Geldof, BBC make Dictionary of Man project

By Stone Martindale Apr 18, 2007, 1:46 GMT

Cannes- BBC Worldwide and Bob Geldof have announced an intention to collaborate on The Dictionary of Man, a unique and ambitious anthropology project that will record every human society on the planet. EPA/ASM CORBIS OUT

The BBC and Bob Geldof will collaborate on an ambitious multi-faceted project called the Dictionary of Man, which strives to record every human society on Earth.

The BBC producers tell Variety it will be "a limitless repository of content," and "an immense digital catalog of all current human existence and an enormous resource for the exchange of ideas and information."

The partners unveiled the project Tuesday afternoon during the Mip TV sales bazaar in Cannes, with Geldof in attendance.

BBC Worldwide director of content and production Wayne Garvie was said to shy away from the "how much will it cost" question, but not Geldof, who allegedly piped up and say it would be "f*cking huge."

The BBC, according to Variety, is using Mip to find some financial partners.

"This will be an A to Z of mankind, which will catalog the world we live in now," Geldof said, adding that mankind is "the world's most extraordinary animal."

"We face the growing homogenization of cultures and the disappearance of extraordinary and diverse mechanisms that man has invented in order to survive in whichever environment he has found himself."

Geldof's Ten Alps and producer/director John Maguire and the BBC and BBC Worldwide.  The three will launch a multi-platform initiative with BBC Vision starting with a Dictionary of Man website looking to record "every human society on the planet." 

The site will include a living record of movies, photos, anthropological histories, philosophies, theologies, economies, language, art, documented and personal accounts, and more from as many people in as many societies as they can worldwide. 

BBC will also create an 8-episode high def The Human Planet series to be produced by its Natural History Unit, BBC Bristol Features and Documentaries, and BBC Wales.  Their ambitious project involves trying to capture 900 of the groups anthropologists believe to still be in existence around the globe.  Although BBC Worldwide will work with international partners.

They plan a wide assortment of saleable support materials to be available through the Dictionary of Man Web site.