Mike, Nat and Shane have all picked stories that they think is worth a revisit for the isPodcast Summer Series. Shane has chosen Mike’s chat with Rion Nakaya for this episode, about her family friendly website: The Kid Should See This.
Links to what we discussed:
Note: isPodcast is produced for listening and is designed to be heard. We encourage you to listen to the audio, as it includes emotion and emphasis that’s not on the page. While every care is taken, our transcripts may contain errors.
Michael Broadstock:
When I was my son's age, there were only five channels on TV and no internet. If there wasn't something on one of them, that was it. You had to go play outside or read a book or stick with something that might not have been your first choice.
Today, things are a little different. There is so much out there on the web and various streaming platforms. When my kids come to me and ask me if they can watch something, I often haven't even heard of it, much less watched it. And I don't know if it's been recommended to them by a human or an algorithm.
So, I was very happy several years ago, when I came across a new website, The Kid Should See This. I remember being amazed by an incredible video of octopuses (Octopi? Octopodes?) camouflaging themselves in the most startling ways, and I set about exploring the site. Now there's more there than ever. Each week, The Kid Should See This's creator, Rion Nakaya post several new videos to her site that make kids say ‘wow!’ and fire their imaginations. And I'm very happy to have her on the show with this today. Welcome, Rion.
Rion Nakaya:
Thank you for having me.
Michael Broadstock:
Why did you start The Kid Should See This?
Rion Nakaya:
Well, it was about 10 years ago in 2011, and we'd recently moved back to the states from Europe, and so I was taking a break between jobs. I'm a designer and a producer for online projects, and I was enjoying time at home with my three-year-old and my newborn.
And I found myself Googling a lot of my three-year-old’s questions and looking up old videos that I'd enjoyed when I was a kid. Baryshnikov dancing and Jacques Cousteau and Jane Goodall clips and experimental animation, like those that Charles and Ray Eames made or Al Jarnow and all those old Sesame Street clips, and performers like Ella Fitzgerald. And Ella was actually the very first video that I posted on TKSST. And the reason was because when I showed this amazing, incredible long recording of her scat singing on stage, I think it was 1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
It's just really wonderful. There's a lot of energy on stage, she's in the moment and she's giving it her all, and it's really fabulous. And I showed it to my three-year-old. I think it was later in the week, I overheard him sort of scat singing in his bedroom, and it just completely knocked me out. It was wonderful.
And I really wanted to promote those kinds of clips that would provide those moments for other kids, for other parents, for educators. And so, I started collecting and sharing these videos online, and I threw in BBC clips and NPR films about art projects and stuff that went viral and all the kinds of things that I was happening upon in 2011 or so. And it took off over time.
Michael Broadstock:
What is it that the kid should see?
Rion Nakaya:
That's a good question. I think that in a lot of ways, the things that TKSST features are favourite topics, it's stuff that surprises us, stuff that we're curious about: science, space, animals, art, a lot of times a mix of all of those things coming together. We've specialised in promoting a lot of STEAM focused videos, science and math and engineering and art and how those inter-relationships really do mix and how the people who do them have a passion for what they do. A lot of those categories really developed organically.
I think that there's just something really beautiful about being able to eavesdrop on people's passions. A lot of times in these videos, people are sharing their profession, their passions, their projects, and for kids to see, and for the adults watching with them or adults on their own to see how people are creating, problem solving, and finding meaningful pursuits. I think that it's just really fun and inspiring and engaging in a great way.
Michael Broadstock:
How important is it curating content for our kids?
Rion Nakaya:
I think that depends on their ages. For me, curating for my own kids helped me demonstrate my curiosity and my interests and my values, and to show them that learning continues beyond our school years. When we watch together, I'm learning with them and we build a shared vocabulary. We have references that we can talk about, not only just right after the video, but topics often come up a couple weeks later.
I also think that educators and parents are looking for places to find different kinds of content, and I think that curating really allows people to find a new channel, so to speak. TKSST is curated by a person, by someone who has a background in producing educational media, and who has a love for libraries and museums, and has an interest in art, training and design and love of science and learning.
And so, the content isn't determined by popularity or algorithms, it's determined by a certain vision. I often think of the curation as creating a film festival, if that makes sense, that helps share the content that might not normally be seen.
I think that it's also probably the hope of a lot of content curators that TKSST features, that educators and parents are able to build off of these selections with one-on-one conversations and class discussions or hands-on activities, or other deeper dives that are offline and go beyond what was initially presented. In some ways I'm curating based on our community's interests, and I've always been a fan of student-centred learning and student led and self-paced learning.
I think that TKSST supports those models, where students can understand and analyse and evaluate what they're watching, and I think that by nature, it's not content that's normally in front of kids. Most of the videos are created for curious adults who love to learn too, and so the videos just happen to be kid appropriate and fun for all ages. And so, the vibe and vocabularies, maybe not something that kids would normally be shown. And so, I think that the curation helps bring those things all together.
Michael Broadstock:
You mentioned watching shows with your kids. So that's important too, for parents, to spend that time with their kids, talking about the shows they watch?
Rion Nakaya:
Yeah. I think it's really fun, of course it's a luxury, not all parents have the time to do that, but what I've always enjoyed is learning with my kids. And so finding content that supports that has always been really important to me, and I've had the luxury of the time to do that. There are so many different options now than there were say 10 years ago, when I first started the site, I had to hunt around at that time.
There are so many options now, which is really great because you don't only have to depend on the internet and find obscure clips anymore, there's a lot of great stuff on TV as well. But yeah, I think that it really is lovely to have those organic conversations after watching something together.
Michael Broadstock:
Is there too much content out there? I remember when I was young, as I was saying in the introduction, there were five TV channels, and so either I had to watch what was there or go outside and play. And sometimes if I decided to stay and watch what was there, I might be drawn into something that wasn't my first interest. And in a way I feel it expanded my knowledge and interests because I had to persevere with something.
Rion Nakaya:
Absolutely. I had the same experience as a kid, and part of that experience feeds right into why The Kid Should See This was created. The things that I watched were a lot of things on PBS and things that my mother was watching that was not explicitly for kids. And yet it was perfect for all ages, and that's really where the drive for the site and the videos that I choose comes from.
At home, absolutely true that we have so many channels, so many on demand options, you don't have to wait for a specific time to watch something. So many apps and games you can bounce about. We definitely wrestle with that, I think so many of us do, especially now that school went online and there's even less opportunity to be in person and be exposed to more serendipitous off-screen experiences.
But I think as that passes and kids connect what they're interested in, hopefully spending more time with that, and they can hopefully find content that matters to them. Because it is not always, at least for the site, it's not really stuff that you would normally see if you're a kid.
There's something engaging about that, the tone takes you seriously, and it's maybe a different pace, it draws you in a little differently. And TKSST is a response to the fire hose that is online content and streaming content. In many ways, it's a shortcut a way for educators and parents to have access to that pre-screened content in an easy way, and in another other way, it's a filter for YouTube and the internet at large.
Michael Broadstock:
Have you had any feedback about how, say, teachers are using your content in the classroom?
Rion Nakaya:
Absolutely. Videos in the classrooms are used for brain breaks, they're used for introducing flipped learning tasks. Some teachers use them to introduce a topic and spark curiosity at the beginning of a study unit. They've been used for writing prompts or to kick off experiments. Of course, some of the videos share, elaborate setups that you couldn't do in class, and it's a lot easier to show the video than fill up all the balloons with whatever specific gas or chemical that they're using in the video.
Kids might pick favourites and present them to their classmates, and explain and summarise why they found it engaging. TKSST is also helpful for discussing news events, a bit like a Newsela article, but with a video and maybe more of an insider perspective, a documentary approach, especially in science and art.
Michael Broadstock:
So where do you find it all? Do people send you stuff? Are your kids still involved?
Rion Nakaya:
The kids are involved a little less than they used to be. Now that they're older, they've got other distractions and things to do that are for their age, but we do watch the site here and there together, and they often actually weigh in on headline phrasing, what's more interesting or videos that I'm on the fence about. Generally, I have a handful of friends who run popular blogs for grownups who are interested in art and culture. And so, I run into things through them, I keep track of popular videos and online conversations. People do send me stuff, and then that is great because so often it's exactly the stuff I love to share, or it's something that I already have. And that makes me feel: 'Oh, they get it. They get the site's vision'.
I've also been lucky enough to connect with video producers at museums and content creators on YouTube. I've had conversations with them and found organisations who research and share information that I believe is important for people to know about. And so, I love promoting their work as well. And I still find so many videos just from Googling topics that I'm curious about and that the kids are curious about, or that TKSST team members are curious about. Sometimes they'll ask, "Do you have a video on this topic?" So, I'll go hunting around for that.
Michael Broadstock:
Do you have a favourite video?
Rion Nakaya:
Oh, my goodness. I have a lot of favourites, it's probably hard to narrow down. I have a lot of favourite topics, videos about innovation, where people are solving big problems and coming together to do that, or where art and design, meet science and technology. I love factory tours and seeing how things are made. There's a great video about Steinway grand pianos being made and a story of Queens, or how butter is made by hand in France. I love documentary videos about crafts people or art installations and how much work and effort goes into those things, and it's stuff that I wish I could see in person, but thank goodness there's a video about it that I can spend some time with.
There's one video about an artist, a Japanese artist named Motoi Yamamoto, and he creates these intricate temporary salt installations, and he pours them in these really intricate mazes and lines, and they look like lace when he's done. And then he works with the community at the museum who have come to see it and they clean it all up and it's a whole process. It's a very beautiful thing, and I have not seen it in person, but I'm so glad to be so familiar with that, his work. And then, gosh, I could go on there's...
Michael Broadstock:
Well, my favourites: I love the natural history stuff. Like I said I was attracted by that octopus video. My son, he loves the Rube Goldberg machines, so there's a few of those. He really gets into those. You said you've got membership. Because I understand, obviously during the pandemic there would've been a big increase in demand. So, the site's still free, but people can support it if they like.
Rion Nakaya:
Yes, absolutely. It was very surreal, actually to become an overnight success after nine years in such a very scary and challenging time that it's been, but it's an incredible thing that The Kid Should See This was right there, ready to be a useful resource for educators. So that was amazing. And especially at a time when online options and connections were so very important and I believe still are. Here in the States, most everyone's back in school now, but thankfully it is still continuing to be a help. But at that time, when everything went in lockdown in the States, word of mouth started spreading about all the different resources that were available online and my traffic tripled overnight. And I had to make some quick behind the scenes adjustments to make sure everything was staying up and running.
Rion Nakaya:
And thank goodness that I've always been inspired by public broadcasting, in any format, I grew up on PBS. So TKSST's really rooted deeply in the vision and values of public media, and the membership has been an opportunity to work within those lines. And I'm so grateful that TKSST's audience has stepped up and continues to support the site. It's just been wonderful. It's such an amazing thing that there have been so many creators and video producers that have had this work out there online, and that it was able to connect with people and be useful and be engaging and educational at a time that people really needed that virtual connection, to be just a support of that has been great.
Michael Broadstock:
Well, thank you for putting the site up, and thank you for joining us on isPodcast. Good luck with the site in the future.
Rion Nakaya:
Thank you so much.