Why I make video tutorials

0:00Hey it's Tim here. In today's video I'm

0:01going to be talking about why I make videos

0:04. Now if

0:04you haven't caught it yet, yesterday I

0:06released a video talking about how I make

0:08videos. At the

0:09very beginning of that video I called out

0:11the fact that actually why was a much more

0:13important

0:14question in terms of understanding the

0:16motivations behind choosing video as a

0:18format to share content.

0:20Now in answering this question of why,

0:22there's actually two ways to think about it

0:24. There is

0:25why in the sense of you know what motivates

0:27me to make videos, why do I even bother,

0:29why share content in the first place and

0:32secondly the question of why choose video

0:34as a format to

0:35share content. So I'm going to be tackling

0:37those two questions in this video. As

0:39always let's get

0:40stuck in. Okay so to answer this question

0:42of what motivates me, we have to go way

0:45back to 2006. In

0:46fact the summer of 2006 is a very fun

0:48summer for me because this was right before

0:51I went to

0:51university and essentially I had five

0:54months in between my A-level exams and

0:57going to the

0:58University of York which is where I studied

1:00and essentially I had nothing to do. Unlike

1:02other

1:03students I wasn't going away on some sort

1:06of you know travel journey or I didn't have

1:09that

1:09opportunity essentially and so I needed to

1:11find some other way of preoccupying myself

1:13and at that

1:14point I was getting into technology and I

1:16was really keen on understanding how web

1:19development

1:19worked. So I basically just started trying

1:22to learn web development as much as I could

1:23. Now

1:24this is 2006, we didn't have the internet

1:27and the google that we have today and so I

1:30came across

1:30this platform called lynda.com and so the

1:32first person I actually really want to

1:34highlight in this

1:35video is a lady called Linda Wyman. Now ly

1:37nda.com was this great tutorial platform,

1:40actually founded

1:41many years before I came across it and it

1:43essentially had courses that were entirely

1:46delivered in a video format. Now what was

1:48amazing about this is I got like a one

1:50month subscription

1:51for free. They had the classic you know fre

1:54emium model where you use one month then

1:56after that you

1:56give them your card details and you keep

1:58paying them every month for access to

2:00content. So I took

2:01one month and I learned as much as I

2:03possibly could about web development. Now

2:05whilst doing

2:06that course I actually got distracted and I

2:08ended up doing another course on photoshop

2:10by an

2:10instructor called Deke McClelland, I think

2:13that's his name and essentially I really

2:15enjoyed that

2:15course and it was how I learned photoshop

2:18and ever since that moment I was just

2:20amazed that in the

2:20space of you know basically two weeks I was

2:23able to go from nothing to something in a

2:26piece of

2:27software that lots of people were using to

2:29be creative and so suddenly this opened up

2:32a whole

2:32world of information to me. I was suddenly

2:34able to sort of just learn things very very

2:37easily and

2:38this was in direct contrast to the

2:39experience I'd just gone through in in

2:41terms of setting my A-level

2:43exams and the learning experience for those

2:46were extremely painful for me and the

2:49context for why

2:50that was extremely painful wouldn't

2:51actually come to light until three years

2:53later I'll come to that

2:54a little later and so here I was I learned

2:57photoshop and essentially I just found this

3:00calling in creative software I just started

3:02trying to learn creative software as much

3:04as I can and

3:05fast forward a few months later I'm at

3:07university I find this opportunity to get

3:09involved in a

3:10magazine it was called Bad Taste and then

3:13again I thought well what do creators use

3:17to create

3:17magazines and it was a piece of software

3:19called Adobe InDesign and so I learned

3:21Adobe InDesign

3:22and the person who taught me that was Terry

3:24White. Terry White is an evangelist at

3:26Adobe,

3:27still works for Adobe today and his videos

3:29really sort of sort of opened up my mind

3:32because he was

3:33someone who was just so passionate about

3:35the product understood the product so well

3:37and he

3:38was sharing knowledge about this in so many

3:40really interesting ways and so I did a

3:42whole course on

3:43Adobe InDesign and I pretty much picked up

3:46as much as I can in fact the very first

3:48video on this

3:49channel was based on the typography concept

3:51that I learned from Terry White so if you

3:53go to that

3:54video check it out I learned that concept

3:56from Terry White and so it inspired me and

3:59something

4:00I've mentioned before in another video

4:02where I talked about race and the most

4:04common thing

4:05between all these points was actually the

4:07fact that these people weren't just

4:09training me they

4:10were giving me an opportunity to express

4:13myself creatively and actually use that as

4:16a way of

4:17furthering myself and so I found myself

4:19just really sort of infused by this energy

4:22that I

4:22couldn't really understand where it was

4:25coming from and secondly I was just amazed

4:27how much I

4:27was picking up through this video platform

4:30essentially at the time and I really didn't

4:32understand why until a few years later. I

4:35finished university I pretty much went

4:37through the entire

4:38university experience without actually

4:40dealing with this problem that I only

4:41discovered after

4:42university which is that I had dyslexia

4:44okay and so the challenge with dyslexia is

4:47actually made

4:48it very hard for me to consume content in a

4:51reading format and so I could suddenly

4:53start to

4:54see what was going on here. I was very

4:56attracted to visual learning systems okay

4:59and this was

5:00something that was sort of you know just as

5:02soon as I found out I was dyslexic I just

5:05just light

5:05bulbs went off everywhere I suddenly

5:07started trying to optimize all my learning

5:09so it was

5:09primarily visual and things just started to

5:12come in much much faster and so I had this

5:15revelation

5:15which was wow how many other people in the

5:18world don't know that they're visual

5:20learners

5:20and maybe because you know that's a

5:22preference of theirs maybe they have dyslex

5:24ia like me maybe they

5:25have some other disability but essentially

5:27how many other people in the world are

5:29visual learners

5:30and don't know that because if I'm honest

5:32you're always told that reading is the best

5:34way to

5:35interpret information there's no end of

5:37research paper that will say that repeated

5:39reading

5:40reinforces knowledge in your mind that just

5:41doesn't work for me I just don't believe in

5:43that

5:43but that's for me that's that's sort of my

5:46personal opinion and so here I was really

5:48passionate about

5:49visual learning and I just thought wow what

5:52could I do to help other people discover

5:54this and so

5:55I just started making videos and that's

5:58when I made that video about the typography

6:00concept and

6:01I made a few other videos then and I just

6:03started making videos and the thing I saw

6:05myself doing

6:06there was I was sharing that opportunity

6:08with other people if someone came across my

6:10video

6:10who also had the same challenge maybe they

6:13too would learn it better in a visual

6:15format rather

6:16than in a textbook and so I was trying to

6:18sort of give back to this community of

6:20people who taught

6:21me so much now over time I've met a whole

6:24world of other creators okay so it doesn't

6:27just stop with

6:28you know Linda, Deke and Terry it actually

6:31goes on and more recently I sort of really

6:34want to pay

6:35homage to a few people here Maggie Ableton

6:38who creates these amazing sort of I can

6:41only call them

6:42visual learning aids for technology

6:44concepts and programming concepts I'll put

6:47a link in the

6:48description below and I'll send you a link

6:50to a website and then another trainer who's

6:52called

6:53Maguire Brannan who is actually the

6:55instructor that told me everything I know

6:57about Webflow

6:58which is a CMS system I use to build my

7:00website now these two people are funny

7:03because they're

7:03more recent I've only just discovered them

7:05in the last year but they've sort of

7:06continued this

7:07narrative I haven't really met anyone since

7:10those early sort of instructors that really

7:12sparked

7:13something in my head who sparked something

7:15else in my mind and so Maggie for her you

7:18know really

7:18good visual creative aids which help people

7:22learn in an entirely visual way and they're

7:24largely the reason I've really gone into

7:26sketch notes and I try and sort of

7:28replicate some of what

7:29she's doing there in the sketch note format

7:32and then Maguire Brannan for his just ruth

7:35lessly

7:35brilliant way that he does tutorials now if

7:38you've never seen a tutorial from Maguire

7:41Brannan or

7:41you've never seen Maggie Ableton's content

7:44again links in the description below you

7:46don't need to

7:46be passionate about the topics they're

7:48teaching to just see their content and

7:50understand that they do

7:51it really really well so please if you have

7:53a moment go to the link description check

7:56the

7:56content out it's some of the best learning

7:58content you'll you'll ever come across

8:00honest to heart

8:01and so those are the motivations behind why

8:04I make videos I'm essentially trying to

8:06give other people

8:07that opportunity that you know I felt like

8:10I discovered too late and so if you're

8:12starting

8:12your journey with Tableau and you find my

8:15videos early and you find them at the start

8:17of your

8:18journey I'm hoping to catch you I'm hoping

8:20to catch you someone who's struggled to you

8:23know

8:23understand Tableau concept because you have

8:25to go to the Tableau documentation and read

8:27all the pages

8:28I know that stuff is there and if people

8:29ask me I could always send them those

8:31articles and they

8:32could just read the same information but

8:34the reason I make videos is because I think

8:36some people

8:37much prefer seeing what's going on rather

8:40than reading what's going on and that's

8:42largely why

8:43I've avoided blogs I tried blogging I used

8:46to have a blog I had to sort of I've had

8:48like incarnations

8:50of blog we've all used wordpress it just

8:52just doesn't stick it's such a tiresome

8:54format for me

8:55and then there's another sort of concept

8:57which is books you know a lot of people

8:59especially in the

8:59visualization community pretty much

9:01exclusively write books and I'd like to

9:03challenge that concept

9:05I'd like to challenge that concept with

9:07something different something visual and so

9:09at least the way

9:10I do that at the moment is just making

9:12videos on YouTube you've seen my sketch

9:13notes which are

9:14another sort of take on that visual format

9:16but you know at some point this year and

9:19next year

9:19we will eventually take that visual concept

9:21off screen and we'll try and do it in other

9:23ways but

9:23for now it's just videos and that's

9:25fundamentally the motivation behind why I

9:28actually make videos

9:30um there's sort of no other way to put it

9:32primarily opportunity but also I think

9:35there's

9:35a whole host of visual learners who just

9:36don't know they're visual learners and so I

9:38'm just

9:39hoping to catch a few of those people um

9:41out there in the world and so that's

9:42fundamentally why I

9:44make videos now the other thing about

9:46videos that sort of extends onto this

9:48concept of

9:49accessibility in some ways is actually that

9:53I think videos are a very efficient way of

9:55getting

9:56information across now if we go back to

9:582006 the cost of hosting a video to the

10:01individual that was

10:02you know making that video was actually

10:04quite high and also the you know the

10:06technology

10:06infrastructure just didn't exist to be able

10:09to send video to a whole group of people

10:12very very

10:12quickly in fact I'd almost argue that only

10:15in the last few years have we really

10:17started to even

10:18scratch the surface of having enough

10:21bandwidth on the internet and

10:22infrastructure for video to

10:24become a mainstream learning tool okay

10:26although video has been around a while it's

10:29only just

10:30getting to the point where it can start to

10:32be considered as a learning tool like a

10:34serious

10:35learning tool and so at this sort of precip

10:38ice that we're at I'm just really passionate

10:41of really

10:41challenging the norms and I really think

10:44video can be this very accessible format

10:46for getting

10:47information out to people and just showing

10:49them how things work rather than having to

10:51insist that

10:52you know they sit through pages and pages

10:54of a textbook you can just search that

10:56small thing you

10:57want to search see how to do it very

10:59quickly and then get on with the thing you

11:01're trying to do

11:02this sort of idea that you have to sort of

11:04work through a whole body of work some of

11:06it that

11:06might be relevant some of it that might not

11:08be useful and to be honest it's a skill

11:10that we not

11:11all have you know if you've been brought up

11:13in an economy in a world where you know you

11:15didn't have

11:16access to maybe a great library or a whole

11:18world of books you just haven't been given

11:21the skills

11:22to navigate the the the world that is

11:24literature okay these are skills that you

11:27just don't get by

11:28reading books you have to be taught how to

11:30do it and how to do it well the concept of

11:32skim reading

11:33for example that's something that

11:35researchers and academics do all the time

11:37but if you've never

11:38worked in academia or research you just won

11:40't know how to do skim reading properly and

11:43so video just

11:44cuts through all of that to me video is a

11:47nice level it makes it very easy for

11:49someone who has

11:50you know no literature skills all the way

11:52to someone who has you know the best of

11:55literature

11:55skills and just talk to everyone at the

11:57same level because what i'm engaging is

11:59your visual learning

12:00mechanism and okay i still have to be able

12:03to put together a coherent script that's on

12:06me but for

12:06you the viewer you just have to be able to

12:08understand what i'm saying at the very

12:10basic

12:11understand the language and off you go that

12:14's pretty much it and so for me video is

12:16probably

12:17the most accessible format out there and it

12:20also presents probably some of the lowest

12:23barriers to

12:23entry that i've seen in any other format if

12:26you take books for example books typically

12:28are geared

12:30towards the western economy okay they're

12:32made by publishers that typically price

12:34them to sort of

12:35benefit from certain economies of scale so

12:37if i just take you know the typical book in

12:39the us

12:4050 30 is about right take that same price

12:43and put it in a developing world that that

12:45's just not going

12:46to work a video on the other hand youtube

12:49someone can stream a video in india or in

12:52africa and it's

12:54exactly the same video as you'd have here

12:56in the west in 4k they can stream it in 480

12:59p but the

13:00brilliance of video is that technology

13:02sorts that challenge out the user doesn't

13:05have to understand

13:05that that's something that technology

13:08solves and so maybe i'm murdering this

13:09point a little bit but

13:11i really think video is the format that

13:13breaks barriers for lots of people around

13:15the world

13:16and so if i can do something to contribute

13:18to that platform in any way i can then that

13:21's absolutely

13:21something that i will do and going back to

13:24this concept of visual learning if we can

13:26find other

13:27creative ways of getting visual concepts

13:29out to people to sort of try and challenge

13:30those barriers

13:32of education and access then that's

13:34something that's super super important to

13:36me so in a

13:37nutshell that's why i make videos it's a

13:39bit of a rambly video i know but um i just

13:41wanted to make

13:42sure i covered all these points and sort of

13:44really touch on that question of why why

13:46even bother um

13:47and so hopefully you know a bit more about

13:49why i make videos okay that's it for this

13:51one thanks

13:52for watching um if you've got some thoughts

13:54on this please let me know in the comments

13:56below

13:56i'm sure some people disagree with some of

13:58what i've said so don't just be a button

14:00degree go in

14:01the comments and passionately tell me why

14:03you disagree if you agree uh then by all

14:05means share

14:06this message with everyone you know join

14:08the revelation as it were and you know

14:10catch you

14:11in the next video thank you