Optical Science: Deploying Technical Concepts and Engaging Participation through Digital Storytelling
Abstract
Technical 'hands-on' training workshops are designed to bring together scientists, technicians, and program managers from universities, government agencies, and the private sector to discuss methods used and advances made in instrumentation and data analysis. Through classroom lectures and discussions combined with a field-day component, hands-on workshop participants get a 'full life cycle' perspective from instrumentation concepts and deployment to data analysis. Using film to document this process is becoming increasingly more popular, allowing scientists to add a story-telling component to their research. With the availability of high-quality and low priced professional video equipment and editing software, scientists are becoming digital storytellers. The science video developed from the 'hands-on' workshop, Optical Water Quality Sensors for Nutrients: Concepts, Deployment, and Analysis, encapsulates the objectives of technical training workshops for participants. Through the use of still photography, video, interviews, and sound, the short video, An Introduction to CUAHSI's Hands-on Workshops, produced by a co-instructor of the workshop acts as a multi-purpose tool. The 10-minute piece provides an overview of workshop field day activities and works to bridge the gap between classroom learning, instrumentation application and data analysis. CUAHSI 'hands-on' technical workshops have been collaboratively executed with faculty from several universities and with the U.S. Geological Survey. The video developed was designed to attract new participants to these professional development workshops, to stimulate a connection with the environment, to act as a workshop legacy resource, and also serve as a guide for prospective hands-on workshop organizers. The effective use of film and short videos in marketing scientific programs, such as technical trainings, allows scientists to visually demonstrate the technologies currently being employed and to provide a more intriguing perspective on scientific research.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMPA41A..03T
- Keywords:
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- 1895 HYDROLOGY Instruments and techniques: monitoring