Common Craft Blog
What to Expect From Common Craft in 2009
By leelefever on January 04, 2009 - 4:36pm
In a word: Education.
Our goal in 2009 is to make explanatory videos that have a positive impact. To get there, we plan to focus of video subjects that are educational in nature and help address some of the big problems we face.
We plan to introduce new series of videos that diverge from our Web roots and cover subjects that we believe need to be covered. You'll see the first of these starting very soon and continuing into February. We're starting with the basics - big ideas that will be built upon over time.
We're convinced, more than ever, that Common Craft is an *educational* explanation company. While our library of videos is currently technology-oriented (and zombies ), our challenge in 2009 and beyond is to establish Common Craft as a company whose explanations are focused on education in multiple fields and potentially impact very broad audiences in positive ways.
You have been a huge help to us so far. It's your blog posts, your Twitter updates and comments that help our videos become visible. We'll make a deal with you: We'll keep pumping out the videos if you'll help us spread the word. Together, we can do great things in 2009. :)
Would love to see some In Plain English videos w/ charity focus
In 2009, how about a film or two that explain charitable concepts that are emerging. Micro-loans, for example, might benefit from a CommonCraft video. If such a vid got a few more people contributing, it'd be worth the time and would make even greater heroes of CommonCraft.
Charity
Thanks for the suggestion Jeff. I agree that micro-loans would be a good thing to cover.
Deal!
Hey Lee,
Sounds like a great plan for 2009! I'm excited for many more Common Craft videos across any subjects, zombies or tech.
I'll continue to spread your word on my blogs and to friends across the country. Best of luck in 09.
Cheers,
John Meyer
Great decision! Very
Great decision! Very courageous. I wish you the best.
Yep, great plan
Yep, great plan, I'm pressed to discover new videos ;)
Fantastic!
Education ... brilliant choice. How about a Commoncraft take on explaining the Creative Commons to students? :)
Creative Commons
Yes, I think this is a great idea. Not only would it help students, but other producers like us who have a stake in educating people about the proper ways to share content. On our list for the future. Thanks!
Belissimo!
Great decision! Very good!
"How about a Commoncraft
"How about a Commoncraft take on explaining the Creative Commons to students? :)"
Never mind students - how about explaining it to the vast majority of teachers/professors who don't get it?
Experiment
Looking forward to your new direction !
I too have a passion for educational explanation. (I responded to your question regarding 'what is explanation?' for e.g.)
I've been sitting on a domain name since '96 ... experiment.com, and while I've had offers from people to buy it and create a sex toys store, I've always held out hope that it can be a lightning rod for all things educational regarding experiments (experimental science, social experiments, lifestyle experiments, &c.) It's a weird sell, and it's a tremendous amount of unpaid effort to get it where'd I'd like it to be.
That said, historically, the vast majority of people coming to the site are looking for prebuilt solutions for science fairs, or science fair projects.
While that project sits on the back burner as usual, if you guys would like to have some input on the purer sciences, or if you thought you might like to make a video with 'experiment' kind of content, perhaps you have some ideas for the use of this domain, or perhaps a video that explains the importance of experimentation in the knowledge growth tree.
regards, and do accept my whole hearted encouragement !
Christian Nally
Galiano Island
For the Better
Your new focus and direction sound great and I'm so glad that someone (Common Craft) with the ability to harness and effectively use the power of communication is using it to promote positive education! Thanks!
Look forward to it!
Love the videos--I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store in this new year!
RECOMMENDATION CRISIS
Starting new year 2009 is recommended to save the maximum of one month has been spending
Topic ideas
As a PR person, I'd love to see a video explaining the difference between advertising, marketing and public relations. Sending a link to people who don't understand what I do for a living would make things so much easier. :-)
Goal in 2009
I wish you the best leelefever .
success!
"of these starting very soon and continuing into February"
I look forward to it
Waiting for the video
Eager to wait for your educational video.
Module
Dear leelefever,
Are you planning to make a module [syllabus] of a specific topic such as "How to build a video conferencing?"
Cheers,
Abu Hanis
ideas for education: explain the government some more
While watchng President Elect Obama on the news today trying to explain at a high level the economic recovery plan, I couldn't help but think that CC could do a great job of explaining the government plans to the American public.
I think you guys should talk!
Great work, great philosophy... and now great cause too? Nice.
Love your work, love the way you approach it, and am about to like the topics you cover even more. Looking forward very much to following you two in 09 and spreading the word about CC. :)
Video Suggestion--Stock Market!
I love that your videos are simple enough that I can show them to my middle school students, and they get the gist quickly so that they are ready for more in-depth study. The video on the electoral college was a terrific example. With the economy the way it is, students have questions--and I have a really hard time trying to simplify what the stock market is & how it affects everything else. If branching in new, educational directions, I'm sure this is a question asked by millions of people, not just my middle-schoolers.
Another suggestion : Word financial crisis!
Hi Lee, your videos are great and i know that you'd have plenty of projects going on, but i would like to make a suggestion: how aboout a video explaining in plain english the current world economical crisis. I guess it would turn into another big video hit from commoncraft!
Suggestion: Organizational Change Management
Lee and Sachi.. nice work on videos! How about a piece on Change Management - generally a hot topic, difficult to grasp the essence, easy to be misled by misconceptions, very important in the context of implementing Web 2.0 in the interprise, dealing with generational collides at work and emerging work approaches /styles.
Please
Please...some videos on financial management. Given the current economic climate, I think this should be topic of the year!!