The following content is provided under a Creative
Commons license.
Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare
continue to offer high quality educational resources for free.
To make a donation, or to view additional materials
from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare
at ocw.mit.edu.
PROFESSOR: Thank you all for uploading all your stuff
last night.
We do watch everything, just so you know.
And it's a really, really helpful for us.
So I really appreciate you guys doing that.
I thought we'd start off today by doing just a quick exercise
where you say the point of your video in one to two sentences.
And I think about this last night.
Because it's actually a really nuanced thing,
understanding the difference between what
the point of your video is and what your videos does.
I was trying to think of a good way to explain it last night
and this morning.
And I think that might be the best
way for me to understand it.
And that's why I gave that example of the snot video,
right?
Because the point of the video that I made about snot
wasn't to explain what snot is.
That's what my video does.
But the point of it is to show that this material that you
take for granted, that's in your body,
actually does all these xyz amazing things.
So does the difference between those two things
make sense to you guys?
Or do you recognize the difference
between those two things?
So for instance, Joshua.
Your video maybe about what a binary search is, right?
But that's not the point of your video.
That's what your video does.
In achieving the point of your video,
explaining why binary search is, is sort
of a happy afterthought, right?
But it's not what drives the video forward.
So if we could just go around and pitch
the point of your video in one to two sentences.
And the more specific it is the better, right?
Because we can generalize things like, the point of my video
is to explain how amazing snot is.
But that's actually not that different
from the point of my videos to explain what snot is, right?
I've just thrown in an adjective, basically.
So does that sound OK to everyone?
And I think this will be helpful because once you really
think of what the thesis of your video
is it's going to help you a lot in scripting.
Because you'll always be able to go back to that big point,
right?
If you're scripting with the objective of explaining what
a fractal is, that's what Ulea's video is about it,
it's really easy to get lost in the details.
So that's the whole point of this exercise.
Does anyone want to go first?
Otherwise we'll just go in order.
AUDIENCE: I'll go first.
PROFESSOR: Awesome, thanks Josh.
AUDIENCE: So you were just highlighting that my video,
it was about the binary search algorithm.
But I guess the theme here is why can't find my stuff?
And how can I find it there?
That's what the theme is about.
And the question is can Google teach me
how to do my own search in my life better.
PROFESSOR: I think it's a really good start, right?
Because we were talking about yesterday
the power of questions.
But again, the point of your video isn't the question.
The point of your video is the answer to the question.
So what if you go from there and try
to go for two sentences that try to answer those questions.
AUDIENCE: Do you have an example?
PROFESSOR: Well, wait.
Say the questions again?
AUDIENCE: Why can't I find my stuff?
And how can I find it better?
PROFESSOR: OK.
So Josh, how can you find your stuff better?
AUDIENCE: If we keep a list of, like, where is it located?
Or better yet, if they're positioned in a way
that has a relationship among them.
So it's kind of like, if you put stuff in the toilet, everything
you need to use in the toilet, you put them in that location.
So you avoid putting things in places where
they don't need to be there.
But you place the things where the relationship is natural.
PROFESSOR: So basically what you're saying
is that the way you organize objects
isn't just for aesthetic purposes.
It can actually change the time and efficiency
in which you find things.
AUDIENCE: Yes.
PROFESSOR: Which doesn't sound like a big deal
until you realize that that's the fundamental way
that something as huge as Google uses.
Is that correct?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
PROFESSOR: Does that feel like more of a point
than this is how a search engine works?
AUDIENCE: It's more of a point.
PROFESSOR: That's more of a point?
AUDIENCE: That sounds like something
more than you're writing down.
I mean, for me, at least, maybe.
I'm a visual person.
But, like, that's a really important concept
that we just figured out.
Right?
PROFESSOR: It's like, it's a super nuanced thing.
And very difficult to figure out.
It's a lot easier to figure out someone else's point
than your own, actually.
Which is why I wanted you guys to come up with a script
sometime tomorrow.
It's a lot easier for me, at least, as an editor
to give productive feedback when I actually
have something tangible in front of me.
So your questions were a really great starting point.
And the script that you wrote is also
a really great starting point.
Because there's a lot of material to work with.
But I wouldn't have been able to figure out
that that was your point unless I had had those materials,
right?
The questions are a super good starting point.
Oftentimes the point of your video
is going to be the answer to those questions.
So the questions set up the video.
But the point of the video is not the questions.
AUDIENCE: It's like the difference between a symptom
and a disease from a doctor's perspective, right?
Like, that's a different way of thinking about it.
PROFESSOR: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: You keep asking, like, why is something itching?
Why is something itching?
And then you finally understand the core reason to why?
I think that's what you're trying to get across?
PROFESSOR: Yeah.
And I think it's a very compelling way
to set up not just video, but scientific papers, talks.
Any time you're trying to sell an idea
to someone, grant proposals.
Oftentimes you'll ask somebody you're going to the conference,
what are you going to do?
And their answer is well, I'm going
to talk about the research that I did.
And that's not really helpful.
Obviously, you're going to talk about the research you did.
What I want to know is what is your research?
I know that you're going to talk about binary search, probably
from the title of your video.
What I want to know is, what is it, right?
So let's do this one more time.
Can you describe the point of your video
in two sentences or less?
AUDIENCE: The way we could find things
better is the way we put-- [INAUDIBLE] right now.
PROFESSOR: That's a good start.
That's good.
So the way we can find things better,
you're trying to relate a concept
or an everyday experience that we have,
like organizing things.
So the way we organize things.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
The way we find things better is the way
Google could find our results better.
PROFESSOR: Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a much stronger point than the questions
you had initially.
Than saying the point is to explain what binary search is.
And you can flesh that out a little bit more.
But do you see where we're going with this?
Ulea, we're going around doing one
to two sentence explanations of what our videos are.
AUDIENCE: OK.
PROFESSOR: Let's have other people
go since you just got here.
Paul, do you mind going next?
AUDIENCE: Sure.
So mine's about using principles that kids are already
familiar with, like floating and sinking
to show an application of navel architecture.
Specifically, how to prevent ships
from sinking using subdivision and Archimedes's Law.
PROFESSOR: OK.
So that is very informative.
That's, like, a perfect description
of what your video's going to be.
That maybe verbatim what you put as the summary
in the YouTube video.
Like, that's going to be super helpful to a teacher who's
looking through the videos and wanting to find out
what videos are about.
So I guess my question would be, what
are the actual principles that kids
learn that would help them understand
the ship and the subdivision?
AUDIENCE: So kids are familiar with floating and sinking
because they go through second grade or something like that.
PROFESSOR: And not just kids, but everyone.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, right.
Right.
PROFESSOR: So you could start off
"Most people are familiar with the concepts of flooding
and sinking."
AUDIENCE: Right, but how you can be
able to divide your ship so that it can
float when it's [INAUDIBLE].
I think I'm kind of going in circles.
PROFESSOR: No, no, no.
That's a great start.
And oftentimes what I personally like a lot--
and maybe this is something that we've
been repeating over and over again--
but the whole concept of the unexpected.
The familiar becoming unfamiliar, as Chris
was talking about.
The fact that a huge piece of technical equipment,
like a ship, can be protected from sinking
using just the basic principles that even second graders know
is actually really amazing.
All right, so maybe that's something
that you can sort of play off of in the point of your video.
That the concepts that we learn as children, like why things
float and why things sink, are actually the building blocks
of knowing how to protect machinery like submarines
from sinking even when they get damaged.
And the wording of that obviously isn't super great.
AUDIENCE: But yeah.
That an aircraft carrier, which is
one of the most complicated machines ever built--
the fact that it can even float is
based on this very simple principle
that you learn in, you know, first grade or second grade.
PROFESSOR: Yeah, I think that's a very strong point
to the video, actually.
I personally love the idea of complexity from simplicity.
That the things that people often
think of as being really complicated,
like naval architecture or systems biology,
are actually built off of really simple concepts
and really simple ideas.
Does that makes sense to people?
OK.
David, how about we go with you next?
AUDIENCE: The point of my video is
that some people are naturally predisposed to better survive
the next Ice Age.
PROFESSOR: Sorry, I didn't hear--
some people are better disposed to what--
AUDIENCE: Some people are better predisposed to better survive
the next Ice Age.
PROFESSOR: The next Ice Age?
AUDIENCE: Yeah, and they could be predisposed
by genetically or physically, or maybe they just do meditation.
PROFESSOR: OK.
Yeah, actually that is a point.
That's a thesis, that's an argument.
And I think that's a very interesting one.
But notice that the pitch wasn't why
are some people more predisposed to this?
Or why do I feel cold but my friend doesn't?
Right?
The point is an answer to those questions.
Does anyone have feedback or suggestions
on maybe ways that David could alter the point at all?
And again, no one is ever going to read your point, right?
No one is ever going to see your thesis written out
before they watch your video.
The idea is that they're going to watch the video,
and they're going to come to the same conclusion
that you've written.
So it's OK if the wording's not perfect.
Because no one's ever going to read it.
They're just going to watch your video.
But I guess if you were going to publish it,
I would open up with have things like genetic makeup
or physiological differences among people are
what might predispose certain humans to survive the next Ice
Age.
Kenneth, do you want to go next?
AUDIENCE: Sure.
The more succinct point I can think about
is letting them know that time travel right now is not doable
yet.
Yeah, that's the most succinct point I can think of.
If you want me to elaborate a bit more on that,
it's to let you know that we can possibly
travel forward in time faster.
But traveling back in time requires too much energy.
PROFESSOR: Too much energy.
OK.
, Again nice distilled point.
I would say that you could flesh that out a little bit more
for the point.
Because that's, like, time travel is not possible
is the ultimate argument that you're making.
But it's a super broad one.
So you can include maybe why it's not possible.
Again, because it takes too much energy.
I don't exactly know what that means.
But maybe your video is going to cover that?
OK.
Andrea, do you feel comfortable going?
AUDIENCE: I'll throw something out there.
Even though I think it's more what it does.
PROFESSOR: That's OK.
But see, when you throw that out there, it
makes it a lot easier for us to give feedback.
It gives us something to work off of.
AUDIENCE: So the video illustrates
how engineers in medicine use natural processes in our bodies
to actually repair or improve the human body.
PROFESSOR: So I actually think the point
is in there if you just take out the first three words.
Engineers and-- what was it-- scientists
use natural processes in our bodies to what?
AUDIENCE: Enhance it.
To improve or repair.
PROFESSOR: Yeah, I actually think
the point is in there if you just get rid
of the "my video explains."
AUDIENCE: Which is kind of awesome,
considering where she started two days ago, right?
Like, the braces, you totally done the [INAUDIBLE].
It's awesome.
AUDIENCE: That's what you asked me to do.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, it was awesome.
I'm saying it was awesome!
Way to go.
PROFESSOR: Nathan, you want to go?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
We aren't the only ones who eat our food.
And life without them would be a lot different.
PROFESSOR: That's pretty good!
That's pretty good!
Nathan had an aha moment last night,
if you heard his reflection.
And I'm really excited to see where you go with that.
But very, very different point and answer
to my question than the one you gave, like, yesterday even.
So I asked him what the point of his video was yesterday.
And he was like, to explain what decomposition is.
But do you see how this is, like,
a completely different point?
And a much more engaging one?
And in explaining and getting to that point,
he is going to cover what decomposition is.
All right, Ulea.
AUDIENCE: Mine is repeating patterns
called fractals are present in every facet of our existence
and are indispensable in nature, research, medicine,
and technology.
In that way, mathematics helps us explore and understand
the world around us.
PROFESSOR: Nice.
Nice.
Any feedback on that one?
AUDIENCE: Can you repeat it?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
Repeating patterns called fractals
are present in every facet of our existence
and are indispensable in nature, research, medicine,
and technology.
In that way, math helps us explore and understand
the world around us.
PROFESSOR: That's also a super different point than the one
you had given yesterday, right?
Yesterday the point of your video
was-- it wasn't even like, what is a fractal?
It was like, what is the philosophy of math, right?
AUDIENCE: No, it was was math even real, right?
PROFESSOR: Yeah, that was two days, yeah.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, but you've come so far in narrowing
this concept, it's awesome.
PROFESSOR: Yeah, so hopefully with these points
it's going to help you script a tighter set of text.