Chow Tips videos
I just wanted to comment, as well as bring attention to, the Chow Tips videos. The girl in the presently *first* video who speaks about submerging buoyant objects with a filled plastic bag, looks very much like Charisma Carpenter. Have a look for yourself, and see if any of the other videos interest you. Some segments are informative and interesting - some are not. I picked up a few tidbits here and there, so they can't be all that bad.
Cheese Boy
Nov 17, 2007 11:22PM
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Thanks so much for your comment Cheese Boy! That Charisma Carpenter look-alike is no other than our own Aida Mollenhamp. I'd love to hear what you liked and didn't as we choose topics and on-screen talent in the future. We want a wide variety of stuff that will be useful and quick for people on the boards and reading our stories. Also, anyone else out there with videos they'd like to see? Let me know!
Meredith (video producer for CHOW)
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Videos are often teased in the "In Stories" sidebar on the right or in the "Stories" column at the foot of the page, without any warning that they are videos. Could you please add [Video] or the like to those teasers? I am often reading Chowhound/Chow in a location where I don't want to watch videos, and it's unnerving to find myself frantically clicking away on the "Back" arrow to get out of an unexpected video clip.
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Hi Allstonian,
I hear you. If you're at work and you don't want anyone to know that you're looking for some food tips, the last thing you want is a video alerting cubemates to your activities...We've been working to figure out ways to label videos within a system that was built only for stories. One thing I could do is to turn off "automatically play video" option when the page loads, but then a lot of people can't figure out how to get it playing, or see a black box without a video, and that is confusing too.
Hopefully we'll get that design change through in January--please know it's on our to-do list!
Meredith
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Also, be aware that it does say "video" in tiny letters next to the type of story--in other words, technique videos say "How-to" and then "video" in small letters. So as long as you're looking closely you can avoid them.
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It does say "How-To/Video" in the right-hand sidebar, it's true - however, when items are newly posted and show up in the "Stories" column in the block at the very bottom of the page, it does not. I will have to remember that anything with a title "How to [foo]" should be assumed to be a video.
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Meredith, in my attempt to promote your efforts, could you comment on the whereabouts of a video. It's probably best to reply there -- not here. TIA.
Recent thread: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/465044
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Thank you Cheese Boy! It's so wonderful having someone promote our efforts on the Chowhound boards! And very much appreciated,
Meredith
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Meredith, you're welcome. The only comment I have presently is that we need a better way to cue or reference your videos if we're going to allude to them. For instance, the video I was interested in (presently #19 of 29)
should be listed somewhere by title where we can reference it. Wouldn't you agree?
Edited to add ---> Look at this *another* very recent thread I just stumbled upon ... http://www.chowhound.com/topics/465332
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Oh, you're right--it's just something that takes time to do, and there are only 2 of us plus an intern making the videos, so I haven't had that time. But I'm going to spend today putting them all on their own story page since I do think it will help to get people to see them more, and use them on the boards. Here's the first: http://www.chow.com/stories/10833 , the basil storage tip. More coming.
And thanks for the feedback. It is definitely heard!
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And here's the onion tears video on its own page: http://www.chow.com/stories/10842
Let me know how this works for how you want to use it...
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Meredith, now we're in business !!! ... EXCELLENT work.
I've watched this video several times, sometimes for its informative value, and sometimes for its comedic value.
Daniel Duane's performance in this video is very funny. If you keep the videos *funny* and *informative*, I think you'll capture a decent sized audience.
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I LOVE the chow tips videos and I have found them to be very helpful. My four year old son loves to watch them and then remind me when I am doing something the "wrong" way in the kitchen. What a hoot!
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This video is *still* a hoot even after all this time ... http://www.chow.com/stories/10842 -- and our Charisma Carpenter look-alike (referenced way up top by the OP) has moved on to bigger and better things.
Ask Aida --> http://www.foodnetwork.com/ask-aida/i...
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My fav video is how to transfer a tart to a plate (by sliding the ring up your arm.) So simple (I've actually been doing it that way for 20+ years but always thought it was a little unorthodox) yet it completely eludes...
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