Search for: All records

Abstract There have been repeated calls in the US for scientists to communicate the importance of biological collections to both a general public audience and to policy makers. Natural history museums that house both collections and research staff while maintaining online media presences, are well positioned to communicate that value. Our study aims to understand how these museums present themselves and their research and collections via YouTube. We created a standardized and repeatable 15-question codebook to categorize content and production choices in museum account YouTube posts. In total, we analyzed 437 videos posted by 28 natural history museums in the US in 2019 and 2023, showing that messages featuring museum science are uncommon. Instead, YouTube users are likely to encounter live event recordings or promotional content related to museum or exhibit information. Research and collections themed content represents an opportunity gap for museums to engage YouTube audiences in science. If natural history museums that maintain both collections and research staff want to answer the repeated calls of communicating the importance of collections in research, then we recommend either (1) incorporating research and collections into their other video types, and/or (2) looking to other YouTube channels, some of which are subsidiary to museum institutional accounts, as a model for research and collections content strategies. 

Online videos are a popular medium for science communication. These videos can be presented from many perspectives, including scientists sharing their own work or a third-party presenting research findings. A mixed between- and within-subjects experiment ( n = 620) was conducted in the United States to assess the impact of narrative perspective on the communication objectives of increasing knowledge, changing perceptions, and influencing behavior related to bee diversity. Results indicate that watching a video presented by a scientist was associated with higher levels of perceived competence and a higher likelihood to mention a person or persons when recalling the video. However, we did not find significant effects of narrative perspective on knowledge gain and behavioral intentions to help support bee diversity.