Seems that the whole idea of user-generated content is maturing both in terms of the quality of the content itself and the professional communities that are committing to developing and sharing it. Here’s a good example from the scientific research community, called Scivee.

Scivee is an online science community where scientists can make their research known to their fellow peers as well as the general public. Scientists can create “pubcasts” which are online presentations that allow a scientist to combine their publication with media such as video, audio, images, and text to allow visitors to quickly grasp the key concepts of their publications, as well as an increased chance for citation. Scientists can also form communities around their research/projects/interests and can start discussions or plan events with their group.

This is more that simply a YouTube for science – the topics covered are serious indeed, and there’s a wealth of extras available for each video or pubcast – including copies of tables/figures/diagrams referred to, supplementary materials and comprehensive reference lists. In addition, there are a number of communities emerging around the various specialist scientific fields of interest that you can join and search.

Thanks to Jane for this tip