In the middle of my struggles to finish an agonizingly long research project, revisions to a research grant, and a couple of overdue research papers, I came across this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/business/26proto.html
Needless to say, I got derailed more than I already was! As I hauled myself out of the bunker, I was debating with myself whether all this never ending research and publications drama should be coursed through the “conventional” path to reach a sizeable target audience, or rolled faster through the heavily media-assisted path, a.k.a. YouTube! Just for the sake of argument, I imagined myself YouTubing my work on the mathematical modeling of the ultrafiltration of virgin whey. I cringed at the thought! So much for “wow factor”! I decided I wasn’t telegenic (or videogenic) enough to do a Johnny Chung Lee! Then again, maybe it’s not about telegenicity, maybe it’s more about the ingenuity of the invention. And, more importantly, it’s probably about the appeal of the invention to an audience that makes YouTube thrive. In any case, I don’t expect so many YouTube enthusiasts would spend precious minutes trying to decipher why a two-parameter flux model is advantageous in designing batch ultrafiltration system for the processing of virgin whey. Are you yawning already? I thought so... my point exactly!
