Get Simple Explanations to Complex Things From CommonCraft

Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

“What is Twitter?” I get asked that question all the time, and still have yet to come up with an answer that makes sense to other people.

My explanations involve lots of words with a “tw-” prefix, some nonsense about direct messages only working if they’re following you, and always mention how person B can see person A’s conversation with person C only if they’re following both A and C.

By the end of it, I’ve even lost track of what Twitter is – I’ve definitely got no chance of explaining it to someone else.

Explaining things that you know, backwards and forwards, to other people can be both frustrating and difficult for everyone involved. That’s why I’m not going to even try anymore.

From now on, I think I’ll just point them over to this video at CommonCraft, called “Twitter in plain English.”

What CommonCraft does, quite simply, is explain things in a way that people can understand. Too often, we assume that people know the right jargon, understand the right concepts, and will be able to follow along with us on our journey through terrible explanations. CommonCraft, on the other hand, explains everything in simple, easy-to-understand terms in a series of videos.

The videos range in topic from just about anything you can think of, within four broad categories “Green”, “Money”, “Society”, and “Technology”. From “Electing a US President” to “CFL Light Bulbs,” all the videos are in a similar format to the one above – lots of moving drawings around, nothing particularly complicated or difficult to understand.

Once you’ve watched a video on the site, you can do a number of things with it. You can buy a license if you want to share it through your company or something like that, or you can share it using the sites that CommonCraft has already put the videos on for you.

In addition to just the videos, CommonCraft offers a “Fact Sheet” that is essentially a one-page summary of what CommonCraft is, and what the video your watching teaches you.

But the videos are what are killer. In just under three minutes, I actually managed to learn, for real, what a phishing scam does, by watching a video about a robber stealing a bag full of passwords and account numbers. Everything is visually useful, with tons of easy ways to hear and see what it is you’re trying to figure out.

The number of videos is somewhat limited on the site, but it’s growing all the time. CommonCraft also just got a major redesign, and looks fantastic.

These videos are, hands down, the most accessible way to learn about everything from Twitter to zombies. Luckily for everyone who asks me to explain Twitter, I’ve got a link for you now.

(Thanks for the tip, Joan!)

Photo: danhomerick

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