SciVee and The Origin of 'Yes, We Can!'

• Link to SciVee & Overview of SciVee (Video)
• Via Tom Hanson through e-mail (Editor - Openeducation.Net)

SciVee?
SciVee is an online science research sharing portal that invites scientists to make their research known by combining their published scientific article with a corresponding video into an online presentation called a “SciVee pubcast.”

FEATURES & BENEFITS?

"Pubcasts enable scientists who view them a deeper comprehension of a publications teaching points than would be possible from reading an abstract alone. Scientists can gain a quicker comprehension of more publications in substantially less time with the aid of a video presentation provided directly from the author. Once a large database of pubcasts are made available on SciVee, viewing multiple pubcasts on the same topic will enable scientists to gain access to a broader sampling of relevant research thereby possibly expanding their breadth and depth of their scientific understanding (Source)."

According to SciVee, a pubcast of your research paper (peer reviewed scientific journal publication?) can increase the breadth of your audience, readership of your paper, feedback from peers, and possibly the likelihood of citation(s).

EXAMPLE?
Here is the cream example of success at SciVee: Structural Evolution of the Protein-kinase Like Superfamily was one of their first posts on July 19, 2007, and since then it has been viewed (or clicked on) more than 100,000 times.

REFLECTION!
According to YouTube viewing standards the cream example would probably be considered a disaster, but then again if say 5-10 of these viewers would actually cite the paper in theirs, it can be considered a great success from an academic research point-of-view.

Anyway, researchers should not be too concerned about the viewing numbers, popularity, ratings, and other ego-boosting activities. If the research can benefit mankind or nature in any way, we should have enough motivation to do our thing, and with tools like SciVee we can share, promote, discuss and reflect our research with the SciVee world. If we are lucky it will spark more interest here and there. You never know, someone like Bill Gates might be willing to sponsor millions of dollars if he believes in your work.

On the other side, I really found SciVee to be a really slow learning adventure! I am not sure if it has something to do with my PC and network, or with their server capacity and user traffic, or perhaps they are using some form of poor video compression technology. Whatever it is, it would probably be a good reason for why I will probably not access this site again (unless I discover a great SciVee research project searching in Google!). Perhaps, all the videos could be hosted on YouTube, and embedded in SciVee, so that SciVee could be lighter and easier to access for other important research activities such as discussion and reflection. Imagine exploring SciVee with a Google speed factor. Now that is something that gets me excited. In other words, SciVee has interesting content and discussions, but it needs to speed up the access factor to have my vote of approval (Who cares about your vote!)! Just making a point!

ORIGIN OF 'YES, WE CAN' ?
I am not sure if Bill Gates will invest millions of dollars in my important non-scientific "Origin of 'Yes, We Can!'" weekend project. I am in the midst of researching the origin of Obama's (or his team) inspirational and successful 'Yes, We can!' slogan and campaign (Example: 'Yes, We Can' song). Ever since I heard Obama say those three famous words, I felt that I had heard it before somewhere. And this weekend I got the AHA-moment while listening (actually singing along! Great song!) to my 2 1/2 year old son singing the famous Bob the Builder song (or chorus), ' Bob the builder, Can we fix it? Bob the builder, Yes we can!

Could it be that Obama was inspired by Bob the Builder? If this is the case, he should give due credit to Bob the Builder for his contribution. If not, shame on Obama! Hmm, lets' give Obama the benefit of doubt for now. Perhaps, also 'Bob the Builder' is guilty of plagiarism. Therefore, I believe that this project is of great significance. Why? Because we need to know the truth and origin of this motivational and inspirational 'Yes, We Can!' phrase. It could be worth millions!

Boss: What nonsense! Get back to work! We don't pay you for researching such rubbish!
Me: Just trying to be creative and funny!
Boss: CREATIVE AND FUNNY!!!! Pay me your salary, and then you can be creative and funny!
Me: Ooops, this post is getting me into trouble, so I better stop here :)