British Universities Film & Video Council

moving image and sound, knowledge and access

The BUFVC Gateway update

Here are the latest additions to the BUFVC’s Moving Image Gateway, ranging from the scientific to philosophical to aspirational.

CosmoLearning
Founded with the objective of providing free learning from the world’s top scholars, CosmoLearning gathers together documentaries and video lectures from other internet sites and presents them in an easy-to-use environment, where they can be searched by subject area and accessed direct.

Culture Unplugged
This dynamic, not-for-profit organisation comes with a … ‘vision and aspiration to integrate disparate parts of the self and the global human society. It aims to achieve this,    primarily by leveraging the power of new media and extending the effort to offline events and actions.‘ To this end, the website invites filmmakers from around the world to upload films on social or spiritual issues for online viewing and holds regular themed ‘festivals’ following which films are kept in the archive for future viewing. Festival themes so far include Green Unplugged, Humanity Explored, Spirit Enlighened, and We Speak Here. There is a facility for viewers, if they so choose, to submit financial contributions which are passed on to the filmmakers. The website has a very international feel and is somewhat chaotic. However, there are some interesting films that are searchable by festival theme, genre, geographic region, popularity and duration.

Imperial College Online Lectures
An online archive of video recordings of prestigious public lectures on science, technology, medicine and business given at Imperial College, London since 2006. Recent additions include Professor Alain Aspect of CNRS on From Einstein’s intuition to quantum bits: a new quantum age? and Professor Christopher Andrew, official historian of MI5, on Science, technology and secret intelligence. Available as Flash streams or video podcasts.

Perspectives of Pragmatism
In recent years there has been an increasing interest in international dialogues between pragmatist and constructivist theories and approaches. Through a series of video interviews with 17 experts this project, based at the University of Cologne, this resource aims to critically explore the potential of constructivism and pragmatism as philosophical ways and methods of responding to our (post-)modern condition. This is a decidedly no frills site, but it’s the thoughts that count.

Sixty Symbols
Ever been confused by all the letters and squiggles used by scientists? Sixty Symbols is a collection of videos about physics and astronomy presented by experts from the University of Nottingham. Not intended as a reference work, the films are just fun chats with men and women who love their subject and know a lot about it. It is worth noting that many symbols have multiple uses across scientific disciplines, so they are sometimes tackled from unexpected viewpoints. Click on ‘gamma’ and you’ll find a professor of physics talking about cricket balls (…). Click on ‘rho’ and paperclips are being stuffed into coffee cups. And sometimes when there’s no symbol to tell a story (like Schrödinger’s cat, see below), they just make one up! Suggestions for further additions are welcomed.

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