Mon, Aug 15, 2022: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM
ESA Exhibit Hall
Background/Question/MethodsThousands of publicly available webcams are operated by STEM organizations, such as zoos, museums, and government agencies. Though they have the potential to offer rich informal learning opportunities, to date no research has described the breadth of STEM webcams available. Here, we develop an inventory that identifies and characterizes US-based STEM webcams as a snapshot of what was available between April 2021 and February 2022. We conducted internet searches for STEM webcams and added them to an inventory if they met our inclusion criteria. For each cam, we recorded publicly-available data including operator name, organization type (e.g., zoo), general STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), webcam subject (e.g., bird, river, etc.), types of engagement opportunities (e.g., live chat with experts), and more. This inventory serves as the basis for a follow-up survey of STEM webcam operators, which seeks to better understand the goals, outcomes, and investments of STEM webcam programs in the US. This study is funded by NSF Award # 2005869.
Results/ConclusionsOverall, we identified and characterized nearly 1000 webcams that were operated by US-based STEM organizations and fit within our inclusion criteria. In this abstract we present preliminary analysis of our work, representing 70% of identified cams; full analyses will be presented during the ESA 2022 conference. Cams were operated by a variety of entities, including federal agencies (e.g., National Park Service, US Geological Survey; 36%), zoos (23%), aquaria (12%), museums, universities and more. The majority fell within the Life Sciences (67%) or Geosciences (22%) categories and most (57%) focused on animals. Of the animal webcams, mammals (60%) and birds (23%) were strongly represented in contrast to reptiles (2%) and insects (4%). Within the 63 unique mammal subjects, tigers, elephants, otters, and giraffes were disproportionately represented (5-7% each). Within the 23 different bird webcam subjects, penguins (30%) and osprey (20%) were most common. Other studies have shown the over-representation of charismatic animals (e.g., elephants, giraffes, tigers, bears, etc.) in zoos and our study suggests that webcams may amplify this phenomenon. Further, these preliminary results suggest that life sciences topics dominate STEM webcams, leaving potential for other visually engaging fields such as robotics, astronomy, or marine ecology to participate.
Results/ConclusionsOverall, we identified and characterized nearly 1000 webcams that were operated by US-based STEM organizations and fit within our inclusion criteria. In this abstract we present preliminary analysis of our work, representing 70% of identified cams; full analyses will be presented during the ESA 2022 conference. Cams were operated by a variety of entities, including federal agencies (e.g., National Park Service, US Geological Survey; 36%), zoos (23%), aquaria (12%), museums, universities and more. The majority fell within the Life Sciences (67%) or Geosciences (22%) categories and most (57%) focused on animals. Of the animal webcams, mammals (60%) and birds (23%) were strongly represented in contrast to reptiles (2%) and insects (4%). Within the 63 unique mammal subjects, tigers, elephants, otters, and giraffes were disproportionately represented (5-7% each). Within the 23 different bird webcam subjects, penguins (30%) and osprey (20%) were most common. Other studies have shown the over-representation of charismatic animals (e.g., elephants, giraffes, tigers, bears, etc.) in zoos and our study suggests that webcams may amplify this phenomenon. Further, these preliminary results suggest that life sciences topics dominate STEM webcams, leaving potential for other visually engaging fields such as robotics, astronomy, or marine ecology to participate.