British Universities Film & Video Council

moving image and sound, knowledge and access

Recent additions to the Gateway

The BUFVC Moving Image Gateway includes over 1,200 websites relating to video, multimedia and sound materials. These have been subdivided into over 40 subject areas. To suggest new entries or amendments, please contact us by email or telephone or visit the Gateway at http://bufvc.ac.uk/gateway/

Agricultural Science Video Blog
This resource gathers together videos and animations of interest to teachers of agricultural science along with brief comments on the videos’ pedagogical value. Most of the films are taken from YouTube, such as this short film showing the germination of maize seeds, root and shoot formation and crop establishment.

The videos can be searched by topic, from Animal Science, through Farm Machinery, Genetics and Potatoes to Sheep and Soil. The number of videos featured is fairly small but nonetheless this is a very useful resource.

DigVentures
DigVentures is the body behind the Europe’s first-ever crowd-funded and crowd-sourced archaeological excavation, at Flag Fen in Peterborough – the site of a Bronze Age causeway made of millions of vertical and horizontal timbers, the existence of which is threatened by the retreat of waters which have hitherto acted to preserve the structure. The website features blogs and videos documenting the excavation, information about the site and its importance as well as details on how to contribute and volunteer and profile of ‘venturers’. The success of the dig indicates that such projects may well have a significant role to play in archaeology, providing, as they do, not just a source of funding, but also labour for ventures that previously would have proved difficult to undertake.

DocumentaryStorm
This website aims to gather full-length documentaries from all over the internet and make them available for free viewing. There are currently over 1,600 films on the site, usefully indexed according to broad categories, such as Art, Science, Biography, Psychology, Sports and Gaming and so on.

The content is wide-ranging, the aims of the site broadly educational, often featuring editorial comments which can provide some helpful context and pointers to further research or discussion. For example, Philippe Diaz’s controversial film about the legacy of the civil war in Sierra Leone is prefaced with the caveat: “the film has been well received… but, some question the accuracy of the reporting and the agenda of the director”.

National Gallery of Art
The Podcasts and videos from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC offer a comprehensive range of lectures, talks, conversations with contemporary artists and collectors and films about the gallery’s history, exhibitions and collections. Rachel Whiteread, Andy Goldsworthy, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude are just some of the artists who can be heard talking about their work. There are also podcasts from the archives, including this 1985 interview with Roy Lichtenstein. The A.W. Mellon Lecture series covers the fine arts and other disciplines, including Helen Vendler’s six-part lecture series “Last Looks, Last Books: The Binocular Poetry of Death”, which considers the final works of five modern American poets, including Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell and Wallace Stevens. Other lectures deal with Picasso, abstract art since Pollock and art and representation in the ancient Mayan and Aztec civilizations. There is also a collection of music podcasts featuring performances and talks.

Neuropod
Monthly neuroscience podcast from Nature, which features news from neuroscience conferences around the world, reports on research and latest developments as well as looking at some of the ethical and philosophical implications that arise when considering the functions of the brain. The site has an eclectic approach and the podcasts cover everything from prions, addiction, psychopathic traits, research in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, optogenetics, sleep patterns and drugs v. cognitive therapy in the treatment of depression. The podcasts go back to 2006 and are free to listen to via streaming or can be downloaded as mp3 files.

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