We work with clients to amplify the broader impacts of any project or program. Our services include VIDEO PRODUCTION SERVICES, OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT, INTERACTIVE MEDIA, and MEASURING OUTCOMES. Combined, these approaches create innovations in education, behavioral change, and advances in policy. We can help you communicate your research at any phase and to diverse audiences.
Small scale and large scale projects are possible. Read more about what we offer below, and contact us for a free consultation about how to customize a project to fit your needs.
1. New Research Proposals – Achieving A Broader Impact
The initial phase of proposal development is the best time to plan broader impacts and communicating the results as the research is done. Together, we can make a plan and add a section on broader impacts or education/outreach to your proposal.
Example: We recently worked with aquatic scientists at Louisiana State University to develop a three tier outreach plan about the impacts of oil on fish: 1) a short video series that portrays how they made their discovery, 2) a site with short blurbs geared toward policy-makers, and 3) partnerships with non-governmental organizations to get the word out when they release new studies.
2. Existing Research
You may not have realized you wanted to communicate research findings until the work is already underway. Since outreach wasn’t in the initial budget, it’s likely that a smaller campaign will be necessary. Don’t despair! You can still develop a short but compelling video, a social media campaign about results, and others. A new outreach campaign can also be developed and funded separately.
Ex. Fieldwork is fascinating to many and can be documented and shared with video. We developed a project on wildfires in Los Angeles doing just this.
Ex. We pitched a proposal to the National Science Foundation to support a series of ten minute videos to accompany a project about the Social Discovery of Flame Retardants by researchers at Brown University.
3. Conference and Live Presentations
Video is a dynamic way to condense and convey complex ideas in small time frames. Using a documentary approach, and combined with animation and motion graphics, we can help you illuminate your results and findings to accompany research presentations, book releases, conference keynotes, educational lectures and more.
Ex. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we made a short video that portrayed the story of West Nile Virus emergence and management. This video gave us an opportunity to explore how to communicate risks from emerging illnesses.
4. Research Workshops
Bringing together a group of colleagues can be a powerful way to advance science. The impacts of workshops can be significantly magnified by video taping and uploading the workshop online. Interviews with workshop participants can be interlaced with activities and visuals about the event.
5. Publishing Results
Whether you’ve just published an article in an academic journal, written a new research report or released a new book, we can help you amplify the release of your work with an exciting, accessible video. Depending on the scope of your project and your budget, we can craft a video from a mix of original footage and existing, archival or stock materials. These videos can engage your audience online as a concise introduction to your work, be used as part of an educational campaign, and be a critical element of a larger social media distribution and education campaign via sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
Ex: At War with the Weather, co-written by Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan was released in 2009. This book, published by MIT Press, was an analysis of the field of Risk Management in a time of unpredictable weather events and climate change. Working with the authors we crafted a 2 minute video featuring interviews with both co-writers that accompanied the book’s release. Used online and on their website, this 2 minute video introduced the otherwise unfamiliar concepts in the books to a wider lay audience. 
Ex: No Family History was developed while research about environmental causes of breast cancer was being conducted, then released with a book about the topic by the same name.
Ex. Shored Up, a documentary about coastal development and sea level rise in New Jersey. Told through the eyes of surfers, scientists and engineers, Shored Up tackles a controversial subject with a lighter touch. When released in 2012 Shored Up will be accompanied by an outreach campaign conducted in partnership with non-profit organizations in regions impacted by the issues raised in the film.
6. Visual Toolkit or Databank
Some subjects need more than words and interviews to be digested, and can benefit from animations or motion graphics that portray the meaning of data and complex systems in a more accessible way.
Ex. In our video for Philadelphia’s Common Market we used an animation to illustrate the contrast between today’s industrial food system and the more traditional approach of a regional food system.
Ex. In our documentary, No Family History, we used animations to communicate how cancer cells move throughout the body.
Our Tools
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Video ProductionVideo communications are at the core of our work. From two minute web videos, to animated shorts to feature length documentaries, we can help you find the right format and length to present and connect audiences with your work. |
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Outreach and EngagementCreating a video or a launching website is just the first step in reaching your audience, and we can help you build partnerships with the right organizations and individuals and use the appropriate social media platforms to spread your message far and wide. |
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Interactive MediaWe help turn information into education and motivation using interactive video players, custom-designed websites, data visualization and mapping techniques. |
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Measuring OutcomesWe can measure the impacts of our work through evaluating policy change, behavioral change and educational outcomes. We use qualitative research and quantitative analytics to assess the impacts of our programs. |