Using social media videos as a research tool

Fascinating article covering how researchers are using video analysis to highlight potential medical behaviours:

Earlier this summer, a team at England’s Keele University published a behavioral study on children with autism. But it didn’t do it by interviewing subjects, or administering questionnaires. Instead, it used YouTube videos. Bappaditya Mandal and his colleagues trained an artificial intelligence to study the body movements of children with autism, using it to classify their behaviors as either typical or atypical. 

Video analysis can help scientists and families establish a narrative—when behaviors appear, what triggers them, and which parts of the body are most affected—“all the things the doctors need to know in order to do a good diagnosis,”

The Atlantic