This morning I was thinking about lessons learned from my stupid computer, my stupid video editing program, my stupid work assignment to create a slideshow, my stupid cold sore from all the computer stress, and finally....stupid me. For as most people know, many computer problems are caused by "user error." Though it is natural blame the computer or app or whoever, or whatever, it helps to take a step back and ask, "What is my part in causing this problem and what can I do differently?"
Though I appreciate the freedom that comes from being the only RT in my department, I also miss not having the younger, tech savvy, RT's to whip out a slide show in a moments notice. It appeared so easy for them to create such professional slideshow/video presentations. I thought it shouldn't be that hard to duplicate their results. I'm smart-right? I can do this! I googled "easy slideshow presentations" and selected "Clipchamp" as a tool.
After spending 20+ hours at home trying to figure things out, I renamed the program "Clipchump" or more accurately clips for chumps...like me. Initially, I was feeling pretty awesome as I loaded the photos and videos, added transitions, added music etc. I'm beamed with pride with the thought of my burgeoning tech abilities. However as my slideshow reached the 3-5 minute mark, the computer started to make a whirling noise crying out, "I'm working too hard!" Then it would blink, go to black, and then return with an error message, "Clipchamp stopped working." I would then follow the instructions of closing the browser, restarting the browser and clicking into the project again. This happened about 50 times, probably more. Each time, when I tried to get to the point to edit it again, the computer would whirl again resulting in the program crashing and ultimately not working.
For about 3 days, I went to bed defeated and depleted by "Clipchamp" vowing the next day I would do better. I would tackle the problem afresh-go back to the drawing board- erase the old video, start a new project, try this and that. I even upgraded to the paid version just in case that was the cause of the issue. Not so. It still crashed under my "heavy load" of a simple student side show with music.
At one point, I couldn't seem to add one photo to my media. I repeated the process about 10 times, cursing the program under my breath and screaming, "Why isn't this working?" Then, as if the computer was talking back to me, it answered, "It's user error. We computers are perfect. You guys are the idiots. Why are you cursing me for your stupidity?" I realized that the photo I was trying to add had already been added to the program. Oops. "You're right, mighty computer god." User error.
By Friday, I had the makings of an awesome cold sore on my lip brought on by computer stress, too much chocolate and sugar, and sun. The overexposure to the sun was from spending all day Tuesday up at Sundance teaching skiing, if you could call it that. I lamented how easy it would be if the students would just follow simple directions instead of working themselves into a overwhelmed stress response and shutting down...not working and unwilling to try again.
My students labeled skiing as "stupid" and didn't want to have anything to do with the sport. Their refusal to follow simple directions made me think of my refusal to follow directions in this whole computer fiasco. Never once did I watch a tutorial or read the supplied directions online. For some reason I thought I could figure it out on my own by poking around and experimenting.
I was getting to the give up stage with the video editing software. My whirling overworked brain was crashing too. It was time to cut my losses. I asked my son to help me learn Powerpoint or Google Slides to accomplish my task - screw Clipchamp! He thoughtfully put on relaxing meditation music and told me to take a break.
While bathing, I was thinking of the whirling noise of my overworked computer. I am working the computer too hard. I am making this too hard. I'm trying to use a sophisticated video editing program for a simple slide show. I'm not editing professional videos into a version of Final Cut Pro. I'm using the wrong tool in the wrong way. It really is user error.
I had a thought pop into my head-call it inspiration. Don't work the computer program so hard. Chop it down into bite size easy pieces that the program can handle. Then take the smaller pieces and put them together as if you are editing a video. After getting a good night's sleep, I tried out the idea. I kept each clip to about 1 minute and tried to only do a couple of processes (transitions, overlays, text, music etc) simplify it as much as possible-not overwhelm it. I listened to the computer to make sure it was keeping quiet and underworked-not too stressed out.
It worked! Enough so that the previous stress dissipated. I was even glad that I spent 20+ hours learning a new skill. Of course, my son showed me that I could have paid $10 on the Fivr app to hire a person to make my slide show that was a billion times more professional than my current masterpiece. Well, maybe next time.
In the meantime, I'm going to take note from my whirling overworked computer teaching me important life lessons: #1-Keep quiet and calm-don't overwhelm self trying to respond to a million requests. #2- Follow simple directions. #3- Chunk things down into bite size pieces. #4-Use the right tool for the right job. #5- Listen to the voice of inspiration. That's good advice wise computer gods. I admit my user-error unworthiness.
But, it was not Clipchump's fault, it was my fault. I was trying to use a
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