Kosmopolito
The Blog with the European perspective
Tagged with video …
For a cleaner and safer Internet…
Cleanternet.org is a campaign to support European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in her plans to introduce a website blocking system in Europe.All European countries must be forced to fight for a cleaner and safer Internet.
The video is based on a German zensursula video. The producer of the video made several videos that became famous in the German debate on internet freedom etc. Do check out http://alexanderlehmann.net/ for more videos!
The animated President of the European Council
Do you remember our little series with the terrible name “How to explain a political process with a video?“ No? Well, today, it is time to revive this category as I found a new animated EU video about the role of the President of the European Council produced by the TV Newsroom of the Council of the European Union. OK, it might not be that new – especially if you are a regular visitor of the TV Newsroom of the Council (well, these people do exist!) or a twitter addict… 
Anyway, the video is a nice reminder what the POTEC (that sounds quite cool – is there also an official short form?) actually does – arguably not that much. So no need to get overexicted by this new position. A video that should definitely be watched by journalists and governmental website editors:
EU/EP videos for Dummies
… not in a bad sense. More like in this book series (and there is even a EU dummy book!)… A couple of days ago the Austrian version of this video was all over twitter. Now, the producers fulfilled their promise and released an English version with a nice Austrian accent. (hat-tip: europeum). Great visuals and a great summary but somehow with a sloppy translation . ( I spotted a few mistakes: “bi-annual commission summit” – “elected employees of the Parliament” – “members of the EP work in commissions”…and is it correct to say “EU Parliament”?)
A couple of weeks ago Elmine also did a great video on Th!nkaboutit.eu pondering about the question: “How much influence does the European Parliament actually have? And therefore does my vote have influence?” Worth watching:
Here my comment about the video (which also can be found in the comment thread):
Don’t know whether I would put a direct arrow between the European Council and the Commission in one of your first graphs. There is usually no direct link in legislative issues. Agenda-setting in EU policy making is only the responsibility of the Commission.
The Lisbon Treaty would actually remove the compulsory/non compulsory budget distinctions completely and increase the involvement of the EP. Would be an interesting point for the next video!
In many countries you cannot vote on individual candidates but only on party lists, so it is debatable whether individual candidates or rather political groups/parties have a bigger influence in the EP.
However, some great examples how to explain political processes with online videos…
Visualising the Credit Crisis
Some lazy blogging – Another video in our irregular series (see here for part I and part II) on how to explain political issues with an online video.This time a visualization of the credit crisis:
The Short and Simple Story of the Credit Crisis.
The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
How to explain a political process with a video? (II)
Here we go again. The second part of my little collection of online videos that explain political processes. Indeed, this seems to develop into a little series of posts. (check out the first part here).
This time the topic is even more complex than last time: It is about the conflict in the Middle East. The video was made by Axel Rudolph, a student of media design in Ravensburg/Germany. Here he explains the purpose of the video:
My dissertation, titled ‘Knowledge’ for my degree at Ravensburg College (subject: media design) deals with a virtual TV format that gives current important matters a more visually attractive shape.
It is especially attractive to younger people. One of my goals is to show that education and learning may also have a ‘cool look’. This new look often reminds the viewer more of a TV music video than that of a matter-of-fact history lesson. The sample – to be seen here – gives a 5-minute-explanation of the roots of the Middle-East conflict. It took about 3 ½ months to research this project, write the story book, and prepare the animation graphics.
I think it is a great piece of work that shows how political news can be presented. The combination of powerful visuals, clear explanations and a certain ‘MTV feel’ is both informative and attractive. It actually reminds me of a survey from a couple of months ago that showed that a majority of people that watch news on TV actually don’t understand them. Maybe a video like that one could help…
How to explain a political process with a video?
The brilliant people at Common Craft just released a great video that explains the US elections in ‘plain English’! If you don’t know their other videos (mostly about internet issues) you really missed something and I strongly recommend them to you. Basically they “make complex ideas easy to understand using short and simple videos.”(mission statement!) But now enjoy “Electing a US President in Plain English”
“Make complex ideas easy to understand” … sounds like the EU needs something like that. Although the EU started experimenting with online videos lately, it still lacks creativity and a certain “online buzz”. Most of the videos about the EU (not only EUtube!) are either pure news reports or have a political motivation. However, one of the greatest problems of the EU is that nobody understands what exactly it does and how it works (which can also explain low turnouts at European elections). Unfortunately EUtube as well as other video producers do not address these issues. Short simple online videos could help people to learn and think about the EU. Maybe the video on US elections can turn into an inspiration to produce similar videos about the European elections or the EU decision making process …in plain 23 languages!