Tag: streaming documentaries

Ethnographic Video Online – Hundreds More Titles Added!!

Ethnographic Video Online of Alexander Street Press provides the largest, most comprehensive resource for the study of human culture and behavior – more than 750 hours and 1,000 films at completion. The collection covers every region of the world and features the work of many of the most influential documentary filmmakers of the 20th century, … Continue reading “Ethnographic Video Online – Hundreds More Titles Added!!”

Ethnographic Video Online of Alexander Street Press provides the largest, most comprehensive resource for the study of human culture and behavior – more than 750 hours and 1,000 films at completion. The collection covers every region of the world and features the work of many of the most influential documentary filmmakers of the 20th century, including interviews, previously unreleased raw footage, field notes, study guides, and more.

Ethnographic Videos Online is always adding to their vast collection, so check back from time to time. You can find them by clicking on the Search Databases link under Research on the American University Library homepage. The Ethnographic Videos Online link will take you to their homepage where you can do searches, browse titles, and watch videos right on their site. The only catch is that the library bought a subscription, so if you’re not in the library, you will be asked to authenticate, to prove that you’re a current AU student.

Check ’em out!

Big surprise. Online video viewing up from last year

From MediaPost.com:“According to a recent release by Nielsen, online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from the same time last year, as time spent viewing video on PC/Mac/laptops from home and work locations increased by 45%. Although the number of unique online video viewers only increased by 3.1% from last January, level of … Continue reading “Big surprise. Online video viewing up from last year”

From MediaPost.com:
“According to a recent release by Nielsen, online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from the same time last year, as time spent viewing video on PC/Mac/laptops from home and work locations increased by 45%. Although the number of unique online video viewers only increased by 3.1% from last January, level of activity was up as viewers streamed 28% more video and spent 45% more time watching. Total video streams also saw significant year-over-year growth, up 31.5% to 14.5 billion streams.”

Link to article including usage data.

Most of this viewing is popular movies and YouTube videos but there’s a growing amount of educational content available too. At American University you can access over 10,000 documentaries and other curriculum-oriented videos via the online catalog. Our holdings currently include Films On Demand, American History on Video, Ethnographic Film Archive, and Television News Archive. Soon we will be adding Shakespeare plays and many titles from Media Education Foundation and California Newsreel. These videos are accessible to individuals with current valid AU IDs though and require a login.

The quickest way to check what streaming videos we have in your area of interest is to do a keyword search using the Media Services catalog interface.

Ken Burns and Films on Demand

As an AU student, staff, or faculty member there are thousands of titles available to stream on Films on Demand. Ken Burns has many great ones that can be found by doing an advanced keyword search for “ken burns” in the Films on Demand database. Some of these titles are also available on VHS or … Continue reading “Ken Burns and Films on Demand”

As an AU student, staff, or faculty member there are thousands of titles available to stream on Films on Demand. Ken Burns has many great ones that can be found by doing an advanced keyword search for “ken burns” in the Films on Demand database. Some of these titles are also available on VHS or DVD in the Media Services collection.

Here are the titles that came up in the advanced keyword search:

Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns – DVD 4731 – 4735, VHS 1255 – 1263
Frank Lloyd Wright
Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery – DVD 5964, VHS 4785
Mark Twain – DVD 3289
Thomas Jefferson – HU DVD 6575
Not for Oursleves Alone – DVD 5875, VHS 5947
The Congress – DVD 3257

Films on Demand is Here! 6500 educational programs available for instant viewing online by AU students and faculty

Films-On-Demand is a state-of-the-art streaming video platform that makes it easy for students to instantly view documentaries from Films Media Group (FMG) via the library catalog and for faculty members to incorporate these programs into their Blackboard pages. The database currently contains about 6500 videos and FMG has been adding about 600 new titles per … Continue reading “Films on Demand is Here! 6500 educational programs available for instant viewing online by AU students and faculty”

Films-On-Demand is a state-of-the-art streaming video platform that makes it easy for students to instantly view documentaries from Films Media Group (FMG) via the library catalog and for faculty members to incorporate these programs into their Blackboard pages. The database currently contains about 6500 videos and FMG has been adding about 600 new titles per year. Nearly every FMG title available on the Films.com website can be accessed instantly.

The FMG catalog is strong in the areas of humanities and social sciences, business and economics, science and mathematics, health and medicine, archival films, and WWII-era United News newsreels.

How to access:

There are two methods.

1. To search or browse the collection, look for Films On Demand on the alphabetical list of databases. http://tinyurl.com/2vl2zem

2. All 6500 videos are cataloged in ALADIN. They can be searched by title or, if you are looking for a specific topic, by keyword. For a browse-able list of all titles, search keyword=”films on demand”
http://tinyurl.com/38c3yvk

Here’s an example of an individual record:
http://tinyurl.com/3x6hcx8

The link in the record will prompt a login from those accessing videos from off-campus. Unfortunately this is a system that’s restricted to American University users only.

Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library: An archive of performing arts on video from across the Americas

From their website: The Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library, a collaboration between New York University Libraries and NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, provides a digital venue for documenting the expression of social and political life through performance in the many cultures and political landscapes of the Americas. The Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library … Continue reading “Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library: An archive of performing arts on video from across the Americas”

From their website:
The Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library, a collaboration between New York University Libraries and NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, provides a digital venue for documenting the expression of social and political life through performance in the many cultures and political landscapes of the Americas. The Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library brings together in one place materials that have been available only in small, little-known archives that are inaccessible to scholars and that lack the resources to properly care for and provide access to these extraordinary cultural documents. But it is not enough simply to gather the videos together. We have used the resources of digital technology to insure the long-term preservation of this rare material and to make it accessible not just to researchers at NYU but to scholars and artists around the world.

link

Snag Films is loaded with great documentaries for instant viewing

At present there are a reported 850 films available. The list includes work from ITVS, PBS, National Geographic, and several notable independents including Icarus Films and Kartemquin Films. Titles that might be familiar include: The American Ruling Class, Biggie and Tupac, Cosmos, Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins, The Life and Times of Allen … Continue reading “Snag Films is loaded with great documentaries for instant viewing”

At present there are a reported 850 films available. The list includes work from ITVS, PBS, National Geographic, and several notable independents including Icarus Films and Kartemquin Films. Titles that might be familiar include: The American Ruling Class, Biggie and Tupac, Cosmos, Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins, The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, The Times of Harvey Milk, Trembling Before G-D, and T-shirt Travels.

Even the lesser known titles such as Agile Mobile Hostile, a film about R & B legend Andre Williams, and loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies look cool.

If you know anyone planning to teach a distance ed class, this site should be given the once-over cause there’s a lot here that have been used in courses at AU and could really enrich an online course.

Snag Films link

Disneyland Dream: Classic home movie now on DVD

54 years ago Robbins Barstow made Disneyland Dream about his family’s trip to Disneyland after winning a nationwide contest sponsored by Scotch tape. He now makes it available on DVD. From Boing Boing–“This is the most delightful historical Disneyland movie I’ve seen — including the old TV shows where Walt tours the park. Young Master … Continue reading “Disneyland Dream: Classic home movie now on DVD”

54 years ago Robbins Barstow made Disneyland Dream about his family’s trip to Disneyland after winning a nationwide contest sponsored by Scotch tape. He now makes it available on DVD.

From Boing Boing–
“This is the most delightful historical Disneyland movie I’ve seen — including the old TV shows where Walt tours the park. Young Master Barstow was a great film-maker (there’s a reason that the Library of Congress added this to the National Film Registry).”

Of course, it has been viewable from the ALADIN catalog for several years. link.

Watch episodes of NOW, now.

“Hosted by veteran journalist David Brancaccio, NOW on PBS goes beyond the noisy churn of the news cycle to probe the most important issues facing democracy and give viewers the context to explore their relationship with the larger world.” –PBS website. First started by Bill Moyers back in 2002, this news program gave issues more … Continue reading “Watch episodes of NOW, now.”

“Hosted by veteran journalist David Brancaccio, NOW on PBS goes beyond the noisy churn of the news cycle to probe the most important issues facing democracy and give viewers the context to explore their relationship with the larger world.” –PBS website.

First started by Bill Moyers back in 2002, this news program gave issues more of a chance to breathe due to its hour length. A couple years ago, PBS cut the program back to a half hour, but the format focuses in on a current issue that most media outlets designate a soundbyte to.

More streaming video from the National Film Board: Aboriginal Perspectives

In their words:“The Aboriginal Perspectives module contains 33 documentaries, a short fiction film, and 5 film clips. These productions do not represent the entirety of the films on Canada’s native peoples in the NFB collection, which comprises more than 700 such works. We did want it, however, to be a representative sample of the whole. … Continue reading “More streaming video from the National Film Board: Aboriginal Perspectives”

In their words:
“The Aboriginal Perspectives module contains 33 documentaries, a short fiction film, and 5 film clips. These productions do not represent the entirety of the films on Canada’s native peoples in the NFB collection, which comprises more than 700 such works. We did want it, however, to be a representative sample of the whole. The user will find films on many important aspects of Aboriginal culture and heritage, its diverse communities, and some of the major issues and significant moments in its history. These films, more than half of which were made by Aboriginal people, are the work of experienced filmmakers, such as Alanis Obomsawin and Gil Cardinal, and filmmakers in the early stages of their career, such as Elisapie Isaac and Bobby Kenuajuak. The selection covers more than 50 years of film production. All the films are available in both official languages, and 18 of them include described video to allow blind and visually impaired people to fully enjoy their content. In addition, 27 films are available with closed captioning for hearing impaired people.”

link

Streaming video highlight: National Film Board of Canada’s Documentary Lens

In their words: “The purpose of Documentary Lens is to show how National Film Board documentaries have portrayed Canada and the world since the founding of the Film Board in 1939.” At present there are about 50 films available in their entirety, dated 1944-2004. Most (if not all) are under 30 minutes – on topics … Continue reading “Streaming video highlight: National Film Board of Canada’s Documentary Lens”

In their words: “The purpose of Documentary Lens is to show how National Film Board documentaries have portrayed Canada and the world since the founding of the Film Board in 1939.”

At present there are about 50 films available in their entirety, dated 1944-2004. Most (if not all) are under 30 minutes – on topics covering arts, politics, social issues, World War II propaganda, and more.

link