You can see all the videos on YouTube at the BFTFI profile page, or by searching “BFTFI” in the YouTube search bar.
The Art of Questioning
July 18, 2007 – 8:35 am
These are the lecture notes from my talk earlier this morning on “The Art of Questioning.”
Criteria for Selecting a Good Area of Questioning
“The spark effect”: CONTROVERSY
“The fresh effect”: UNIQUENESS
“The CNN effect”: RELEVANCE
“The enriching effect”: IMPORTANCE
“The voice effect”: AMPLIFICATION
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Production Tips
July 18, 2007 – 8:29 am
YouTube has a nice set of tips on producing well-designed videos. Here’s a smattering of highlights:
You can also explore YouTube’s built in Remixer, where you can edit your videos.
If anyone knows of other helpful resources, please leave a note in comments.
Resource Clearinghouse
July 17, 2007 – 2:39 pm
I’ll try to put up pages that can serve as central collection sites for different topics. You can access these pages here, or at the links in the sidebar.
YouTube Questions: Exemplars
July 16, 2007 – 3:26 pm
When thinking about the development of a good question to ask the candidates in the CNN/YouTube debate, it helps to have some good models in addition to understanding some of the pitfalls that are to be avoided. We want to develop questions that pop out at the reviewers in the hopes that they will be selected! The following videos each utilize a particular technique that sets them apart from the standard, run of the mill questions (which isn’t to say that the videos are perfect). There are many ways to make your question stand out–link to other good YouTube videos in the comments section!
Technique #1: Use other media like photographs or video clips
We can integrate material that is in the public domain into the :30 question, as in the clip of Eisenhower above. If you can find a short clip, or an evocative photograph, or a snippet of a song that underlines the power of your question then it’s more likely to gain attention.
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YouTube Questions: Pitfalls
July 16, 2007 – 9:20 am
When thinking about what makes a good question, we can often learn the most from other models. What follows is a number of sample YouTube questions that have been posted for the CNN/YouTube debates; followed by some commentary on the quality of the question. This isn’t meant to be overly critical of the questioners but is intended to help us refine our own questions to maximize their impact.
A good question is like a good photograph. Photographs are often judged on these aesthetic criteria:
*Sharpness (is the picture blurry?)
*Focus (does the picture highlight certain interesting features of the subject?)
*Color (does the picture showcase hues in dramatic ways?)
*Composition (does the picture create visual tension?)
*Light (does the picture illuminate the subject uniquely?)
The absence of one or more of these criteria weakens the overall visual effect. In the same way, not having these elements present in a question often results in a weak query. Dodging these pitfalls won’t guarantee your question will be good, but falling into one of these traps will assure your question will be weaker.