Amber Thomas thinks outside the box with creation of new business for science animation
Amber Thomas, who received her master’s degree in Marine Sciences at UNE in 2013, started a unique business venture last month with partner Parker Young that seeks to make science more accessible and understandable to scientists and non-scientists alike.
The business, Unbox Science, based out of Orlando, Florida, aims to do exactly what its name suggests: to remove science from the “boxes” of paywalls and technical jargon that keep it hidden from most of the world, freeing science from its barriers and making it visible and within reach of the general population.
Thomas accomplishes this by creating animated abstracts to convey research studies in a concise, easy to grasp, highly visual manner.
The idea came to her after her decision to make her own graduate research study open-access, so that anyone with an internet connection could read her paper and analyze her data. Though pleased with the fact that her research was not blockaded by a subscription fee and that anyone and everyone could potentially benefit from her work, she also realized that the barrier of access was not the only impediment to sharing research. Filled with jargon, the paper could be understood by fellow scientists, but Thomas sought means by which she could make her study comprehensible to lay audiences as well.
She partnered with Young, a motion graphics animator, and the concept of Unbox Science was born. Their first animated abstract of Thomas’ graduate work was so well received that demand for more animations grew.
Unbox Science offers infographics and lesson plans in addition to Thomas and Young’s signature animated abstracts. Scientists at any stage who have published open access research and who wish to make their work comprehensible to a wider audience, including children, may turn to Unbox Science.
“We want to help other people to understand how science works in the world and the kinds of problems scientists are trying to solve today,” said Thomas, who was a National Science Foundation K-12 Fellow while at UNE. “For scientists who are already communicating, our products will only give them more options of how to communicate their work. For researchers who don’t have the time to communicate or don’t know where to start, we can help by working with them and providing engaging products about their research without requiring large time commitments.”
Among Unbox Science’s first projects was an animated abstract based on a paper from a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funded study on water quality led by Charles Tilburg, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Stephan Zeeman, Ph.D., both professors in the Department of Marine Sciences, that was published in the Royal Society Open Science journal. “The animated abstract is an ideal way to communicate complex concepts in a clear, concise and entertaining way,” said Tilburg. “Amber's team was able to distill our project into a 90 second cartoon that conveyed all of the important information to a general audience and then directed the viewer to the location of our paper. I was very happy with the final product.”
In the true spirit of sharing scientific work, Thomas and Young have implemented a Community Choice Fund as part of the business. Ten percent of all proceeds go into a fund to pay for a one-minute animated abstract. Scientists from around the world are encouraged to send in their papers, and the three most-submitted articles are put to a vote on Unbox Science’s website to determine which one will be selected for the animation. “We say that doing business this way allows any of our customers to do a good science deed by helping someone else fund their project; our artists still get paid; some lucky scientist wins a free animated abstract; and the world gets more unboxed science. It’s a win-win-win-win!” said Thomas.
Watch the animated abstract of Charles Tilburg and Stephan Zeeman’s paper