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Science Communications on YouTube

blogs.memphis.edu

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Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#11

Post by mmooss »

jonahrd wrote: post #8
mmooss wrote: post #6

Who has time for videos? I know lots watch them, but wow - reading is so much more efficient. I can skip ahead - and skim - or revisit; I can annotate; I can save, transcribe (copy/paste), I read so much faster than even accelerated video can play .... and all so much more easily. By sticking to reading, am I missing out on content? Edit: Not a criticism of watching video, I'm wondering if I'm missing substantial thi…

I'm a much more auditory/visual learner, so these videos work really great for me. I'm glad that reading works for you!

I'm not criticizing, sorry; just trying to understand.

I find video more compelling, generally. Obviously video has more ways to communicate - graphically, empirically, etc. It's not that reading works more effectively, but far more efficiently.

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#12

Post by bane »

mmooss wrote: post #6

Who has time for videos? I know lots watch them, but wow - reading is so much more efficient. I can skip ahead - and skim - or revisit; I can annotate; I can save, transcribe (copy/paste), I read so much faster than even accelerated video can play .... and all so much more easily. By sticking to reading, am I missing out on content? Edit: Not a criticism of watching video, I'm wondering if I'm missing substantial thi…

Let me turn your question around, what are the benefits of communicating science via video such that it's a very popular medium that people use to learn about science?

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#13

Post by quamserena »

mmooss wrote: post #6

Who has time for videos? I know lots watch them, but wow - reading is so much more efficient. I can skip ahead - and skim - or revisit; I can annotate; I can save, transcribe (copy/paste), I read so much faster than even accelerated video can play .... and all so much more easily. By sticking to reading, am I missing out on content? Edit: Not a criticism of watching video, I'm wondering if I'm missing substantial thi…

3blue1brown has great math visualizations. I find the top 10% of YouTube videos are worth the time over reading, and the bottom 90% are comparable or slower. Those are also nice though because you can put them on while doing other stuff, like eating or doing the laundry.

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#14

Post by quamserena »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #7
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #4

Some people might take issue with the Veritasium recommendation. I think he's great though.

I was an avid viewer until he stepped in my area of expertise and leveraged technicalities, half-truths, and misrepresentation to really juice up the click-baityness and "wow!" factor. My interest in his videos plunged after that, and it seemed like he was re-alinging for consistent high views over straight hard factual education. Frankly I wish I could purge him from my feed at this point (youtube still recommends a…

He was bought out by private equity.[0] That’s why the channel is different now.

[0] https://www.electrify.video/post/electrify-completes-majorit...

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#15

Post by senthil_rajasek »

mmooss wrote: post #6

Who has time for videos? I know lots watch them, but wow - reading is so much more efficient. I can skip ahead - and skim - or revisit; I can annotate; I can save, transcribe (copy/paste), I read so much faster than even accelerated video can play .... and all so much more easily. By sticking to reading, am I missing out on content? Edit: Not a criticism of watching video, I'm wondering if I'm missing substantial thi…

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

-Confucius [1]

For certain concepts such as Linear Algebra, for instance books allow me to "do" and understand. Which is why I read more than I watch videos.

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2826962/

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#16

Post by mmooss »

bane wrote: post #12
mmooss wrote: post #6

Who has time for videos? I know lots watch them, but wow - reading is so much more efficient. I can skip ahead - and skim - or revisit; I can annotate; I can save, transcribe (copy/paste), I read so much faster than even accelerated video can play .... and all so much more easily. By sticking to reading, am I missing out on content? Edit: Not a criticism of watching video, I'm wondering if I'm missing substantial thi…

Let me turn your question around, what are the benefits of communicating science via video such that it's a very popular medium that people use to learn about science?

I think video is much more compelling to people in many ways (similar to TV vs reading a book), including to me. Part of that is seeing a person talking to you with all the cues of expression, voice, etc. There's a lower cognitive threshhold for engaging.

Video also has communication modes that text/print lacks: dynamic graphics and empirical video (showing the thing itself happening), audio, speech and expression (as described above).

With all that, I find it quite frustrating to see it consume so much time that could be spent reading and processing several things. How do others on HN - intellectually curious and serious, often busy - reconcile that?

Though my question is really, am I missing things by not watching video - things I won't realistically get through print? I mean high-quality things - I want the equivelant of a paper, review paper, or book by a professional in the field.

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#17

Post by griffzhowl »

mmooss wrote: post #6

Who has time for videos? I know lots watch them, but wow - reading is so much more efficient. I can skip ahead - and skim - or revisit; I can annotate; I can save, transcribe (copy/paste), I read so much faster than even accelerated video can play .... and all so much more easily. By sticking to reading, am I missing out on content? Edit: Not a criticism of watching video, I'm wondering if I'm missing substantial thi…

It's similar to the benefits of attending lectures (or watching them on yt): there are more informal asides and intuition-pumps, and maybe more detailed explanations of intermediate steps in calculations than you usually get in books.

And for videos specifically, it can obviously help understanding in many cases to have animated visualizations

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#18

Post by mmooss »

griffzhowl wrote: post #17
mmooss wrote: post #6

Who has time for videos? I know lots watch them, but wow - reading is so much more efficient. I can skip ahead - and skim - or revisit; I can annotate; I can save, transcribe (copy/paste), I read so much faster than even accelerated video can play .... and all so much more easily. By sticking to reading, am I missing out on content? Edit: Not a criticism of watching video, I'm wondering if I'm missing substantial thi…

It's similar to the benefits of attending lectures (or watching them on yt): there are more informal asides and intuition-pumps, and maybe more detailed explanations of intermediate steps in calculations than you usually get in books. And for videos specifically, it can obviously help understanding in many cases to have animated visualizations

A good point. Personally, I've never liked attending lectures except for the chance to ask questions. If I must 'attend', I prefer afterward at 2x.

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#19

Post by Workaccount2 »

quamserena wrote: post #14
Workaccount2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was an avid viewer until he stepped in my area of expertise and leveraged technicalities, half-truths, and misrepresentation to really juice up the click-baityness and "wow!" factor. My interest in his videos plunged after that, and it seemed like he was re-alinging for consistent high views over straight hard factual education. Frankly I wish I could purge him from my feed at this point (youtube still recommends a…

He was bought out by private equity.[0] That’s why the channel is different now. [0] https://www.electrify.video/post/electrify-completes-majorit...

Yeah, that would explain it.

Re: Science Communications on YouTube

#20

Post by andrewflnr »

vinceguidry wrote: post #2

Can't leave out Dr. Angela Collier: https://www.youtube.com/@acollierastro Hopefully author reads HN.

She's very hit or miss in her quality IMO. Also, she's explicitly disclaimed the title of "science communicator", so she might not want to be on this list anyway. :)

I kind of wish they hadn't included Veritasium either. He seems to have gone downhill.

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