Lights, Camera, Action! Video content production and dissemination during distance learning

Abstract:

As the most popular social media site in the US and with over 2 billion monthly users from around the world, YouTube is rich with science communication and educational opportunities. Many of the videos on YouTube are professionally made and edited, but a growing number of video bloggers (vloggers) are creating popular and engaging content with a lower production value. Other social media sites like Facebook Live and Tik Tok allow users to create and share video content using only their phone or computer. These changes in the expectation of video content production have opened the door for individual scientists and science organizations to make and share video content without the need for high-tech tools, specialty equipment, or extended production time.

As much of the world’s population sheltered in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and organizations stepped forward to utilize these popular social media platforms to share video content directly with students and the public--and to collaborate with scientific colleagues around the world. Using only phones, computer cameras, video conferencing apps and other readily available tools these individuals created video content covering geoscience topics ranging from rock identification to hazards to geotravel blogs. These videos were then stored on YouTube and widely disseminated across social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, which all allow video sharing and reach different audiences. Videos shared across these platforms and ‘archived’ on YouTube enable scientists to point to their work and engage friends, family, other scientists, and the general public in geoscience from anywhere in the world.

We will discuss the triumphs and lessons learned from three of these initiatives – “Going Places”, “Rock du Jour” and “Wednesdays with Wendy” - as well as discuss the potential opportunities for the science community to create and share engaging video content across social media sites.