The role of the “Rede Ciência, Arte e Cidadania” [Science, Art and Citizenship Network] channel during the COVID-19 pandemic: actions to strengthen the teaching, research and extension field in Brazil

• Published in: Revista brasileira de ensino de ciência e tecnologia Vol. 14; no. 3
• Main Authors: Rita de Cássia Machado da Rocha, Rômulo Wesley Nascimento Silva, Tania Cremonini Araújo-Jorge, Roberto Rodrigues Ferreira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná 01.12.2021
• Subjects: arte; cidadania; ciência; covid-19; youtube
• ISSN: 1982-873X
• DOI: 10.3895/rbect.v14n3.13796

Facing the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to health, several sectors of society were affected, such as cultural, economic and educational. In- person activities became remote. In this work, we will present a case study of the “Rede de Ciência, Arte e Cidadania” (Science, Art and Citizenship Network) channel on the YouTube platform, elucidating the impact of our actions on the network during the period of social isolation needed to face the COVID-19 pandemic. The Channel was created in 2017, but it was during the pandemic that we got greater visibility, gaining more strength and demands. For analytics, we use the YouTube Studio > Analytics metrics tool and monitor the channel’s performance. In addition to data collection, we characterize our work as applied research. We developed live broadcasts of the network during the pandemic, which were divided into 3 moments: Network Chat, Broadcast of the II Meeting of Science Fiction and Science Teaching and Laser-Talks Rio events. For each event, we created a list of specific reproduction to facilitate the propagation and access to the videos. The audience reached was mostly female (66.4%). The age group with the greatest reach of participants who watched the broadcasts live was between 25 and 34 years old. We also observed that users from different states in Brazil participated and watched the broadcasts live. In addition to the public from the state where the channel is hosted (Rio de Janeiro), the presence of the states of Acre, Ceará, Bahia, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Paraná was notable, a public hitherto not reached during the in- person science and art events of our group. Furthermore, in 2020, we carried out 10 live broadcasts with different approaches to science and art, which resulted in 89.4 thousand impressions, 12.6 thousand views and 943 new subscribers. Together, these results strengthen the role of the “Rede de Ciência, Arte e Cidadania” (Science, Art and Citizenship Network) Channel as an important means of meeting network actors, disseminating science and art content through live broadcasts. All activities catalyzed an important connection and opportunity for our partners to hold their events remotely and for the interested public to have real-time access throughout Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.