here's a recent example:

Shanahan introduces each video (he has some experience as a pitchman), and then offers a play-by-play of the infraction. He uses the typical tools of the sports broadcaster to break down an incident. He shows the play in slow-motion from a variety of angles, and highlights details of players involved.

Shanahan takes care to balance the hockey lingo with straightforward language. In the above video clip, he describes how:

Carcillo chips the puck behind Gilbert at the Edmonton blue line, creating a race toward the end boards. This is a 50-50 puck that either player can win, and in such cases a reasonable amount of physical contact is permissable as the players jostle for position.

The new or casual hockey fan may not know phrases like "chips the puck" or "50-50 puck", but the careful language makes it easy even for the non-fan to understand what happened. Shanahan is also careful to contextualize the incident, describing the game situation, previous antagonism between players, injuries sustained and other contributing factors.

Finally, he wraps up each three or four-minute video with a bullet point summary, as if he's just presented a set of PowerPoint slides on a new HR program at Dunder Mifflin.

The NHL has also begun to make more instructional videos public. Here's one called "Clean Hard Hits and Good Decision Plays" that aspires to show players and fans how to avoid appearing in the more punitive videos.

Heretics in the church of sport

If you're not somebody with a season tickets or a jersey section in your closet, these may simply seem like well-made if ordinary illustrative videos. They are that, but they're also a kind of heresy in professional sports. No other professional sports league has publicly produced videos like this to explain league rules and how they're broken. The NBA officials seem to be paying attention, though. They recently released a video rather defensively titled "Wade Winner Legal" to address criticisms that Dwayne Wade traveled on a game-winning shot.

They've proved to be an antidote to a lot of the plague of speculation and hyper-analysis that occurs in the sports media. Bruce Ciskie, writing for SB Nation, discusses the impact the 'Shanaban videos' (as they've come to be called) have had on fans and players:

I thought a two-game ban on Minnesota's Pierre-Marc Bouchard was patently ridiculou...But even in a situation where I disagreed with Shanahan, it's hard to say that his video didn't lay out a pretty strong case for the move he decided to make.

The videos are also working because the players are paying attention. I'll say it again. In a preseason that lasted less than two weeks, Shanahan's department was forced to do ten videos, nine of which involved decisions to suspend players for incidents.

In nearly two months of the regular season, the same group has issued eight suspensions.

In discussing why they introduced the videos, Shanahan cites the role of video in player instruction generally:

This generation of players, you can tell them a message, but what they really want to do is see it. This is how they’re coached. They get called in, and they don’t get a lecture, they get shown a video. It’s how they are trained and taught. It’s not enough for them to read a memo anymore.

Shanahan's comments apply to this generation of fans, as well, who are as literate with video as their parents were with words. The NHL videos are great examples of explanation in action. They combine the best of sports media with the best aspects of explanation--context, audience analysis, reptition and summation. They're great inspiration for today's communicators.