The Crystallography Collection: an online celebration of the development, practice and impact of crystallography.
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Institution of Great Britain
Department Name: The Bursar
Abstract
To mark the Crystallography Centenary of the Braggs' Nobel Prize winning discovery in 1913, the Ri will create a unique online collection of multimedia resources telling the story of modern crystallography research and practice. Published on a specially commissioned micro-site, the Crystallography Collection will engage students of science, teachers and the science-interested general public with the subject of crystallography.
Working in partnership with a range of scientists and organisations, the Ri will create and curate a suite of free-to-access digital assets that explore different aspects of crystallography in the most accessible and engaging way possible. These resources will be presented online in a micro-site built on the existing technology stack of the popular Ri Channel (www.richannel.org) and released to coincide with activities around the 2013 Crystallography Centenary. The website will include a range of original video and audio production alongside further interactive tools allowing users to explore the development, cutting edge research and real-world applications of crystallography. Each set of online media will, ultimately, provide users with an increased understanding of what different atoms and elements are, and how they join together to make molecules.
A range of original multimedia content will be commissioned and produced by the Ri team, including:
- A series of short films combining high definition images from modern crystallography research with audio interviews from UK-based researchers;
- A second series of short films shot on location at crystallography research facilities across the UK to showcase cutting-edge crystallography techniques across the four pillars promoted by the British Crystallographic Association (Biological structures, Chemical, Industrial, Physical);
- Animated short films telling the story of crystallography and explaining the basic principles behind crystallography research;
- An interactive online game enabling users to experiment with crystallography techniques by working out the position of different atoms in a molecule from a series of images.
The website will include a variety of features including interactive timelines charting the development of crystallography research, image galleries, and an events calendar showcasing public events in the UK linked to the 2013 Crystallography Centenary. In addition, the site will contain a blog with posts from experts in the field, a 'Best of the web' video playlist featuring the best online videos exploring the subject of crystallography, and social media tools allowing users to comment and share content.
As new content is added throughout the life of the project, the Crystallography Collection website will become a growing online hub for Crystallography learning materials and will form a topical hub to access information, media and educational materials around both the 2013 Crystallography Centenary and the UN's International Year of Crystallography in 2014. Where possible, multimedia content will be published as "open educational resources" to be distributed free of charge.
Working in partnership with a range of scientists and organisations, the Ri will create and curate a suite of free-to-access digital assets that explore different aspects of crystallography in the most accessible and engaging way possible. These resources will be presented online in a micro-site built on the existing technology stack of the popular Ri Channel (www.richannel.org) and released to coincide with activities around the 2013 Crystallography Centenary. The website will include a range of original video and audio production alongside further interactive tools allowing users to explore the development, cutting edge research and real-world applications of crystallography. Each set of online media will, ultimately, provide users with an increased understanding of what different atoms and elements are, and how they join together to make molecules.
A range of original multimedia content will be commissioned and produced by the Ri team, including:
- A series of short films combining high definition images from modern crystallography research with audio interviews from UK-based researchers;
- A second series of short films shot on location at crystallography research facilities across the UK to showcase cutting-edge crystallography techniques across the four pillars promoted by the British Crystallographic Association (Biological structures, Chemical, Industrial, Physical);
- Animated short films telling the story of crystallography and explaining the basic principles behind crystallography research;
- An interactive online game enabling users to experiment with crystallography techniques by working out the position of different atoms in a molecule from a series of images.
The website will include a variety of features including interactive timelines charting the development of crystallography research, image galleries, and an events calendar showcasing public events in the UK linked to the 2013 Crystallography Centenary. In addition, the site will contain a blog with posts from experts in the field, a 'Best of the web' video playlist featuring the best online videos exploring the subject of crystallography, and social media tools allowing users to comment and share content.
As new content is added throughout the life of the project, the Crystallography Collection website will become a growing online hub for Crystallography learning materials and will form a topical hub to access information, media and educational materials around both the 2013 Crystallography Centenary and the UN's International Year of Crystallography in 2014. Where possible, multimedia content will be published as "open educational resources" to be distributed free of charge.
| Description | Objectives and outcomes: 1. Design and build a new website called the "Crystallography Collection" This element was not funded as part of the original proposal. However, a stand-alone Collection of video content was created on the Ri Channel website to package and present the series as a coherent project - see http://richannel.org/collections/2013/crystallography. The collection featured both the original content produced by the Ri and a selection of the best videos from across the web celebrating and promoting crystallography. 2. Create and commission a range of original multimedia content for online publication The funded element of the project specifically focussed on creating a series of short-form videos exploring the topic of crystallography from a variety of different perspectives. Eleven original films were produced split between animations, short documentary-style films, and coverage of live events commissioned by the Ri to celebrate the Bragg Centenary in 2013 and International Year of Crystallography in 2014. This differed from the two specific series pitched in the original proposal as, after researching the topics, the project team realised that the very short videos in the proposed series, "Crystallography in Focus", wouldn't provide significant depth for audiences new to the field of x-ray crystallography. In total, over 200 minutes of high-quality science video has been produced as part of the project. The animated film was long-listed for a British Animation Award in 2014. For each video, searchable transcripts and captions were produced to aid accessibility and exploration. The videos were presented on the Ri Channel with additional learning resources linked to the video file and highlighting in turn as the video played to again extend and expand learning around the topic. A short ident was commissioned from animation studio 12foot6 to tie the video series together with a shared identity as well as recognise STFC's involvement in the project. In addition, a range of interactive features were created for publication on the main rigb.org website and promoted online. These included a showcase of iconic objects from the Ri Collections (see http://rigb.org/our-history/iconic-objects/iconic-objects-list/bragg-spectrometer) and a very popular interactive timeline of Crystallography (see http://rigb.org/our-history/history-ofresearch/ crystallography-timeline). 3. Bring together the community of crystallography researchers in the UK We were particularly pleased at the project's reach and impact across crystallography researchers in the UK and beyond, bringing together the community around the Bragg Centenary in 2013 and the International Year of Crystallography in 2014. The video series was designed to feature a range of high-profile researchers from different fields and institutions, including Professor Stephen Curry (Imperial), Professor Elspeth Garman (Oxford), Professor Judith Howard (Durham), Sir Roger Penrose (Oxford) and experts at the Space Research Centre at the University of Leicester. The Humble Braggs film also featured an interview with the daughter of William Lawrence Bragg, Patience Thompson. These individuals helped to promote the videos to their colleagues and institutional networks - a process assisted by featuring "Best of web" videos from other sources, including Diamond Light Source, IYCR, Wellcome Collection and Oxford Sparks. Key videos were featured on the British Crystallographic Association's outreach and education website promoting the content to their network of over 1000 UK members - see www.learn.crystallography.org.uk/education. The interactive timeline was used by the International Year of Crystallography website to populate its own timeline and key videos from the Crystallography collection were featured on the "Learn" section of the site - see http://www.iycr2014.org/learn. In addition, the Collections team at the Ri were instrumental in supporting the crystallography exhibition at the University of Warwick, providing a range of archive objects, documents and multimedia to display to an audience of researchers from across the UK. The exhibition was captured on film by Diamond Light Source and the Ri has collaborated on the resulting video (entitled 'Structure of Life') which will be added to the online Collection upon release. The project also had a substantial international reach to crystallography researchers across Europe and beyond: - A representative of the Université de Rennes 1 provided the French language translation of the animated film which was subsequently featured on the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) website and promoted to the 120 laboratories working with crystallography techniques (see http://www.cnrs.fr/cristallo/spip.php?article4). - A former president of the Argentinean Crystallography Association (AACr) provided a Spanish language translation of the animation and distributed it to his network of researchers on our behalf. - Two films were supplied to the Australian X-ray Analytical Association for broadcast at the AXAA2014 annual conference in February 2014 in Perth. - Our timeline and animation was also provided to the SLAC National Accelerator Lab at Stanford University to feature in a press release and website feature. 4. Drive awareness of and engagement with the project amongst our target audiences The release/promotion of specific videos was staggered across the life of the project to provide repeated opportunities to promote the content to our target audiences. Each new video release was trailed and promoted per- and post- launch through the Ri's extensive marketing networks, including: - Social media networks, including Facebook (25,000+) and Twitter (26,000+) - Regular communications to the Ri's membership (4,500+) - Regular email newsletters to the Ri's public list (over 20,000) and education list reaching Last updated February 2013 3 primary and secondary schools across the country - The Crystallography Collection and individual videos were regularly promoted on the homepage of main Ri website as well as featured prominently on the Ri Channel homepage through the life of the project - The videos were also published on the Ri's YouTube channel reaching a substantial subscriber base of over 75,000, including a significant international audience from the US, Canada and Western Europe. The YouTube platform enabled significant discussion and interaction of the videos between site users via the comments section. In addition to these existing networks, the project team promoted individual videos to a widerange of partner organisations and national media outlets including: - The British Council: Videos were featured on their Cubed website - The Guardian: Featured the animation on the front page of the website - The Telegraph: Featured the animation on the front page of the science section - TES and the National STEM Centre reaching a network of teachers - Popular blogs and science-related websites including Time magazine, Slate and Geeksaresexy.net - The BCA membership and popular science mailing list including Psci-comm and BIG. Translating the animation video into French and providing Spanish and French language subtitles on YouTube also enabled us to reach new international audiences. Videos have also been requested by various institutions for public display. The Humble Braggs film was provided to the St Andrews museum for display in the "Nobel Structures" exhibition in March 2014. The Edinburgh International Science Festival is screening collection videos in their main venue throughout the festival week in April 2014. The Edinburgh University School of Chemistry will display the animation video as part of hands-on family activities around crystallography as part of the festival. Other videos were incorporated into lecture series on the Bragg centenary as far and wide as Sydney, Australia. |
| Exploitation Route | The videos were used by crystallographers all around the world. We even had requests to translate the animation into French and Spanish. See above section for more details. |
| Sectors | Other |
| URL | http://richannel.org/collections/2013/crystallography |
| Description | We were pleased at the project's reach and impact across crystallography researchers in the UK and beyond, bringing together the community around the Bragg Centenary in 2013 and the International Year of Crystallography in 2014. Key videos were featured on the British Crystallographic Association's outreach and education website promoting the content to their network of over 1000 UK members - see www.learn.crystallography.org.uk/education. The interactive timeline was used by the International Year of Crystallography website to populate its own timeline and key videos from the Crystallography collection were featured on the "Learn" section of the site - see http://www.iycr2014.org/learn. - A representative of the Université de Rennes 1 provided the French language translation of the animated film which was subsequently featured on the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) website and promoted to the 120 laboratories working with crystallography techniques (see http://www.cnrs.fr/cristallo/spip.php?article4). - A former president of the Argentinean Crystallography Association (AACr) provided a Spanish language translation of the animation and distributed it to his network of researchers on our behalf. - Two films were supplied to the Australian X-ray Analytical Association for broadcast at the AXAA2014 annual conference in February 2014 in Perth. - Our timeline and animation was also provided to the SLAC National Accelerator Lab at Stanford University to feature in a press release and website feature. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |