Local communities often produce large quantities of cultural material, a sort of “Industry of Culture”, and the emerging instruments on which ERVET has focused are videotapes.
The videotapes were produced by cultural production centres and by local institutions and report events, good practices, implemented projects in their own territorial area. Bearing in mind that videotapes are a particularly effective means of communication and knowledge, which in themselves represent a good practice, the Consortium has decided to promote an idea of “Network”, an exchange of videotapes among different European countries in order to support the general objective of regional cooperation and of dissemination of good practice.

Rationale

Local communities often produce large quantities of cultural material, a sort of “Industry of Culture”, and the emerging instruments on which ERVET has focused are videotapes.
The videotapes were produced by cultural production centres and by local institutions and report events, good practices, implemented projects in their own territorial area. Bearing in mind that videotapes are a particularly effective means of communication and knowledge, which in themselves represent a good practice, the Consortium has decided to promote an idea of “Network”, an exchange of videotapes among different European countries in order to support the general objective of regional cooperation and of dissemination of good practice.
The idea of “Networking Local Community Video in Europe” is an instrument to collect the videotapes produced by the various communities, relating to 5 main subjects: environment and sustainable development, equal opportunities, cultural heritage, tourism and integration.
Through some front offices (called regional Media Centres) which will allow cultural production centres and institutions to access video archives easily, videotapes will become a means of knowledge of the best experiences of the various territorial communities thanks to innovative and experimental processes of subtitling, which will try to overcome the problem of language differences.
The process of candidate selection has been designed based on the common interest some countries may have in disseminating and acquiring best practices, and past experiences of some candidates in the industry of video production.
The distinction of the various activities that represent the 5 Components of the project has been planned based on partners’ specialization and experience in IT, video and web communication, management skills for international projects.
The activities agreed upon with each partner represent the necessary foundations to implement an innovative and experimental project, in which each partner is responsible for the creation and development of the ultimate objective of the project - the improvement of the effectiveness of policies and instruments for regional development and cohesion.
                                   
Problem description
A thorough analysis of regional needs and the necessity of investing even more effectively in the dialogue between the institutions and the citizens, between suppliers and users of services have led to NETLOC VIDEO. In this perspective, for years the Emilia-Romagna region has co-produced programmes of regional interest with a private television network in order to promote initiatives, events, good practices. NETLOC VIDEO offers something more: the real opportunity of an even more effective and interactive dialogue between the institutions, which disseminate the best projects and services they have created through the production of videotaped documents, and the citizens, the associations, the independent producers, who develop and suggest new ideas, new approaches to social problems, new points of view.

The interactive exchange of videotaped documents is carried out through regional front offices (Media Centres), which allow the loading and filing of videotaped documents by means of production quality criteria.
The creation of a Media Centre in each partner country and of a software network among the various regional front offices assures the dissemination of videotaped documents and therefore the dissemination of knowledge, territorial best experiences and good practices. All partners take with themselves the experience acquired as far as communication and video production, dialogue and communication between the institutions and the citizens, IT and project management are concerned. The whole perspective is that of a homogenous distribution of the best good practices, and, on an even more general level, of regional cooperation and cohesion consistently with the objective of Interreg IIIC.
                       
Objectives of the operation
This project has the objective of trying to link the experiences of local communication (communication to the citizen and videotapes by independent production centres) by creating an interaction, a comparison and a profitable exchange of experiences among regional authorities, video producers, associations, local television channels and any subject interested in developing the quality and democratic function of video communication within local communities.
The project aims at creating an information service on the Web in order to foster audiovisual production on everyday life in local communities and at promoting the relations between public regional institutions and the subjects that produce communication on the territory with light television technologies, at developing an exchange of materials between the subjects interested in the production of information on local communities’ everyday life and at making a comparison among the various communities by using the video instrument.
The project develops models of dissemination and exchange that govern a range of rights and linguistic access points. It creates a European network of these regional Media Centres, which make the on-line access to materials simpler, and develops a web application according to the Open Source policy that allows to organize on-line work groups for the translation of video original texts and the production of multilingual subtitles, which can be useful for the international dissemination of materials. The project proposes the comparison among videotaped documents produced on the same subjects in the different regions also through the dissemination of pilot programmes on local television channels, and develops the circulation of good practices in some fields of social interest. It also fosters a better knowledge of independent productions and of public institutions.

Expected outputs, results and impacts of the operation
Media Centres will be set up in order to create a Network of regional video archives connected to the Internet. Such video archives will be accessible and share videotaped documents of best practices by means of a web-based application for indexing, retrievals, subtitling and to create a common format for videodocuments’ metadata. The applications will be developed as Open Source instruments. The website will consist of areas of introduction, updating, on instruments to co-ordinate the various partners, and local areas to give visibility to regional activities. On-line guides on how to use the interactive Media Centres, and presentations to train participants on how to use Media Centres will be published. 20 pilot videos will be produced in order to promote the comparison among the best practices (videotaped documents) of the regions involved.
Survey of regional video producers on the 5 chosen themes; an advertising campaign towards producers to foster the use of network and to increase project’s visibility. Media Centres will organize the selection, classification, subtitling, translation, digitalisation and uploading of videodocuments collected, and their exchange through a common procedure. The feedback will be assured by evaluation forms filled in by users. Project dissemination in regions involved will be assured by the broadcasting of pilot videos, and by website and database access. Dissemination is also realized by proposing pilot videos to European broadcasters.
Media Centres will be a place to support video producers to access the network. Their functional model will be easily disseminated by transferring knowledge from operating centres to newly implemented ones to share instruments to realize a European network  that will create new agreements for diffusion, exchanges and co-production of videodocuments.
                       
Approach and methodology
To effectively and efficiently achieve the objectives,  NETLOC VIDEO will begin by developing a close collaboration among the partners, one which favors open communication and proactive participation.
To allow for a correct and co-ordinated implementation of scheduled activities, we plan to assign a Lead component to the partner responsible for co-ordinating a given Component. A continuous exchange of ideas will be encouraged and expected of all participants working on the project so as to support co-operation and a sense of working together as a team.
Also, the workshops, conferences, and publication of guidelines during the course of the operation that have been planned represent important means to support co-operation.
Through the Steering Group, all partners will be expected to help in formulating the final conclusions on the basis of previous experiences or from what was learned during the course of the operation.
The methodology used will be that of other Interreg III projects: 1 – Defining the reference frame  (analysis and comparison of different European contexts) 2 – Definition of a common model for the exchange of best practices (a Media center for each partner country) 3 – Technical implementation of the pilot project  4 – Implementation of innovative means of interaction for the promulgation of  best practices (web interface and broadcasting the pilot videos) 5 – Feedback and dissemination of the results and strategies to promote project durability and ensure financial backing.
Based on this methodology, the components will be closely interrelated and the outputs of each will be preliminary and/or complementary to the realisation of subsequent activities. We chose “Individual project” as the type of operation because, thanks to the collaboration among partners, we will be able to develop a project in which the added value will be precisely the contribution offered by each participant.
                                                                                                               
The setting up of  “sites” organised to allow for an ongoing exchange of linguistically, culturally, and thematically heterogenous films even after the conclusion of the project and the method devoloped to allow people to access knowledge on-line fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas and experiences are elements that more than justify our choice. Also, the intensity of co-operation in the “Joint development of new approaches” enforces this line of thought in consideration of the partners in the project who all come from different regions and have worked together on a problem common to all of Europe: the linguistic and culural barriers to communication. Upon project completion, the methodology employed may be extended to other contexts in order to spread the local community network to include all of Europe. The temporal sequence of the NETLOC VIDEO operation is showed in the Annex 7- Gantt chart.                                                                                                                

Durability of the operation's results
Project continuity and sustainability is guaranteed by implementing and starting up fully-equipped and interactive regional Media Centers, by their use and support on the part of local and regional governments, by the push received on the EC comunication market, and by the interest shown by video makers in using the tools (cataloguing, promotion, and translation services) made available by the MediaCenters.
Partners retain ownership of the tools they produce. The database cataloguing video entries may be used to create interregional archives even as part of other projects.
Copyrights to the video material and to subtitle texts are duly owned by the authors and video makers. Rightful owners will sign an acquittance authorizing the partners managing the MediaCenters to deploy the videodocuments and to use them in making the pilot videos.
                                                                                                               
Project results, the original software applications, instructions to operational, cataloguing and search procedures, and methodology will be made available to all those interested in extending the European Network of regional videoarchives. This will promote collaborative relationships as well as the flow of knowledge from operating centers to newly implemented ones. The operation’s effectiveness is guaranteed by the adoption of common procedures and tools to be used at the local level to develop video communication in the EU in alignment with advances made in ICT. The multilingual option affords another boost to expanding the European circuit and to the making of new agreements for promulgation, exchange and co-production.                                     

Location of activities
Because the regional Media Centers are linked,  all the networked regions will be involved in the  main activities of the operations:  the collection of videos documenting one of the 5 topics chosen for the exchange of best practices, the creation of pilot videos, and broadcasting them throughout the region. The network linking the countries is both virtual – thanks to the video archive interactive network and videoconferences to co-ordinate the project – and real – thanks to the 4 workshops that will be held in the four regions interested in the operation so that partners can meet one another. An added value is the collegiate character of the operation that will give people coming from like institutions the chance to meet face to face: regional development agencies, universities, Municipalities etc.
During these meetings, partners will also have the opportunity of learning how the same project has been implemented in other contexts.
                                                                                                               
The meetings represent an extraordinary opportunity of enrichment of experiences and sharing of ideas.The partners are from three of the outlying areas of the 4 Interreg zones: West (Midland and Western Regions of Ireland), East (South Great Plain-Hungary); South (Galicia-Spain).
The final conference to present the operation’s achievements will take place in Budapest, the perfect link to launch the project in new EU member, in candidate (Croatia, Rumania, Bulgaria) states and in Serbia.             

Information and publicity measures                    
Information and publicity measures concerning NET LOC VIDEO will be implemented in accordance with community directives as follows: EC Regulation CE n° 1260/1999, arts. 34,36, in (general provisions for structural funding) and EC Reg. n° 1159/2000, (information and publicity measures concerning interventions using structural funding). High priority given to promotion and publicity measures; both will be sustained during the entire course of the operation and in all participating regions. All partners will actively participate in the development of information and publicity measures. During the project’s final semester, focus will be on the dissemination in Europe of the models used to create the network and to make it accessible and interactive. It is essential to ensure that any European region showing interest should be able to get information about the video archive network as a practical tool for the exchange of best practices, and to adapt it easily to its own needs.                                                                                                                 
Two-part campaign - Part 1: to promote the videoarchive at regional level focusing on video makers and those interested in using videos and their contents as tools for sharing best practices (local broadcasters, assoc., citizens) invited to use the MediaCenters. “Media Plan”: 4 educational seminars for the former and 4 mailing lists for the latter; 4 videonewsletter; 4 press conferences to present the project; 4 regional press campaigns (articles, web links, TV coverage), 4 regional sections on website. Part 2: to promote the MediaCenters throughout Europe in an International Conference in Bologna to launch the project and one in Budapest to present results, conference proceedings published on website; presentation of project at Venice Film Festival; European press campaign focusing on public and cultural broadcasters; publication of marketing analysis and of study to identify new topics of interest. The website itself as a tool for regional and European promulgation of the project.        

Policy context
Contribution to the Interreg IIIC Programme objectives
Through the exchange of best practices illustrated in the videodocumentaries, NETLOC VIDEO’s aim is to promote interregional co-operation and equal development in all regions. The designing and implementation of an archive database and the exchange of the videos will give each region to increase the value of  their own best experiences in one of the following 5 fields: environment and sustainable development, equal opportunities, culture, tourism, and social integration. The exchange of best practices through an innovative tool, videos, will enforce the development of new approaches to the chosen topics at the regional level. This exchange or sharing of experiences will be made visible to all residents thanks to the creation of a web interface and multilingual pilot video (component 4); geographically distant regions will be brought closer to together thanks to the use of a communication tool particularly rich in data (images, sounds, words) videos.
The project’s main innovative points are: the joint planning and development of the project; the use of working tools that enhance collaboration among the partners; the finding of common solutions that may be adjusted to different contexts; the creation of Media Centers, windows where videos may be loaded and sites open to an active two-way line communication between institutions, associations and citizens; the setting up of a network of Media Centers to create a flow of information and improve communication at the European level; multilingual pilot videos collating an assortment of documents collected through the network; an articulated web interface allowing video makers and potential viewers access to the videos;  finally, the development of strategies for extending the network to all of Europe (component 5) ensures the added value to interregional cooperation supported by the project in line with Interreg IIIC’s primary objective.

Relation to specific Topic for Co-operation                        
The topic that best matches the strategic focus of the NETLOC VIDEO is “Other appropriate subjects” (Field II.2) for the special attention paid to the promotion, use and development of information and communications technologies according to eEurope strategies “An information society for all”.
According to the objectives set by the Interreg III C programme, the synergies of the countries involved (Italy, Spain, Ireland, Hungary) will be particularly aimed at developing a co-operation network that will ensure the implementation of the system of access/exchange/retrieval of “best practices” (in the form of videotaped documents).
In order to improve the quality of the project, particular attention has been focused on the involvement of qualified partners already experienced in the project activities.
   
By choosing the partnership as a form of co-operation, the partners have shown their willingness of creating a strong network among similar subjects from different cultural realities. The choice has also been influenced by the partners’ previous experiences on the project topics at regional, national and international level. The perception of having separately developed a similar and, in some respects, complementary work has been crucial for the design of NETLOC VIDEO and represents its added value.
At every stage of the project, special attention will be paid to the valorisation of what has already been achieved, particularly by sharing best practices and dissemination activity. NETLOC VIDEO aims at developing a work methodology that will last over time and therefore beyond the project duration by involving other regional realities.

Contribution to other EU policies
Certain subjects of particular interest for the sharing of best practices were chosen for the videos, one of which is “Equal Opportunity.” We had noticed that certain phenomena -employment difficulties for expecting mothers, small percentage of women holding positions of power - are becoming more and more prominent, raising social and political debates to which  institutions do not always respond satisfactorily. An opportunity to share opinions, experiences, institutional responses to problems on a European level seemed important to us and one that would encourage thought and reflection on the part of interested regions. Therefore, attention will be given during our in situ assessments (component 2) to finding videos made by women or by women’s associations or by anyone making videos that support this topic. The Media Centers will do everything possible to include this type of material in the network and to promote its being made.

Another subject of particular interest for the sharing of best practices through video documentation is the environment and sustainable development. On the one hand, it was not easy for us to find videos dealing with environmental protection that weren’t educational, didactic, or too general; everything we found was too distant from real life. On the other hand, we found a great interest on the part of major video makers in what citizens experience in their everyday lives and in the impact our good and bad habits have on the environment. We viewed evocative films on the traffic problem showing sheets blackened by smog or babies in strollers wrapped in exhaust fumes. This material will present a different view of everyday life and, by being added to the network (and thanks to the sharing of videos on the best practices implemented), will allow for innovative suggestions to come forth.