Big Think Debuts

The YouTube for Ideas Falls Short

Last week saw the emergence of Big Think, yet another video web site. Seeking to be the “YouTube for ideas,” the new site features short clips with academics, authors, politicians, and other ‘thinkers’.

While YouTube has become immensely popular, the jury is still out on whether a site devoted to the academic video format can succeed. In fact, YouTube currently offers many such videos and the online company has signed contracts with a number of universities and colleges that should bring even more videos to the site.

Though the most popular YouTube videos tend to be quite short, academic lectures can be quite lengthy. Still according to Jeffrey Young of ‘The Chronicle of Higher Education’, some lectures from Berkeley College professors available via YouTube reached 100,000 hits. Not only did people check out the lectures, people reportedly were sitting through the whole talks.

However, the main issue for YouTube site users (especially moi) seeking the more intellectual fair is that the academic offerings are not really categorized as one might expect. Even within the education category a researcher will get a hodge podge of videos, some intellectual based and others that conjure up anything but an academic description.

Enter Big Think
Big Think seeks to be a site that offers users a public forum to interact with intellectuals in a number of different fields. The site’s producers have recorded hours of footage of interviews with numerous experts focused on broad, overarching issues.

Big Think has begun with more than 2,000 clips from 85 experts. Among those offering commentary are Senator John McCain, psychologist Steven Pinker, and economist Paul Krugman.

We provide a sample here of Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney answering the question, “Is ethanol overhyped?”

The bland white background and professorial nature of each concept gives the feel of academia. Unfortunately both aspects may leave folks less than satisfied. The only item that Big Think appears to be offering is someone verbalizing a statement that could just as easily exist as a page in writing and for this user produced a similar impact. Hopefully there is more to come from this beta offering.

However, the site professes to start a thread on user ideas. Therefore, when one cannot find an existing video offering on a topic, the idea is one might be forthcoming or at least other users will point the questioner in a specific direction.

Other Players in the Field
Big Think and YouTube are not the only sites offering academic-oriented videos. Two others are well-known and offer a similar vein or objective. There is FORA.tv, a site that refers to itself as “the thinking man’s YouTube.” FORA.tv offers lectures and debates from scholars, as well as the opportunity for users to debate political, social and cultural issues.

The word fora is the plural of “forum” and represents the idea of a public discussion on world issues in multiple locations simultaneously. FORA.tv also has begun to partner with colleges and universities as well to offer recordings of campus talks and lectures. Young notes that the site already boasts an audience of roughly 250,000 viewers a month with a growth rate approaching 20 percent per month.

Consider the following video offering more than two hours of material. Notice the feature in the lower left (Open Tools) that allows the user to move into topics of interest within the two hour session.

For those in academia, FORA has much more depth to offer currently.

The longest standing site is called TED.com. The acronym stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. the concept began in 1984 when a conference brought together people from those three often distinct worlds. Today, TED features an annual conference that claims to bring together “the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers” who then give a talk or performance of less than 18 minutes.

The TED site then makes the best talks and performances from the conference available for free. All videos are released under a Creative Commons license and can be freely shared and reposted any where on the net.

TED appears to be the YouTube of the intellectual class. Consider the following that has all the feel of a YouTube stalwart.

A Market Exists
Though the Beta version of Big Think did not hit the mark for me, the concept of an academic-oriented site deserves careful thought. Having to scrounge through YouTube can be a bit frustrating unless you have no restriction on intellectual rigor.

In addition, the idea of videos that focus on a question of interest and not necessarily an already produced lecture or talk has enormous potential. Keep an eye on Big Think to see if it can deliver but in the meantime head to FORA for your academic fix.