Open Video Repositories for College Instruction

Key features of open video repositories are outlined, followed by brief description of speciﬁc sites relevant to the social sciences. Although most were created by instructors over the past 10 years to facilitate teaching and learning, signiﬁcant variation in kind, quality, and number per discipline were discovered. Economics and Psychology have the most extensive sets of repositories, while Political Science has the least development. Among original-content websites, Economics has the strongest collection in terms of production values, given substantial support from wealthy donors to advance political and economic agendas. Sociology stands out in having the most developed website in which found-video is applied to teaching and learning. Numerous multidisciplinary sites of quality have also emerged in recent years.


Open Video Repositories for College Instruction: A Guide to the Social Sciences
The current moment is unique for teaching… Innovations in information technologies and the massive distribution of online content have called forth video to join textbook and lecture as a regular component of course instruction (Andrist, Chepp, Dean, & Miller, 2014, p. 203).
Curated websites streaming free video content to instructors and students, what we call open video repositories (OVRs), have proliferated over the past decade.However, they have yet to be systematically addressed in the emerging literature about the use of video in college instruction (e.g., Alpert, 2016;Andrist, Chepp, Dean, & Miller, 2014;Berk, 2010;Kaufman, 2007;Miller, 2011;Sherer & Shea, 2011;Snelson, 2011;Streeter, 2011;Tan & Pierce, 2012).OVRs have the potential to significantly augment course content by aggregating relevant video, thus permitting instructors to use such media without cost and without having to expend effort in Internet search.Quality OVRs moreover add further value by offering practical assistance on how videos can be employed in instruction. 1nnumerable websites contain videos that could be used for teaching and learning purposes, but we address here only those that have freely accessible resources relevant to college-level courses within the social sciences.Paid-subscription sites (e.g., Films on Demand, SAGE Video) are therefore excluded, as are publishing platforms for content developers, such as YouTube, and sites featuring video appropriate only to pre-college students.Likewise not examined are those that include some videos potentially relevant for college courses, but are largely directed to general audiences, such as newspaper (e.g., The New York Times), magazine (e.g., The Atlantic), and television program (e.g., National Geographic) collections, intelligent interview sites (e.g., Big Think), and general documentary sites comprised of either original (e.g., Vice) or found (e.g., Snagfilms) content.Also not considered are speech or lecture collections (e.g., Jordan B. Peterson (YouTube)), online college courses (e.g., Academic Earth), tutorial sites (e.g., Khan Academy), and massive open online course (MOOC) sites (e.g., Coursera).Finally excluded are those collections with significant educational value but with subject matter too narrow to represent an academic discipline or major subfield within a discipline.We introduce OVRs here as a growing and valuable online genre, allowing instructors access to videos expressly curated for teaching and learning purposes.On a practical level, we hope to generate greater employment of quality video in teaching by pointing instructors to free curated media appropriate to their interests.Given the tendency to work within academic silos, we also hope to acquaint OVR curators with sites available in other disciplines, and thereby facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas.

Procedures and Descriptive Framework
In developing this review, we first identified relevant websites, and then distilled general features.Sites were located through search and discovery engines, video aggregators, Twitter, and posts in Dan Colman's excellent educational multimedia publication, Open Culture (e.g., Marshall, 2014).We also searched MERLOT (merlot.org/merlot/index.htm), the largest online collection of peer-reviewed free higher-education teaching resources, and likewise examined articles available about specific sites (e.g., Caldeira & Ferrante, 2012;Macfarlane, Harrison, & Turin, 2005).We also employed The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine (archive.org/web/)to examine websites no longer online, although those archived do not directly mirror their former live versions (Brugger, 2009), In terms of describing OVRs, we consider website background, video characteristics, and website features.Relevant to background, we provide a hypertext link to the repository and identify developer(s).We also specify date of site initiation and indicate if the site is still active in distributing video materials.For all but recently initiated sites, the last full year (2016) was selected as the benchmark in terms of persistence of activity.The last year in which content was uploaded is specified for developers who did not augment content during either 2016 or 2017.Finally, we attempt to determine motives for site creation and source of financial support.
Video characteristics relate to quantity of videos available at the site, type of video content provided, and a link to a sample video from the repository.Identifying source of content is also important, given the distinction between original videos (those created by developers themselves to present a didactic message), edited videos (those edited by developers from DVDs or existing online videos, typically derived from popular television series or movies), and found videos (those produced by others that are already available on the Internet, either linked directly to source origin or embedded within the OVR). 2 We should note that these types are treated differently under copyright law.Although websites consisting of original videos obviously are not restricted, developers working with found or edited content should be mindful of legal constraints if used without permission of owner. 3airing clips with instructional applications is important for using video in the classroom, especially for sites employing found or edited content.Whereas original-content sites are typically populated with explainer videos in which teaching points are explicitly incorporated, teaching applications generally do not reside within found and edited media.That is, while a scene from a TV show or movie illustrates a concept in the developer's mind, it may not be apparent to others. 4Consequently, we address website characteristics in terms of the extent teaching and learning suggestions are applied to video content either within the clip itself or through text commentary.Also we touch upon whether or not sites help users locate content within the OVR, facilitate user-sharing with followers, and encourage user interaction or user participation in site development.Finally, recognition in the broader literature and awards received by the site are noted.

OVRs by Discipline
OVRs were categorized in terms of primary social-science disciplines (Anthropology, Economics, History, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology).Sites having major bodies of content relevant to two or more social sciences were deemed Multidiscipline OVRs.In this section, we address disciplines sequentially in terms of the number and size of OVRs offered in each, and then review those multidisciplinary in nature.
Economics.Economics clearly stands out by having the greatest quantity of OVRs that address concepts and principles.Economics is likewise remarkable in terms of having the largest number of sites producing and distributing professionally-crafted videos.However, the discipline is dominated by those advocating libertarian ideology.
Television news personality, John Stossel, has long-criticized mainstream policies and practices through a free-market lens in his work at ABC and FOX.The initial version of his teaching package began more than 15 years ago as a for-purchase set of DVDs and learning applications aimed at high-school and college instructors based largely on segments from the ABC series 20/20 (see Stossel, 2000).During his FOX tenure (2009-2016), he progressively added original and found videos to his site, Stossel in the Classroom (stosselintheclassroom.org/).Video content there typically accompanied by discussion questions, often transcends purely economic concerns in addressing what he sees as irrational impediments imposed by the government on free markets (see "Eye Test Innovators" (Stossel, 2017a)), and thus also has relevance for Political Science courses.New content can now as well be viewed on Stossel, a weekly column started in 2017 on Reason.com that he says allows him to address issues free of corporate television constraints (see "Launch of Stossel TV" (Stossel, 2017b)).
OVRs offering original, dramatic-comedy content to push libertarian arguments include EconStories and Love Gov.The former (econstories.tv/,2010-active, video N>35) does so through theoretical debate as it explores "…the world of economics with visual storytelling and entertainment" (facebook.com/pg/EconStories/about/).In all, EconStories developers John Papola (former MTV producer and founder of Emergent Order) and Russell Roberts (former George Mason University professor, now fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institute), have produced an innovative collection of media centered on supply-side criticisms of liberal economic policy.Their first video, "Fear the Boom and Bust" (Papola & Roberts, 2010) and its sequel "Fight of the Century" (Papola & Roberts, 2011), were heated rap battles between actors playing Keynes and Hayek.They received over 9 million hits on YouTube and also won the 2010 Sammies award.In 2014, the site added EconPop (Papola & Roberts, 2014a), a series offering popular world" can be used by sociologists to imaginatively demonstrate sociological ideas.Yet, without their content being framed by way of a coherent typology, such videos are likely to remain untapped" (2014, p. 203).
movie and television program remixes to illustrate key economic issues (see treatment of federal regulation dysfunctions at "Dallas Buyers Club" (Papola & Roberts, 2014b)).And in 2017, the site started distributing Share Wars (EconStories, 2017), a remix series, created by Papola's Emergent Order in collaboration with Artists 4 America, parodying attempts to regulate the new sharing economy using satirical voiceovers across edited scenes from Star Wars movies.
Papola likewise turned to comedic drama with Love Gov: From First Date to Mandate (independent.org/lovegov/,2015), initially distributed by Independent Institute.Attempting to educate millennials about the dangers of government intrusion, this five-part webisode followed Gov's (aka Federal Government) naïve attempts to dictate choices in the life of his dating partner, Alexis, with predictably disastrous results (e.g., "Protecting You Out of a Job" (Papola, n.d.)).Love Gov has been highlighted by Stossel on his television show as an effective educational tool (Fox Business, 2015), has accrued film festival awards from libertarian organizations (Love Gov in the news, 2017), and is now also hosted on EconStories. 5he most extensive conservative teaching and learning agenda centered specifically on higher education audiences, however, is being pursued by Learn Liberty (learnliberty.org/,2011active) at George Mason University (GMU).The website is sponsored by the university's Institute for Humane Studies (HIS), an entity in turn largely supported through contributions from anti-regulation industrialist Charles Koch (Barakat, 2016;SourceWatch, 2016;Young, 2014; for a larger analysis of the role of Koch money at GMU and other universities, see Mayer, 2016).Learn Liberty is a key part of Koch's vision to not only bring student masses to his way of thinking, but to create a "talent pipeline" through which affiliated students ultimately become academicians and economic and political leaders who will serve his brand of conservative activism (Gibson, 2017;Kotch, 2017).The website provides over 300 original-content videos accompanied by summaries, transcripts, and references.Many combine narration by economics professors from GMU and elsewhere with slick graphics and animations (e.g., "Economics: Is Raising Minimum Wage a Bad Idea?" (Learn Liberty, 2016)).Although primarily centered on economics, the site also tackles a range of social and political issues-often by employing themes drawn from popular movies (e.g., "Is Katniss a Modern-Day Spartacus?"(Learn Liberty, 2013)) and edgy television series (see "Frank Underwood's Top Three Lessons for the Voting Public: House of Cards Review" (Learn Liberty, 2014a)), as well as focus on timely social controversies (e.g., "I Can't Breathe: How to Reduce Police Brutality" (Learn Liberty, 2015a)).Each video is accompanied by an interpretive essay, linked readings, and downloadable MP3 file.In addition to using popular culture, Learn Liberty has further tried to generate interest through student video responses to intriguing questions (see its "#keepaskingwhy" feature, e.g., "Should You Be Allowed to Sell Your Kidneys?" (Learn Liberty, 2015b)), and an "On Demand Program of the Week" consisting of videos coupled with related learning resources on provocative themes (e.g., "Sexonomics: The Economics of Love and Dating" (Learn Liberty, 2014b).Finally, the site offers opportunities for deeper student engagement with Koch-styled libertarianism through career guides, summer seminars, internships, and jobs (Learn Liberty, n.d.).
We should add that the IHS is also closely connected to Marginal Revolution University (mruniversity.com/,2012-active), developed by GMU economics professors, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrock.This site offers free online courses, employing over 800 original videos created to convey course content.Although a MOOC, we consider the site also to be an OVR as its developers strongly encourage economics instructors located elsewhere to freely use their videos, teaching applications, and related resources.
In contrast to conservative sites, we found little in the way of OVRs offering alternatives.We the Economy (wetheeconomy.com/, 2014Economy (wetheeconomy.com/, -2015)), produced by Paul G. Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and Morgan Spurlock (documentary producer and co-founder of Cinelan) consists of 23 short documentaries, musicals, and cartoons.Created by filmmakers at the top of their craft, e.g., Rahmin Bahrani and Albert Hughes, videos employ professional actors, dancers, and comedians to address basic connections between the economy, government, globalization, and inequality.Allen and Spurlock state their intent is "…to demystify a complicated topic while empowering the public to take control of their own economic futures" (2014a).Videos are accompanied by synopses, director notes, and comprehension questions (e.g., "Lemonade War" (Bahrani, 2014)), and downloadable resources are also available (see Allen & Spurlock, 2014b).The OVR won the 2015 Webby for the Best News & Politics Series (Webby Awards, 2015).
Inequality Media (inequalitymedia.org/,2014-active, N>70) also presents a progressive alternative, but unlike We the Economy, is narrower in scope.Nevertheless, this collection that sharply challenges conservative assumptions about inequality, also has relevance for Political Science and Sociology courses.Here, Robert Reich, economist and former Secretary of Labor, along with filmmaker, Jacob Kornbluth, have created short videos that identify problems associated with economic maldistribution, criticize attempts to heighten inequalities, and suggest policies to generate greater equality (e.g., see "The Failure of Trickle Down Economics" (Reich, 2017)).
While the foregoing OVRs incorporate highly polished media, high school teacher Jacob Clifford from Escondido, California has developed extensive content covering basic economics at ACDCLeadership (youtube.com/user/ACDCLeadership,2007-active, N>330) through simple talking-head, image-illustrated clips.(Teaching ancillaries are available behind a paywall at ACDCecon.com.)Aimed at AP high school students, these materials are suitable as well for intro-level college courses.However, Clifford's work goes beyond being a tutorial site by blending popular culture with economics through Econmovies (Clifford, 2015a), a collection identifying key disciplinary concepts illustrated in blockbuster movies (see "Capitalism and The Hunger Games" (Clifford, 2015b)), as well as through clips covering contemporary controversies (e.g., "The Economics of Trump" (Clifford, 2017)).Several years ago, Clifford and Marketplace reporter, Adrienne Hill, joined John and Hank Green's YouTube mega-series to produce Crash Course Economics (Clifford & Hill, 2015), integrating new clips with earlier tutorial media.
College instructors deserve special recognition for their work in creating low-budget OVRs on their own.In our opinion, the strongest advocate for using video in the economics classroom is Dirk Mateer, lecturer at the University of California, San Diego.His website, Econ 1-0-What?(dirkmateer.com/,2011-active, N>400), organized into teaching ideas and media relevant to key concepts, provides clips from his lectures and found popular media (see "Gangs of New York" (Mateer, n.d.)).Mateer also has published significant scholarship on media integration (e.g., Ferrarini & Mateer, 2014;Mateer, O'Roark, & Holder, 2016;Mateer & Stephenson, 2011), contributed to a useful website on that topic (see Mateer, Ghent, Porter, & Purdom, 2014), and most recently, collaborated on an edited-content OVR (see below).
The involvement of professors in independent site development is clearly evident in OVRs employing edited content from television programs to illustrate disciplinary concepts.The Economics of Seinfeld (yadayadayadaecon.com/,2010), created by Linda Ghent (Eastern Illinois University), Alan Grant (Baker University), and George Lesica (software engineer), provides over 70 clips from the Seinfeld series, organized by 120 concepts, ranging from "absolute advantage" to "zero-sum game."Each clip has a brief summary and links to a glossary (see Ghent, Grant, & Lesica, 2010).Similarly, The Economics of The Office (economicsoftheoffice.com/,2013) developed by Kansas State University professors, Dan Kuester and Chris Youderian, provides 30 scenes from The Office, with brief synopses and applications (e.g., "Write That Down" (Kuester & Youderian, 2013)).Bazinganomics (bazinganomics.com/,2015-active, N>85), created by James Tierney (Penn State), Wayne Geerling (University of Arizona), Jadrian Wooten (Penn State), Dirk Mateer (University of California at San Diego), and Ben Smith (University of Nebraska, Omaha), also employs clips from a popular comedy series indexed by key concepts, in this case The Big Bang Theory.However, it goes beyond other edited-content sites in offering lesson plans to address certain concepts undergraduates often find troubling (e.g., "Causation vs. Correlation" (Tierney, Geerling, Wooten, Mateer, & Smith, n.d.)).The website also facilitates communication through an active Twitter feed.Two additional OVRs using television programs went online during 2017: The Economics of Shark Tank (econshark.com/) by Charity-Joy Arcchiardo (University of Arizona), Abdullah Al-Bahrani (Northern Kentucky University), Darshak Patel (University of Kentucky), and Brandon J. Sheridan (Elon University), and The Economics of Parks and Rec (econofparksandrec.wordpress.com)developed by Jadrian Wooten (Penn State).The latter, which has already curated a large collection of clips from NBC's Parks and Recreation, (e.g., "Mouth Drinkers" (Wooten, 2017b)), appears unique to edited-content OVRs in using crowdsourced suggestions from students and instructors.
Although economists have long-discussed the relevance of employing feature-length films as a teaching device (e.g., Leet & Houser, 2002), we could find only two collections built from specific movies or movie series.As mentioned, Emergent Order, using the Star Wars franchise, has created Share Wars, a collection distributed on Econstories.Also, University of Chicago economist, Steven D. Leavitt, and writer, Stephen Dubner, have created a YouTube playlist of 29 clips from their 2010 feature film, Freakonomics.
Two found-video OVRs authored by economics instructors have also recently emerged.Economics Media Library (videoecon.wordpress.com, 2017) created by Jadrian Wooten has amassed a large set of found clips augmented with brief summaries and links to related materials (e.g., "The Daily Show: Ugly People Discrimination" (Wooten, 2017a)).And, Mark Melichar (Tennessee Tech University), through EconGoneCountry (econgonecountry.com, 2017), is working to establish that economics can be well-illustrated through country music lyrics.Each entry links to a music video and discusses at length concepts raised in it (see "Red, White, Pink Slip Blues" (Melichar, 2017)).
Finally, student involvement in creating music video is being actively encouraged by Abdulla Al-Baharani of Northern Kentucky University and Kim Holder of the University of West Georgia.Al-Baharani created Econ Beats as a model for instructors interested in incorporating such media into course assignments, whereas Holder developed and directs an annual nation-wide contest, Rockonomix, which has stimulated significant student engagement (see Holder (2015) for an overview of the project).
Psychology.Among original-content psychology OVRs, four sites that are clearly different in nature stand out: The Psych Files, goCognitive, BrainCraft, and Psych2Go.The Psych Files (thepsychfiles.com/,2007-active), produced by Marist University instructor, Michael Britt, is centered on audio podcasts (e.g., Britt, 2017), but also includes brief videos on diverse psychology topics.Most have summaries, as well as links to related content (Britt's YouTube channel conveniently aggregates 100+ videos).Although geared to helping students learn psychology content, most are without obvious lecture tone.Rather, Britt typically uses a humorous soft-sell to convey core concepts (e.g., "If Freud Worked Tech Support" (Britt, 2014)).Supported through ads for tech products he has tested (personal communication with Britt, November 27, 2017), his teaching with media has received public recognition (e.g., Lee, 2016) and various awards (including MERLOT's 2014 Classic Award).
The second large original-content site, goCognitive (gocognitive.net/,2008-active), includes almost 200 clips from interviews with researchers about neuroscience theory, methods, and findings.Curated by University of Idaho psychology professor, Steffen Werner, the site provides summaries for each clip (see "Can Synesthesia be Acquired" (Werner, n.d.-a)) and offers interactive learning demonstrations to illustrate key concepts (see "Monsters and Globe Problems" (Werner, n.d.-b)).The OVR also encourages student involvement in site development and offers National Science Foundation grants of $1,100 to conduct interviews.The site has been well-funded by the NSF and the Idaho State Board of Education.
The third original-content website of significance is BrainCraft (pbs.org/show/braincraft/,2013-active, N>100), consisting largely of stop-motion, paper animation videos covering intriguing, yet practical questions about human behavior addressed through psychological and neuroscience research (e.g., "The Bizarre Ways Your Name Affects Your Behavior" (Hill, 2016)).Created and narrated by Vanessa Hill, an Australian science media specialist, the collection has been produced by PBS Digital Studios since 2014 and has received numerous positive reviews (e.g., Lanning, 2014;Weisberger, 2016).Her YouTube channel currently has almost 400,000 subscribers.
The fourth original-content OVR warranting special attention is Psych2Go (psych2go.net/,2014-active, N>200), a site created by Tai Khuong, who was at the time of inception a University of British Columbia psychology major wanting to make the discipline more intellectually accessible to undergraduates.Psych2Go videos address key concepts, new research findings, and interviews with psychologists.The website also markets a quarterly magazine with each issue focused on a common theme.Unique among social-science sites in the sense of being student-operated, Psych2Go relies on user contributions for content, actively recruiting from a membership of about 4,000 to write articles and create videos (see "10 Signs an Introvert Likes You" (Psych2Go, 2017)).Participation in the process also entails mentoring from Khuong and staff editors (personal communication with Khuong, July 6, 2017).
Several smaller original-content OVRs suggest promise, as well.Be a People Expert (socialpsychonline.com/,2015-active, N>40), Andrew Luttrell, an Ohio State University PhD candidate, includes talking-head clips on various social psychology concepts and questions.Each video comes with a rich discussion and suggestions for further reading (see "A Crash Course on Cognitive Dissonance" (Luttrell, 2016)).Bo Bennett's Socially Psyched (dowellwebtools.com/tools/lp/Bo/psyched,2016-active) website includes 15+ talking-head videos with learning applications centered thus far on classic studies in the discipline (see his treatment of compliance tactics in "Xerox Mindfulness Experiment" (Bennett, 2013)), and useful teaching instructions about designing curation exercises for students (see Bennett, n.d.).Instructors may find strong entertainment value in an additional original-content site too narrow to serve as a discipline OVR: Pop Psych! (2015) a small collection of intriguing psychiatric diagnoses of pop-fiction icons, would certainly be relevant to any treatment of abnormal psychology.Although teaching applications are not provided, each cartoon injects clinical concepts relevant to the character.As a spinoff of the popular Green brothers' SciShow and Crash Course Psychology, Hank Green recently started SciShow Psych (youtube.com/channel/UCUdettijNYvLAm4AixZv4RA/featured,2017, N>40)).This OVR employs empirical research to address intriguing questions about the brain and human behavior (e.g., "Are Violent Video Games Bad for You?" (Green, 2017)).Finally, Psyfile (youtube.com/user/psyfile/featured,2012-2013, N=7), despite its small number of videos and brief duration of output, should also be noted because it is Brady Haran's only attempt to build a social-science collection.Haran has had phenomenal success in creating a bundle of science, math, and humanities OVRs through interviews with UK professors (e.g., Periodic Videos).
Several other original-content sites suggest the utility of using research findings to inform self-help videos.Bite Size Psych (youtube.com/channel/UCmHzqwSP0uEHwzCeDzomNsg,2015-active, N>35) offers a growing collection of short animations dealing with psychologyrelated conundrums and misconceptions (see "Debunking the 4 Most Dangerous Self-Help Myths" (Bite Size Psych, 2015)).The unidentified developer often provides interesting learning applications in the comments section in responses to users.Science of Us (thecut.com/scienceofus/,2015-active, N>25), distributed by New York Magazine, is a growing collection of animated shorts that seek to explain new self-help research in lay terms, although often without providing the identity of highlighted studies (e.g., "Is Casual Sex Unhealthy?"(New York Magazine, 2016)).YouTube channel After Skool (youtube.com/channel/UC1KmNKYC1l0stjctkGswl6g,2016-active, N=28) is likewise problematical at times in referencing research discussed in its explainer videos (see "Listen to Your Intuition" (After Skool, 2017a)).Nevertheless, the self-help content created by the site's unidentified developer is generally informative, as are the animated videos based on speeches from motivational gurus and celebrities (e.g., "The Need for Acceptance Will Make You Invisible -Jim Carrey" (After Skool, 2017b)).
Found-content videos are available at three OVRs.Personality Pedagogy (personalitypedagogy.net/, 2006-2014) developed by Arcadia University instructor Marianne Miserandino, was the first psychology site to appear online.Funded by the Association of Psychological Science, it provides video links and other teaching resources of general interest to the discipline.PsychoTube (psychotube.net/,2008-active) developed by an anonymous Turkish psychologist, mainly posts found video from YouTube with video transcripts or Wikipedia commentary (e.g., "How Human Brains Compare to Other Animals" (PsychoTube, n.d.)).Clips for Class (clipsforclass.com/,2009-active), maintained by textbook publisher Cengage, also offers a large number of clips on a range of topics organized by subfield.Brief summaries and questions to ponder provide learning applications (e.g., "Dealing with the Office Bully" (Clips for Class, 2016)).
Finally, psychology has one edited-content OVR.Inspired by The Economics of Seinfeld, The Psychology of Seinfeld (psynfeld.tumblr.com/,2012-2013, N=32) includes clips edited from the TV series, along with summaries, and interpretations, organized by category and tags (e.g., "Morality According to Kohlberg" (Psynfeld, 2012)).Like several others in psychology, this site creator also chooses to remain anonymous.
History.History has far less OVR presence than Economics or Psychology.The largest collection of original-content video, HipHughes History (hiphugheshistory.weebly.com/,2008active), produced by Keith Hughes, former Buffalo, New York, high school history teacher, emphasizes teaching and learning applications in more than 300 rapid-paced, talkinghead/animated lectures (10-20 minutes in length) on such diverse topics as civilizations and presidential elections (see Hughes, 2012Hughes, -2016)).Hughes recently added a series on Religions in Global History, and has a growing list of HipHughes Quickies, which distill events and historical figures into one-minute video overviews.In all, this OVR is a complete packagecomplemented with an active discussion board, a Tech Toolbox, and an extensive list of #TeacherTips-all of which should well-serve instructors looking for assistance in intro-level college courses.Hughes received YouTube's Next EDU Guru Award in 2012, and has appeared on the History Channel's United Stuff of America.
Although we classify the Big History Project (bighistoryproject.com/home,2014) as a History OVR, it aspires to interdisciplinarity, ambitiously seeking to unpack "13.8 billion years of history" by using findings from diverse physical and social sciences to explain everything from the Big Bang to the present in a 6 hour course.The website was developed by Macquarie University history professor, David Christian (see his TED talk overviewing the inception of the project (Christian, 2011)), and funded largely by Bill Gates (Sorkin, 2014).Topics organized as chapters are The Universe, Our Solar System & Earth, Life, Humans, and The Modern Revolution and the Future; video collections in the latter three chapters are especially relevant for anthropology and sociology, as well as conventional history instruction.Initially intended for high school students, the site likewise has become integrated into a successful Coursera MOOC.Partnerships for creating media curriculum materials have added to the value of the project, including those with Christian's International Big History Association, Khan Academy Big History Project (with extensive applications), YouTube site Big History, and the Crash Course series of Big History videos produced by the Green brothers for the project.The site received MERLOT's 2014 Classic Award for History.We should also note that among history OVR developers mentioned in this paper, Christian is the only one that actually teaches at the college level.
YouTube hosts many historically-related sites, but we could not find any there that distributes offerings from across the discipline.It's History (youtube.com/user/BlastfromthePast,2015-active, N>110), developed by Florian Wittig and Daniel Czepelczauer, German digital media consultants, is perhaps the most promising for use in survey history courses.Working with MediaKraft Networks, they have produced a large collection of talking-head, photo-story type videos, primarily centered on histories of military actions, the Industrial Revolution, the Cold War, and sexual behavior (e.g., "The Dark Ages of Sex: All Pleasure is Sin" (Kiddey & Czepelczauer, 2015)).
Several other original-content sites with unorthodox yet imaginative takes on historical events may also pique student interest.Cody Franklin's AlternateHistoryHub (youtube.com/user/AlternateHistoryHub,2012-active, N>150) distributes animated shorts to address such questions as "What If the United States Lost the Revolution?" (Franklin, 2014), and is one of the most popular alternative history sites with well over one million subscribers.Two others apply music to history.Historyteachers (youtube.com/user/historyteachers,2008-2014, N=58) developed by Hawaii high school teachers Amy Bruvall and Herb Mahelona, weds historically-relevant lyrics to popular rock tunes sung by Amy in period costume (e.g., "French Revolution" set to Lady GaGa's "Bad Romance" (Burvall & Mahelona, 2010)).Epic Rap Battles of History (erbofhistory.com/,2006-active, N>65) is a slick collection developed by Peter Shukoff and Lloyd Ahlquist.The site, which has won numerous awards over the past few years, pairs famous figures in edgy rap contests and allows viewers to vote winners.Its YouTube channel, ERB, has generated +2.7 billion views and +14 million subscribers (note: videos should be previewed before using in light of strong language (e.g., Shukoff & Ahlquist, 2013)).Finally, instructors who discuss blockbuster films on historical themes in class should find use for Cynical Cypher's The Cynical Historian (youtube.com/user/CynicalCypher88,2013-active, N>145) and Rick Hodges' History Buffs (youtube.com/channel/UCggHoXaj8BQHIiPmOxezeWA,2015-active, N>55).Although neither was apparently developed for instructional purposes, both make for informative viewing by examining the historical accuracy of popular movies.
Despite the plethora of archival film now online (e.g., British Pathe and Internet Archive), only one OVR built around found video could be located.Have Fun with History (havefunwithhistory.com/index.html,2009-active), developed by Maryland graphic designer Chris Grahl, provides a large collection of clips from news stories, documentaries, and popular films with brief descriptions of content to assist U.S. history teachers.The site seems geared to younger students, but college instructors would likely find use for some (among those in the Cold War section, see "Duck and Cover" (Grahl, n.d.)).
Sociology.Considering social-science OVRs employing found video, one in particular, The Sociological Cinema (TSC), stands out in terms of content diversity, quality of teaching applications, and clip volume (thesociologicalcinema.com/, 2010-active, N>600).Developers Lester Andrist (New York University), Valerie Chepp (Hamline University), and Paul Dean (Ohio Wesleyan University) were PhD candidates at the University of Maryland when they started TSC in 2010 after concluding that a website of clips tagged by theme would be invaluable to instructors interested in finding video for course use.Clips are primarily derived from news stories, documentaries, movies, television programs and commercials, webisodes, and music videos relevant to concepts and issues.Every post includes a link to a clip, a clip summary, and a pedagogical application (e.g., "Youth Scrutinize the Hidden Curriculum, Why Don't Adults?" (Grier & Chepp, 2016)).Additional materials include blog posts about popular media (e.g., "The Civilizing Habitus of the Walking Dead" (Andrist, 2016)), assignment outlines for media analysis, Pinterest pages for images, user discussions on the site's highly active Facebook page, and scholarly research on employing the site to foster professor-student research collaboration (see Chepp, 2017).TSC also provides instructions for posting to encourage submissions from instructors and students.The site has been favorably reviewed in Teaching Sociology (see Caldiera & Ferrante, 2012), and received the MERLOT Classic Award for Sociology in 2012.
A large body of relevant found video is also available at DJ Academe (http://www.djacademe.fyi/,2012-active).Developed by Laurie Chancey, a sociology instructor at Asnuntuck Community College, the site does not include lesson summaries or applications, but does tag every video by key terms.She notes at her YouTube site that she is an instructor "who collects videos to use in class." Using art for teaching sociology also emerged with two found-video sites.SocioPoetix (sociopoetix.org/2013-active, N>30) focuses on poetry as an instructional tool.Developed by San Bernardino Valley College sociology instructor Anthony Blacksher (aka Ant Black), the OVR includes spoken-word videos on varied topics.Each video is accompanied by summary, key lines, transcript, analysis, and follow-up resources (e.g., "Rekia Boyd" (Olayiwa & Blacksher, 2015)).The site receives no funding, but rather for Blacksher is a "labor of love" (personal communication, April 29, 2016).SociologySounds (2012SociologySounds ( -2014)), developed by Jason Eastman (Coastal Carolina University) and Nathan Palmer (Georgia Southern University), employed found music video, but is no longer online (see Wayback Machine, 2012b).According to Eastman, there is a strong case for the teaching utility of contemporary music (see Eastman, 2013) and they plan to revive the repository as time permits (personal communication, August 30, 2017).
Several collections of original-content video, all on YouTube, may also interest instructors.Strange Fruit Sociology (youtube.com/user/StrangeFruitSoc,2014-active, N>45), developed by MiraCosta College professor, Bruce Hoskins in collaboration with Ant Black (aka Anthony Blacksher), addresses current events and popular culture from a sociological perspective through mostly relaxed, humorous conversations between the two (see, "Deviant White Characters on TV" (Hoskins & Black, 2015)).Norton Sociology (youtube.com/user/NortonSOC,2010-active, N>115) provides interviews and treatments of sociology concepts and issues, some of which are tied to texts published by the company (e.g., "Story Behind the Numbers" (Cohen, 2015)).Finally, an animated cartoon series, Sociology Live! (youtube.com/channel/UCejYxz_-OD7ApJniESN1Rpg/feed,2015-2015, N=11), initiated by Cindy Hager, with support through her Minnesota community college employer, suggests the promise of addressing basic concepts through brief explainer videos (e.g., "White Privilege!"(Hager, 2015)).
Anthropology.Anthropology has two major OVRs: The Archaeology Channel and Archaeosoup.The former (archaeologychannel.org/, 2000-active, N>110), the oldest disciplinerelated OVR we could locate, was created by Richard Pettigrew under the auspices of the Archaeological Legacy Institute.The site provides both original and found content, ranging from short clips to full-length documentaries on archaeology and social anthropology subjects.Although brief video summaries are included, instructors will likely need to craft learning applications to employ them in classes.The site invites interaction with content creators via email and Facebook, and solicits suggestions regarding future programs.A recent addition, "Strata: Portraits of Humanity," is a monthly series of short videos about diverse topics (e.g., the November 2017 episode featured an original documentary on Villanovan culture (Archaeological Legacy Institute, 2017)).Pettigrew's work, supported by visitor-members and government agency and corporate donors, received the 2006 Excellence in Public Education Award from the Society for American Archaeology.At Archaeosoup (archaeosoup.com/,2010-active, N>680), developer Marc Barkman-Astles offers original-content talking-head narratives, interviews, and photo-story videos appropriate to high school and introductory-level college students, while also promoting workshops in UK schools.This OVR should spark interest in the discipline by offering informative esoterica (e.g., how ancient recipes can be cooked today, "Ancient Greece: Honey-Glazed Prawns" (Barkman-Astles, 2012b)), but also includes more complex treatments (e.g., "Cognitive Archaeology" (Barkman-Astles, 2012a)).
In addition, three other sites may prove helpful for teaching anthropology.The Global Oneness Project (globalonenessproject.org/,2006-active, N>270), founded by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee and supported by the Kalliopeia Foundation, has a growing list of original-content videos and lesson applications primarily related to cultural anthropology.One of the site's most compelling series, "Vanishing Cultures," examines threatened indigenous societies around the world through videos and photo essays (see, "Marie's Dictionary" (Vaughn-Lee, 2014)).Alan Macfarlane, a retired Cambridge University professor, has curated a massive volume of film clips over his career, much of which is available at his personal website and his YouTube channel, Ayabaya (2006-active, N>1,200).These collections highlight lectures and talks he has given, and provide over 220 interviews conducted with anthropologists and scholars from other fields (for description about creating this archive, see Macfarlane, Harrison, & Turin, 2005).Relevant to social anthropology as well are the webpages of Houston Community College instructor Carol Laman (https://cnx.org/contents/cF-H-oZZ@8/Free-Online-Anthropology-Video,2009-2010, N>100) housed on Rice University's open access platform, Open Stax CNX.They include to self-produced lectures and found videos relevant to discipline concepts, although without summaries or learning applications.
Political Science.Political science has the least OVR visibility.In fact, we could locate only one website dedicated to the discipline as a whole, Satirical Resource Repository (rebeccaglazier.net/satirical-resource-repository,2009-2015, N>60) created by Rebecca Glazier, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor.The site consists of links to assorted text, image, and videos related to subfields (e.g., comparative politics and political theory), organized by media type, concept, etc. Clips are largely pulled from standard political humor sources such as The Daily Show and The Onion.While Glazier only includes a brief summary for each video, her scholarly article about using satirical content in the classroom is a major contribution to the teaching with media literature (see Glazier, 2014).
The dearth of video attention directed to political science has been recognized as a shortcoming by discipline leaders.For example, a recent American Political Science Association Task Force report on the field's public image calls for an association-created video library that would "… either speak directly to improving teaching effectiveness or include actual materials prepared for classroom use" (Lupia & Aldrich, 2014, p. 13).Instructors, in the meantime, can derive materials from more limited sites within the discipline, such as We the Voters, a set of 20 videos with extensive ancillaries created by Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Productions and distributed by PBS for the 2016 election season.Content could also be borrowed from previously cited collections in other disciplines, such as the HipHughes History playlist of 125 videos under the U.S. Government and Politics rubric, and from several multidiscipline OVRs to be discussed.Instructors could likewise employ politically-relevant content not requiring teaching context that are intended for general audiences (such as these explainer videos at Ezra Klein's Vox website).
Multidiscipline Sites.Although numerous sites provide video collections cutting across two or more social-science fields, several original-content sites stand out above all others.Instructors in the U.S. should first consider the oldest and largest trove of original documentary films-those available through the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). 6Major series were generally initiated before the Internet, but PBS has made progressively greater amounts of quality content available to users at no cost since the early 2000s.Program websites typically link streaming access to films and documentaries, and often provide transcripts, clips, and associated learning materials.Several series, all produced by PBS-affiliate WGBH (Boston), seem most relevant to instructors in the social sciences.Although primarily directed to the physical sciences, NOVA (pbs.org/wgbh/nova/)includes extensive media for varied anthropology topics (see that about evolution (WGBH, n.d.)).Instructors in other social-science fields will find a rich lode in Frontline (pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/,N>180), an investigative reporting series focusing on timely social and political issues.History and Political Science instructors can also secure solid content at American Experience (pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/) which offers many documentaries and clips on themes commonly covered in discipline curriculum (note: access to some is now behind paywall).Finally, the role played by PBS member stations in advancing media integration is important.For example, KQED (San Francisco), like WGBH produces excellent original videos, but also maintains ongoing efforts to make these resources teachable through lesson guides (see The Lowdown).
Retro Report (retroreport.org/,2013-active, N>100), a coherent body of short documentaries produced in collaboration with The New York Times, is another valuable site with videos relevant to most of the social sciences.The series concept, developed by television editor Christopher Buck, is simple: take a significant news story from the past and then revisit it in light of interim developments.Thus, Roane and Weiser (2015) recount the furor generated in the early-1970s with the publication of Ehrlich's Population Bomb, and then examine evidence from subsequent years, finding that not only did the destructive scenarios fail to materialize, but that population decline actually became problematical in affluent nations.Each video constitutes a case study in change, and is accompanied by a summary and related references and multimedia.The website has received significant public recognition and awards.
Hank and John Green's Crash Course (thecrashcourse.com/,2011-active) likewise is an exceptional original-content repository.The Greens have had a strong YouTube presence almost from the inception of the platform, beginning with vlogbrothers in 2006, and extending to Crash Course, currently with over 6 million subscribers.Social-science treatments at Crash Course began in 2012 with World History (Green, J., 2012; N=42), and was then successively amended by the distribution of playlists on Psychology (Green, H., 2014;N=40), U.S. History (Green, J., 2014; N=48), World History 2 (Green, J., 2014(Green, J., -2015;;N=30), Big History (Green, J., Green, H., & Graslie, E., 2014-2017;N=16), Economics (Clifford & Hill, 2015-2016;N=35), U.S. Government andPolitics (Benzine, 2015-2016;N=50), and Sociology (Sweeney, 2017;N=37).Crash Course videos can be viewed individually or together in a holistic course.In all, they are fast-paced talking-head mini-lectures laced with campy humor, photos, and graphics, accompanied by short descriptions, often written in a similarly casual vein.New uploads can garner thousands of views within a few hours.Interest in Crash Course has expanded to include a partnership with PBS Digital Studios, the marketing of Crash Course merchandise, and the Green's efforts to supplement YouTube advertising revenues for themselves and other creators through the subscription service, Subbable, later acquired by crowdfund vehicle, Patreon.In fact, Patreon is currently underwriting the development of new Crash Course materials at approximately $30,000 per month.We should add that Hank Green has also been instrumental in recently creating the Internet Creators Guild, an organization serving the interests of independent video makers (Green, 2016).
Also at the top of original-content sites are TED and its offshoot, TED-Ed.The popular TED project (ted.com/,2006-active, N>2,500), curated by former magazine publisher, Chris Anderson, provides a massive load of filmed conference speeches delivered by scientists, writers, entrepreneurs, entertainment celebrities, etc. Instructors should have no trouble finding relevant media for students to view out of class.However, the concise materials offered through TED-Ed (ed.ted.com/,2011-active, N>1,000) are even better for teaching and learning, in our opinion.Its objectives are ambitious, seeking to globally inspire, educate, and empower students through engaging videos and learning applications.The project provides opportunities for videos to be flipped-edited from portions of original TED presentations and other found clips.However, much of the collection consists of original animated videos, so-called TED-Ed Originals, conceptually inspired by content experts, instructors, and students that are in turn professionally animated.Each Lesson forms a coherent learning package by being accompanied by multiple applications for key ideas and additional resources to consult (relevant to economics, see explainer video "The Paradox of Value" (Argawal, 2016); psychology and sociology, see "Should You Trust Unanimous Decisions?"(Abbott, 2016); for history, see "The Atlantic Slave Trade: What Too Few Textbooks Ever Told You" (Hazard, 2016)).TED-Ed is largely funded by publisher Chris Anderson's Sapling Foundation.
Gapminder (gapminder.org/,2007-active, N>50), developed by the late Hans Rosling, provides a rich collection on global development that has broad relevance for teaching across disciplines.Dedicated to curing mass ignorance with empirical evidence, Rosling employed an interactive data visualization program in his videos to draw international comparisons of life quality over historical time through real-time analysis of demographic, economic, and health variables (e.g., "Let My Data Set Change Your Mindset" (Rosling, 2009).The site likewise provides numerous free downloads of teaching materials, including the analysis application and data sets.Rosling generated significant publicity through his Gapminder work, and the website has received substantial support through individual donors and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
Big questions addressed in brief videos are the focus of several UK multidiscipline original-content sites.These include The RSA (youtube.com/user/theRSAorg/featured),and its whiteboard writing-animated series, RSA Animates (RSA, 2010-active), with narration excerpted from speeches given to organization members (e.g., "Changing Education Paradigms" (Robinson, 2010)), and RSA Shorts (RSA, 2012-active), a more recent series in which cartoon animations illustrate talks about complex concepts (e.g., "Brene Brown on Blame" (Brown, 2015)).OpenLearn (open.edu/openlearn/, 2008-active), also provides a collection of short but engaging animated introductions, including "60 Second Adventures in Economics" (iTunes U Team, 2012) and "60 Second Adventures in Religion" (iTunes U Team, 2012); likewise see OU's collaboration with BBC Radio4 History of Ideas (bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04bwydw/clips, 2014-2015, N=48).Instructors with a humanist bent should be sure to examine the rapidly expanding collection at The School of Life (theschooloflife.com/,2014-active, N>500) created by philosopher, Alain de Botton, and art curator, Sophie Howarth.Key to this commercial site is The Book of Life, offering instruction on presumably how one can derive "emotional intelligence" in an increasingly materialist, competitive world.The Book includes "The Curriculum" providing text, image, and video on topics such as capitalism, work, and relationships.Various philosophers, theorists, literary figures, and the like are also explored here (e.g., "Political Theory: Karl Marx" (The School of Life, n.d.).Access to content is facilitated through its YouTube channel (2.8 million subscribers).Finally, "Macat Analysis Videos" (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXstY5OaIwdMcpMaRsTz0jRwlD9x-NIM, 2015active, N>130) should be mentioned.Although lesson applications are behind a paywall, Salah Khalil provides here 3-4 minute animated book synopses categorized by social-science discipline (e.g., "An Introduction to Gordon Allport's 'The Nature of Prejudice' -A Macat Psychology Analysis" (Macat, 2015)).
In contrast to these OVRs which generally attempt to broaden student thinking, PragerU (prageru.com/,2013-active, N>300), developed by California radio talk-show host Dennis Prager, offers non-accredited "courses" consisting of brief original-content videos presenting pro-white, pro-free-market, pro-Israel, anti-environmentalist views.PragerU's stated purpose is to rectify mass ignorance about the United States: "…to explain and spread what we call 'Americanism' through the power of the Internet.Our five-minute videos are conservative sound bites that clarify profoundly significant and uniquely American concepts for more than 100 million people each year" (PragerU, n.d.-b).Moreover, PragerU is attempting to actively oppose those forces in higher education perceived as being dominant, namely left-leaning professors, by offering teaching materials and a student-activist vehicle for resisting such control (PragerU, n.d.-a).The site identifies more than 40 videos directed to Economics and over 20 each to Political Science and History.Race Relations, consisting of 7 videos, is treated as a course in itself (see "Are the Police Racist?" +6.4 million views (PragerU, 2016)).The site uses a range of personalities to narrate videos, including mainstream conservatives like George Will, but most, such as Adam Corolla and Jordan Peterson, are selected to appeal to younger audiences.The website solicits donations and also appears to be generously supported by Texas fracking billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks (Shea, 2015).Its YouTube channel has 1.5 million subscribers, although YouTube has in all placed 28 PragerU videos on restricted access since fall, 2016 (Roberts, 2016).
Finally, developers working alone to produce well-crafted interdisciplinary content should be recognized.C.G.P. Grey, Evan Puschak, and Jonathon McIntosh are three of the best in our opinion.Grey distributes his videos with social-science themes at CGP Grey (youtube.com/user/CGPGrey,2010-active, N>115, see "The Rules for Rulers" (Grey, 2016)), and has also built a scaffold for learning through ongoing discussion with followers on his blog and at Reddit).Puschak, aka The Nerdwriter, (youtube.com/user/Nerdwriter1/,2011-active, N>115) works to "cultivate worldview" by producing 5-10 minute video essays across diverse topics, including a growing number relating to social behavior (see "Essays about the Social Sciences" (Puschak, 2012(Puschak, -2016))).Puschak spins out 3 to 4 videos monthly for which he is crowdfunded through Patreon.McIntosh employs critical social analysis through his Popular Culture Detective Agency blog (http://popculturedetective.agency/,2016-active).Each video is accompanied by synopsis, links to sources, recommended readings, and full transcript (e.g., "Military Recruitment and Science Fiction Movies" (McIntosh, 2016)).McIntosh has been active over the past decade in examining the intersection of media, gender, and subversive video, and his YouTube site provides easy access to current and previous works.He likewise seeks Patreon funding.
In contrast to original-content websites, found-content OVRs have had far less success, typically experiencing slow or no growth.The Open Video Project (open-video.org/)was initiated in 1998 at the Interaction Design Lab, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill "… to collect and make available a repository of digitized video content for the digital video, multimedia retrieval, digital library, and other research communities" (Open Video Project, n.d.).The project apparently has more relevance for conducting technical research on video storage and distribution than building a viable collection: most were added in the early 2000s, many of those with social-science relevance are from the Internet Archive, and all are in the form of downloadable files.HippoCampus.org(hippocampus.org/,2003) bills itself as "… a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content--videos, animations, and simulations--on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors, and their students, free of charge" (see HippoCampus.org, n.d.).Sponsored by the Monterey Institute for Technology, it has received substantial support through the Gates and Hewlett foundations.
Videos for Economics, Government, History, and Sociology are available, but curated collections have grown little since site inception.Moreover, they tend to be derived from only a limited set of primary collections (e.g., all 15 Sociology clips were culled from one Dallas Learning Solutions film).Likewise, Resourcd (resourcd.com/, 2007), a crowdsourced site started in 2007 by UK instructors Jamie Davis and Mark Holah, offers found clips across multiple disciplines, but social-science collections tend to be small and have grown little over the past several years.
Found-content sites that have generated larger collections have tended to be unstable.For example, Mindgate Media (2008Media ( -2012)), arguably the best of this type, is no longer online (see Wayback Machine, 2012a).Created by Lisa Lewin, former textbook publishing executive, the website offered creative and technical services to those wishing to integrate video into products, but the core was its on-demand feature, showcasing an impressive collection of found video clips and lesson applications across the entire curriculum (see Wayback Machine, 2012b).Content, largely contributed by college instructors, included summaries, class-usage suggestions, related readings, comments, as well as user ratings.However, the website ultimately closed in 2012 as the for-profit venture could never monetize its on-demand service.Likewise, the UK's premier found-video content site, government-supported JISC Digital Media (jisc.ac.uk/website/legacy/digital-media, 2009-2016) recently closed as part of a larger reorganization effort.The original site provided over 300 found-video clips with brief summaries relevant to multiple social-science disciplines, but the collection is now available only behind a paywall at Alexander Street.
Conversely, Critical Commons (criticalcommons.org/,2009-active), developed by Steve Anderson, media professor at the University of Southern California, is a found-content site that continues to grow.This OVR, which has received ongoing support from several foundations and USC, was initiated as an online space for establishing Fair Use for scholars who employ copyrighted content in transformative works.Typically included with each embedded clip is a summary and commentary making it relevant to teaching and learning (e.g., "Disrupting Sexism in the Workplace" (Sarkeesian, n.d.)).The site includes individual collections and serves as a storehouse for edited clips employed in other OVRs.

Discussion
Subsequent to our review of social-science OVRs, four generalizations seem relevant: (1) recent emergence and sustained development, (2) significant differences in forms and features, (3) major cross-disciplinary distinctions, and (4) varied motives and support.Findings also imply suggestions about possible directions for future OVR development.
Recent Emergence and Sustained Development.Consistent with the explosion of online video in general, OVRs have emerged only recently in significant number, which in turn appears to be a function of various technological improvements that made streaming an efficient mode of video transmission.Of the 70+ repositories described in this paper, just one (Online Video Project) started before 2000, albeit largely purposed for digital video research, and only two others (Archaeology Channel and Hippocampus) were created before the initiation of Web 2.0.7 All others began post-2005, about the time video could be viably streamed.Sixty-five (65) social-science OVRs have been created since 2008.Importantly, most have continued to augment content since inception.Specifically, 51 of all repositories distributed video on relevant platforms through 2017.We could determine only 3 had gone offline altogether.The emergence of many over the last several years indicates that interest in OVR development remains strong, and few older ones appear to be slowing down in terms of video curation.In sum, social-science OVRs do not constitute an ephemeral online genre.
Significant Differences in Forms and Features.As shown, OVRs range markedly in terms of complexity, design sophistication, video type, video production values, collection size, and learning applications.Some have diverse functional features with large amounts of curated video and learning applications.At the other end, a few are little more than PDFs with links to videos and limited commentary.
One important difference lies in source of video content.Overall, about three times as many OVRs employ original content in comparison to found content.Outside Economics, only one OVR exhibits edited content.Clip source appears to be related to sustainability, particularly for multidiscipline OVRs as those consisting of found-content tend to be less productive and shorter-lived than original-content repositories.Edited-content sites tend to become static in the sense of augmenting initial collections, possibly as program series end and scenes having teaching relevance are exhausted.As suggested, applications can be important, particularly with found and edited content.Most, at the very least, provide tags and/or clip summaries, but some also go well beyond by providing practical information about integrating videos with teaching.In addition to categorizing videos by topic or tags, several other features are common across OVRs.Almost all make use of social media, enabling users to communicate about site content.Most encourage users to give specific comments about clips.User involvement is particularly critical for sites that rely on found video, and some, give instructions to encourage quality user input.An active Facebook presence also can generate significant user interaction that might not transpire otherwise.Many original-content OVRs have a YouTube companion, which can facilitate interaction, as well as visibility, user access, and revenue generation.
Major Cross-Disciplinary Distinctions.OVR development has been markedly uneven across disciplines.As shown, Economics and Psychology have about 30 between them; at the other end, Political Science has one.Economics websites make extensive use of popular culture.Many are populated by professionally-produced content, with several employing well-developed satirical storylines and skilled performers.Economics likewise has several sites dedicated to given ideological positions, including Learn Liberty, a site whose developers are singlemindedly fixed on targeting provocative content to students and recruiting them into organization programs.Economics also is unique in having 4 of the 5 edited-content sites in the social sciences.Psychology is exceptional in terms of website diversity.Many of its OVRs are professor-made, others get students to interview professors, while others make videos about the important research of professors themselves.Psychology is the only discipline in which some developers choose to withhold their identities, the only discipline for which a book publisher provides a collection of found clips, and has the only one created and maintained by undergraduates.History has the most extensive talking-head collection developed by a single instructor (HipHughes), the only site which tries to explain everything (Big History Project), and several which employ entertaining vehicles to reach students.Sociology has the exemplar in found-video, The Sociological Cinema, a huge OVR built around crowdsourced media and learning applications with much student involvement.Anthropology has the oldest disciplinefocused site (The Archaeology Channel), and Political Science is remarkable for its lack of OVR development.Multidiscipline OVRs consisting of original materials are plentiful, and have a rapidly expanding base of content (witness the rapid growth of Crash Course, TED-Ed, and The School of Life).In contrast, multidiscipline sites using found-content generally have not fared well.
Varied Motives and Support.The OVR environment is diverse relative to developer motives and funding.Some OVRs have been driven by interests outside academia, although apparently few were initially developed to become for-profit vehicles.A number of Economics sites were created for the clear purpose of promoting given ideological perspectives, but most across the social sciences were developed by high school and college instructors seemingly committed to nothing more than the advancement of teaching and learning.
Financial support varies widely, as well.A handful appear to be exceptionally wellfunded, particularly those receiving contributions from wealthy donors with political agendas.Some instructors have received or continue to get financial or service assistance from college employers, but on the other end, many others appear to be without institutional support.For such developers, crowdfunding and YouTube advertising revenue, have become increasingly prominent.Moreover, many OVRs were developed by instructors who seem neither motivated by money nor in need of large amounts of it to do their online work.They thus represent an important counterforce to what has been termed "the marketization of higher education" (see Palmer & Shueths, 2013).Consequently, favorable recognition for capably doing so from their employers, and perhaps the greater discipline, might go a long way in encouraging others to become involved in OVR development.
Future Research.Most immediately relevant to us are questions emerging from findings, such as why OVRs diverge so widely across disciplines, and why original-content sites are far more common than those employing found or edited video.OVR quality should also be addressed.Do extant videos and applications meet essential pedagogical standards?MERLOT provides guidance for determining content and website adequacy, and as shown, has already reviewed some OVRs considered here.However, evaluation efforts should be extended to include all major OVRs, especially those appearing to be ideologically driven.Research might also be directed to OVR employment among instructors.We are not aware of the extent to which OVRs are integrated in practice into teaching, but conversations with faculty at our own and other colleges suggest few instructors use them.Such research would also be helpful if employment obstacles were identified.Finally, we encourage research about OVRs in other fields.Examination of those in the physical and life sciences, math, business, and the humanities would be helpful for bringing resources to the surface for broader instructional use and assessment, as well as for understanding the larger OVR universe specific to higher education.