Experiences with Rich Media in
the Dissemination and
Comprehension of Science
Philip E. Bourne
University of California San Diego
pbourne@ucsd.edu
www.sdsc.edu/pb
ICSTI Winter Workshop, Paris February 10,2010
Yes Brian I will Do What You Told Me !
Multimedia innovations such as SciVee (‘YouTube for
Scientists’) improve the immediacy and impact of
scientific reporting, but do they carry the risk of
‘dumbing down’ the information content? Are they a
useful adjunct to the written word, or will they
replace it in some circumstances? What new
challenges of citability and archivability do they
raise? What new tools are needed by authors to
compose in the new interactive media? Will they be
willing to learn? Will the new ways of
communicating science change the way scientists
work, and indeed how they think?
Yes Brian I will Do What You Told Me !
Multimedia innovations such as SciVee (‘YouTube for
Scientists’) improve the immediacy and impact of
scientific reporting, but do they carry the risk of
‘dumbing down’ the information content? Are they a
useful adjunct to the written word, or will they
replace it in some circumstances? What new
challenges of citability and archivability do they
raise? What new tools are needed by authors to
compose in the new interactive media? Will they be
willing to learn? Will the new ways of
communicating science change the way scientists
work, and indeed how they think?
Some Background
• My main job is as science practitioner
• I got interested in scholarly communication since
there seemed to be opportunities that were not
being exploited by publishers and societies
• The last 2-3 years have been a rollercoaster ride,
but…
I am still not sure of the answers to most of
the questions raised .. here is what we have found
First More Background
The Lab Experiment
• My students enjoyed the experience
• The shyest student was actually the most bold
in front of the camera
• “We will become a generation of
“sciencecastors”
• They liked the exposure for the most part –
rather than the PI it puts them out in front
Organic Growth
2 Years Later
www.scivee.tv
• Some of their work viewed 20,000+ times
• Global audience of researchers, educators
and academic/research institutions
– 75,000+ unique visitors & 150,000 pageviews/month
– 9,000 registered users & 350 communities
– 3,500 uploads of video content (about journal articles,
conferences, research news and classes)
– Growing 4-5% monthly
– “YouTube of Science”
7
Will Multimedia Supplement or
Replace the Written Word?
Dissemination
Reward
For the next 5 years anyway it seems
destined to supplement
Will Multimedia Supplement or
Replace the Written Word?
• Replace
• Supplement
– Unique learning
experience
– Enhances the learning
experience
– DOIs assigned
– JOVE in Pubmed
– Journals promoting
supplement model
– 18 hours / Min Upload
– Faculty doing it
– Tenure committees
– Quality good enough
(SciVee survey)
– Still not ubiquitous
technology
SciVee Assumes Supplement with
PubCasts
SciVee Assumes Supplement with
PubCasts
Initial Exposure to Pubcasts
• “This will change everything” Pavel Pevzner
• “We should be doing more of this” NSF
Director
• “I will do one” many researchers (but a
relatively few follow through)
• After Ars technicha announcement millions of
page views
PubCasts – 1-2 Years Later
Number of Views
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Abstracts
PubCast
Views
• It is not authors who
are the drivers, but a
limited number of
publishers
• Pubcasts do increase
access/interest in the
paper
• Led to new directions
PubCasts – Class Reaction
• Experiment
• Gave ½ the class a
paper to read for the
same time it took the
other ½ to watch a
pubcast of the same
paper
• Multiple choice
questions on the paper
• Result
• Pubcast very slightly
better result – need
more tests for statistical
rigor
• Students liked the
pubcast more
Is This a Risk of Dumbing Down?
• I suppose so if they
were going to read the
whole paper but…
Biochem. J. (2009) 424, 317–333
Products
Products:
{x}casts
Application Product
Primary Customers
Journals
PubCast
Journals, publishers, societies
Meetings
PosterCast
SlideCast
Societies, conference orgs.
Communication PaperCast
Podcast
SlideCast
Societies, journals
Education
PosterCast
SlideCast
Societies, universities
Books
BookCast
Publishers, book sellers
16
What new challenges of citing and
archiving do xCasts raise?
• DOIs are assigned
• Video content is CC 3.0, but recovery may be
an issue
• Synchronization could be lost
• Embedding keeps me up at night
• Persistence is that or a start up
What New Tools are Needed by Authors to
Compose in the New Interactive Media?
Content Synching-1
Content Selector
Video
Content
Confirm
Selection
Select content to be
synched w/cropping
tool…
19
Content Synching-2
…and drop into timeline
Content
Tabs
Timeline
20
What New Tools are Needed by Authors to
Compose in the New Interactive Media? –
Probably a Bottleneck
• “Writers” strive for the highest quality”
• “Readers” do not seem to care
• Synchronization only used in 50% of cases
– Perceived value is low?
– Web tools too cumbersome?
– Time is better spent on your next paper
What New Tools are Needed by Authors to Compose
in the New Interactive Media? - Not Sure These are
the Bottleneck
• Student records lecture on iPhone with added
microphone – also captures Q&A in a 100 seat
room
• Student uses drop box to provide me with
audio
• Posted to SciVee with slides the day of the
lecture
• Lecture podcasting is becoming routine
Will They be Willing to Learn?
• A few because they love
technology
• Most no unless there is
that reward
Video competitions are becoming a SciVee mainstay
Will the new ways of communicating science
change the way scientists work, and indeed
how they think?
Yes & No
Change will be wrought more by volume than
by media type – volume will drive change which
includes new forms of rapid communication
In the time I have been talking ~200
papers have been indexed by PubMed
We Cannot Possibly Read a Fraction of the
Papers We Should
Drivers of Change
Renear & Palmer 2009 Science 325:828-832
We Are Scanning More Reading Less
Drivers of Change
Renear & Palmer 2009 Science 325:828-832
Rich Media May Be One Solution
• Abstract: 1-2 minutes
• Pubcast: 5-10 minutes
• Full paper: 120-180 minutes
SciVee in Summary
• “Phil, not sure this will go the way you expect,
but something will come of this” David Lipman
– Uptake on Pubcasts has been slow
– Other {x}casts and video growing steadily
– Video competitions popular
– Business may depend on traditional publishers
and aggregators
What I Would Do If I Were a Publisher –
Become a Contractor for All Aspects of Scholarly Output
Scientist
Idea
Experiment
Data
Product
What Would This Mean
to Me and my Science
Group?
• The intellectual memory of my laboratory
would no longer be my email folders
• Different views could be placed on my
laboratory output – ideas, grants, data,
software, rich media, publications, metrics etc.
– for example, temporal, project based,
person based
• Traditional publication would be easier
Acknowledgements
SciVee Team
– Apryl Bailey, videographer
– Tim Beck, systems
– Scott Bourne, videographer
– Leo Chalupa, co-founder
– Lynn Fink, content management
– Marc Friedman, CEO
– Ken Liu, VP business development
– Alex Ramos, programmer
– Willy Suwanto, programmer
http://www.scivee.tv
pbourne@ucsd.edu
Questions?