Why Video Documentation?

Video documentation started to be explored in the late 1980s. One company had their lead developers discuss programs they had written in a formal lecture, and then recorded the lecture onto VHS. This lecture was then stored for other developers at the company to view in the future. At that time, storing video tapes was a cheaper alternative to printing and maintaining a massive, book-sized, printed manual (Demarco and Geertgens 1990, 126-127).

Nowadays, video documentation isn't used to save on the cost of paper, but to spread information worldwide. Video documentation can be made directly by the creators of a program to attract new users, made by a system administrator that wants to share what she's learned at work, or made by a casual programmer during his free time. The video documentation may be a tutorial made by recording actions on the computer screen (also known as a screencast), or it may explain how a program was developed, or it may be teaching a concept.

Research has shown that developers create video documentation "to support learning and follow [rich-media] trends in their community" (Bergen, MacLeod and Storey 2015, 105). Many video creators have enjoyed watching videos made by other developers, and enjoy producing their own videos to share their knowledge online (Bergen, MacLeod and Storey 2015). However, research has not established when video documentation is effective. A documentation format should not be chosen simply because it is fun or trendy. A documentation format should be chosen because it effectively informs its viewers.

Video documentation is praised for directly showing how things move and change on the screen when a software is being used. This can capture tacit information the video creator does not actively think about. Tacit information may be ignored in other documentation formats, since it is not automatically captured (Despotakis and Palaigeorgiou 2015, 83).

It has also been suggested that video documentation feels more like one-on-one instruction, and is more comfortable to use than static documents (Despotakis and Palaigeorgiou 2015, 83). Video documentation can also make the viewer feel as if they are performing the task themselves, while avoiding the trial and error that comes with learning a new task (Despotakis and Palaigeorgiou 2015, 84).

Trial and error can be important when learning. In one study, students learned how to do a task via a screencast. The students then attempted to perform tasks that were slightly different from the screencast, and were not successful. This may be because students are too focus on mimicking what they see on the screen rather than understanding the tasks being shown. The students may understand what they're doing on a surface level, but it doesn't make a deeper connection in the brain. The screencast created "only the illusion of capability" (Despotakis and Palaigeorgiou 2015, 84). Although, "almost all studies have shown that [screencasts] are just as effective as or more effective than textual descriptions in initial acquisition of software skills and, usually, offer quicker and more accurate immediate demonstration of procedures," in the long term the information doesn't seem to be retained well (Despotakis and Palaigeorgiou 2015, 83).

If video documentation is meant to be useful, the information in it should be able to be understood as well as possible. Understanding can be aided by the visual features found in and around the video. With so many professional and amateur sources of video documentation, different formatting and styles have been experimented with, and different levels of quality are available. There doesn't seem to be a clear, established way to make good video documentation. By rhetorically analyzing exisiting video documentation, guidelines can be created to ensure developers are getting the information they need.