SciVee Pubcasts - New Modes of Scientific Dissemination

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): SciVee Inc.'s major product is a Web 2.0 resource that can be found as http://www.scivee.tv and is a YouTube for scientists but much more, as will be outlined subsequently. SciVee represents a potentially exciting and significant enhancement in scholarly communication. SciVee aggregates multimedia content (video, podcasts, text and figures) on topics of scientific interest for an audience ranging from K12 to professional scientists. The product is free content (available under a Creative Commons 3.0 license) which can be broadly classified as either Pubcasts or scientific videos. Pubcasts integrate a 5-10 minute video presentation by the author(s) of a peer reviewed scientific paper with the open access content (if available otherwise just the abstract) of that paper to enhance one's ability to comprehend that content. Pubcasts of closed access papers consist of a video, supplementary slides, data etc. and the abstract of the published peer reviewed paper. Videos are presentations of a broad range of scientific topics not easily communicated by other media, notably print. Associated with Pubcasts and videos are communities of users that form around areas of common interest stimulated by the content. Communities exist for topics, laboratories, institutions, etc. Users comment and rate content as is typical of a Web 2.0 resource. The goals of SciVee are: To stimulate continued interest in science by people of all ages with emphasis on retaining the interest of young minds who are turned off by the scientific stereotype and the textbook format as the only form of retaining that interest. To engage the YouTube generation who are the next generation of leading scientists. To facilitate the comprehension of an ever broadening body of scientific knowledge by professionals required to be ever more multi-disciplinary. To create a new type of environment for scientific discourse. To take advantage of the increasing body of full text open access (OA) scientific literature in ways that enhance learning and help promote the OA publishing model. SciVee was created in collaboration with the Public Library of Science (PLoS) and with a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant paid to develop the Web site (content management system, backend database, redundant servers etc.) At present the site has 30,000 unique users per month, several thousand videos, 5000 community members and about 40 Pubcasts. The next stage of development and sustainability (Phase I) requires an evaluation of the proposed business model and the subsequent phase require enactment of the resulting modified business model (Phase II). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The dissemination of science in a new medium has the potential for global improvements in science research and education. This in turn will impact Public Heath.