Editorial: Research on the Tube

Information comes in many shapes and sizes. E-mail, text, video, audio, print, journals and… Information comes in many shapes and sizes. E-mail, text, video, audio, print, journals and papers are just a few vehicles of conveyance.

People do not prefer these methods equally. Often, the electronic wins over the tangible. Electronic information is more versatile, more portable and often, quicker. One can pull up an article or e-mail within seconds on a variety of smart phones, laptops and other gadgets.

And under the electronic umbrella, video is a favorite. There is something to view and something to listen to. Just look how pervasive television is on the Pitt campus.

YouTube is everyone’s television. It doesn’t matter what kind of flat screen or video player you have, YouTube is always there as a backup, and often a primary source, for viewing your favorite clips. It’s the common man’s TV.

The University of Maryland understands the mass audience that YouTube garners and is harnessing this audience for purposes outside of entertainment. Stephen Kinsey, the technology-licensing officer for the university’s department of commercial ventures and intellectual property, wanted to connect researchers to businesses interested in their inventions on a YouTube channel they created. The short videos depict the researchers explaining their work.

Such a venture is an enriching opportunity for universities and does not have to necessarily include potential business. This would be accomplished with the proper licensing policies the institution holds. Pitt, being the research goliath it is, has this potential.

Professors who want to participate could create videos of themselves explaining their research on a YouTube channel. The purpose is not for business, but for more dialogue and familiarity between each faculty member and the rest of the University. Students would readily realize what their professors’ lives are about outside of lecture.

This kind of communication traditionally involves reading a professor’s published articles to better understand his or her professional interests. However, reading a 30-page paper engrossed in the details of the neuron’s cell membrane, although essential, is no easy task. And it does not offer the reader a real look at the researcher as a person, like a video would — although face-to-face communication would be ideal.

The disciplines that such coverage could include are limitless. The research does not have to be in the natural sciences only, but the humanities and arts as well. Students and other faculty will get an interdisciplinary perspective of the campus. Even residents of Pittsburgh will have a better understanding why, for example, Pitt ranks in the top 10 institutions receiving funding from the National Institute of Health, neck-to-neck with Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Another benefit of such a pursuit would be that potential undergraduate researchers could better gauge the interests of faculty they want to work with. Nothing replaces a good literature review, but a video makes the task a little easier and a little more fun.

The advances technology has made are well known. There is tremendous potential in using popular technology for awareness causes, introducing research being one of many.