In June and July of 2016, Tangled Bank Studios, a production company dedicated to the creation of original science documentaries, provided support to earth science researchers and educators at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) to produce educational content about paleontological research and fieldwork. The result was an interactive website and social media presence titled LiveSci in the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs, which chronicled the daily life and work of a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary group of paleontologists as they worked in a remote field area along the border of North Dakota and Montana. The researchers and volunteers from various institutions collaborated by sharing data, equipment, laboratory space, and a field kitchen while they conducted their fieldwork pursuing the various lines of evidence that inform our understanding of the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs and the recovery of life on Earth that followed (Lyson et al., 2011). Throughout the seven-week field season, LiveSci produced and posted online video content for social media and maintained a project website (www.lastdinos.livesci.org) to host biographical content, written reflections, pictures, and videos from the scientists, students, and volunteers conducting this fieldwork and research. Unlike Tangled Bank’s typical documentary content produced for broadcast or theatrical distribution such as the PBS series, Your Inner Fish, the NOVA special, Vaccines—Calling the Shots, and Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink, which aired on the Smithsonian Channel, this digital project made use of online platforms to connect its audience with developments from the field as they happened while providing an archive of the field season that can be easily accessed for years to come.

The website, video content, and social media pages were created, produced, and maintained by DMNS research associate John Hankla and high school intern Jeremy Wyman. In addition to the main website, the project also included a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LiveSci/), a Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/LiveSci_HHMI), and an Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/livesci_hhmi/) to introduce members of the general public to participants within the field of paleontology and to create ways for the two groups of people to communicate.

Tangled Bank Studios was created by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in 2012 to “produce programs that capture compelling stories of discovery” (http://www.tangledbankstudios.org/about-us/about-tangled-bank-studios). The vision for their body of work involves creating productions that will have a lasting impact while being entertaining, including new science, and inspiring wonder. “The Denver Museum of Nature & Science envisions an empowered community that loves, understands, and protects our natural world” (http://www.dmns.org/about-us/mission-and-vision/). The Department of Earth Sciences at DMNS embodies this vision through their focus on specimen-based research, which they share with the public through the museum’s programs and exhibits. Dr. Tyler Lyson, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at DMNS and Director of the Marmarth Research Foundation, collects and studies fossils from the Hell Creek Formation to make discoveries about dinosaur extinction (Lyson et al., 2011). Lyson’s fossil localities produce incredible dinosaurs, turtles, and many other Late Cretaceous flora and fauna that provide details as to what life was like before and leading up to the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary horizon. His work attracted the attention of HHMI’s “BioInteractive” educators, and a collaborative relationship between DMNS and HHMI was formed that resulted in the production of a film, The Day the Mesozoic Died (2012).

As mentioned on the HHMI website for the film, The Day the Mesozoic Died, HHMI and Tangled Bank Studio were attracted to the work of Lyson and his colleagues researching the end-cretaceous mass extinction because it “represents a rare instance in which many different disciplines—geology, physics, biology, chemistry, and paleontology—contributed to a revolutionary theory” (https://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/day-mesozoic-died). The website also cites the popularity of the subject of dinosaur mass extinction with a quote from a Colorado teacher, “Who does not love dinosaurs and huge explosions!?” In the College Board’s current Advanced Placement (AP) Biology curriculum framework, it is considered “Essential Knowledge” that “scientific evidence of biological evolution is supported by evidence from many disciplines.” With this in mind, LiveSci chose to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the project, developing content with scientists from multiple institutions, working in sedimentary geology, vertebrate paleontology, paleobotany, physics, computer science, and museum studies. Lyson’s research questions about the changes in vertebrate communities before, during, and immediately after the mass extinction that is recorded in the rocks of the Hell Creek field area cannot be answered by solely observing the vertebrate fossil record. Dr. Antoine Bercovici’s detailed understanding of paleobotanical data, such as the fossil record of pollen spores, resolves the timing of the changes in the vertebrate record relative to the event that caused so much drastic change to these vertebrate communities. Using sophisticated GIS modeling software, Gabriella Rosetto uses the finely resolved data from both the vertebrate and plant fossil records to create a visual model that takes advantage of one of the most comprehensive terrestrial data sets ever made for this extinction event. During the 2016 field season, LiveSci provided each of these collaborators and many more participating scientists a chance to interact directly with the public through online platforms. LiveSci’s goal in introducing the public to the people behind these individual research objectives was to show how real-world networks help strengthen scholarly collaborations and allow researchers to answer bigger questions than could be addressed individually.

In addition to providing scientific expertise and access to research scientists, DMNS also has experience using the Internet to connect scientists with the public. Since 2001, DMNS distance learning programs have been using new technologies to give students a window into the world of scientists. In 2007, DMNS enhanced the interactivity of its distance learning program with the launch of Scientists in Action (SIA). This program uses digital satellite connections from real scientists’ field or laboratory sites to the Museum’s auditorium, where hundreds of students are gathered. From the auditorium, the students can see and hear a live demonstration and lecture with a talk-back circuit available for student questions. Drawing upon the production experience and funding of Tangled Bank Studios as well as the scientific and programming expertise of DMNS, the idea for LiveSci in the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs was born.

The LiveSci collaboration was developed to communicate science by establishing an online community and providing a social space where dialog could take place between working paleontologists and interested members of the general public. Unlike previous programming efforts such as SIA that check in with researchers only once, the vision for LiveSci was that the public could follow and interact with a group of working scientists through an entire season of fieldwork. By creating this online community, LiveSci aspired to increase public engagement in paleontology.

The idea for employing community-based learning environments is not new in the field of education and outreach. In the mid-1970s, Albert Bandura pioneered the concept of social learning (Bandura, 1977). Now a widely accepted pillar of modern educational pedagogy, his “social cognitive theory” proposes that people learn observationally through the process of modeling in a social setting. Because much of the process of modern paleontology takes place in remote field areas or behind the scenes in museums and universities, it can be challenging for the general public to find ways to model the behaviors of major contributors to this field. With recent advances in technology, social arenas can now be created in the form of online communities that provide access for the exchange of ideas and dialog between individuals, regardless of their background or geographic location. People who feel a sense of belonging to a community will exhibit more motivation, which leads to increasing engagement with the subject (Silius et al., 2011). Student engagement has been defined as “the amount of physical and psychological energy that a person devotes to the academic experience” (Astin, 1984). In their 2004 study on student engagement in higher education, Zhao and Kuh (2004) showed that participation in a learning community that includes social interactions with experts is directly related to personal and social development, improved academic performance, and engagement in their education. By taking advantage of web-based technologies such as social media, LiveSci was able to create an inclusive community for social learning that encompasses research scientists and members of the general public. According to Silius et al. (2011), “social media enhanced learning systems allow students to participate in educational online communities,” giving people a sense of belonging that helps to assist in the learning process. Cerda and Planas (2011) found that social media sites, such as Facebook (www.facebook.com), provide a collaborative learning experience by fostering a “virtual community culture” and opportunities for social learning. Modern learners have been shown to “absorb information quickly in images and video” (Duffy, 2008); therefore, the online community developed by LiveSci in the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs created regular, episodic video content and posted it to the project website and social media pages. Videos introduced the research scientists who drive the field of paleontology, explored the daily realities of their scientific fieldwork, and provided biographical information, contact links, and comment threads to facilitate dialog between the scientists and the public.

The effectiveness of social educational communities is not novel, and the benefits of technology to facilitate these communities have been demonstrated and documented in educational pedagogy. Nevertheless, rapid advances in technology are giving us new ways to approach social learning each year. It is hard to imagine that pioneers in the field of social learning could have predicted the powerful set of tools that is considered commonplace today. A 2015 Pew Research Internet survey shows that two-thirds of Americans own smartphones. These common devices can facilitate the creation of content, including high-quality video, and are capable of posting content to social media platforms even from remote locations (Rainie, 2012). LiveSci in the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs demonstrates that an effective online community can be created to engage the public with paleontological research at minimal expense in terms of equipment and staff. The production team included one paid educator and one high school intern. Content was created and posted using their personal smartphones without the need for purchasing expensive devices.

Video posts and written reflections were regularly posted to Facebook, Twitter, and the project’s website. The general weekly schedule of content was outlined prior to the start of field season by producer John Hankla and the lead researcher, Lyson. This general outline accounted for the specific field schedule of faculty from each of the collaborating institutions while also allowing room for more spontaneous content.

Each week, two videos and several written blog entries were produced and posted revolving around a particular theme that was relevant to that week’s research. These seven weekly themes detailed the range of fieldwork being conducted and how the work of various researchers involved in the collaborative project contributes to the understanding of Earth’s last major extinction event as it is recorded in the rocks of North America.

During the seven-week field season, LiveSci recorded video conversations with research teams from DMNS, Yale University, Brooklyn College, the Smithsonian Institution, the Pioneer Trails Regional Museum, the Marmarth Research Foundation, Mansoura University, and the Royal Ontario Museum. The scientists, students, and volunteers who work in this field area and represent each of these varied institutions share tools, equipment, and other necessary resources with one another during the field season, and they also share data. The results of their individual research frequently overlap in publications, and these collaborators become coauthors as in the case of Dinosaur Extinction: Closing the ‘3 m Gap,’ which was published in 2011 by Tyler Lyson, Antoine Bercovici, Stephen Chester, Eric Sargis, Dean Pearson, and Walter Joyce (Lyson et al., 2011). This paper featured scientists representing seven different departments at six institutions, all of whom were still working together during the 2016 field season. Researching a complex paleontological concept such as the end-Cretaceous mass extinction and subsequent recovery of life on Earth requires input from many different subdisciplines of paleontology and relies on the research of multiple scientists. Including the collaborative nature of this ongoing project was a priority of LiveSci.

The format of each video included a 10-second, eye-catching, and often humorous introduction, followed by a 7-second custom LiveSci musical theme, 2–5 minutes of conversation with a scientist or team, and a 7-second musical conclusion. Special attention was given to the framing of each video. The visual appeal and “mood” of each video was considered almost as important as the scientific content because the team sought to capture both the scientifically relevant and the beautiful aspects of individual field localities.

These video conversations delivered stories and ideas from the field researchers in their own words, conveying a sense of authenticity without looking over-produced or heavily edited. For this reason, LiveSci went with a “vlog” (video-blog) style approach when filming to get 2–5 succinct minutes of footage in as few takes as possible. In addition to appearing genuine, this approach has the added benefit of using less of the researcher’s valuable time and attention while they are busy with the subject of their fieldwork. Many of the collaborating institutions are only able to spend a few days or weeks in the field area each year and simply do not have entire days to devote to outreach. Creating this kind of content in a few takes, usually 30 minutes or less, without using too much of the researcher’s precious time and attention was often a challenge. With a heavily edited video piece, several hours of footage can be put together to make one succinct point in a few seconds to minutes of video time. Making simple, clear, and informative points can be a difficult task when filming time is limited to only a few minutes, cameras are scarce, and time does not allow the opportunity to spend hours poring over footage to edit out mistakes. Much of the work necessary to overcome these challenges fell upon the host of the episode. Before filming each episode, the host needed to conduct casual conversations with the subjects (often while lending a hand at whatever task the subject was working on) to decide what would be the most interesting talking points. Once a basic outline was constructed casually and a location for filming decided upon, the cameras and microphones were turned on and a quick conversation could be captured in less than 10 minutes.

LiveSci video content resulted in a considerable reach despite being created with minimal expense in terms of equipment and expertise. By choosing to use minimal equipment, LiveSci avoided transporting large, cumbersome devices into field sites in remote locations and managed to record candid, casual conversations in some field sites where bringing traditional film equipment would be significantly more difficult. An added advantage of this minimalist approach was that LiveSci reduced the anxiety that can sometimes make capturing candid content difficult when talking to scientists who have various levels of experience on camera.

Video content was created using an Apple iPhone 6 in a simple mounting case that provided stability and protection. The “ALM mCAM” (http://www.actionlifemedia.com/mcam) mounting case included a wide-angle lens attachment and a threaded attachment point for tripods and grips. An “Opteka x-grip” (http://opteka.com/xgrip.aspx) was used as an unobtrusive way to increase stabilization during filming. Occasionally, in sites where no one was available to hold the camera, a small tripod was used.

Audio was recorded using the built-in microphone included in the standard “ear bud” headphones that come with the iPhone and the “voice recorder” that is built-in to the iOS software on the phone. An iPhone recorded audio in the pocket of each person featured in a video with the ear bud microphone tucked out of plain sight under clothing, near the chest of the individual. Audio files from the various iPhones used for recording sound were sent to the iPhone that recorded video via the built-in AirDrop function. This simple, cordless, and fast file transfer function proved to be very helpful in remote areas without phone carrier signal or WiFi. Using AirDrop to share the files on site was a considerable asset because most of the time, the LiveSci production team was relying on iPhones belonging to various scientists working in each field site. This one-touch file sharing allowed LiveSci to limit time spent using borrowed equipment. Content was edited using the free iMovie program (https://www.apple.com/imovie/) that comes pre-installed on a MacBook Air laptop computer. Audio and video files were synchronized and mixed with this easy-to-use program, often on the tailgate or inside the cab of a field vehicle.

This relatively small set of user-friendly equipment allowed LiveSci to capture video and show viewers actual paleontological fieldwork, even when it was conducted miles from any roads and hours away from town. Videos were regularly posted to the web from a high-speed Internet connection at the Marmarth Research Foundation’s field laboratory in the town of Marmarth, North Dakota.

Release forms for each on-camera participant were printed and signed before filming, and an iPhone scanning application (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-scanner-pdf-scanner-to-scan-document-receipt-fax/id595563753?mt=8) was used to upload the documents into an organized folder where they could be accessed by Tangled Bank Studios staff when needed.

The project website was created using the Squarespace website-building platform (https://www.squarespace.com). A website template was modified to include pages for biographical information, a “blog” of notes from the various scientists and collaborators, a video blog page for posting video content, and multiple one-click forms for submitting audience questions.

At the end of the field season, viewership data from social media sites were gathered and used to provide insight into the online activity of the project. Statistical analyses were performed in Stata v11.2 (College Station, Texas). All data are reported as medians unless otherwise stated. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test, and statistical significance was assigned at p <0.05.

The results of video content posted to the social media outlets and the project website could be easily measured in real time and compared using analytical data built into the various platforms. The Facebook page was by far the most active. More than 206,000 unique users viewed the project’s Facebook content. The Facebook platform refers to this metric as “reach.” The project website (www.lastdinos.livesci.org) received 6874 page views, during the field season, with 49% of those visits coming as direct traffic from links in emails and documents. The other 22% of visits came from the Facebook platform itself. Video content was posted to Twitter as well and was delivered to the feed of 23,800 unique users. The top-performing Tweet reached 6468 people and was retweeted nine times. This top Tweet featured the collaboration between the LiveSci team and the paleontology team from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, a large institution with a very active Twitter presence (more than 6000 followers) and no Facebook account. The Instagram platform was not used frequently or effectively to post video content and only generated 38 followers. This infrequent use was not due to any technical limitations having to do with the Instagram software application, but rather a failure on the part of the present author to grasp the popularity and staying power of this very important social media platform at the time of production.

The video content posted to Facebook fit into three broad categories: science personalities (SP), audience questions (AQ), and methods and fieldwork (MF). Descriptions and viewership metrics for this video content are shown in Table 1.

Nine videos were in the SP category, seven videos were in the AQ category, and seven videos were in the MF category. In the SP category, the “most viewed” video featured Smithsonian scientist Bercovici and his research on fossil pollen. The AQ video with the highest reach featured a question from a kindergarten student and the research of Yale University colleague Jakob Vinther. The highest reach in the MF video category was a video showing the teams from Brooklyn College, Yale University, and DMNS having fun and playing practical jokes while working in their quarry.

Median reaction rates per 100 views (our chosen measurement to understand the true interaction of viewers with the videos through Facebook’s reaction buttons) were not statistically significantly different among the three video types (Fig. 1; p = 0.263).

Regarding all median viewership metrics (i.e., lifetime reach, views, clicks, and reactions), there were no statistically significant differences among the three content types (Fig. 2).

Lifetime reach is the number of unique users who received the post in their Facebook feed. A “view” on Facebook is registered when an individual watches the video content. “Clicks” is a metric that measures the number of individuals who choose to follow the link in a Facebook post or click somewhere on the video for more content. Facebook “reactions” refer to the action taken by a user to click the “like” button, leave a comment, or use one of the other built-in “reaction images.” The Smithsonian video featuring Bercovici’s paleobotanical fieldwork performed very well on Facebook and was viewed 19,766 times. In addition, more than 1000 people commented on or shared the video with their networks. Despite the large raw number of views, comments, and shares associated with Bercovici’s paleobotany video, median lifetime reach (MLR) was not significantly different between the videos from each collaborating institution (Fig. 3; p = 0.457).

Making sense of why one video performs better than another online is difficult given the many variables that affect a video’s production and distribution. Bercovici’s conversation in his most-watched video was insightful, and the content was intellectually stimulating. It was filmed in beautiful evening light, becoming one of the project’s most aesthetically pleasing videos. Bercovici was featured in multiple videos, as was his adorable dog, attracting viewers to their endearing personalities. Though nearly every video delivered solid scientific content in a visually interesting setting, only this video approached 20,000 views. The massive median lifetime reach of Bercovici’s video probably has more to do with the influence of the museum he represents, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, and the connections that Howard Hughes Medical Institute has with their social media team. By focusing on a large, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research area such as The Valley of the Last Dinosaurs, LiveSci took advantage of the large, preexisting social media networks of each collaborating institution. Table 1 shows higher “lifetime reach” among the videos that featured Smithsonian Institution scientists.

By coalescing the social networks of each of the collaborating programs on the various platforms, the project grew its audience with each post, from a small group of participants, family, and friends to include members of the general public around the world.

The Facebook platform also allows page administrators to view data about the variety of individual users who view Facebook content. Choosing to “follow” a Facebook page means choosing to see posts from the page in the news feed of your Facebook page. On average, LiveSci Facebook followers were divided nearly equally among male and female viewers (Fig. 4).

On 30 July 2016, the LiveSci team used Facebook’s “Facebook Live” feature to bring a panel of 11 world-class scientists together to answer audience questions in real time from the Carter County Museum in the tiny town of Ekalaka, Montana. This small museum happens to be one of the hubs of fieldwork in this region of the country. A total of 889 viewers watched during the 23 min stream, and as many as 50 people watched at a time. Cumulatively, 3443 viewers saw the video, which picked up thousands of views when each of the scientists from the 11 different institutions was tagged the following day. Despite the low-tech equipment (an iPhone camera with no external microphones) and less-than-ideal WiFi signal in the remote Carter County Museum, the audio and video quality were surprisingly good, and the signal was only minimally interrupted for buffering. The team chose to use museum curator, Nathan Carroll, as the “master of ceremonies” for the live event. Carroll helped to keep the ever-changing audience engaged by frequently explaining who the scientists were and that they were available to answer questions live. The Facebook Live video achieved the fourth highest number of direct engagements with the audience. The live function on Facebook’s platform was nearly brand new at the time of production, and this video exceeded expectations for how much attention the new function could attract.

Considering the potential of this technology to reach such a large audience in real time, a few ideas came up during the Facebook Live “experiment” that could increase the peak live viewership when used again for a similar question-and-answer session. In terms of promotion, the event should be announced several times on various social media accounts and noted on the website. Only one promotion was posted to Facebook in the days before the event. Reminders and “plugs” could be included in other videos released throughout the duration of the project. Direct communications could be sent out via e-mail to key influencers, such as the media teams at the Smithsonian, DMNS, and the other collaborating institutions and media outlets to promote awareness of a scheduled event such as this. A higher number of viewers with high-quality questions might be assembled by tagging each of the participants in promotional posts ahead of time, as well as on the Facebook Live post as soon as it goes up. The highest number of viewers watching at the same time came during the final minutes of the stream, indicating that it takes time to build an audience and that the stream could be longer than 23 min in future iterations. Regarding content and layout, the panel of scientists could wear prominent name tags displaying their institutional affiliations and titles to help the audience become better acquainted with the participants. As with much of the content that this project produced, the success of the video can be attributed to the high number of participating scientists involved, a key point to keep in mind when making improvements. In general, collaboration is a key function of this research that makes it suitable for creating successful online content.

Featuring institutions with giant social media networks proved to be a great way to take the LiveSci content beyond our average expectations in terms of Facebook views and overall reach. At the same time, featuring the input of smaller institutions can pay off as well. The Pioneer Trails Regional Museum (PTRM) in Bowman, North Dakota, has a tiny social media presence compared with that of the Smithsonian or DMNS. The PTRM is located only a few minutes from the remote field study area, but the network of local residents was quite interested in the activity of this small museum. Residents of Bowman shared the video in this region. As a result, the LiveSci Facebook page picked up 30 fans from one of the least populated regions in the United States. The value of these 30 Facebook fans may be overshadowed when compared with the thousands of fans from other regions, but the following testimonial submitted to the website’s comments section by one such resident may offer an insight into why featuring the work of multiple, diverse institutions on projects such as these should be taken seriously:

Watching the LiveSci videos on Facebook was the first time I ever really understood just what in the world all you folks were doing out here. I’ve seen you coming and going on the BLM lands and on The Hoff’s Place but all I saw was strangers tearing up and down our roads.… After watching the [LiveSci] videos I’m starting to understand what’s important about this research and how vital this land is in terms of the fossil resources here to be discovered. I’d like to invite you to come look on our place, we share a fence line with the ranch in your videos and we’d be happy to take you out. Maybe even ride a horse if you can manage? Keep the videos coming and let’s make one about the Wang Ranch next. (Cindy, age 64, Baker, Montana)

The success of an educational video like the ones produced in the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs is not always measured in numbers. Reaching people with science content, as any educator will tell you, is about individual connections. Focusing on multi-institutional projects with diverse collaborators paid off. Land access is also important in the world of field paleontology, and the connection made through the online videos could be an added bonus that will have a positive effect on future work in the area.

In addition, the LiveSci written blog content received meaningful feedback. More than a month after the research project had wrapped up in the field area, an interesting story unfolded that highlights the value of archiving field experiences on the web for viewers to find even after the field season ends. A student pursuing a career in paleontology had stumbled upon a particular blog post written by a summer intern and LiveSci contributor, Megan Sims. Megan wrote an impassioned letter in the “field notes” section of the LiveSci website, expressing the all-too-common phenomenon known as “imposter syndrome” that many students face when pursuing their careers in science (http://lastdinos.livesci.org/field-notebook/7/7/an-open-letter-to-science-imposters). In her honest and open blog post, she describes sometimes feeling lost in academia and how her season of volunteer fieldwork with the collaborative team at the Marmarth Research Foundation helped her orient herself and meet academic mentors from institutions across the country. The post was read on 16 September 2016 by a paleontology student, who shared it to his Facebook page using the website’s built-in share buttons. This student emphasized that it was a good read for students discouraged in their career path and that it had already helped him a lot. Less than an hour later, this student’s Facebook post was read and shared yet again, this time by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.

On 22 September 2016, using the form submission e-mail button on Megan’s “bio” page on the LiveSci website, the student reached out directly to Megan Sims with a heartfelt thank you for posting this meaningful content during the field season:

Hi Megan, Last week I was browsing the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs website and I stumbled upon your post “An open letter to science imposters”. Curious about the title, I read it, and I’m really glad I did. Like you, I’ve wondered if I was on the wrong path to paleontology, but upon reading about your experience, I feel much better… When I read your piece, it helped me realize that I shouldn’t compare my educational path to that of others and should instead do what is best for me. I’m not exaggerating when I say it may very well be one of the most important things I’ve read regarding my education… Sincerely, Ian. (Garfalo, 2016)

“Vlog” style scientific video content produced from the field is still relatively rare on the internet. Looking back at the seven weeks of filming, a few salient points stand out and provide insight for future projects that endeavor to record authentic science stories in remote locations with minimal equipment and budget.

The platform that worked best for LiveSci was Facebook. Videos that were uploaded directly to this platform made use of a high-resolution, large-format online video player on mobile devices and computers. The format was easily shareable across multiple preexisting social networks of collaborators, viewers, and host institutions.

Multi-institutional, collaborative projects such as the K/Pg extinction research featured in The Valley of the Last Dinosaurs work well for online science outreach because they make use of multiple social networks. This was most obvious with our videos that featured Smithsonian faculty; these videos were shared thousands of times on Facebook. Likewise, the shares that we got locally from the small Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum were also important in terms of connecting our researchers to the residents living in and around the field area.

Regarding video production, LiveSci benefited from meticulous schedule planning, but also benefited from having the flexibility to throw the schedule out and improvise on some occasions. The crew tried for nearly two weeks to film a video about the “camp life” of the DMNS team thriving in tents at their remote dinosaur quarry. However, bad weather made the typically exuberant camp look sad and depressing. It also kept some key characters in the camp from being able to physically make it to the site on the washed-out roads when the group was scheduled for filming. After a frustrating run of boring footage, the weather eventually became so extreme that it evolved into its own story, and a successful video about the camp living through a tornado touchdown with golf-ball–sized hail captured a unique view of scientific fieldwork that is not often shared.

Framing and camera work were an important part of the filming process. A beautiful and interesting scene will make or break a great conversation. The handheld “x-grip” mount for the camera provided a stable, yet moving frame that was as authentic in appearance as the conversation was casually informative. This setup depended upon having, at each location, an extra person who could hold the camera. In instances where extra hands were scarce, we relied on a simple and compact tripod, although the effect achieved using this method seems much less spontaneous and slightly more produced than the moveable, handheld set-up, which conveys the more authentic, informal nature of the project. The LiveSci crew also learned that there is more to “holding a camera” than simply “holding a camera,” and they would have benefited greatly from the on-the-ground talents and insights of a skilled videographer. A dedicated videographer with an understanding of basic framing techniques would have allowed the featured scientists and hosts to concentrate more on video content without worrying about video quality.

Keeping the one-take conversations 100% scientifically accurate while also being casual was often challenging. Some researchers and volunteers had more experience with informal teaching and “in front of the camera” skills than others. In some cases, outlines were scripted to highlight key phrases and ensure that major talking points were addressed. In a few instances, a teleprompter app for the iPad was used (http://promptsmart.com), although this had a noticeable effect on the authenticity of the video content and was used only in extreme cases of camera shyness as can be seen in the video posted on 28 June 2016, titled “Question Tuesday #1” (http://lastdinos.livesci.org/blog/6/29/question-tuesday-1-kt-vs-kpg).

The typical field season for a paleontology project is approximately six weeks. Building a significant social media audience can often take several months, even with active posting several times each week. Excitement could be built in the months or weeks leading up to the field season, teasing with footage from previous years, interviews with experts as they are planning their work, and hints about the fossils that might be excavated that season. The seven-week duration of the LiveSci online video project in The Valley of the Last Dinosaurs was an excellent proof of concept that shows how two people equipped with little more than their iPhones and a computer can create an online community for engaging the public with science content. In just seven weeks, the Facebook page alone had grown from a few participants, family, and friends to reach the news feed of over 207,000 people in more than 50 countries around the world. Although the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs stands alone as a succinct body of work, it can also be considered a “season” of episodes in an enduring web-video series of field content for LiveSci at Tangled Bank Studios.

The authors extend our appreciation to our many collaborators who helped make our seven weeks in the field such a joy and to make our project a success. Special thanks to Dr. Tyler Lyson and the Department of Earth Sciences at the DMNS for the countless hours of planning and support provided throughout the project in the planning stages and all along the way.

We thank Brisa Gonzales for laboring night and day to bring our work and the work of our many collaborators to the attention of Spanish-speaking audiences in Denver and beyond.

Sincere appreciation also goes out to Dr. Lou Taylor, Barb Benty, and the rest of the team at the Marmarth Research Foundation for providing us with amazing support, including an Internet connection and a dry place to sleep.

Our project depended on the many research paleontologists from various collaborating institutions who helped us create engaging content and share that content with their audiences. We thank Dave Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum; Ian Miller, Mike Getty, Matt Hess, Erica Evans, and Gabi Rossetto from DMNS; Kirk Johnson and Antoine Bercovici from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History; Stephen Chester from CUNY and Brooklyn College; Eric Sargis of the Yale Peabody Museum; and Dean Pearson of the Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum in Bowman, North Dakota.

The authors extend our appreciation to our many collaborators who helped make our seven weeks in the field such a joy and to make our project a success. Special thanks to Dr. Tyler Lyson and the Department of Earth Sciences at the DMNS for the countless hours of planning and support provided throughout the project in the planning stages and all along the way.

We thank Brisa Gonzales for laboring night and day to bring our work and the work of our many collaborators to the attention of Spanish-speaking audiences in Denver and beyond.

Sincere appreciation also goes out to Dr. Lou Taylor, Barb Benty, and the rest of the team at the Marmarth Research Foundation for providing us with amazing support, including an Internet connection and a dry place to sleep.

Our project depended on the many research paleontologists from various collaborating institutions who helped us create engaging content and share that content with their audiences. We thank Dave Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum; Ian Miller, Mike Getty, Matt Hess, Erica Evans, and Gabi Rossetto from DMNS; Kirk Johnson and Antoine Bercovici from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History; Stephen Chester from CUNY and Brooklyn College; Eric Sargis of the Yale Peabody Museum; and Dean Pearson of the Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum in Bowman, North Dakota.

The 2016 project LiveSci in the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs shows that when the unique perspectives of scientists and audiences are carefully considered, museum professionals can capture engaging narrative stories from remote areas using easily accessible Internet technology and minimal equipment. The project also demonstrates that by mirroring the real-world networks of collaborators in large-scale research projects, science communicators from museums can expand their audiences and create meaningful interactions with large numbers of individuals around the world. The modern social media landscape provides an abundance of tools that can be easily employed to achieve museum outreach objectives, helping to raise awareness and spark interest in scientific work. These powerful online tools allow museums to share their mission-driven research with the world by moderating the direct intellectual exchanges between museum audiences and museum scientists in both directions. The benefit of this kind of science outreach to individual members of the public, and indeed to society at large, is obvious in a world where “public skepticism and concern are increasingly directed at scientific issues that appear to conflict with core human values and religious beliefs or that pose conflicts with political or economic expediency” (Leshner, 2007, p. 161). What can be less obvious is the tangible benefit to research scientists. In their critical evaluation of science outreach via social media, McClain and Neely (2015, p. 3) point out that “many of the arguments made in support of science outreach via social media … are simply special applications of arguments for outreach in general.” It has been pointed out that certain barriers exist that hinder the research scientist from expending time and effort on public outreach. In a recent study of how academic biologists and physicists view science outreach, Eklund et al. (2012) found that 31% of scientists agree that, within the research university system that seems to value research productivity over all else, scientists have little time to engage in activities that are not directly connected to their academic pursuits. A study published in the Journal of Geoscience Education from 2005 demonstrates that many scientists view outreach as a form of volunteer work that is auxiliary to their other responsibilities (Andrews et al., 2005). There can exist indirect benefits to the careers of scientists who utilize social media for outreach, such as increasing overall communication skills, finding students, advertising a project to potential collaborators, appeasing funding agencies, and fostering the next generation of science enthusiasts who will help carry the mantle of science in years to come. However, indirect effects such as these can be difficult to quantify and assess. Numerous voices are arguing that U.S. scientists should be doing more to connect with the general public, including Dr. Alan Leshner, who was CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Executive Editor of Science magazine from 2001 to 2015. Leshner states that, “If science is going to fully serve its societal mission in the future, we need to both encourage and equip the next generation of scientists to effectively engage with the broader society in which we work and live” (Leshner, 2007). Yet, despite the obvious need for outreach, there is currently little incentive for scientists to participate. The scientific reward system does not currently do enough to support scientists who take the time and expense to interact with the public regarding their work. “Academic institutions need to reward faculty who fulfill commitments to such work. That will entail putting public outreach efforts among the metrics used to decide promotion and tenure” (Leshner, 2007). Currently, we are seeing a few universities begin to prioritize outreach. McClain and Neely (2015, p. 5) cite a change to University of Wisconsin–Madison, Division of Biological Sciences tenure guidelines, which call for “synergistic combinations of research, teaching and outreach or service … and the dissemination of information derived from scholarly inquiry for the benefit of society.” The mid-1990s “Broader Impacts” directive in the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant application requires a description of how a proposed research project will affect society through outreach. This NSF directive is another illustration of how attitudes toward outreach are changing (National Science Foundation, 2002). While examples such as the directives from Alan Leshner and the changes taking place within NSF and the University of Wisconsin are encouraging, it is obvious that for the time being, the task of interpreting scientific research will continue to fall upon the science communicators such as HHMI’s Tangled Bank Studios and other non-academic organizations. By working with these independently funded institutions on projects such as LiveSci in the Valley of the Last Dinosaurs, scientists can minimize the cost required to disseminate their work in terms of time and financial expense.

The authors extend our appreciation to our many collaborators who helped make our seven weeks in the field such a joy and to make our project a success. Special thanks to Dr. Tyler Lyson and the Department of Earth Sciences at the DMNS for the countless hours of planning and support provided throughout the project in the planning stages and all along the way.

We thank Brisa Gonzales for laboring night and day to bring our work and the work of our many collaborators to the attention of Spanish-speaking audiences in Denver and beyond.

Sincere appreciation also goes out to Dr. Lou Taylor, Barb Benty, and the rest of the team at the Marmarth Research Foundation for providing us with amazing support, including an Internet connection and a dry place to sleep.

Our project depended on the many research paleontologists from various collaborating institutions who helped us create engaging content and share that content with their audiences. We thank Dave Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum; Ian Miller, Mike Getty, Matt Hess, Erica Evans, and Gabi Rossetto from DMNS; Kirk Johnson and Antoine Bercovici from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History; Stephen Chester from CUNY and Brooklyn College; Eric Sargis of the Yale Peabody Museum; and Dean Pearson of the Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum in Bowman, North Dakota.

The authors extend our appreciation to our many collaborators who helped make our seven weeks in the field such a joy and to make our project a success. Special thanks to Dr. Tyler Lyson and the Department of Earth Sciences at the DMNS for the countless hours of planning and support provided throughout the project in the planning stages and all along the way.

We thank Brisa Gonzales for laboring night and day to bring our work and the work of our many collaborators to the attention of Spanish-speaking audiences in Denver and beyond.

Sincere appreciation also goes out to Dr. Lou Taylor, Barb Benty, and the rest of the team at the Marmarth Research Foundation for providing us with amazing support, including an Internet connection and a dry place to sleep.

Our project depended on the many research paleontologists from various collaborating institutions who helped us create engaging content and share that content with their audiences. We thank Dave Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum; Ian Miller, Mike Getty, Matt Hess, Erica Evans, and Gabi Rossetto from DMNS; Kirk Johnson and Antoine Bercovici from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History; Stephen Chester from CUNY and Brooklyn College; Eric Sargis of the Yale Peabody Museum; and Dean Pearson of the Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum in Bowman, North Dakota.

The authors extend our appreciation to our many collaborators who helped make our seven weeks in the field such a joy and to make our project a success. Special thanks to Dr. Tyler Lyson and the Department of Earth Sciences at the DMNS for the countless hours of planning and support provided throughout the project in the planning stages and all along the way.

We thank Brisa Gonzales for laboring night and day to bring our work and the work of our many collaborators to the attention of Spanish-speaking audiences in Denver and beyond.

Sincere appreciation also goes out to Dr. Lou Taylor, Barb Benty, and the rest of the team at the Marmarth Research Foundation for providing us with amazing support, including an Internet connection and a dry place to sleep.

Our project depended on the many research paleontologists from various collaborating institutions who helped us create engaging content and share that content with their audiences. We thank Dave Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum; Ian Miller, Mike Getty, Matt Hess, Erica Evans, and Gabi Rossetto from DMNS; Kirk Johnson and Antoine Bercovici from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History; Stephen Chester from CUNY and Brooklyn College; Eric Sargis of the Yale Peabody Museum; and Dean Pearson of the Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum in Bowman, North Dakota.

The authors extend our appreciation to our many collaborators who helped make our seven weeks in the field such a joy and to make our project a success. Special thanks to Dr. Tyler Lyson and the Department of Earth Sciences at the DMNS for the countless hours of planning and support provided throughout the project in the planning stages and all along the way.

We thank Brisa Gonzales for laboring night and day to bring our work and the work of our many collaborators to the attention of Spanish-speaking audiences in Denver and beyond.

Sincere appreciation also goes out to Dr. Lou Taylor, Barb Benty, and the rest of the team at the Marmarth Research Foundation for providing us with amazing support, including an Internet connection and a dry place to sleep.

Our project depended on the many research paleontologists from various collaborating institutions who helped us create engaging content and share that content with their audiences. We thank Dave Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum; Ian Miller, Mike Getty, Matt Hess, Erica Evans, and Gabi Rossetto from DMNS; Kirk Johnson and Antoine Bercovici from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History; Stephen Chester from CUNY and Brooklyn College; Eric Sargis of the Yale Peabody Museum; and Dean Pearson of the Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum in Bowman, North Dakota.

The authors extend our appreciation to our many collaborators who helped make our seven weeks in the field such a joy and to make our project a success. Special thanks to Dr. Tyler Lyson and the Department of Earth Sciences at the DMNS for the countless hours of planning and support provided throughout the project in the planning stages and all along the way.

We thank Brisa Gonzales for laboring night and day to bring our work and the work of our many collaborators to the attention of Spanish-speaking audiences in Denver and beyond.

Sincere appreciation also goes out to Dr. Lou Taylor, Barb Benty, and the rest of the team at the Marmarth Research Foundation for providing us with amazing support, including an Internet connection and a dry place to sleep.

Our project depended on the many research paleontologists from various collaborating institutions who helped us create engaging content and share that content with their audiences. We thank Dave Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum; Ian Miller, Mike Getty, Matt Hess, Erica Evans, and Gabi Rossetto from DMNS; Kirk Johnson and Antoine Bercovici from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History; Stephen Chester from CUNY and Brooklyn College; Eric Sargis of the Yale Peabody Museum; and Dean Pearson of the Pioneer Trails Regional History Museum in Bowman, North Dakota.