AthenaWeb - Take 2: the return of the European Science Film Portal
The European Commission has relaunched its award-winning science film portal, AthenaWeb, with the aim of boosting science film production and circulation in Europe. The new-look AthenaWeb, named after the Greek goddess of science and wisdom, is now a versatile video portal and online workspace aimed at European audiovisual communication professionals in the areas of science and scientific information. Presenting the re-designed portal at the Sunny Side of the Doc international marketplace for documentaries, Kathleen Van Damme, Manager of AthenaWeb, explained that the portal is much more than a social networking platform or portal with links to other sites with real content. 'AthenaWeb is not just another portal,' explained Ms Van Damme, 'We've tried to envisage the different ways our users - all of them science communicators - could benefit from better access to science audiovisuals and smarter ways of communicating their activities.' AthenaWeb will aim to be an all-in-one web-workstation for science communicators to broadcast their films, build contacts, promote their businesses, swap news, blog ideas, publish findings, and work on their programmes and projects from anywhere in Europe, or the world. 'We came up with a new 'pro-zone' (for science broadcasters and film producers) with its marketplace and intelligent web workstation for managing projects, as well as a host of new tools (blogs, syndicated links) for educators and scientists in need of a place to profile their research and develop their communication skills,' said Ms Van Damme. Contributors and users of the revamped portal will include scientists and researchers, teachers and students, and the television and film industry. Originally created in 2005 to boost science communication and film production and distribution in Europe, AthenaWeb has won a number of key international awards. Currently the portal hosts a catalogue of some 750 digitised high-quality scientific films, serving a subscriber base of over 8,000 professionals across Europe.