The history of the ASCE & Morressier partnership
We first announced our partnership with ASCE in June last year. Our goals were simple, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have a huge impact. We wanted to create a video library of ASCE’s conference content. Imagine how powerful this library will be, tracing the latest developments and evolving thinking in civil engineering, rapidly accelerating our ability to improve civil engineering best practices.
By December, we had uploaded over a thousand hours of videos with ASCE. It's an archive, it's a resource, and critically it helps democratize access to this research for the wider civil engineering community, not just those who are able to attend conferences and events.
Why video?
Video is one of the most powerful communication tools we have. We retain significantly more detail from video than from text, even up to 95% more according to some sources. It can be more efficient, more effective at conveying information, and even more entertaining to watch.
In the ASCE Conference Video Library, this powerful form of content is searchable and displayed in our easy-to-use interface. Imagine the power of each of those thousand hours of video, at your fingertips, and searchable so you can find exactly what you need when you need it. Whether you’re looking to advance your personal research, fill in a curriculum for students, or catch up on a presentation you attended at last year’s meeting, this library has everything you need.
Why conferences?
When we began our partnership, ASCE immediately saw the value of extending the lifespan of their conference. They, like so many societies, faced the impact of COVID on the impactful annual meeting. The shift to virtual was swift, and not without difficulties for many organizations. After the height of COVID, many societies quickly brought back their in-person meetings, but the question remained: how do we hold onto the democratizing impacts of virtual conferences? And in today’s economic market, events remain among the most expensive investments societies make, so how do we maximize the return on our investment?
For ASCE, a video library meets that need. It acknowledges that not everyone who needs the valuable research can attend an event in person, especially those who are financially disadvantaged, or in marginalized groups. We also understand that even those who do attend the conference can’t attend every session, much less commit every new discovery to memory. With a Conference Video Library, ASCE is able to offer their membership ongoing access to this content, to refer back to later, to catch up, to discuss and continue exploring new ideas.
What's next?
More videos, and a deeper understanding of how research communities engage with and learn from video libraries.
Traditionally, societies rely on anecdotal feedback and post-conference surveys to understand the value of the program they put together. But by digitizing conference video libraries, we will have all of the measures at our fingertips that we have for journal readership. From the most popular videos we can see emerging trends and hot topics, that can be used to inform future editorial decisions. We can also track engagement to see how valuable this resource is to the member community. As new events occur, new videos can be uploaded, making the value of the Video Conference Library something that will only grow in time.
Conclusion
Partnerships between technology organizations like Morressier and societies like ASCE lead to new offerings for members, and broader access to the latest conference research than ever before. Powered by Morressier, the ASCE Video Conference Library will prove a valuable cornerstone for the civil engineering community. Read the case study to learn more.
