VTR St-Jacques

Description: An experiment in using videotape recording (VTR) and closed-circuit television to stimulate social action in a poor district of Montreal. A citizens’ committee, formed in the downtown neighborhood of St-Jacques, was given a VTR unit, which they used to record people’s problems and concerns. After viewing the edited tapes, people recognized their common problems and began to talk of joint solutions. In trying to change what needed changing they ran into resistance, but the effectiveness of this means of promoting joint action had been tested and proved. In English and French with English subtitles.