Eric Brennan, a researcher with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, recently published a paper in Frontiers in Communication called “Why Should Scientists Be On YouTube? It’s All About Bamboo, Oil, and Ice Cream“. Eric and I began corresponding about eight years ago, sharing our experiences making videos and encouraging other scientists to use video to communicate their work. When I saw his paper, I contacted him and suggested we collaborate on a video project.

We’ve decided to initiate a joint video series to answer questions that science professionals may have about making videos. Each video will focus on a different question. This is the first video in the series and focuses on the question of why scientists should be using video as a communication tool. Future videos will address other questions listed in Eric’s paper (Table 1).