Kurzgesagt

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Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
FormationJuly 9, 2013; 10 years ago (2013-07-09)
FounderPhilipp Dettmer
TypePrivately held company
PurposeEdutainment
Location
OwnerPhilipp Dettmer
Staff (2022)
53[2]
Websitekurzgesagt.org
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2013–present
Genre
  • Animation
  • Education
  • Science
  • Philosophy
Subscribers19.5 million[3]
Total views2.12 billion[3]
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg 100,000 subscribers 2014
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg 1,000,000 subscribers 2015
YouTube Diamond Play Button.svg 10,000,000 subscribers 2019
Last updated: 30 October 2022

Kurzgesagt (/ˌkʊərtsɡəˈzɑːkt/; German for "In a nutshell") is a German-made animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. The studio's YouTube channel focuses on minimalist animated educational content,[4] using the flat and 3D design style. It discusses scientific, technological, political, philosophical, and psychological subjects.[5] Narrated by Steve Taylor, videos on the channel are typically four to sixteen minutes, with many of them available in German through the channel Dinge Erklärt – Kurzgesagt, their Spanish channel En Pocas Palabras - Kurzgesagt, and some of their videos are also available in French, Hindi, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Korean. [6][7]

With over 19 million subscribers and over 160 videos, the studio's original English language channel was ranked as the world's 196th most subscribed as of October 18, 2022.[8]

Etymology

The channel's name derives from the German kurz-gesagt (IPA: [ˈkʊɐ̯ts gəˈzaːkt]),[9] which, when taken literally, translates to "shortly said." The English equivalent of this phrase would translate to 'in a few words' or 'in a nutshell,' the latter being used as an English subtitle for the channel's name.[10]

History

Patrizia Mosca, Chief operating officer at Kurzgesagt, speaks at the Internet Days in Stockholm, 2018.

The Kurzgesagt YouTube channel was created on July 10, 2013, shortly after the founder, Philipp Dettmer, graduated from Munich University of Applied Sciences.[11] The first video, which explained evolution, was published two days later with the voice of Steve Taylor, who still serves as commentator as of 2022.[12] The videos were more popular than expected, and in six years the channel went from a project worked on during Dettmer's free time to a design studio with over forty employees. The studio has even received commissions and grants from a number of established, independent institutions.[citation needed]

In 2015, Kurzgesagt was commissioned to create a video on the end of disease by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[13]

This video about the COVID-19 pandemic, called The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do and released in March 2020, was posted on all three of their channels and shared how the human body responds to COVID-19 and how effective the measures in evading SARS-CoV-2.[14] Kurzgesagt's video was released early into the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided accessible, clear, and trustworthy information about the virus and necessary preventative measures. The English version has over 87 million views, making it the most viewed video on the channel.[15] A study published in Visual Resources, said that the video "is an example of an aesthetically compelling explanation of the biological processes of a Covid infection" and it "includes fantastical depictions that convey the message in a more comprehensible straightforward manner."[16]

Outside of the grants from patrons, Kurzgesagt, at least the German branch, has been primarily financially supported by the network Funk of ARD and ZDF since September 28, 2017.[17][18][19]

Kurzgesagt has been the recipient of several awards. In 2019, Kurzgesagt became the first German channel to surpass 10 million subscribers on YouTube.[20] In December 2020, fellow YouTuber Marques Brownlee honored Kurzgesagt, with his "Streamys Creator Honor" award in the 10th Streamy Awards.[21]

Immune: A journey into the mysterious system that keeps you alive

In August 2021, Kurzgesagt announced the release of their first book, Immune: A journey into the mysterious system that keeps you alive, written by Phillip Dettmer, the channel's founder.[22]

A publication by the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations, a German think tank, recommended the book among others for books on the COVID-19 pandemic, describing it as "full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice," in introducing the complex world of the immune system.[23] Daniel M. Davis, the Head of Life Sciences and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, described it as "the feast we have been waiting for" due to the public interest in the mechanisms of the immune system (such as Antibodies, T cells, and B cells) during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were "rarely discussed outside of research labs and scientific talks."[24] In the book, the author acknowledges the feedback and help of a Dr. James Gurney, Professor Thomas Brocker, the director of the Munich Institute for Immunology, and Professor Maristela Martins de Camargo of the University of São Paulo.[25]

Reliability of videos

While some commentators have praised Kurzgesagt's videos for their reliability and fact-checking,[26] some of their earlier work received criticism. In 2016, the Art Libraries Society of North America criticized the studio's occasional lack of credible sources and professional consultation, and use of emotive language.[27] In 2019, Kurzgesagt released a video saying that while they now had all their arguments fact-checked by experts, they had not always done so in the past. They added they were deleting two of their videos from 2015 that failed their current standards, including their video titled "Addiction".[9] A collaboration between Kurzgesagt and journalist Johann Hari, "Addiction" came to be one of the most popular on their channel at the time, despite also being one of their most criticized.[28] The video was accused of misleadingly summarizing the conclusions of the contentious Rat Park experiments;[28] Kurzgesagt acknowledged they had presented one argument as fact, and had not considered other theories on the matter.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jackson, Ryan (April 28, 2021). "The 'ultimate guide to black holes' will spaghettify your brain". CNET. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021.
  2. ^ "About". Kurzgesagt. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "About Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". YouTube.
  4. ^ Lucas, Terry; Abd Rahim, Ruslan (March 15, 2017). "The Similarities and Nuances of Explicit Design Characteristics of Well-Received Online Instructional Animations". Animation. SAGE Publishing. 12 (1): 80–99. doi:10.1177/1746847717690671. ISSN 1746-8477. S2CID 64818185.
  5. ^ Dubovi, Ilana; Tabak, Iris (October 1, 2020). "An empirical analysis of knowledge co-construction in YouTube comments". Computers & Education. Elsevier. 156: 7. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103939. ISSN 0360-1315. S2CID 219914081.
  6. ^ "Dinge Erklärt – Kurzgesagt - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  7. ^ "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  8. ^ "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". Social Blade. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "Can You Trust Kurzgesagt Videos?", Kurzgesagt channel on YouTube, retrieved June 26, 2021
  10. ^ Holgate, Matilda (2020). "5 YouTube channels to keep you learning". University of Canberra. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  11. ^ "Youtube: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell knackt als erster deutscher Kanal die 10-Millionen-Marke". t3n.de (in German). Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  12. ^ "English Voice - Voice Pool English Voice-Over". Voice Pool. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  13. ^ "OPP1139276". www.gatesfoundation.org. January 1, 2001. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  14. ^ "A Look at How the Virus that Causes COVID-19 Infects People". Nerdist.
  15. ^ "Video explainer on the coronavirus has more than 17.5 million views". CochraneToday.ca.
  16. ^ Ehrlich, Nea (July 2, 2020). "Viral Imagery: The Animated Face of Covid-19". Visual Resources. Routledge. 36 (3): 247–261. doi:10.1080/01973762.2021.1960777. ISSN 0197-3762. S2CID 241823806.
  17. ^ Germany, Braunschweiger Zeitung, Braunschweig (November 18, 2020). "funk-Format "Kurzgesagt" fragt: "Brauchen wir Atomkraft, um den Klimawandel zu stoppen?"". www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de (in German). Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  18. ^ Fehrensen, Täubner; Täubner, Mischa. "Acht Minuten Welterklärung - brand eins online". brandeins (in German). Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  19. ^ "So hat Kurzgesagt-Gründer Philipp Dettmer mit Erklärvideos eine Milliarde Views gemacht". Daily (in German). June 17, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  20. ^ Weil, Andrew (December 5, 2019). "YouTube's 2019 Rewind focuses on the basics after 2018 video fiasco". Wusa9. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  21. ^ Hale, James (December 12, 2020). "Here Are Your 2020 Streamy Award Winners". Tubefilter.
  22. ^ Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell (August 10, 2021). "How The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE". YouTube. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  23. ^ Tremmel, Jörg (2021). "Recommendations of new books on the pandemic". Intergenerational Justice Review. 7 (1). doi:10.24357/igjr.7.1.912. ISSN 2190-6335.
  24. ^ Davis, Daniel M. (November 5, 2021). "Immunology meets the masses Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive Philipp Dettmer Random House, 2021. 368 pp". Science. 374 (6568): 697. doi:10.1126/science.abm0134. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 34735237. S2CID 243761609.
  25. ^ Dettmer, Philipp (November 2, 2021). Immune : a journey into the mysterious system that keeps you alive. ISBN 978-0593241332.
  26. ^ Humprhies, Suzanne (January 9, 2021). "What We're Watching: Kurzgesagt Explores Big Questions with Bite-Size Videos". Review Geek. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021.
  27. ^ Gumb, Lindsey (April 2016). "Multimedia Technology Review — Kurzgesagt". Art Libraries Society of North America. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021.
  28. ^ a b Stenn, Lili (March 14, 2019). "YouTuber Coffee Break Accuses Kurzgesagt of Being Untrustworthy, Founder Responds". Rogue Rocket. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021.

External links

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  • "Dinge Erklaert Kurzgesagt" [Brief Explanations of Things] (in German). Funk. January 22, 2018.
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