Communications of the ACM
Upgraded Scientific Research Web Site Gets Nih Grant
SciVee
SciVee, a Web 2.0 resource dedicated to the dissemination of scientific research and science-specific research networking, has completed a number of significant upgrades to its site, enabling faster uploads, improved synchronization, more accurate Web site searches, and the addition of 32 new science categories.
In addition, the National Institutes of Health has awarded SciVee a six-month, $173,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant to enable more enhancements, and continue the process of commercialization of the site.
"We are pleased to say that SciVee is generating revenue, and is attracting commercial interest from publishers, conference organizers, educational institutions, and companies that serve them," said Marc Friedmann, CEO of SciVee Inc. "Internet video, which is at the very heart of SciVee, continues to be an exciting area of opportunity and rapid development."
Launched in late 2007 as a collaboration between the National Science Foundation and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego, SciVee has been used by hundreds of thousands of students and professional scientists since its introduction as a means of learning and sharing their research through online science videos that supplement peer-reviewed journal articles, stimulate discussion, and promote collaboration. Thousands of videos, pubcasts and postercasts have been posted on the site, with content ranging from popular science to conference keynote lectures. With millions of page views to date, the number of visitors and uploads are increasing monthly.
Specifically, new upgrades to the SciVee site include:
- Accelerated search: SciVee's Web site search functions have been revised for improved speed and accuracy.
- Improved "related videos" capabilities: By using the categories and tag listings to list related videos, the relevancy of related videos is improved.
- Expanded subject areas: Based on user request, 32 new subject areas have been added to the SciVee site. This enhancement not only separates content into visible subjects, but now users can quickly see the amount of media available for each particular subject on the browse page.
- Improved browse options: Clicking the ‘browse’ globe at the top of the home page now gives users a search bar, and the ability to filter content on the site by either 'Target Audience' or 'Subject Area.' Clicking on one of these options will filter content with those criteria for quick reviews.
- Addition of 'Papercasts': In addition to 'Pubcasts' and 'Postercasts,' scientific papers of every kind can be uploaded and synchronized. Peer reviewed works and non-peer reviewed works are distinctly identified with prominent icons.
- Enhanced upload flow and process: The entire upload process has been re-engineered for speed and simplicity. Uploading is now one simple process for all document types.
- Improved synchronization technology: Synchronization has been redesigned for ease of use across all types of content.
- Tagging automation: Adding tags to uploads has been made easier. Using information from the documents and metadata supplied by the researcher at the time of upload, a cloud of tags are automatically suggested, making the tagging process simpler for the contributor.
- Expanded acceptable document formats: Accepted file formats have been substantially expanded to include many additional document types.
- Easier 'Community' creation: Creating a "community" – or a group of students and/or scientists with similar scientific interests – is now automated as part of the upload process. Several hundred such communities already have been formed among SciVee users.
- Customized RSS feeds: Feeds can now be configured by pubcast, postercast, video, subject area, target audience, tags, specific user, and keywords. Create your custom feed at http://www.scivee.tv/feed.
"Consistent with our original mission, we believe that these enhancements will substantially improve the ability of scientists and students to upload and find internet video content on SciVee, and help make your research known," said Phil Bourne, Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at UC San Diego and a SciVee co-founder.
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