Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Diamonds in the haystack.

Velzee - 14-5-2016 at 20:22

A though occurred to me(I do not know if it would be allowed, thus I am asking first)—Why not have a section or page within the Wiki dedicated to YouTube channels/videos that are of high quality, especially those with a fewer number of views/lesser known?

I believe that this could shed some light on the lesser known compounds/reactions as well; I myself find a few great videos here and there while searching obscure reactions, yet they are often ones neglected by most amateur chemists.

Nevertheless, this was just a idea I've kept in my head for a while.

What do you all think?

crystal grower - 14-5-2016 at 21:44

I think it's a good idea, it would both help to propagate non-profit homescientists and it will also make it easier to find interesting experiments done by scimad users.
Thumbs up for this idea;).

j_sum1 - 14-5-2016 at 22:50

The only problems I see are that
1 yt content is dynamic. it changes. So a channel with some interesting chem might become a channel full of stuff with a couple of chemistry gems among all the crud. Or the channel might change focus. I am thinking of one that had some interesting synths early on and then became a catalogur of pyro demonstrations.
2 it could easily become a large list of dubious benefit. Without some descriptors and a bit of editing it might end up being no better than using a search.

I take a note of channels that people subscribe to and see the same ones crop up again and again. I am sure there are great vids that get overlooked.

Why not start a thread of Youtube chemistry gems. Then if that thread gains traction it can be stickied. And then a "best of" can be migrated to the wiki: preferably with some sorting and categorisation.

JJay - 14-5-2016 at 22:56

I think it would be more useful to place links to relevant videos on wiki entries rather than linking to the channels themselves.

Velzee - 15-5-2016 at 05:46

Quote: Originally posted by JJay  
I think it would be more useful to place links to relevant videos on wiki entries rather than linking to the channels themselves.



I was thinking that would be a viable option as well, but I have a huge fear that the videos would be a lot less visible than if there was a section dedicated to it. Maybe a section could be added, as well as linking videos on the pages of compounds/elements? It may be redundant, but it may certainly be helpful.

Velzee - 15-5-2016 at 05:48

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1  
The only problems I see are that
1 yt content is dynamic. it changes. So a channel with some interesting chem might become a channel full of stuff with a couple of chemistry gems among all the crud. Or the channel might change focus. I am thinking of one that had some interesting synths early on and then became a catalogur of pyro demonstrations.


Which is excatly why I was thinking that if the creator only has a few "gems" in terms of chemistry videos, we just link those videos instead.

But I'll make an attempt at that thread :)

[Edited on 5/15/2016 by Velzee]

Texium - 15-5-2016 at 07:44

I think Velzee's original idea is fine actually. Yes, YouTube is dynamic, but so is the Wiki, so if it is deemed that a channel no longer belongs on the list, it can be removed. We could also have links to particularly great videos on that same page, and don't forget, you can also link them in the references section of pages that pertain to their subject.

Velzee - 15-5-2016 at 08:08

Quote: Originally posted by zts16  
I think Velzee's original idea is fine actually. Yes, YouTube is dynamic, but so is the Wiki, so if it is deemed that a channel no longer belongs on the list, it can be removed. We could also have links to particularly great videos on that same page, and don't forget, you can also link them in the references section of pages that pertain to their subject.


Oh man, I just created a thread with some of the videos I've found. Perhaps we'll add them to the Wiki as well.

Velzee - 15-5-2016 at 13:07

Here's the thread by the way: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=66255#...

Mabus - 18-5-2016 at 12:54

Yeah, I like this idea.

Velzee - 7-6-2016 at 17:52

Here's the new link, since I can't seem to edit the other post: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=66453

Velzee - 12-6-2016 at 06:12

Quote: Originally posted by zts16  
I think Velzee's original idea is fine actually. Yes, YouTube is dynamic, but so is the Wiki, so if it is deemed that a channel no longer belongs on the list, it can be removed. We could also have links to particularly great videos on that same page, and don't forget, you can also link them in the references section of pages that pertain to their subject.



Would it be possible to somehow add a section (i.e. where the Topical Compendium is located) for this purpose?