DCRC - Digital Cultures Research Centre

"Fifty years ago people on the streets of Paris were asked: Are you happy? in a documentary experiment with the new film technology of 1960 - hand-held sync sound. Searching for Happiness takes advantage of a new era of creative technology to ask the same question today. From Mongolia to Maharashtra, filmmakers around the world have responded to an invitation to restage those 1960 interviews. In a documentary first, producer Mandy Rose has brought those recordings together with live feeds from the web to create a documentary experience which never plays the same way twice.

DCRC Senior Research Fellow Mandy Rose has offered the following commentary, initially posted on her CollabDocs blog, on the statement of intent offered by the new Director General of the BBC, drawing upon her own open letter to the incoming DG, 'Breaking the chains of linear programming', posted as part of openDemocracy's "Our Beeb" site.

The final week of June and the 147th of the DCRC continued conversations about the next academic year, brought presentations abroad and capped off the wettest June on record. In 1865, 147 years ago, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was published and Brunel's SS Great Eastern laid 2600 miles of the 1865 transatlantic telegraph cable.

The week ending the 22nd June, the 146th week of the DCRC, brought more discussion of innovations in documentary praxis, inter-continental travel, projects being short-listed for awards and vertiginous debate. The output from Charlotte Crofts' DCRC-supported project has been shortlisted for the Appcircus showcase, while plenty of discussion about the future of publishing and the reconfiguration of documentary practice has proven productive. 146 years ago, in 1866, the author H.G. Wells was born and the Atlantic cable was successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraphic communications for the first time.

Weeks 143-145 of the DCRC have been rather busy with the annual array of double-marking, meetings and paperwork necessary to finalise marks and awards for this academic year. Equally, members of the centre have been involved in planning for a new academic year, a partial change of surroundings - as Media Practice and Culture moves to the Bower Ashton campus, and planning some upcoming events. DCRC researchers have contributed to the celebrations of Watershed's 30th birthday, the Sheffield DocFest, embarked upon residencies and prepared for a summer of international travel.

The week ending the 18th of May saw researchers conducting interesting conversations both near and afar, some reflection and also looking forward, the week was also the 141st week of the operation of the DCRC. 141 years ago, in 1871, Henry Stanley tracked down David Livingstone on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, five bank holidays were introduced by law for the first time, the Rugby Football Union was founded and and trade unions were legalised.

The week ending the 23rd March 2012 saw the beginning of Spring, with weather to match, the second i-Docs conference on interactive documentary, and DCRC involvement with the BBC's More Than Words Festival, held in Bristol.

Mandy Rose, Senior Research Fellow at the DCRC, is attending the invitation-only New Arts of Documentary summit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today.

Week 131 of the activities of the DCRC consisted of the design practices of students and alumin as part of the BBC Fusion pilot, the discussion of interactive documentary and the beginnings of recruitment for a new professor. 131 is also a prime number in many weird and wonderful registers.

As the seasonal parties begin in earnest the DCRC team would like to wish everyone compliments of the season as we look forward to a productive 2012.