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It has been such a long time since I’ve stood here to film a video - I almost feel
like I’ve forgotten how to do this.
But anyway, several thousand of you have joined this channel since I last posted and it casually
turns out that today is the second anniversary of this channel… so - hi everyone, my name
is Inés, I make videos about science and I am so excited to say that…
I am back!
Now, I’m not quite as “back” as I hoped I would be.
Anyone with a PhD, or honestly, anyone who has lived life for long enough knows that
not everything quite goes to plan.
Originally, I was planning on having handed in my thesis a couple of weeks ago, I would
then have edited the humongous backlog of videos that I have sitting on my hard drive
and thought that I would now be posting weekly videos on Draw Curiosity.
However, one of my chapters came back with corrections, my hand in deadline was then
extended.
On top of the surprise extra thesis writing that awaits me, I am also going to various
conferences over the next couple of months, which don't get me wrong, I am so excited
for and there will be videos there but they are competing for my time as well and at some
point over the next four months I have to make several big life decisions such as deciding
what country I'm going to live in, move house...
So you know, lots of different things!
So I am back on this channel, but in the short term I do anticipate that I will be posting
one or two times a month, rather than every week, but I will be gradually transitioning
up to weekly in October.
As well as being back, I have also *finally* launched a patreon.
Last year there were lots of people asking if there was any way of supporting this channel,
which means a lot to me, and there were quite a few very generous donations on PayPal, which
I am incredibly grateful for - thank you so much, you know who you are!
But, I was hesitant to open patreon because I knew I was going to be taking the hiatus
that I have just come back from and I thought it would be incredibly deceitful to launch
patreon and then disappear for a few months.
But now I am back - so if you enjoy my content and you want to support it, it is now possible
to do so.
I’m very open to expanding the rewards that are currently available, right now patreons
have access to videos before everyone else, credits in the description and in the video
itself, access to additional content such as behind the scenes, digital downloads of
photos and timelapses I’ve taken, extended interviews with guests (and haikus!) etcetera
etcetera.
And, for those of you who choose to support the channel before this coming October, which
is when I think I will be posting regularly again, as an extra thank you for believing
in me and supporting my content early, until the end of the year you will ALSO get the
rewards from the tier above the one you pledge and an invitation to an exclusive livestream.
So if you’re interested, you can visit the link to find out more.
And now, for the main part of the video!
I know it's taken a while to get here, and it's also five months late, but I really loved
making the year in review last year, and I really wanted to make one for 2017, because
a lot of things happened last year for which I am so incredibly grateful - and a lot of
it again, is thanks to all of you watching and supporting my content.
I’m really not trying to show off with this video, I really just want to show what your
support can enable me to do, how grateful I am for it and to be able to continue giving back
So here goes…
2017!
I kicked it off, by visiting Geneva and going to CERN…
I coordinated a discover your own educational youtuber for Valentine’s day,
I travelled to a distant exoplanet by testing the limits of my visual effects software,
"Hey, we made it!
We're on TRAPPIST-F!"
I went to Madrid, to Tubecon Spain to talk about science, creating science content and
animal vision, I launched a Spanish science channel called
Inestable which I promise is coming back as soon as I have time
I went to Vidcon Europe Honestly.
I tried a lot of things last year, on and off YouTube - some were definitely a lot more
successful than others, but they all definitely taught me something new.
I did a lot of speaking, locally I took part in various Science Cabarets, PubHD, Pint of
Science…
I even went beyond my usual comfort zone, and I tried my hand at at Comedy for the first
time at the Science Museum Lates
"and suddenly... everything was wet
I had the...
Diarrhoea
dire realization
[audience laughs]
that a pigeon had just scored 500 points
on my head
and I also compéred for Green Man Festival’s Einstein’s Garden for families and young
children who were interested in science
I entered my video on pregnancy tests to the biochemistry Society’s science communication
competition and I won a prize!
I put myself forward for a TV casting for a science-themed game show - I was actually
flown out to Cape Town South Africa, won 1000 dollars, made new friends and saw Capetonian
wildlife
I was invited to lead Merck’s Curiosity campaign in Berlin which was a ton of fun
I was a panelist for Science on YouTube at Summer in the City
I also applied for BBC’s call for Women experts in various subjects, including STEM.
Now originally, this was one of these things I thought I hadn't gotten, I never heard back,
but then a few months later received an e-mail saying I’d been selected out of over 2000
applications, so in September, I was media-trained by the BBC for talking about science on TV
and Radio.
Then later that day I would fly to Bilbao to speak at Naukas to a live audience of 2000
about insect flight, which was absolutely thrilling,
"that their flight is impossible..."
and I then attended Scenio’s first edition, which was an event all about digital science
communication in Spanish - from gaming to YouTubers to illustrators to podcasters.
I was also invited to feature on Órbita Laika’s 4th season premiere, which is Spain’s only
proper science program, and I met Ruth Lorenzo there, who represented Spain in Eurovision,
she has an absolutely incredible voice and I found out she also loves flies and science!!
At the end of 2016 I also remembered I said I would be working on my OCD, I know it's not quite related
to YouTube and science but it's very important to me, and I'm so proud to say that after
a good 4 years of hard work, I have now been well over a year off medication, I completed
all of my psychological therapy and in spite of the ever-present stress that is having
a thesis hanging over your shoulder, I am mostly symptom-free.
I also interviewed candidates for Oxford admissions, I applied for several grants, and I landed
the one I wanted the most, which was the vlogbrothers' grants, and I am so proud of that as well,
and I am using it to fund a couple of upcoming Draw Curiosity series and I'm using it for
some of the equipment that I really, really need to make videos.
aaaand after all of that there was radio silence.
I know there’s been a lack of videos this year.
And you might have been wondering, how on Earth was I doing a PhD at the same time?
And honestly, that’s why you’ve not seen much of me since last summer.
Now, as for the present, what’s coming for Draw Curiosity this year?
Now, firstly, I have to finish the thesis, and also have -still- a lot of content to
catch up on.
I actually have around 10 unedited videos, 7 are sciencey vlogs where I’ve visited
interesting places that I wanted to share with you, then I have 5 or 6 science videos
as well, waiting to be posted.
I’m also going to a few conferences this month, and I will be making a few videos there
as well.
I'm going to be going to Vidcon Anaheim, the one in California, so if there is anyone you
would like to see me collaborate with, feel free to let me know in the comments below
and we might just be able to organise something!
I am preparing a few scripts on some topics that I am very excited about, relating to
vision, evolution, flight and more, so I guess overall, I should just hurry up with my editing.
And finally, I asked you all on twitter if you were a tech-savvy fly, what kind of website
would you create, and it seemed that you all wanted to see a travel agent.
And why did I ask you this?
Well, I wanted to challenge today’s sponsor, Wix, to see if I could build any type of website
on the fly.
Wix is a platform which enables you to build just about any kind of website under the sun
- a blog, a portfolio, an ecommerce website, a restaurant - you name it and they have a
template for it!
Not only that, but it is entirely customisable.
In fact, I was able to set up my fly’s bookable travel lodge in my back garden, with a holly
leaf, a table and a tulip in only 10 minutes!
So if you’re interested in creating your own website - or one for your pet fly - ,whatever
the type, go to wix.com/go/draw_curiosity and build your own website today!
And as always, thank you so much for watching me, and I will see you in the next one - BYE!