Video Nation
Encyclopedia
Video Nation was a BBC television
project in social anthropology
and audience interactivity. Beginning in 1993, the BBC encouraged people to record their lives on video. These video diaries were then shown on BBC TV and, from 2001-2011, were included on the BBC's website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/.
The original project was created in the Community Programme Unit
for BBC2. It was founded and co-produced between 1993 and 2001 by Chris Mohr and Mandy Rose. A diverse group of fifty people were selected from across the UK, given training in the use of camcorders and invited to record aspects of everyday life during the course of a year. From their recordings the team drew material for a range of programmes, of which the best known are the Shorts which were broadcast before BBC2's Newsnight. Contributors had a right of veto over their material so that nothing was broadcast without their consent. BBC2 de-commissioned the television series in 2000 at which point a website was built from the existing archive. Hundreds of contributors then went on to make shorts for the site, and Video Nation has returned to BBC TV screens during thematic seasons.
This alt-media project precedes vlog
ging by several years.
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
project in social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
and audience interactivity. Beginning in 1993, the BBC encouraged people to record their lives on video. These video diaries were then shown on BBC TV and, from 2001-2011, were included on the BBC's website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/.
The original project was created in the Community Programme Unit
Community Programme Unit
The Community Programme Unit was established by the BBC to help members of the public create programmes to be broadcast nationally.The unit was set up in 1972 by influential producers such as Rowan Ayers having won the approval of the Director of Programmes David Attenborough for a series of ten...
for BBC2. It was founded and co-produced between 1993 and 2001 by Chris Mohr and Mandy Rose. A diverse group of fifty people were selected from across the UK, given training in the use of camcorders and invited to record aspects of everyday life during the course of a year. From their recordings the team drew material for a range of programmes, of which the best known are the Shorts which were broadcast before BBC2's Newsnight. Contributors had a right of veto over their material so that nothing was broadcast without their consent. BBC2 de-commissioned the television series in 2000 at which point a website was built from the existing archive. Hundreds of contributors then went on to make shorts for the site, and Video Nation has returned to BBC TV screens during thematic seasons.
This alt-media project precedes vlog
Vlog
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...
ging by several years.