by Derek Morrison, 20 November 2008
In parts 1 and part 2 of On the video – a reflection on YouTube and friends I reflected on the some of the affordances and constraints associated with online video ‘cloud’ services such as YouTube. Part 3 adds a couple more video sources particularly for those interested in the role of video as a vehicle for disseminating public information material.
In 1946 the UK government established the rather Orwellian sounding Central Office of Information which exists to this day. The COI currently describes itself as:
… the Government’s centre of excellence for marketing and communications. The COI works with government departments and the public sector to produce information campaigns on issues that affect the lives of every citizen – from health and education to benefits, rights and welfare.
The National Archives now offers us access to online videos from such COI produced public information films. It provides a rich resource for those interested in how media has been used to attempt to convey a particular messages at particular points in our social history. Nostalgia buffs may shed a tear at Coughs and Sneezes and the Green Cross Code. Although I recognize the value of this archive I also think it is very unfortunate that the National Archives appears to have standardised on Windows Media and Quicktime video formats and not the now ubiquitous, more interoperable and efficient Flash format as used by the BBC, YouTube et al. YouTube fans will also find an extensive alternative collection of such material there.
It’s interesting to reflect on the likely impact if the didactic and patriarchal styles of the early COI public information material was employed today. There again, perhaps Harry Enfield’s Mr Chumney Warner character has already undertaken this experiment on our behalf 🙂
The UK is not alone in providing access to such historical material for media students of all ages and interests. Over on the Internet Archive we find the Prelinger Archives which offers over 2000 films covering part of the collection of public information ephemera from 1927.
It’s interesting to contrast the differences in approach to public information and what was considered important in the two anglophone but, nevertheless considerably different, cultures. For example see The Bully, a 1952 educational film in a series describing itself as “Mental floss for curbing youth decay”. You couldn’t make this up 🙂
For those wishing to explore some of the darker ‘educational’ material produced in the US in the 1940s and 1950s then terms like “mental hygiene” or “moral hygiene” into the YouTube search engine should send the necessary shiver down the spine.
