IDEAlliance has a handy information resource it calls the Just Enough Video Knowledge Bank. It’s a visual glossary of print and publishing technology terms that offers exactly what the name says: “just enough” information about these topics to get a conversation started or to serve as a starting point for deeper research.

Each topic in the glossary links to a slide show narrated by Dianne Kennedy, IDEAlliance’s vice president of media and emerging technologies. Running about two minutes, the decks review what the terms mean, where and when they originated, and why their underlying technologies are important to the creative, print, and publishing industries.

Here’s what’s currently covered. Before viewing the slide shows, experts can test their knowledge by challenging themselves to give off-the-cuff definitions of the following:

3D Printing, ACS, Analytics, Apps, Augmented Reality, CMS, CSS, Cloud Computing, Color Management, Color Profile, DAM, DITA, DocBook, Dublin Core, EPUB, eVs, FASTFAST, .folio, G7 Method, GRACoL, HTML, HTML5, Metadata, MID/CRID, OpenEFT, PAM, PDF, PRISM, PostalOne!, Printing Technologies, QR Codes, RDF, RDFa, SGML, SWOP, Semantic Web, Social Media, Tablet Publishing, WMS, Web Services, XHTML, XML, XMP, XSL

Each topic is presented with a concluding list of others related to it. There’s also an option to request an addition to the glossary or to submit a definition of one’s own.

When this writer was new to the industry, it was his naive belief that he could learn about printing by memorizing its terms of art from great old reference works like the Pocket Pal. As we all discover, there are no shortcuts to understanding graphic communications, but the Just Enough Video Knowledge Bank does a commendable job of opening the mind to many of its essential concepts.

Just Enough is informative, succinct, and, best of all, free. Whether you’re a noob or a know-it-all, you’ll find it well worth a visit. While you’re at the IDEAlliance web site, you also can browse the organization’s wealth of resources for professional certification and training. The best way to drill down into many of the entries in Just Enough is to study them in IDEAlliance-sponsored educational programs.