Thanks Ria, Bud, Tom for your comments, Your perspective on the development of our Lifelong Learning program aligns closely with our vision. Rather than simply being a curator of existing content which may or may not align properly, the Lifelong Learning initiative will allow us to build appropriate curriculum or pathways to meet the specific needs of various amateur radio interests. The ultimate goal is to make ARRL a learning "hub" for the entire amateur radio community. We are in the early stages of developing a content plan, using both our in-house expertise and the research we've already done leading up to this point. In addition we will use the vast amount of existing web content as a point of reference to help us map out this plan, and we are also very open to using some of this existing content within our program and/or utilizing the services of the content creators to assist us in our efforts. As we move further along we'll provide updates and solicit feedback to ensure we develop an effective learning program for all. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 2/7/2019 12:07 PM, arrl-odv wrote: Dick, Your recent email regarding content for the ARRL Lifelong Learning program stirred my interest. Thanks for calling some of these issues to our attention. First, as to content, it was good to see Ms. Jairam’s comments from an educational perspective. She mentioned “structure and curriculum, an ability to add learning exercises, skill assessments, etc.” as things that a good educational site would offer that You Tube would not. She has far more experience in that area than I do, but I agree wholeheartedly with her. As for video, well, that is my area of expertise. I spent years producing and directing news, documentaries, commercials, public service announcements, and even corporate videos, before capping my career with 25 years supervising the production of commercials for the world’s biggest advertiser, Procter & Gamble. I think I know video and how it communicates. So I was intrigued with your offering of all those YouTube producers. I spent some time looking at each of their offerings. While I did not look extensively at each producer’s work, I got a good enough look at each of them to be able to offer a bit of an assessment of their quality, both technically, and from a content standpoint. Interestingly, I found that your list, intentionally or not, reflected my assessment of the quality of the producers from top to bottom. I was enthused about Dave Casler, KE0OG. He is a good host, his videos are technically well-produced, and he is well-organized in what he says and interesting in how he does it. As we go further down the list, quality deteriorates, in my opinion. Also, I would note that at least two of the sites listed are more “talk” sites, discussing issues, attitudes, and many other things relevant to ham radio, but not “instructional” as most of us would understand that term. Many of the other sites offer poor quality, either in content, quality, or especially in “likeability.” And of note, at least one of the sites is on such a high technical plane that on Howard’s “Spectrum of Hams” (February QST), it would be at the far end of the quadrant of “technologists.” Not bad, but not of widespread interest. How am I assessing these videos? I made a list of criteria, with four major points, and some explanations about each. Content o Organization of ideas • Concise, not rambling • An objective for the video, and some key take-aways for the viewer o Technical correctness of subject matter Quality o Video (good quality technically, steady shots, good lighting, etc.) o Audio (close-miked, not noisy or echo-y, no distracting background noises, clear diction, etc.) Editing o Easy to follow o Demonstrations that are clear visually, with close-ups where necessary, and appropriately placed to follow the audio that describes them. o Not allowing any distractions encountered during shooting to intrude on the program Likeability o Visual Interest--meaning, for instance, appropriate cuts and close-ups, never staying too long on either the host or on a particular graphic or piece of equipment o Engaging host o Music and titles where appropriate o Appropriate length for the subject matter At this point, I’m not offering a detailed evaluation of each site. I’m not sure how helpful it would be, or whether or not it would be worth the hours and hours of viewing that it would take me. I would hope that we could interest the staff in taking a look at a few of these, in particular if Dave Casel is interested in working with ARRL. YouTube is useful, but one has to be wary of the content and the producers. Some “how to…” videos are just the thing for repairing that obscure piece of equipment, and others can mislead. Within ham radio, just the sampling of what you listed, let alone the hundreds of thousands of other videos, can be anything from really good to frighteningly awful. ARRL has a lot of excellent content. We need to find ways to pull it into screen-friendly applications, and we will need a lot of help doing that. So let the dialog continue. Tom W8WTD On Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 1:28:31 PM EST, Richard J. Norton <richardjnorton@gmail.com><mailto:richardjnorton@gmail.com> wrote: At the recent Quartzfest ARRL Forum, I mentioned that the Board had approved a contract to build the framework for a "Lifelong Learning" web-site that is intended to educate newcomers to Amateur Radio and eventually result in a higher percentage of newly licensed hams becoming and continuing to be ARRL members. I commented that, at present, content for the site had not been specifically identified or produced. The first audience member responded positively, stating that that was a desirable step for the League to undertake. The second respondent sarcastically asked if I was aware of a site called YouTube. The third was more specific. He introduced himself as Dave Casler, KE0OG. He has more than 400 free ham radio videos on his YouTube site, with over 47,000 subscribers. I found his site at https://www.youtube.com/user/davecasler . Casler didn't seem impressed with the creation of a new ham radio framework for a web-site with no content, and seemed somewhat miffed that no attention was paid to existing web-sites and material that appeared to match ARRL's future goals. Casler even expressed possible interest in having his material accessed through the League. He also added that K7AGE, who was also at Quartzfest, also has a web-site with videos. I found that K7AGE's site has over 31,000 subscribers. K7AGE's site, https://www.youtube.com/user/K7AGE?feature=mhee , then lists another 10 ham radio related web-sites. W2AEW - 101,000 subscribers Steve WG0AT - 5,000 subscribers HamRadioNow - 11,000 subscribers KN4AQ - 1,700 subscribers EEVblog - 621,000 subscribers HamRadioConcepts - 43,000 subscribers Jim W6LG - 17,000 subscribers Kevin Loughlin - 15,000 subscribers Dave Tadlock - 20,000 subscribers DX Commander - 9,000 subscribers I would have hoped that all these 12 and any other competitive resources would have been researched, their capabilities and user statistics summarized, and potential impact on the proposed new web-site made clear, before we proceeded with funding. Apparently I was the only Board member with this view. Note that there are many other non-video ham-radio related web-sites with text and charts. I still don't understand how the League expects viewers to pay for most content, given the free competition. I still remember the sample initial page shown at the Thursday night presentation where there was a box at the top labeled something like "Free Trial." Possibly someone here can explain the rationale. Even at this stage, I still think it would be valuable for the staff to put together a compilation of competitive resources, and any planned approach to their presence. 73, Dick Norton, N6AA _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio™ 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>