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Research Commons: Web Diver
Basic Info
What is DIVER?
DIVER is essentially a ‘video collaboratory’ – a Web services platform for video uploading, and collaborative transcoding, point-of-view clip annotations/transcriptions/coding,and remixing. It is distinctive in enabling users to explore, discover, create, annotate, search and share points of view on precise regions of space and time in video. DIVER has been used for research in the social sciences and arts, and for teaching discussions about video content from K-16 teaching to clinical practice.
Lead Creator(s)
Pea, Roy
Point of contact
Rosen, Joe
joro@stanford.edu
Category of Research Commons Tool
DCT; LAT; BTE
URL
http://diver.stanford.edu
webDIVER Files
DIVER Images
DIVER FAQ
1. What is the purpose of this tool?
DIVER is an IRB-secure, browser-based service for video uploading, precise reference, annotation, coding, analysis and collaboration for learning sciences and education. Users ‘dive’ into video by using a virtual camera to point to video moments and express their perspectives by annotating such moments for sharing, comparisons, and conversations.
The Diver project makes available tools for collaboratively authoring and sharing annotated points-of-view and commentary on video recordings. DIVER continues to be supported and developed as a web-based service used for video-based research by a global community, including researchers affiliated with the LIFE Center.
2. Who were the primary researchers involved in the development of this tool?
Roy Pea, principal investigator and project lead; Stanford University
Joe Rosen; engineering; Stanford University
Sarah Lewis; Robb Lindgren; student/PhD assistants; Stanford University
3. When was it developed, and what was the original context of the research project in which it was developed (links to project website if available)?
DIVER received its first support in 2002, in the form of a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation. The Diver tools are designed for the video archiving and analysis of learning events to enable education researchers to return as often as they wish to the original event, refining, modifying, or rejecting their conjectures. The networked features of Diver also facilitate collaborative discussion between remotely located education research communities, helping to mediate group perspectives and hypotheses about what aspects of a recorded learning event are significant.
The early days of Diver (and the beginning context for the project) are documented at the original Diver project information website:
http://diver.stanford.edu
4. Where can I find documentation - reference/technical documentation, research and analysis related to this tool, and data sets if available?
Users can automatically sign-up for a “test-drive” account at the DIVER application web site, visit the sign-up page at:
http://diver-101.stanford.edu/signup.php
A “test-drive” account gives users access to a collection of random videos and Dives (annotated perspectives on video records), and a scratch space where users can experiment with adding commentary and creating new Dives, without interfering with the community’s private research videos and groups. If a researcher would like their own private DIVER space, where they can upload videos and invite others to collaborate, please send a request to joro@stanford.edu, and we’ll create the new group.
DIVER Help pages can be found at:
http://diver-101.stanford.edu/help.php
To read more about the DIVER project download the PDFs above.
5. Is there continuing research toward newer versions of this tool? If so, who is the point of contact for exploring possibilities of participation/collaboration?
The Diver tool-suite is continually being supported and improved. We’re striving towards a 100% open-source Diver code base, and invite other engineers in the research community to consider joint development initiatives with us. Please contact Roy Pea for details regarding access to the Diver code base. For Diver technical questions please e-mail or call Joe Rosen , 650-924-8946.
6. What are the infrastructural, system and other requirements (such as other tools or technologies) that I need in place before I can use this tool?
Access to Diver requires only an Internet connection, a web browser, and the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player browser plug-in. Diver is compatible with the Windows and Mac OS, and the Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer browsers.
Digital video files can be uploaded to Diver in the following formats: avi, flv, mov, mp4, mpg, wmv, and 3gp. Diver accepts video files of any size or duration.
7. Is there any theoretical or other special knowledge that is a prerequisite to successful use of this tool?
Anyone who knows how to open a browser and access a web page can immediately start using Diver. Any source file, from professionally prerecorded videos to those captured with inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras (e.g. the Flip, www.theflip.com/ ) can be used to create movies for upload and analysis in Diver.
8. Who is the point contact for technical (or other) support related to this tool?
Dr. Roy Pea is Diver’s principle investigator and project lead, roypea@stanford.edu. Technical questions can be directed to Joe Rosen, joro@stanford.edu | 650-924-8946.
9. What are examples of other research projects in which this tool has been used?
To date, approximately 200 different research groups have employed DIVER. The DIVER servers currently house a collection of 7,000 video files and 1,400 total hours of video.
What follows are several examples that highlight (in the researchers’ own words) how and where Diver’s currently in use.
–Teacher preparation–Teacher education at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
“Diver has become a pedagogical tool that allows candidates to deepen their conceptual and practice-based inquiry/reflective stances by re-seeing a lesson they have taught on Diver. Then, with the questions that colleagues pose, candidates have a deepened understanding of how to look at, analyze, understand and then take action into their developing teaching practices.”
Contact:
Ralph A. Cordova
SIU Edwardsville
rcordov@siue.edu
–Medical school training–Oncotalk Teach, Faculty development to change the paradigm of communication skills teaching in oncology
“Doctor / patient interview videotapes were collaboratively analyzed in Diver, the oncology group faculty commented on the videos and annotated specific frames or segments on each video in a threaded discussion. This enabled learners to sharpen their skills in observing communication between a fellow and patient. This virtual collaborative learning environment was intended to parallel in some way the learning that occurs in small in-person groups at the project retreats.”
Contact:
Anthony Back MD
University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle WA;
Email tonyback@u.washington.edu
–Children’s out-of-school-time science learning–Museums Afterschool: Principles, Data, and Design project
“The Museums Afterschool: Principles, Data, and Design project, is designed to identify and document design principles underpinning effective science teaching and learning in the out-of-school-time (OST) setting. Our research team, led by the Exploratorium, consists of educational leaders from 12 exemplary OST science programs who will observe, document, and distill learning design principles in their practices. It is expected that the design principles identified will guide future program design and assessment. We use DIVER to share, edit, annotate, and comment upon the video documentation at each participating site. We’re hoping that these asynchronous conversations will guide our identification of the underlying design principles and be the basis of our ultimate findings and products.”
Contact:
Bronwyn Bevan, Noah Rauch
The Exploratorium
bronwynb@exploratorium.edu, nrauch@exploratorium.edu
–Studying the digital media habits of kids–Sesame Workshop, The Joan Ganz Cooney Center
“The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is a nonprofit research and production institute housed at Sesame Workshop in New York City, the Cooney Center’s mission is to foster innovation in young children’s learning through digital media. Researchers at the Center are currently conducting an ethnographic study on the digital media habits of young kids, and have been using Diver to organize, analyze, and code dozens of hours of video of participant interviews, observations, and video game play. They are also using Diver’s web capabilities to share video clips with researchers and media designers outside of New York.”
Contact:
Lori Takeuchi
Sesame Workshop
loritake@gmail.com
10. Are there contexts different from the one in which it was originally designed and used for which this tool could potentially have applicability?
The short answer is, YES. Diver has received interest (and has been put to use) in unexpected contexts ranging from virtual trial deliberation in Japanese government courtroom, to Nuclear power plant operations training at France’s EDF national energy company.
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