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The Crowd & The Cloud 240 min.

Smartphones, computers and mobile technology are allowing people to become part of a revolutionary, 21st century way of doing science. By observing their environment, monitoring neighborhoods, and collecting information about the world around them, citizens are helping professional scientists advance knowledge while speeding up new discoveries and innovations. The results are improving health and...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2017

The Crowd & The Cloud: Episode 1—Even Big Data Starts Small 57 min.

20,000 volunteers across the U.S. measure precipitation: when extreme weather hits, emergency managers turn their data into life-saving alerts. Armchair mappers worldwide update information used by first responders after the Nepal earthquake. A new project, EyesOnALZ, enlists the crowd to speed up research on Alzheimer’s disease. DIY enthusiasts from Public Lab map the BP oil spill with kites, bal...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2017

The Crowd & The Cloud: Episode 2—Citizens + Scientists 58 min.

Citizen scientists track air and water pollution at fracking sites in windswept Wyoming and 5 other states, using simple but science-based techniques developed by the “Bucket Brigade.” On idyllic East Coast trout streams, volunteers from Trout Unlimited monitor water quality regularly, generating baseline data that will prove invaluable in the event of future pollution events. Community members co...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2017

The Crowd & The Cloud: Episode 3—Viral vs. Virus 58 min.

Sensors on asthma inhalers generate real-time maps of environmental dangers to help patients, physicians and disease detectives in Louisville, Kentucky. Street knowledge was also crucial in a historic medical breakthrough: John Snow’s mapping of cholera fatalities in 19th century London. In West Oakland, California, citizens confront air pollution and rising asthma rates by collecting traffic data...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2017

The Crowd & The Cloud: Episode 4—Citizens4Earth 58 min.

Counting birds for more than 100 years generates data on a changing climate and there’s an app for that: eBird. Surfer science using smart tech tracks ocean acidification and coastal temperatures in the Smartfin project, a recent startup. We spend “A Year in the Life of Citizen Science” including a Thanksgiving Monarch Butterfly Watch in California. Seasonal change is tracked by Latina and Native...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2017

Timelines 52 min.

Three girls die before their 21st birthdays. Kaileigh, 19, a victim in a fatal car accident; Amber, 16, bullied into taking her own life; and Jenna, 20, lost a fight with a rare disease. Soon after, their stories go viral and the world is given access to their lives and deaths. Kayleigh wrote a bucket list that was shared the world over after her death, inspiring thousands of strangers to live her...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2016

Cyber Jihad 47 min.

Jihadists are fighting a war on social media. The propaganda they spread is getting ever more professional. Which virtual weapons will ISIS deploy to radicalize young people in the West? Why do young Europeans fall for "the medieval reality show" of ISIS? Over the past fifteen years, jihadism has gained a lot of territory online without any hindrance. After 9/11, Al-Qaeda started posting amateuris...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2016

Invasion of the Drones 47 min.

They fly in swarms, deliver packages and can be as small as insects. Drones are much more than the weapons used by the US Army against terrorists. We see them fly more often and they pop up everywhere in our lives. In the USA, over one million drones were found as toys underneath the Christmas trees. Drones are not only getting smarter, they are also getting cheaper every day. So what happens when...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2016

Cyber War 43 min.

Cyber War takes you deep into the world of cyber hacking, where the weapon of choice is computer code. The program takes a look at how a new generation of hackers are threatening everything from your bank account details to national secrets.

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2016

Don't Trust the Promise of Artificial Intelligence: A Debate 101 min.

As technology rapidly progresses, some proponents of artificial intelligence argue that it will help solve complex social problems and offer humans greater powers and virtual immortality. But critics of artificial intelligence argue that its rewards may be overpromised, and that the pursuit of super-cognitive computers and autonomous machines could have unintended—and scary—consequences. Should we...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2016