The University recently launched its official YouTube channel, a video-sharing website that showcases the life and work of the University of Bristol.
There are currently 23 videos available for viewing, grouped under three playlist or subject areas: ‘About’ (covering general aspects of university life), ‘Research’, ‘Study’ and 'Lectures'. New playlists will be added as more videos are published.
The videos cover a wide range of subjects, and include introductory films about the University and the city of Bristol; a 12-minute, high-definition video artwork called ‘Centenary Portraits’, filmed by award-winning video artist and cinematographer, Terry Flaxton, to round off the University’s 2009 centenary celebrations; a film about the University’s Centre for Deaf Studies; a talk by Professor Mike Benton from the Department of Earth Sciences on the evolution of birds, and the origin and colour of feathers in birds and dinosaurs; and historical footage of Sir Winston Churchill conferring honorary degrees at Bristol University in 1944.
The site is maintained by the web editor team in the Public Relations Office, part of the University’s Communications Division. The team is currently on the lookout for additional content that is suitable for the general public, in particular videos relating to research, teaching, events (such as departmental open days and public lectures) and other interesting aspects of university life. YouTube is a particularly good vehicle for publicising the University and the work of individual departments, and engaging with a wide, web-savvy audience.
Staff and students are welcome to submit any content that they think may be suitable using our YouTube submission form (Word 27Kb). Videos will be reviewed to ensure that they are suitable for the channel. Videos need not be generated solely by staff or students, but copyright of any material supplied must be surrendered to the University of Bristol.
Bristol University is also set to be added to YouTube EDU, YouTube’s educational channel, which acts as a repository for lectures, video clips and webcasts from universities all over the world. This will allow for posting longer videos of an educational nature on the web.
The University also has a presence on the web-based group messaging service, Twitter, which it uses to disseminate information about news, events and general announcements, and is planning to launch an official Facebook page.