OikoTV is an online TV channel aimed at informing, through short documentaries, about social and sustainable projects and ideas around Europe, with the final purpose of raising people's awareness about environmental and social issues and stimulate people to embark on similar paths.
The idea consists in creating a web platform, or online TV, which periodically documents, through short documentaries, about social and ecological projects anchored in values such as sustainability and social inclusion. The subjects of these documentaries can be NGOs, individuals or groups of individuals, companies or community projects, on small and large scale, operating in Europe and sharing inclusive and environmentally friendly social practices.
OikoTv aims at raising awareness about environmental and social issues and at the same time it wants to inspire and encourage people to embark on similar paths and to approach activism rooted in principles such as sustainability and social justice.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
In terms of enviromental sustainability OikoTV advances an ethics of complementarity in which human beings play a supportive role in perpetuating the integrity of the biosphere.
The key objectives of this idea are to raise awareness and inform people about sustainable practices and projects that deal with social incluision in their community or in any European country. By doing so we try to bring European citizens closer to the world of activism rooted in principles such as sustainability and social inclusion. By showing examples of small and large organizations/companies/individuals that have succeeded in developing an idea or a project, we also try to motivate them to undertake entrepreneurial and social paths that sticks with the aforementioned principles.
In terms of logistics of the making of the documentaries, the filmmakers will do whatever is possible to limit the impact of their own footprint. For example, expeditions of approximately one month will be organized in a certain area and during this period of time they will try to shoot the material for as many short documentaries as possible and they will only be traveling through one place to another via public transport. During this month, we will try to arrange accomodation at the places we will be visiting, when possible. This could be done in partnership with AEGEE, for example, present in several cities around Europe.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
For this concept, being made up of audiovisual content, the aesthetics play a key role.
The aesthetics of the brand will be very simple and modern, in order not to mislead the attention from what is the main purpose of the channel. The style of the documentaries will be observational, mainly for the shooting of b-rolls, mixed with interviews. Interviews will also play a fundamental role as what will be told in them will make the story of the whole documentary.
To put it simply, the documentary will consist of one or more interviews with the promoters of the project, alternated and accompanied by b-rolls of the day-to-day life of the project itself.
Each short documentary can vary from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the importance and the social/environmental impact of the project itself. The host, understood as an individual, group of individuals, NGO or community project, through small interviews and videos, will explain the origins of the project, the reasons and motivations behind it and possibly show the work done so far.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
The idea takes inspiration from the theory of "social ecology", according to which nearly all of our present
ecological problems originate in deep-seated social problems. In fact, all these ecological problems cannot be solved without solving the irrationalities that dominate the society we live in. It follows that, in order to solve the present environmental problems, it is essential to improve the society we live in, through more inclusion and participation. That's why OikoTV wants to give voice and promote projects that deal with equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, accessibility and so on and so forth. This concept is exemplary because the role of the media today is more and more important and influential on the society, as we've reached a level of accessibility to technology, and therefore to the various means of communication, that has no precedents. And that is why a TV source that informs in a transparent way, aiming at raising awareness on issues such as sustainability and social inclusion, together with the educational system, is the most effective and smart way to create more responsible and active citizens.
Another fundamental aspect, in terms of inclusion, is that OikoTV is the first media to be really inclusive even for what concerns the production side. In fact, OikoTV will be accepting volunteers who wants to put their hands on the planning, shooting, interviewing and editing of the documentaries, by still mantaining the same original documentary pattern and style. Volunteers can be European of any age that have experience or are simply interested in the world of journalism, video-making and all the different branches that comes with it.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary
These three dimensions would be combined in the concept through the documentation of projects that encapsulate one or more of the three dimensions.
The values of sustainability, social inclusion, or both, will meet with the aestethics of a good documentary.
OikoTV would be the first online platform dedicated to ecological and social projects in Europe. In fact, at this moment there isn't any sort of television broadcaster that deals exclusively with this topics.
Compared to other mainstream practices, OikoTV differs in the following points:
- It is not a sponsored project, so the user will not have to suffer any kind of annoying advertising;
- Instead of the classic News broadcaster style, the documentary will be used to inform people. The documentary is not only a tool to inform, but also to excite.
- It is an inclusive TV: anyone can contribute, in every stage of production (from simply suggesting a project to document, to the making of the documentary itself)
The idea can be promoted through:
the various organizations we will be working with;
social media;
the volunteers will also have the role of sharing the projects within their group of friends and family
Over time this project has the potential to spread slowly throughout Europe precisely because of the various people and entities from all over Europe involved in its implementation.
The organizations/companies that agrees to be the subject of a documentary will earn in terms of promotion of their sustainable or social project. For this reasons they would also be motivated to share and spread the single documentary and consequently reach new audiences for the channel.
In terms of funding the project can rely on:
sponsorship of the projects that are documented,
public screening of the documentaries organized by various organizations,
donations and subscriptions by users that have access to the content,
sustainable gadgets for whoever wants to contribute.
In the future the project could be implemented by the integration to the channel format of live interviews and events in studio or streaming organized by public or private entities or by the channel itself.
The first thing to do will be to start a call for participants inviting them to apply for the role of ambassador for the first expedition of the project. We will look for an aspiring journalist/interviewer and an audio technician that will form the team together with the main responsible of the project, which at least for the first expeditions will be the undersigned and who will deal with the video-making aspect. Then the team, through various online meeting, will get in contact with the various organizations and organize a one month expedition in an European country/region. The organization contacted will have the task to help in finding projects in their country or proximity that would suit well for the tv format and help the documentarists in finding accomodation (generally through host organizations).
Ideally in September the first expedition can start and for a month we'll try to shoot the raw material for 5 to 10 short documentaries. Next month will be dedicated to the editing. The plan is to publish one short documentary every two weeks from november onwards. October will also be the month for another call for participants, while November the month of the planning with two more volunteers.
The timetable will then be as follows:
1st month: Call for Volunteers
2nd month: Planning of the expedition
3rd month: Shooting
4th month: Editing + Call for Volunteers
5th month: Planning of the expedition
And so on so forth.
@Volpe, 2022
Content licensed to the European Union.