This industry has an abundance of information, yet professionals have a difficult time staying current. Even with numerous resources, such as magazines, technical journals, websites, conferences, seminars, and webcasts, there is a great need for professionals to find ways to streamline efforts to absorb and share information that can help propel our industry. If we don’t, we are thwarting our efforts to rebuild America’s infrastructure. How can we as an industry overcome this obstacle to share our information better and learn faster, so we can be more efficient and deliver higher-quality public infrastructure?

This month’s RAI Exclusive, “The Gold Papers: Impactful white papers from industry thought leaders,” is a new concept that I hope you find useful. The article germinated from the realization that even though there are many white papers written in the field of bridge and road engineering, much of the information is not read by the mainstream. We realized we could help narrow the gap. By working with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Society of Civil Engineers, we could bring the findings of recent and noteworthy technical journal articles to the masses in the pages of Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure.

Ideally, you’ll read the abstracts here (all of which summarize the findings of the research presented in the paper, so that just reading the abstract is educational), follow up on one or two of particular interest, and put your newly advanced knowledge to work as you plan, design, and maintain the bridges and roads of our great country. Completing the cycle, our industry will feel the positive effects that come from dedicated practitioners putting to use the fine work of our cherished thought leaders.

But this is just a small nudge to help a major dilemma: What else can the industry do? Go beyond the written word. Those of you who are thought leaders and contribute to the industry by writing and researching, should consider using video to reach your contemporaries. Go to any general news website and you’ll find video clips, interviews, commercials, slide animation, and more. It’s time for us to apply this popular and effective medium to technical information in the engineering space.

On www.rebuildingamericasinfrastructure.com, news stories with a video component often receive more attention than written articles; so if you’re doing research or have an exciting project or white paper to share, consider creating a short video to summarize what you’ve learned or wish to communicate. Show footage of your testing in action and interviews with stakeholders, and find ways to present your results visually. If video isn’t possible, consider a slideshow of photographs or screen grabs with voice over describing your main points.

In this day and age of Internet savvy and visual hunger, our industry needs to step out of the mindset that to present information to a technical audience the only path is to write a white paper, publish it in a journal, and/or present it at a conference. I hope that thought leaders will start to employ new ways of sharing what’s on their minds — maybe next year RAI can present a video round-up of the industry’s most influential findings in bridge and road engineering. Wouldn’t that be cool!

Shanon Fauerbach, P.E.,

sfauerbach@stagnitomedia.com