Science.tv
Encyclopedia
science.tv is a virtual community
for people interested in science
. It enables users to upload videos and categorize them according to subject matter and intended audience.
pioneer and film-maker based in Bristol
, England
. Research and development work began in 2005 and the site was launched in December 2007 . Thurling writes the science.tv blog, where he sets out the vision for the site and invites feedback and suggestions for improvements .
name, originally associated with the Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu
. The entire domain was purchased from the islands' residents in 2000 and the suffix is now increasingly being used for sites featuring, or relating to, video content .
of science.tv reveals a front-end
built with Cascading Style Sheets
and JavaScript
. Video is delivered using the Adobe Flash
codec
. The back-end
relies on a PHP
interface to a mySQL
content management system
.
, and much of the content on the site is actually embedded from other video sites, including YouTube
. The intended audience is broad, ranging from school students to academics and professional programme-makers .
Users are able to navigate for content via site-wide search, tags and by preset categories, which include: physics, chemistry and biology.
Virtual community
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals...
for people interested in science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
. It enables users to upload videos and categorize them according to subject matter and intended audience.
History
science.tv was founded by Matt Thurling, a digital mediaDigital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
pioneer and film-maker based in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Research and development work began in 2005 and the site was launched in December 2007 . Thurling writes the science.tv blog, where he sets out the vision for the site and invites feedback and suggestions for improvements .
Domain name
The .tv ("dot-tv") extension is a Top-level domainTop-level domain
A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...
name, originally associated with the Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
. The entire domain was purchased from the islands' residents in 2000 and the suffix is now increasingly being used for sites featuring, or relating to, video content .
Technology
A look at the source codeSource code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
of science.tv reveals a front-end
Front-end and back-end
Front end and back end are generalized terms that refer to the initial and the end stages of a process. The front end is responsible for collecting input in various forms from the user and processing it to conform to a specification the back end can use...
built with Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
. Video is delivered using the Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
. The back-end
Front-end and back-end
Front end and back end are generalized terms that refer to the initial and the end stages of a process. The front end is responsible for collecting input in various forms from the user and processing it to conform to a specification the back end can use...
relies on a PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
interface to a mySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
content management system
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
.
Content
The focus of science.tv is user-generated contentUser-generated content
User generated content covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles...
, and much of the content on the site is actually embedded from other video sites, including YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The intended audience is broad, ranging from school students to academics and professional programme-makers .
Users are able to navigate for content via site-wide search, tags and by preset categories, which include: physics, chemistry and biology.