Definitely reading. Videos take too long to extract information from. This is especially true if it is a topic I'm somewhat familiar with. I can just skim while reading until I hit something I'm unfamiliar with or if I find I'm confused later I can just go back and reread. This is much more difficult to do with a video.
Every so often I'll encounter a video that is delivering content at the exact level that I need. But most of the times I'm skipping through it to get past the intro. I worry that im skipping something important, though.
It would be interesting to see some sort of summary (text?) that would help a viewer determine what subjects are being covered in different portions of the video without having to watch the whole thing. Or perhaps even markers that indicate shifts in topic, etc.
Yes. Random access and indexing are two areas where books kill videos.
Also, a fast reader can absorb information at a considerably higher rate than what you get from normal speech.
There have been experiments that indicate that it's possible to understand speech at significantly higher than normal rates (i.e., you can speed up the video and still get just about the same information from it). The "chipmunk" effect is a little distracting, but you get used to it.
I would have said reading, until I realized that some things can be made more explicit in the video. But in most cases, it is by reading. Specific examples were I liked videos explaining something better (or perhaps as good as the book) are: Unix System Calls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHu7qI1gDPA) and Suffix Trees (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLsrPsFHPcQ). A lot depends upon how much effort has been put into making of a video. Codeschool's guide (https://gist.github.com/olivierlacan/4062929) is a great start.
One issue I see with books/articles is typos. Not many technical book writers are diligent about typos and outright mistakes and coming up with updates for a book is perhaps hard. I become especially infuriated and it stalls my progress when a particular concept/paragraph written in the book is either wrong or I am confused about it and the author is not immediately reachable for clarification. Same might be true with videos, but many videos are live talks and such mistakes are rarer in those settings.
It's not even close and it's always been this way.
In school, I really had trouble following lectures. Taking notes helped. It was hard to focus reading at night. Writing in the book helped. For homework, whenever I wrote or solved problems, I retained it forever (it seems).
At work, I rarely understand what someone's talking about when explaining or demonstrating something new to me. So I invariably say, "Stop! Tell me what to do and I'll do it." If they go too fast, I tell them to slow down. This has been the single most important thing I've done with learning in business, for myself and with others. I never teach by lecturing or writing (except here one the internet, of course); I always make the student do it while I tell them what to do. This is the only real way I've ever been able to assure myself that they'll remember.
Just this morning, I had trouble with the credit card swiper at the store register and asked for help. The attendant jumped in and starting hitting buttons. As usual, I yelled, "Stop! Tell me what to do and I'll do it. How else will I learn?"
I absorb information fine by reading but I get too bored to keep focused. Usually I already know what I want to build so I like to just be shown a reference documentation, example usage welcome. I can't do books on programming languages/webapps/technologies because it's such a slog through dense material, usually with a boring example project, and at the end of hundreds of pages you only end up knowing enough to "get started".
Videos are usually better for "big picture stuff" for me. Broad views on the architecture of a service, advice, or the story of why things are the way they are. I hate having to go through long tutorial videos and screencasts.
Very good advice, at least I feel the same exact way. My brain has very efficient filters, it doesn't bother even hitting any memory if the stuff to process isn't "important" (can't be important if I don't do anything with it) on top of that there is ruthless garbage-collection going on at all times. I need to do. It's the only chance I have to become and stay motivated to even RTFM of anything and remembering..
There is no alternative, at least with my wetware.
Your anecdote regarding the credit card swiper is also interesting in a different way because it goes to show how our day-to-day procedures are often still designed in a bad way. IMHO a very distinct indicator for stuff to think over again and to find better solutions for.
I really hate it when I am searching for some quick info and I am forced to endure a 20 minute video out of which only 20 seconds were what I was looking for. At least with a written article you can skip through to the part you need.
Reading - especially reading concise articles on a focused problem domain, and on the other hand, reading actual code. I think over the years I've gotten a sense for recognizing good, readable code.
Reading. Much easier to adjust pace to match my understanding, and referring back to the material is far saner. Inevitably any time I learn from a video, I find myself scrolling the slider back and forth hunting for the key piece of info I want to rewatch.
Reading, unless it's something really suited to video. Programming is not, as far as I'm concerned: I can't scan things quickly, I can't grep, it's harder to skip around, and I can't cut and paste. I hate videos for anything having to do with programming.
I've just finished my first online course, in Python. I'm not new to programming but was completely new to Python.
I find the spoken word helps me with engagement, so listening to someone talk through something helped me to maintain focus.
In this case the Coursera course website allowed me to do listen to the whole lecture course at 1.5x speed - as part of the screen shows the work area with the code/slides at all times it was also easy to skip on once I'd grasped the point being made or when all I was doing was scanning over a new syntax and I felt I didn't need to listen (at higher speeds the software didn't make the audio clear enough). Similarly I could easily scan the video if I wanted to review something. The lectures followed a book, but I never used the book - in part because it was online rather than a proper book and bizarrely I don't really like reading long texts on a screen.
Before this I've only ever done formalised education using books. Though I've learnt to throw pots (on a pottery wheel) largely from watching YouTube videos.
My intent here is not to disagree but to add some complexion.
Videos have several advantages for some kinds of tasks. Also less spam (eHow etc). For example, to learn how to shuffle a deck of cards, I would go directly to Youtube. Or how to clean a car. Or how to do a margarita. I would watch several videos about the subject and see what each guy does differently. Stuff that post on eHow would miss.
Readit News
It would be interesting to see some sort of summary (text?) that would help a viewer determine what subjects are being covered in different portions of the video without having to watch the whole thing. Or perhaps even markers that indicate shifts in topic, etc.
Also, a fast reader can absorb information at a considerably higher rate than what you get from normal speech.
There have been experiments that indicate that it's possible to understand speech at significantly higher than normal rates (i.e., you can speed up the video and still get just about the same information from it). The "chipmunk" effect is a little distracting, but you get used to it.
One issue I see with books/articles is typos. Not many technical book writers are diligent about typos and outright mistakes and coming up with updates for a book is perhaps hard. I become especially infuriated and it stalls my progress when a particular concept/paragraph written in the book is either wrong or I am confused about it and the author is not immediately reachable for clarification. Same might be true with videos, but many videos are live talks and such mistakes are rarer in those settings.
This is why my book is hooked up directly to GitHub. You can ask questions and get clarification with two clicks.
It's not even close and it's always been this way.
In school, I really had trouble following lectures. Taking notes helped. It was hard to focus reading at night. Writing in the book helped. For homework, whenever I wrote or solved problems, I retained it forever (it seems).
At work, I rarely understand what someone's talking about when explaining or demonstrating something new to me. So I invariably say, "Stop! Tell me what to do and I'll do it." If they go too fast, I tell them to slow down. This has been the single most important thing I've done with learning in business, for myself and with others. I never teach by lecturing or writing (except here one the internet, of course); I always make the student do it while I tell them what to do. This is the only real way I've ever been able to assure myself that they'll remember.
Just this morning, I had trouble with the credit card swiper at the store register and asked for help. The attendant jumped in and starting hitting buttons. As usual, I yelled, "Stop! Tell me what to do and I'll do it. How else will I learn?"
As the old Chinese proverb said:
I absorb information fine by reading but I get too bored to keep focused. Usually I already know what I want to build so I like to just be shown a reference documentation, example usage welcome. I can't do books on programming languages/webapps/technologies because it's such a slog through dense material, usually with a boring example project, and at the end of hundreds of pages you only end up knowing enough to "get started".
Videos are usually better for "big picture stuff" for me. Broad views on the architecture of a service, advice, or the story of why things are the way they are. I hate having to go through long tutorial videos and screencasts.
There is no alternative, at least with my wetware.
Your anecdote regarding the credit card swiper is also interesting in a different way because it goes to show how our day-to-day procedures are often still designed in a bad way. IMHO a very distinct indicator for stuff to think over again and to find better solutions for.
"Watch one, Do one, Teach one"
(for doctors learning new procedures - teaching something to others really makes you learn it)
I find the spoken word helps me with engagement, so listening to someone talk through something helped me to maintain focus.
In this case the Coursera course website allowed me to do listen to the whole lecture course at 1.5x speed - as part of the screen shows the work area with the code/slides at all times it was also easy to skip on once I'd grasped the point being made or when all I was doing was scanning over a new syntax and I felt I didn't need to listen (at higher speeds the software didn't make the audio clear enough). Similarly I could easily scan the video if I wanted to review something. The lectures followed a book, but I never used the book - in part because it was online rather than a proper book and bizarrely I don't really like reading long texts on a screen.
Before this I've only ever done formalised education using books. Though I've learnt to throw pots (on a pottery wheel) largely from watching YouTube videos.
My intent here is not to disagree but to add some complexion.
Something like that I could see making sense. Still pictures might not give you as good an idea of what's going on as continuous video.
This guy is showing how to write a game from scratch, by recording his screen and face for 2 hours per day. https://www.youtube.com/user/handmadeheroarchive
It would be very hard to to learn that amount of tricks and details from a text.