YouTube Tutorials

If it could be combined with a Wiki it would be a winner.

Here's an existing example http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Pro_Engineer

Anyone can edit any page, but there's history of all changes and a comparison tool for all versions to keep things straight, as well as the 'Talk' extension that handles discussions about the content without needing to change the content.

The problem I have in finding things on YouTube is that the search function doesn't have a good way to evaluate the content and YouTube doesn't have a good way to group content from various sources.

With a Wiki driving it, one can have a page on using layer rules that has links to YouTube, a textual description, a link to help files and links to a page about layers. Descriptions of the YouTube videos can provide helpful information that is not available at the time the video is made, such as whether it still applies to later versions or that a new video is applicable or required.

Another great feature of Wikis (there are several code bases for them) is that even if the page organization changes, the pages don't. When an index gets too unwieldly, it can be split to other pages, but other pages that link to the same indexed pages don't have to change. If a page name is changed, the links are automatically updated to use the new name, so the indexes are still good.

My own Wiki (A TikiWiki base) has around 200+ pages for ProE; A page can link to videos, ptc community, PTC/User, other pages, PDFs, Word, Excel, AutoIT, Windows CMD page, et al. It is a fast, terrific interface for organizing that which cannot otherwise be organized. I prefer TikiWiki as it includes a back-links drop down to tell how many pages refer to the one I'm on. Since links are created ahead of page creation, there can be any number of pages that refer to a not-yet-created page. It is interesting to create a MIL spec page and see the dozen or more pages that had references waiting for the page.

I actually used to create these when I was at a reseller. We recorded them using one of our GoToMeeting accounts and processed down the recorded "meeting" We got some good feedback from customers on them. All pretty short tips and tricks. You can see them here:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAggF1tErABm8oycYJ0qxndA2Dlw0MxqT

Mine is only on my computer; the one on the web is part of the Wikibooks initiative. It would be best if PTC/User or -shudder- PTC set up their own. (The -shudder- is that PTC really likes to control things; like only letting current paying customers participate in certain areas, which would leave me out of participating. The wiki could easily absorb all of Help, SPRs, TPIs. It's like the Blob for information. Or the Borg.)

My own wiki has more than 3700 pages.Some are stubs, some are fairly lengthy. An individual page can absorb the text from almost entire MIL specs.

The wikibooks Wiki only needs an account if you want to keep your IP address off the edits. It also has sandbox feature to make edits and see what they look like without committing. You don't need to sign in to see anything. It appears to be moderated at least by an account "QuiteUnusual". You can look at the view history tab of the first page and see he rejected some change. Click the pages to do a comparison to see the sort of change that was rejected.

If it was an independent Wiki, I can see where individuals would also create their own pages to provide custom views/organization of pages. I'm not sure that individual pages is part of Wikibook's concept of operations. It's something I do in my own. Rather than someone new having to piece together all the documentation for a sub-skill, such a designing gear trains, from general principles, assembly, parts of Mechanica Structure and Mechanica motion, there could be a page that links directly to those pieces that are especially related to the task. Other users of that information would create a link on their own page and so on.

In Reply to Nathan Rollins:

Wow - that is a great idea. And not a new one based on how much content you
have. I assume a link to download an example / tutorial part is possible as
well.?



I assume the red links go to an empty page that is looking for content from
you or a contributor? I intend to get an account and check out the great
resource that is there. The site definitely has the potential to be an
extremely valuable tool for learning and reference.



Thanks for sharing that.

-Nate

x

Great, now I'm responding to myself.

First, Wikibooks uses Wikipedia logins; just tried it, so they probably share Wikipedia rules.

Also -

"An individual page can absorb the text from almost entire MIL specs." is awkwardly worded and should say -

"An individual page can absorb the entire text from most any individual MIL spec."

More things to like - Wikis are manageable. If there are two pages that cover similar information, the contents can be merged and the refering pages corrected to refer to the merged page, unlike a forum format where the same question gets asked over and over with varying answers that may not be followed up or are wrong and can't be corrected. It's a better place to store information. It isn't a substitute for an e-mail exploder which can provide answers for new problems or unique situations.

Which Camtasia are you using? Free or paid?

I really enjoyed your presentations.

x

I am not sure how todigest all the sudden interest in this thread from the stand point of getting Google and Wiki pages linked with all the automatic content building and coding search tags, linking back to sites and pagesX, Y and Z. Thethread startedwith a somewhat benignquestioning of fellow users on their use of Youtube to learn, gather insight and experience. I concede it is most likely the very hip and knowledgable users are simply lending their experience and insight about what a great web presence could look like. I appreciate that. However, and please forgive the assumption if I am off base but, the thread has taken a detour from the original intent. It was intended to give me an idea if YouTube is still a viable tool and if I created a YouTube Channel, would it be of use to those on the forum if they were to subscribe. I was not looking to build a web empire. I am just a simple, old school,CADMonkey that is looking for a way to give back to a community that I have a heart for and hopefully keep me relevant into my third act of life. And without any hidden agenda, hopefully, as a subscription basegains users, I may be able to earn some ad dollars to help me buy some Depends when the day comes.

So, with that, I have created my first YouTube channel. It's a simple beginning, as I am just starting to learn the in's and out's of the process. As I gather knowledge and a following, I hope to get much better. Thanks to Nate Rollins for being instrumental in thecurrent and future"betterment" of the endeavor altogether. I hope it becomes something useful for you guys.

I encourage feedback from everyone....if it's good, please say so. If it's crap...say that too. I will respect all the feedback and make an effort to get better as I go along.I have always had a problem with disconnected training.Meaning, it never made much sense to me toteach someone how to model a bath tub if theyare tasked with modeling turbines. So,if you have anything specific you want demonstrated with my spin added, let me know. I will do my best to cover it.Keep in mind I am still working for a living so it may take a bit of time to get to, butI promise to do my best.

Thank you guys....and tell all your friends ;o)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMHXcBmcskIhfsZkDDKOhUg