Science beyond the paper; blogs, podcasts and video

For most of human history, science has been communicated through the spoken word. Knowledge moved from person to person through oral storytelling and apprenticeship style training. Writing helped to fix ideas in time and allowed for greater reach. Science spread through personal correspondence and in-person gatherings. The invention of the printing press was the beginning of truly widespread knowledge distribution. The dissemination of scientific knowledge moved from personal correspondence to formalised journal articles and eventually from letters to the more rigid IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format. 

And that IMRAD, journal-based, communication has remained in place even after the invention of digital communication and the internet. The format simply shifted from paper to screen, but the mindset did not. Page limits still shape arguments. Figures are compressed into static images. Colour, supplementary material, and even the order of ideas are often dictated by conventions that made sense for ink and postage, not pixels and bandwidth. This all makes for a highly outdated, anachronistic and often quite confusing system. And if there’s one thing we all know about good communication, it’s that confusion is a failure mode, not a badge of seriousness.

The traditional format still has some strengths. It provides a stable, citable record and forces clarity and precision. It supports long-term archiving. None of that should be discarded lightly. But papers are not great at everything. They are poor at conveying process, uncertainty, and iteration. They struggle to show how an idea developed, why certain paths were abandoned, or what a result felt like to discover. They are also a challenging entry point for non-specialists, policymakers, journalists, and even researchers from differing fields.

In practice, much of the real communication around a piece of science happens elsewhere: in conference talks, hallway conversations, lab meetings, email threads, and social media posts. The paper is often the endpoint, not the full story.

Science beyond the paper

This is where blogs, podcasts, and video come in; not as replacements for formal outputs, but as complements. 

Blogs & alternative publishing platforms

Although still very much a written medium, blogs are the most natural extension of scientific writing beyond the journal article. They allow researchers to explain ideas in their own voice, at their own pace, without the rigid constraints of IMRAD or page limits.

Blogs can allow researchers to explore short questions, highly specific points or to share data that would never be publishable. A great example of this is the Quantixed blog by Stephen Royle. 

A good science blog may also provide background or insights that would never fit into a formal paper and can expand the published story. Blogs can serve as a place for reflection, speculative thinking and wider, more accessible, communication. 

They can be updated as ideas evolve, corrected when mistakes are found, and expanded in response to reader feedback. In this sense, blogging turns scientific communication from a static artefact into an ongoing conversation. Blogs provide space for wider thinking and conversation.

Personalised publishing platforms, such as preLights or PubPub (as used by Arcadia Science) enable organisations to expand beyond the rigidity of traditional articles. Platforms such as Curvenote enable interactive charts and elements, significantly moving beyond the stale traditional article. 

Podcasts

Podcasts bring voice and dialogue back into science communication. Hearing researchers talk through their work reveals motivations, disagreements, and surprises that rarely appear in print. Podcasts are also uniquely accessible. They fit into daily life of commuting, walking, or lab work and can reach audiences who would never read a journal article. 

A great example of how audio can enhance the stories behind research can be found in the Preprints in Motion podcast. Other podcasts, such as Science Vs, often focus on translating particular findings or wider science communication. Long-form audio allows time to build shared understanding across fields, rather than assuming a narrow, expert readership.

Podcasts are still not yet linked to specific papers or preprints which can limit their use in enhancing the formal output.

Video

Video adds a visual dimension that text alone cannot provide. Demonstrations, animations, simulations, and screen recordings can make complex methods or abstract ideas far more comprehensible. For experimental sciences, video can show techniques, setups, and workflows in ways that no methods section can fully capture; JOVE is an excellent example. If a picture can paint a thousand words, then a video has the potential to convey significantly more. 

Video can capture presentations and talks, adding an extra dimension to a formal article. Services such as Cassyni are designed to capture this context and can highlight it alongside a preprint. 

Video can also provide a valuable route to outreach and engagement. Like blogs and podcasts, video is designed for discovery and sharing. It lowers barriers to entry, particularly for learners and researchers outside a specific niche, and it allows science to meet audiences where they already are online.

Recognising more diverse outputs

One of the persistent challenges with blogs, podcasts, and video is recognition. Academic reward systems are built around a narrow definition of output: the journal article and its citations. Anything outside of this is often labelled as "outreach" or "impact" and not taken as seriously or given appropriate recognition. 

Altmetric tracks attention to research outputs across a wide range of online spaces, including blogs, news media, policy documents, social media platforms, and reference managers. In doing so, it makes visible forms of engagement that traditional metrics ignore. Mentions in expert blogs, coverage in media outlets, and discussion in policy contexts all signal different kinds of influence. A dataset that is heavily shared or a study that sparks sustained discussion on podcasts may have substantial real-world impact long before citations accumulate, if they ever do.

Altmetric helps legitimise diverse modes of scientific communication. This provides the potential to change research assessment and what academic values.

A broader ecosystem of knowledge

Expanding science communication beyond papers also matters for who gets to participate. Journal articles are often locked behind paywalls, written in dense technical language, and optimised for evaluation rather than understanding. Blogs, podcasts, and videos are typically open, informal, and easier to engage with.

This doesn’t just broaden audiences; it can build trust. When people can see and hear scientists as humans it demystifies the enterprise of science itself. In an era of misinformation and declining institutional trust, that human connection is not a luxury.

Science has changed. The tools we use, the scale we work at, and the audiences affected by our work have all expanded. Our communication systems should reflect that reality. Blogs, podcasts, and video offer ways to explain, contextualise, and humanise research in ways that static articles cannot.

Science deserves better than being trapped on a digital page that still thinks it’s made of paper.