Reddit launches its first documentary series

Just a month after officially launching its very own news site in Upvoted, Reddit is expanding its original video stable with its first documentary series. Called Cyborg Nation, the six-episode series shows how researchers and regular humans use technology to improve their lives and work. It's perhaps the biggest new effort yet to come out of the massive social aggregator — one that helps the site move away from last summer's ugly rebellion.

Reddit collaborated with Condé Nast Entertainment and Wired to get Cyborg Nation off the ground, with co-founder Alexis Ohanian announcing the project in the r/futurology subreddit as a way of gaining support and crowdsourcing ideas. "It's commonplace to track our movements on fitness bands, monitor our sleep patterns with cell phones, and interact with our homes on smart watches, but how far will it go?" Ohanian asked Redditors earlier this year. "Will our grandkids think nothing of onlining their nervous systems? Will disability be a thing of the past? The show will look at the ground breaking technology of today, and contemplate a realistic future that is truly 'post-human.'"

"The show will look at the ground breaking technology of today."

The resulting videos now live on Wired and will eventually hit Upvoted, Reddit's official YouTube page, and Condé Nast's channels online and on Roku and Apple TV. Collectively, they join Reddit's ever-growing video portfolio, which right now includes AMAs with celebrities like Felicia Day and Bill Murray as well as a new series calledFormative, which is a collaboration between Google and the r/entrepreneur subreddit.

Projects like these put a friendlier sheen on the social site, one Reddit likely hopes will curry favor with Redditors while also overriding the impression among newcomers that it's a haven for bigotry and harassment. Last summer, the site's community erupted in open revolt against Reddit's management team after the ouster of popular communications director Victoria Taylor, quickly resulting in the resignation of then-CEO Ellen Pao. The site eventually agreed to change course to correct many of its issues, but those technical changes likely won't be completed until early next year. Until then, Reddit is doing its best to put its best face forward.

Source : The Verge