UCSF Gains Positive Presence on YouTube, Social Networking Sites

By Shipra Shukla

In recent years, the UCSF community has joined the rest of the world in putting their faces forward in various types of videos on YouTube and connecting with those with similar interests on social networking sites.

A quick search of UCSF videos on YouTube finds a plethora of pages of video offerings, ranging from a film celebrating the centennial of the UCSF School of Nursing to a video of Calvin Chou, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine, who talked about the physical exam and bedside manner.

The global phenomenon of using YouTube and social networking websites has now moved into the realm of educational development. Third-year MD/PhD student Hengameh Zahed Kargaran uses technology, including YouTube and social networking sites, to enhance her learning and research. "If I have to do a presentation, for example, on cell division, I do a search for presentations or visual animations of cell division on YouTube," said Kargaran. "Instead of just seeing slides or pictures, I think video is more powerful. I think human beings are very visual and I want to see how a scientific concept has been explained visually, so I can apply the communication technique to a similar concept in a presentation I might be making." Beginning last fall, UC Berkeley became the first UC campus to make videos of full courses available on YouTube. "UC Berkeley on YouTube provides a public window into University life -- academics, events and athletics -- which will build on our rich tradition of open educational content for the larger community," said Christina Maslach, UC Berkeley's vice provost for undergraduate education. More and more, YouTube is being seen as a vehicle for health outreach. University of California Television (UCTV) UCTV is placing much of the programming UCSF provides on YouTube. UCSF provides UCTV with valuable consumer health programming, such as the ongoing series Women's Health Today and lectures from Mini Medical School and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), which are consistently popular with UCTV's television and web audiences.

Shipra Shukla, Public Affairs moderating UC Women's Federation panel on "Using Social Networking Sites to Outreach to Students," pictured along with UCSF Center for Gender Equity's Amy Levine and Mijiza Sanchez.

The UCSF Center for Gender Equity and the UCSF National Center for Excellence in Women's Health present the Women's Health Today noontime lecture series through UCTV as well as live online. UCSF leaders view distribution of these programs via YouTube as an avenue for health outreach and public service. "Any media outlet that gets the message out about women's health is a positive one," said Dixie Horning, executive director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. "YouTube is particularly useful, as it is a popular, well-known and user-friendly site." UCTV officials see YouTube not as competition, but as a resource. According to UCTV managing director Lynn Burnstan, YouTube allows audiences to match content to their interests. "YouTube allows UCTV programs to easily reach the public with vital health and programming from UCSF and others," said Burnstan. "With the vast search capacity of Google and YouTube, people find programs based on specific queries. They don't have to know about UCSF, but once they find the programs, they have access to so much." In what can be attributed in part to cross-traffic from Google searches and YouTube, the numbers show that the popularity of UCSF's programming via UCTV continues to grow steadily. "The Women's Health Today videos have had more than 200,000 views. That is a tremendous increase in the reach of these unique and valuable programs," said Burnstan. Serving Our Community The openness of the UCSF community to new technology is an indirect way in which UCSF is manifesting the vision of serving the community, one of seven strategic directions outlined in the UCSF Strategic Plan. Read about the plan here. An example of the impact includes a recent entry by a blogger on a national Epilepsy Foundation website. The blogger referenced a video that he came across on YouTube, featuring UCSF's Dan Lowenstein, MD, vice chair of the Department of Neurology. The blogger credits the video with leading him to search for more information on Lowenstein and UCSF. Lowenstein's lecture was part of an OLLI series made available to YouTube via UCTV.

UC Women's Federation representatives at annual meeting in San Francisco.

"I found the YouTube video [on Lowenstein's talk] first and then looked for more. He is SUCH an excellent teacher! VERY basic and down to earth, but REALLY explains things so very well!" the blogger wrote in an entry in January on the Epilepsy Foundation website. The entry prompted other responses from individuals stating that they had also researched Lowenstein on the web after seeing the blog, and they agreed. The response to a lecture by a UCSF faculty member on YouTube is an example of one way in which UCSF's openness to using new media through different distribution channels is reaching a broad section of the community. It exemplifies a way in which UCSF is fostering understanding, in this case creating a dialogue around epilepsy. UCSF students, faculty and staff also are increasingly becoming part of various online communities via social networking sites. Students often use Facebook to create forums where a group of users come together online under the umbrella of a common interest. Reasons cited by students include the need to discuss lectures and share photos of an experiment and video of a procedure, among others - all made easy via Facebook. Facebook and other social networking sites eliminate the need for complex video file transfer. Everything can be easily uploaded to the social networking site's group for members to see. Social networking sites are all based around the premise that users need to create a publicly viewable profile in which they share information about themselves. Online communities give individuals access to both broad and niche groups. At UCSF, there is a community within Facebook that graduate students have created. Students come together under niche topics that range from stem cell development to residency programs. In a way, the communities function as a way of providing collective intelligence, students say. Campuses across the UC system are exploring the use of social networking sites as a possible recruitment tool for students. During the annual meeting of the UC Women's Federation, for example, a group of women directors came together for a three-day workshop led by the UCSF Center for Gender Equity (CGE). Among the topics of discussion was using social networking sites. Social Networking Amy Levine, EdD, director of CGE, wanted to create a dialogue around the subject among UC representatives through a discussion titled "Using Social Networking Sites to Outreach to Students." "Our students have grown up with technology at their fingertips and they are adept at using the tools," Levine said. "In order to most effectively reach them, we need to use social networking sites more effectively and understand the versatility of the medium." Online communities aren't entirely unique, however. The first bulletin boards and discussion groups, like the the Well and Cleveland Freenet, started popping up in the late 1980s. These online communities had more of a local focus. As the Internet became more prominent and one could communicate with people around the globe, the focus became more global. The growing prevalence of niche groups on social networking sties signifies a swing back to focusing on local ties. Many social networking sites require their members to be over age 18, possess a college degree and even be in a particular profession. In addition to the more general Facebook site, popular sites include linkedin.com, based around career development; blackplanet.com, bringing together the African American community; and studentdoctor.net, popular among UCSF trainees. Around the country, individuals are creating groups around the issues they care about. Groups are being created around cancer patients in a particular town, and environmental issues focused around local concerns and politics. The prevalence and impact of YouTube and online communities is so significant that NPR even has a senior strategist for online communities, and this year's presidential debate was televised via a partnership between CNN and YouTube. No longer are YouTube and social networking sites the domain of the young. Parents, working professionals and CEOs all have Facebook and Myspace profiles. A top law firm decided to recruit potential summer associates by placing a video of their partners enjoying a retreat on YouTube. Users span the entire demographic spectrum. In fact, presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton's Myspace page claims 52,000 friends. At the core of both social networking sites and YouTube is the idea that one allows individuals whom they don't know, but might want to connect with, to come to them. This could mean patients connecting with physicians, students connecting to a university or a community being connected to the latest health information. A growing area is development officers being connected to philanthropists. "We have the potential to reach thousands of people through these sites," said Levine. "I see this technology as a vital way to get onboard with the 21st century."