Periscope at Vanderbilt Offers Glimpse into Campus Life

Vanderbilt Libraries’ digital scholarship workshops have the potential to go global in real time, thanks to new apps that let people share and watch live video streams direct from a smartphone or tablet. The library is using Periscope, the live-streaming app acquired by Twitter and publicly launched in 2015, for experimental broadcasts of its programs, according to Clifford Anderson, director for scholarly communications.

“Content on Periscope is available for only a limited amount of time before it disappears, so the videos feel more like an immediate and transitory look at what is happening, rather than a full-blown archival production,” Anderson said. He noted that the library is exploring ways to broaden the university’s use of Periscope for educational events, and he encouraged the Vanderbilt community to broadcast under the hashtag #vandyscope.

The Owen Graduate School of Management also experimented with the app for its prospective-student web chats, and Hilary Craiglow, director of the Walker Management Library, praised the unrehearsed, casual feel of the broadcasts as “a great way to bring the content to where people are watching.” Read more …