Common Craft Blog

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This video is for educators and students who are on the front lines of this phenomenon. By understanding cyberbullying, we can take steps to reduce the harm it causes.

Using a simple example of a cyberbully in action, this video follows a bully’s tools, motivations, and tactics. It also covers what can be done by adults and fellow students to stop the bully and prevent further problems. It teaches:

• Why cyberbullying represents a problem
• How cyberbullies use the internet to threaten and harass others
• What motivates cyberbullies
• What adults and students can do to help the bullied students
• What adults and students can do to prevent problems

Watch the video on CommonCraft.com.

If you're looking for more resources on cyberbullying and prevention, see https://www.stopbullying.gov.

We're preparing to launch our new Readable Videos course and I'm so excited for you to see it. The method we teach applies to nearly everyone because it uses presentation software to create animated videos with real power. Let's take a closer look.

The Big Idea

Producing animated videos is complicated, in large part, because of the voice-over. Performing it, editing it, and matching it to animations requires special tools and know-how.

We asked: what if animated videos didn't require a voice-over? What if they were purely visual?

Removing the voice-over simplifies the entire process. Using animated words and visuals on the screen means that videos can be created in a few hours versus days or weeks.

One Tool: Presentation Software

Readable Videos only require presentation software. PowerPoint and Keynote can do everything you need. No hardware, no expensive software, and no complicated editing. One tool can do it all, and you probably have it already.

Limited Editing Required

Video editing is not often required when producing Readable Videos. Simply record animations on your computer screen, trim the beginning and end, and you're done.

Use Case: Quick Problem Solving

Readable Videos are best when they are brief and solve a problem. A quick scenario:

Your manager is rolling out a new policy. She needs a short video for a meeting in two days. You use PowerPoint to create a Readable Video that uses visuals and animated text to guide viewers through the policy change. It relates the big ideas in 90 seconds and you look like a rock star.

Hidden Power

You'll discover features and practices you never knew were possible with presentation software. With a bit of instruction, you'll quickly build a new appreciation for what these tools can do.

Engaging and Accessible

It's not enough to animate words on the screen. How they animate is key. We teach best practices from the fields of digital accessibility and graphic design so your videos are professional, polished, and inclusive.

Everything You Need

From creative direction, storyboards, and digital drawing, to animating text and recording your screen, we teach every part of the process, including explanation skills.

Video Instruction

The course includes 14 chapters and over 30 videos in all.

Reviewed and Tested

Over the past month, we invited a group of educators, trainers, and communicators to take the course and provide feedback. Their participation helped us streamline the course, discover new ideas, and ensure we are teaching effectively. We are incredibly thankful.

This post was published in the Common Craft Newsletter. Subscribe here

Our new course on Readable Videos (coming soon!) has prompted a lot of learning about how to display text that is readable, accessible, and effective. The course covers the best practices from graphic design and other disciplines.

In our research, I came across new reading systems that are fascinating. They may not be your best bet for Readable Videos, but you may find them useful in other parts of your life.

Speed Readers

What if you could read without moving your eyes to follow the words in a sentence? What if, instead, the words appeared, one at a time, in a single location? Let's take a look...

I used this free app by Spreeder to display the paragraph above in this format:

This is often referred to as Rapid Serial Visual Presentation or "RSVP". The format has been shown to increase reading speed, but may not be the best for comprehension compared to static text.

Other RSVP tools:

• AccelaReader offers a free web-based tool
• Outread is an iOS app that can be applied to web pages and documents
• Sprint Reader is an extension for Google Chrome

Bionic Reading

Bionic reading is a proprietary tool developed by a Swiss developer named Renato Casuut. His goal was to make reading easy by guiding the eyes through artificial fixation points.

What does that mean? I've used this free tool to convert the paragraph above into the form of bionic reading:

The big idea: Your brain has memorized most of the words you see. To recall the word and its meaning, you don't need to see the whole word. By bolding the first few characters, we can read in a slightly different way.

While there isn't definitive evidence that Bionic Reading is faster or increases comprehension, it does seem to work better for people with ADHD and/or dyslexia. More.

Dyslexia Font

Speaking of dyslexia, designer Christian Boer created a font called Dyslexie that is specially designed for people with dyslexia. It enhances the ease of reading and comprehension. Example:

As you can see, the blue typeface above is weighted differently. The letters have heavier bottoms and longer sticks, which is the straight part of a letter like "P".

These tools are not a solution for everyone. However, they provide a look at new approaches to something we can easily take for granted: reading. Your best bet is to experiment and see what works for you and your use cases.

This post was published in the Common Craft Newsletter. Subscribe here

We've all heard someone say, in the context of understanding something new: "You're not seeing the forest through the trees." This usually means that someone is so focused on the details that they're missing the big picture. This dynamic frames a very common and difficult element of communication. We all struggle with the Curse of Knowledge and what mix of forest and trees will work for our audience.

When we have deep knowledge of a subject, it's easy to become focused on the trees; the fascinating details. We learned about the big picture, the forest, long ago and it now seems almost too basic. Surely everyone else see it, too.

When it's time to share our knowledge, it can seem logical to skip the forest and focus on the trees. With limited time, it may seem wasteful to cover the basics. After all, our expertise is in the trees. This can quickly become a problem. If we neglect the forest, we risk leaving people behind, or with an incomplete picture.

A Choice

If your goal is helping people understand something new, the forest matters. Yes, you may be covering ideas that others already know, but that's not a big risk. You're simply validating their knowledge.

The bigger risk is having beginners tune-out because they never see the beauty of the idea or feel confident in their understanding. This loss of confidence is difficult to rebuild and you may not realize it's happening.

What You Can Do

Consider designing this idea into a presentation and starting off with a disclaimer like this:

"We're going to start with the big picture. I know some of you are familiar, but I want to be sure we're all on the same page."

This becomes an invitation for beginners to become engaged and for experienced people to feel validated. Your audience will thank you for it!

This post was published in the Common Craft Newsletter. Subscribe here

We want to help improve media literacy. One of the most important ideas to understand is bias, and how it impacts our perceptions. This video explains that bias isn't inherently bad, but can be a problem when it's hidden.

Building on the example of sports fans, this video illustrates how bias is a common and sometimes productive part of how we communicate. It also shows how bias can cause problems when it’s hidden or not detected. This video teaches:

• Why bias is a common and expected part of communicating
• Why high-quality information needs to be unbiased
• What problems occur when bias is ignored
• What to look for - common signs of bias in media

Watch it in full  (2m 38s)

Options for Using This Video

• This video is available for instant download with a forever license. $14.99 USD
• It's also part of the Common Craft video library. Join for access to downloading, embedding, and displaying the videos.

Mastodon is known as an alternative to Twitter. But that's not the full picture. Mastodon is an example of an emerging class of social media tools that are powered by people instead of companies. This video uses a rich analogy to explain why that matters and what people can expect in using Mastodon.

Watch it in full (3m 51s)

We’re used to social networking platforms that are owned and operated by large companies like Twitter. Mastodon is different because it’s not a company that needs to earn a profit. It’s open-source software anyone can use to create an online community that’s self-supported and connected to thousands of other Mastodon communities. This video applies a music festival analogy and teaches:

• How Mastodon is different from Twitter
• Why Mastodon has become popular
• What to expect in using Mastodon
• How Mastodon users are connected
• How Mastodon fits into the big picture of decentralization

Sharing is Caring

This video is available in the Common Craft library without a watermark. If you are a Common Craft Full Access member, you can download or embed this video like any other.

We've also shared the video on YouTube:

You can also find and share posts with the video here:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter 
• Facebook 

Want to Learn More?

I wrote an article called Dear Friend, Let's Talk About Mastodon that explains a lot of the details in the form of a letter to a friend.

I'm on Mastodon

I am using Twitter less and have made Mastodon my home for Twitter-like connections and discussions. In fact, I am a moderator for a small community that's based on our location. My Mastodon account is here:  sanjuans.life/@lee.