This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Looks like I'm in for a great summer full of science video goodness!
At the end of June, both Carin and I will be heading to an unconference (taking a clue from Bora from Science Online) called BrainSTEM at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada (maybe I'll get to wave at Stephen Hawking!) We will be discussing many issues related to creating new media with science themes, both as education and entertainment. The wonderfully enthusiastic and positive Angela Maiers, education maven, will be the Keynote speaker. I had the opportunity to meet her when I went to brainstorm about e-textbooks at Discovery Educator's Network in March. I look forward to meeting her again!
Some of my favorite science and education video creators will be there including ViHart, Henry from Minute Physics, Derek from Veritasium, Brady from Periodic Videos, CGPGrey, Destin from Smarter Every Day and so many more! View the full list here (although it seems I am missing from the list temporarily as I type this).
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Keep your eyes on this site for our coverage of this brainstorming session.
Another exciting potential event for me: I've obtained my Scientific American press pass to get into VidCon 2012, which is a conference/convention that is a celebration of youtube culture. They are expecting about 6,000 attendees this year, only their third year in existence! Hank Green of SciShow is coordinating the WHOLE thing (and some day I will post about SciShow here, I promise)
That's a lot of energy! I'm taking my vitamins now!
Last year, Andrew Maynard ( @2020Science on twitter) attended VidCon with his daughter and wondered "Where are the science videos?" The science of VidCon-Connecting with Science and Engineering through Youtube. It was his query that motivated me to consider attending this year!
My plan is to attend this year to hunt for the makers of science, engineering and tech videos and grab on camera interviews to ask them what they do, how they do it and their plans for the future! I am excited to share this information with you!
In addition, other goals I have for attending is to make connections, and to understand this video culture. I will share my experience on all venues of social media, in video interviews, and through Scientific American.
As with everyone these days, budgets are tight and my budget to travel to conferences is exhausted this year. I would love your assistance. It has been suggested to me to use the power of social media to get me to VidCon and share it more widely with all of you!
So, at the risk of causing my dad, who'd die before asking for a handout (and I guess he did!) to roll over in his grave (sorry, Dad), I am asking for a bit of assistance to help me out with travel. Don't worry, Dad, I have thank you "gifts" for donors!
I'm doing it through paypal on my website, or if you hate paypal, you have the option to send a donation to the address on this page.
I'd never want generous donors to leave empty handed so I have created Thank You's for levels of assistance! (Keep in mind that I'm open to suggestions, too!)
The highest level, for $100 or more donation, I will create for you (or a loved one) a short video just for you (them) on a science topic of interest. Already I have one long time twitter follower who has asked me to create one in honor of his daughter's 17th birthday on the topic of neuroscience! I will highlight the field of neuroscience history, at least that's my preliminary thought. I've been playing with this idea of personalized videos for a long time and this is a great place to beta-test this!
Between $50-99, I will make a video where I present a short statement from the donor about science and even reference a website or project as presented by each contributor. I guess this would be like a mini-ad/endorsement!
For $25 and above, I will do my darnedest to find your favorite youtuber and get their autograph and snap a photo with my iPhone! Apparently, I will need to find John Green for my daughter! He will be at the BrainSTEM conference, so it looks like it might be easier to find him there.
Everyone who donates will receive a shoutout on my social media and on websites where I write about this, unless you wish to remain anonymous. I will email a thank you and if you want a handwritten thank you note, just include your snailmail address.
Thanks so much for your consideration in helping out. I am so excited to share the world of youtube science video production with you!