4 ms·

I have a comment more on the presentation than the content. I actually really enjoyed the "script format" type presentation more than I thought I would when I f

by tbirdz 12y ago

I have a comment more on the presentation than the content. I actually really enjoyed the "script format" type presentation more than I thought I would when I first staerted reading it. Having the article be a conversation between two (and more) people helped to explain various aspects of the topic (just as a conversation would normally digress), without getting "single speaker fatigue" as I often get when listening to a traditional lecture. Instead each character had their own voice and personality. The incidental details also helped me picture the scene as if it really were a movie, and brought the content to life in a way simply reading a standard article description would not. I think this could also be interesting to see in an actually filmed format, and could be applicable to more topics than just security/cryptography. Maybe instead of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" we could have "Computer Scientists in Cars Getting Coffee". Right now it seems like most of the video content about this field is in either the single lecturer/presenter format, the interview format, or the unscripted Q&A panel format, but I have not seen many (or even any) multicharacter scripted pieces, as the original article presented. It seems like there is room to innovate in this space. Your "characters" could each have different concerns, and their contribution to the topic discussion would be scripted explain the topic in terms of their "personality" (the performance junky, the "paranoid" security person, etc). I'm just talking off the top of my head here, so I'm sure there are some more interesting ways to run with this concept. If anyone has actually done something like this, I would appreciate if someone could reply with link or some more information about that project. If not I think it could be a project worth pursuing.

Bjartr 12y ago
In some ways, it's a tried and true concept http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dialogues_of_Plato http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dialogues_of_Plato
- webnrrd2k 12y ago
  Also used extensively, and to great effect, in Godel, Escher, Bach.
sillysaurus3 12y ago
I think this could also be interesting to see in an actually filmed format, and could be applicable to more topics than just security/cryptography. Maybe instead of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" we could have "Computer Scientists in Cars Getting Coffee". Oh my gosh, this sounds like so much fun! Someone please make this happen. Bonus points if you manage to work in an old-timey silent film scene, complete with plinky piano and over-dramatic reactions.
kijin 12y ago
On the flipside, if this content had been presented as a video, I would probably have ignored it. And even if the brand power of @tptacek convinced me to watch it, I'd probably have been annoyed at the jokes rather than enjoying them. Written text leaves a lot of things to the reader's imagination, and therefore gives the reader a lot more freedom to engage with the content in whatever way he likes, at whatever pace he prefers. Some people love to read plays, but not all of them like to watch movies based on those plays. Imagining a couple of computer scientists ranting about MACs while flying through space with a laser unicorn is fun. Actually watching a lame animation of two people and a unicorn flying though space might be funny the first time, but it quickly gets tired. Sure, you could pull a Peter Jackson and make that video extremely high-quality, but most people have better things to do than making an epic movie out of every blog post, so most videos will end up mediocre anyway. And then we're just wasting bandwidth.
pcthrowaway 12y ago
The now-infamous conference video of Angular introducing Angular 2.0 uses this to great effect.
- iwwr 12y ago
  Do you happen to have a link to that?
  - pcthrowaway 12y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmWybAyBHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmWybAyBHI
austinl 12y ago
I enjoyed this format as well – it reminded me of a presentation called Deep C, which teaches through a dialogue between an interviewer and two candidates with different levels of understanding. http://www.slideshare.net/olvemaudal/deep-c http://www.slideshare.net/olvemaudal/deep-c
Intermernet 12y ago
Most of Gödel, Escher, Bach (If you haven't heard of it, read it, take your time, and don't be put off if you don't get everything on the first (or tenth) read.): "GEB takes the form of an interweaving of various narratives. The main chapters alternate with dialogues between imaginary characters, usually Achilles and the tortoise, first used by Zeno of Elea and later by Lewis Carroll in "What the Tortoise Said to Achilles". These origins are related in the first two dialogues, and later ones introduce new characters such as the Crab. These narratives frequently dip into self-reference and metafiction." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach
phkahler 12y ago
>> I have a comment more on the presentation than the content It's a thing: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=power+of+storytelling&spell=1 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=power+of+storytelling&s...

by tbirdz 12y ago

Bjartr 12y ago

In some ways, it's a tried and true concept http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dialogues_of_Plato http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dialogues_of_Plato

webnrrd2k 12y ago
Also used extensively, and to great effect, in Godel, Escher, Bach.

sillysaurus3 12y ago

I think this could also be interesting to see in an actually filmed format, and could be applicable to more topics than just security/cryptography. Maybe instead of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" we could have "Computer Scientists in Cars Getting Coffee". Oh my gosh, this sounds like so much fun! Someone please make this happen. Bonus points if you manage to work in an old-timey silent film scene, complete with plinky piano and over-dramatic reactions.

kijin 12y ago

On the flipside, if this content had been presented as a video, I would probably have ignored it. And even if the brand power of @tptacek convinced me to watch it, I'd probably have been annoyed at the jokes rather than enjoying them. Written text leaves a lot of things to the reader's imagination, and therefore gives the reader a lot more freedom to engage with the content in whatever way he likes, at whatever pace he prefers. Some people love to read plays, but not all of them like to watch movies based on those plays. Imagining a couple of computer scientists ranting about MACs while flying through space with a laser unicorn is fun. Actually watching a lame animation of two people and a unicorn flying though space might be funny the first time, but it quickly gets tired. Sure, you could pull a Peter Jackson and make that video extremely high-quality, but most people have better things to do than making an epic movie out of every blog post, so most videos will end up mediocre anyway. And then we're just wasting bandwidth.

pcthrowaway 12y ago

The now-infamous conference video of Angular introducing Angular 2.0 uses this to great effect.

iwwr 12y ago
Do you happen to have a link to that?
- pcthrowaway 12y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmWybAyBHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmWybAyBHI

austinl 12y ago

I enjoyed this format as well – it reminded me of a presentation called Deep C, which teaches through a dialogue between an interviewer and two candidates with different levels of understanding. http://www.slideshare.net/olvemaudal/deep-c http://www.slideshare.net/olvemaudal/deep-c

Intermernet 12y ago

Most of Gödel, Escher, Bach (If you haven't heard of it, read it, take your time, and don't be put off if you don't get everything on the first (or tenth) read.): "GEB takes the form of an interweaving of various narratives. The main chapters alternate with dialogues between imaginary characters, usually Achilles and the tortoise, first used by Zeno of Elea and later by Lewis Carroll in "What the Tortoise Said to Achilles". These origins are related in the first two dialogues, and later ones introduce new characters such as the Crab. These narratives frequently dip into self-reference and metafiction." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach

phkahler 12y ago

>> I have a comment more on the presentation than the content It's a thing: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=power+of+storytelling&spell=1 https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=power+of+storytelling&s...