Daisy Whitney in her latest New Media Minute reports on a recent investment craze in online video How-To sites. Whitney focuses on the relatively mundane aspects of how-to: how to kiss, how to cook, etc. but a closer look at the online video space reveals interesting educational opportunities. 

Video has had hopes raised about its educational potential since the 1960s. But these have been repeatedly dashed. One of the problems has been the limited manageability of video as a format.  It's difficult to move to different parts, it's difficult to excerpt and combine with other media. Also, it has been seen as a long-form narrative that is 'performed' in public. However, online how-tos (from screencasts to acted how tos) have none of these disadvantages. They are almost exclusively short-form (under 10 minutes) and aimed at individual consumption. A learner can choose to watch them at any time they want and in any combination with any other educational materials. Also, interesting, easy to use, but increasingly easy to use, editing tools are becoming available (Viddler.com, Overlay.tv). Also creating own learning sequences and/or channels is something entering users' consciousness be it with new video playlists on YouTube or channels on Brightcove.com. Add to it the possibility of mashups and ease of creation of own content for students and educators alike, it seems possible that video has finally (forty-years later) come into its own.