Colin's Blog My thoughts on everything.

Sketchcasting – a Whiteboard on your Blog

I think Richard Ziade may be on to something with Sketchcasting (via Search Engine Guide). He's absolutely right about traditional blogging being a lot of work both for the writer and reader. Podcasting, as an alternative, still relies on your ability to express in words what might best be shown on a whiteboard. Video blogging is inherently visual, but is still focused on dialogue.

How many time have you begun to explain some web concept or idea to a room full of people and finally had to stand up and draw it on the wall to make it stick?

Sketchcasting may prove to be a mighty tool in the web strategist toolbox - but won't replace blogging any more than podcasting has. I can see myself embedding Sketchcasts within blog posts to illustrate a concept or process, etc. but not using them exclusively.

I am immediately reminded of the InPlainEnglish video series from Common Craft that I've mentioned here before. The accessibility, conceptually, of drawings far outweighs that of lengthy text explanations. Sketchcasts are also portable (like the Common Craft videos) so that you can distribute them anywhere you need to - and they just might drive some traffic!

Outside of web strategists trying to explain social media or RSS, there are applications for bloggers of any kind.

I'm curious what technology Richard is using and what the gear investment might be, but I suspect it's cheaper than Scoble's camera.

Related posts:

1. What is Web 2.0?
2. The Genesis of a Web Strategy Blog
3. Twitterbowl Analysis
4. My Wordle’d Blog
5. A Live Webcast to Discuss the Canadian Political ‘Crisis’