1. BUFVC Learning on Screen 2008
Sharing the vision: exploiting Web 2.0
technologies in promoting the use of
multimedia in bioethics education
Dr Chris Willmott
Dept of Biochemistry,
University of Leicester
cjrw2@le.ac.uk
University of
Leicester

2. Central thesis
• There is huge pedagogic value in the use of video
• Video clips can be used:
- to help scene-setting
- as discussion starters, and/or
- to convey factual information
• Video material can be obtained freely and legally
for use in education, provided you know what you
are looking for
• Colleagues may require specialist help to locate
and utilise suitable material
• Web 2.0 technologies are ideal for sharing this
specialist knowledge

3. Outline of presentation
• The value of TRILT in identifying useful material
• The added value of Bioethicsbytes in the specific
area of bioethics education

4. Stem cell research
South Park: “Kenny Dies”
(Paramount Comedy Channel, 16th Jan 2006)
This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

5. TRILT – 2 great services
www.trilt.ac.uk offers:
• A weekly e-mail alert warning you of any programmes
coming up in the next two weeks that match your
keywords
• A searchable database of transmission history
covering broadcasts since 1995, in which all
programmes are given an ID code
• The latter can frequently be used to identify
recordings available through the back-up service
(inc all terrestrial TV since June 1998)

6. TRILT entry: Kenny dies

7. Xenotransplantation
Holby City: “Better The Devil You Know”
(BBC1, 6th September 2006)
This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

8. Xenotransplantation
• The clip shown is an excellent vehicle for introducing
discussion of both the ethical objections people might
have regarding this operation, and the scientific
difficulties that would be involved
• The TRILT entry for this programme states:
“Abra returns to Holby and clashes with Ric over the
treatment of a terminally ill patient, when Abra
decides to offer the patient an illegal transplant.
Chrissie thinks she’s cracked it with Sam”
• How would someone else recognise the potential in
this clip?

9. Specialist help: Bioethicsbytes
• It is unrealistic to expect a general-purpose service
to include sufficient annotation to satisfy all nuances
of discipline-specific usage
• We have developed Bioethicsbytes as an alternative
means to share recommendations regarding
bioethics-related footage
www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

10. BioethicsBytes: Holby example
http://bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com/2006/09/08/xenotransplantation-holby-city/

11. Advantages of using blog service
• Wordpress is one of the two main blog platforms
• You don’t need to know any HTML
• Range of “off the shelf” style sheets
• Built in facility to search by categories, tags and
reader-selected keyword
• Built in statistics and tracking
• High visibility in Google searches
• It’s free!
www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

12. BioethicsBytes

13. BioethicsBytes: variety of posts
• Reviews and recommendations about:
- Films
- TV series (documentaries and fiction)
- Books
- Radio
- Podcasts
- News
• Extended commentaries
• Guides to streamed media
www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

14. BioethicsBytes: TV Documentary

15. TV Documentary
A Child Against All Odds BBC1, November 14th 2006
This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence

16. BioethicsBytes: Extended Comm.

17. Obtaining footage
• BioethicsBytes recommends but does not supply
off-air recordings
• BUFVC members can usually obtain material via the
back-up service
- Most universities are members
- Most schools are not
• Availability of on-line video?
www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

18. Online video availability?
• The BBC iPlayer is an exciting development, but of
little use here due to short availability window
• Streamed news footage?

19. BioethicsBytes: Streamed News

20. Online video availability?
• The BBC iPlayer is an exciting development, but of
little use here due to short availability window
• Streamed news footage?
• Newsfilm Online – live from May 2008?

21. Online video availability?
• The BBC iPlayer is an exciting development, but of
little use here due to short availability window
• Streamed news footage?
• Newsfilm Online – live from May 2008?
• YouTube, Google Video, etc?
- provenance of material posted there?
- is it ok to recommend it if you didn’t post it?
- is it ok to embed it if you didn’t post it?
• Bespoke videos?

22. Conclusions
• TRILT is an excellent database and alert service
• Additional subject-specific information can aid
colleagues in knowing about useful clips
• Bioethicsbytes is providing this service wrt bioethics
• Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, RSS feeds, etc) are
ideal tools for this function
• This approach could easily be
adapted for other disciplines
www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com

23. Acknowledgements
• Bonnie Green and David Willis
• GENIE (the Genetics Education CETL) and the
National Teaching Fellowship Scheme
• Audio-Visual Services, UoL
www.bioethicsbytes.wordpress.com
del.icio.us/chriswillmott/bioethics