Foreword

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This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC/JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 7, Software and systems engineering, in cooperation with the Systems and Software Engineering Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society, under the Partner Standards Development Organization cooperation agreement between ISO and IEEE.

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Introduction

Instructional videos are dynamic audio-visual media that can be controlled by the user. These media motivate users to learn with scenarios that provide realistic simulations of products and services. Typical use cases for instructional videos are getting-started or onboarding, learning the general use of a product or service, learning the most common workflows and tasks in the software, or providing news about software and system updates.

Ineffective videos can frustrate system users and prevent them from performing their tasks fast, safely, and successfully. Existing standards (IEC/IEEE 82079-1 and ISO/IEC/IEEE 26514) cover the technical means of producing videos and the design and development of information for use but do not go into detail regarding instructional video as an effective means of providing information for users. Videos can present instructions for installation, operation, maintenance, and disposal for skilled or unskilled users. Instructional videos can include concepts, instructional steps, and reference material. This document does not cover learning methodology and principles governing effective learning.

Instructional videos are an integral part of the product or service. Therefore, producers, managers, specialists, and developers work within the life cycle processes of the software product, which are defined in ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207. In the context of instructional videos, "user" and "viewer" are equivalent; both forms are used in this document.

While the requirements and guidance on the design and development of information for users are fully applicable, instructional videos have specific requirements and are managed throughout the specific processes (Figure 1). The purpose of this document is to provide requirements and guidance on instructional video processes as well as the structure, content. and media suitable for instructional videos.

1 Scope

This document provides requirements and guidance for the effective planning, design, and development of instructional videos for information technology systems, products, and services. This document includes the use of video, interactive video or hypervideo, animation, and virtual or augmented reality to explain how to use software and systems including hardware. This document covers both standalone videos and the use of video segments in larger information products. This document specifies content elements, structure, and use of media, including music, narration, captions, titles, subtitles, and graphics.

This document does not include specifications of output media formats, content management for videos, or archiving. This document does not cover learning technology systems for recording and administering training programs.

This document is applicable to instructional video developers, including a variety of specialists, such as:

information architects who plan the structure and format of information products;
user experience specialists, customer experience specialists and business analysts who identify the tasks that the intended users can perform;
reviewers or testers of instructional videos;
graphic designers with expertise in electronic media;
experts who design the usage and presentation of the system or service.

This document is also a reference for those with other roles and interests in the process of developing instructional videos.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Conformance

5 Roles and responsibilities

5.1 General

5.2 Manager

5.3 Producer

5.4 Video developer

5.5 Director

5.6 Camera operator

5.7 Animator

5.8 Production designer

5.9 Editor

5.10 Sound designer

5.11 Lighting technician

5.12 Reviewer or tester

5.13 Narrator

5.14 Actor

6 Instructional video processes

6.1 Management

6.2 Production

6.3 Publishing, delivery file format and output

6.4 Maintenance and versioning

6.5 Quality assurance

7 The instructional video product

7.1 Structure of instructional video

7.2 Complexity

7.3 Accessibility

7.4 User control

7.5 Content of transitions within and between steps

7.6 Segmentation

7.7 Visual presentation of information

7.8 Visual pointing elements

7.9 Combination of oral and written information

7.10 Translation

7.11 Narration

Bibliography