WeatherVideoHD.TV - A Resource and Marketplace for Earth Science Education Videos and Images

Our new website already has nearly ten thousand weather, astronomy and earth science related videos (including high definition, time lapse, and slow-motion clips), photographs and illustrations. These resources are retrieved with powerful, interactive search features and are available for immediate download. The educational process, whether via classroom lectures and coursepacks, various forms of distance learning, or informally, through producing documentaries, science center exhibits, websites, podcasts, YouTube videos or public lectures, is increasingly reliant on access to topical video, photographic and illustrative materials, especially those highlighting concepts stressed in the NGSS. Visuals are now essential for new concepts and discoveries in the earth sciences to “go viral," as well as more actively engaging today's students. Classroom lectures have traditionally incorporated snippets of text, copies of illustrations, and more recently, videos embedded in PowerPoint or Keynote, often obtained via Internet downloads under so-called “fair use” provisions of copyright law. It should be noted that "fair use" is by no means a clearly defined concept in law and has lead to litigation in innumerable occasions. As the educational process itself is now becoming an increasingly online endeavor, the reuse of such materials without formal licensing becomes increasingly untenable for most institutions. Teachers wishing to use unlicensed materials in published class notes, text books, class CDs or DVDs, online lecture series, podcasts, or other means of redistribution may encounter a growing number of potential pitfalls.

On the other end of the educational process are researchers who create exciting visuals, video clips, and computer simulations. In some cases, depending upon the regulations of the institution or the funding agency, these can be released into the public domain (usually with proper crediting). Recently, institutions wishing to monetize some of their visual assets created by their staff are seeking to license these visual resources, at least for commercial use. This outreach assists in meeting public outreach and informal education goals mandated by NSF (Criteria 2). But whether for free or for a fee, meeting the demands of media and other users for access can be time consuming for researchers.

WeatherVideoHD.TV addresses these issues. Assets may be searched, licensed and immediately downloaded online. Prices reflect the likely end use (full freight for a 4K video clip used in a feature film), to nominal (and often even free) for lower resolution versions suitable for classroom lectures. The licenses are royalty free - one pays only once (if there is a charge) to use the asset anywhere, anytime, and (almost) anyhow. The process has been made as simple as possible, especially compared to byzantine negotiations that could, say, typically occur when trying to obtain use of a graphic for a textbook or DVD. Moreover, those copyright holders contributing their assets can use the system to efficiently service the innumerable requests from media and others when an item gets “hot,” and even (if they wish), obtain suitable remuneration for certain uses. We will present the system as it has evolved to date and welcome feedback and comments.