Quim Gil very kindly offered to host the Tablet School on maemo.org as a separate section, I was very honoured by this but for various reasons didn't want to do it (they're detailed in other threads, no need to discuss it here).

Anyway, it just struck me how this could actually be an opportunity to do something similar but slightly different: a Maemo School where every aspect of the interface and third party applications could be covered, with contributions from anyone who wants to make them.

You might be saying "hey we've already got that, it's the Wiki!" but the Wiki has a rather anarchic non-standard nature which is difficult for newcomers to navigate. Also, some of the instructions assume both technical knowledge and a good knowledge of english too.

Here's what I'm proposing in detail:

A Maemo School to carry on what the Internet Tablet School did.

Everyone could contribute, as long as their content fits the criteria (see list below). All Maemo topics are welcome.

Here's the important part: It would be 100% video, with no text at all except perhaps a title. Videos could be hosted on any free Flash video service, Nokia have their own called Ovi Share, but YouTube would probably be the best in terms of getting the word out to new people.

It would be hosted on maemo.org using a format similar to the Downloads section, with "freshest" and "most visited" charts etc. There would be categories for tutorials, and comments for each video on maemo.org itself (so that the comments aren't lost if the video is updated or moved to another hosting service).

The reason I think this would work is that if you want to show someone how to do something, doing a video of you actually doing that task on your tablet is the clearest and most elegant form of tutorial. It also proves that your method of doing something works.

A 100% video-based tutorial site would at a stroke remove any need for prior knowledge, and you wouldn't need to understand english either as the same options would be in the same places in other languages.

A Maemo School admin or admins could be responsible for approving and categorising videos, contributors would upload videos to their own YouTube (or whatever) accounts and then submit the URLs of those videos through a form on the Maemo School site for consideration. If the video passes some basic standards (see below) a Maemo School admin would categorise the video and embed it into the Maemo School section. Below the embedded video would be its creator's name and a link to the creator's website, so that they get the credit for their labours.

If a video fails quality control, the Maemo School admin(s) should let the user know exactly what needs to be fixed, referring to which rules (see below) the video broke.

The reason I'd suggest a central quality control system and index page is to make it easy for newbies to find the good stuff. If a video is poorly done (see below), or incorrectly categorised, there's a danger of such a site turning into an inaccessible mess.

From my experience with the Internet Tablet School I have come up with a list of criteria that instructional videos should fulfil (these are basically what I thought about when doing my own videos, along with one or two new things):

1. Device should be shot with a steady camera from directly above, or as near as possible, with the camera zoomed in to give a full view of the screen. Zoom in as close as you can without losing focus. A tripod or equivalent should be used if possible, it makes life much easier. Note that some device screens look better than others when zoomed in, try several devices if you can.

2. Ideally, a device used in a tutorial video should have a fresh install of the latest firmware to remove any possibility of add-ons interfering with the device's default behaviour. A device in a tutorial has to be as close as possible to what someone would see when they switch their Maemo device on for the first time.

3. No text, just let the video do the talking. However, there can be a brief text title screen to say exactly what you're doing. The title should explain what you're going to show in it (e.g. "How to install an app from maemo.org's downloads section"), and also say which device(s) the tutorial applies to (for example the Tablet School tutorials generally applied to the Nokia N800 and N810, but a few only applied to one of these).

4. Start on the home screen, with applets laid out as they would be on a brand new tablet.

5. Do not skip anything! Show the tutorial's topic in its entirity from start to finish. One exception might be a long download, but even then the beginning and end of the download should be shown, with only the progress bar's journey cut out.

6. If you mess something up, start all over again, don't show it in the video. I had to do this quite a few times on the ITS... ;-)

7. Sound is up to you, have sound if you want: talk politely, mute it, or dub it over with some music. Jamendo.com is a very good source of high quality Creative Commons music, but remember to give the artist credit at the end of the video (name of artist and name of track). If you do use music try to use something calm and relaxing.

8. GO SLOWLY! Don't rush through steps, make sure you do them pretty slowly so that people can follow what you're doing without having to pause.

9. Make the video as high quality as possible, so that the texts on the screen can be read. If the device screen looks fuzzy on camera, try adjusting the device's brightness until it looks sharper.

10. Show GUI methods wherever possible, because these will be easier to follow on the video and easier for newcomers to remember. Command line stuff might be okay if there's no GUI alternative, but make sure people can see exactly what you're typing in the video, and go slowly so they get a chance to read it.

11. If you have a choice of devices, use the one that looks clearest on camera. I usually used the N800 for the Tablet School videos as its screen looked clearest on my camera, but different people may have different experiences on their cameras and devices.

12. If you have no choice but to break one of the above rules, explain why in your submission form on the Maemo School site.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'd like to hear some suggestions and feedback in this thread on how these criteria could be altered or added to.

Also, feedback about the idea in general would be welcome.