Yes, there are zillions of self-help instructional videos out there.  Having sampled a number of them, from changing the mower belt on a John Deere garden tractor to seeing how others visualize the emission of EM waves from dipoles, I think I can safely say that 80-90% of them “fail” in one or more significant ways, Mr. Casler’s comments notwithstanding.  To name a few sad characteristics:  boring, missed the mark, inaudible, too much local dialect, amateurish camera techniques, inadequate visuals, and just plain wrong!  

What happens to many potential viewers is that after we’ve struggled through a sampling of others’ recorded attempts to explain how something works or how to do something, we look at the clock on the wall and realize, “Wow!  I’ve just spent a lot of time, and I’m no closer to finding an answer to my problem than when I started!  Enough of this nonsense!”  

Instead, if this project is to succeed, I think it will be critical for ARRL to have its own “brand” of instructional internet materials, and that brand should carry with it a cachet that its offerings have characteristics opposite those listed above — without exception!  

I visualize the library as along the lines of what Coursera, MITx, and some on-line colleges produce — although even those offerings are not always consistent or inspired.

Every single element of the future ARRL library must be “vetted” before being made generally available; there will need to be teams of volunteers that include not just experts on the subject material but neophytes who can provide a reasonable representation of the target audience. 

Consequently, there will be non-trivial production costs associated with each item in the League’s future library, both for the creation of visuals and dialog used during the filming and for the production itself.  Certainly selected offerings from Mr. Casler and others that meet the quality requirements could be used, but there are rebranding and licensing or royalty costs associated with that approach, too. 

I’m disappointed the million-dollar Mintz & Hoke motion passed by voice vote; I was too late in thinking to ask for a Roll Call vote, and the Chair did not ask for “Nays” or abstentions.  The project may ultimately be wonderful, but something that is going to end up costing the League more than a million dollars by the time a first round of content is added should have far more in the way of proposal detail, project controls, and biographical information about the contractor’s principals than the single sheet of paper and an after-dinner PowerPoint presentation I’ve seen thus far.  

Bud, W2RU