Toronto’s Kensington Communications is mining the Internet in search of both viewers and user-generated content for its latest project, Diamond Road, and plans to keep a conversation going at diamondroad.tv long after the three-part doc finishes its runs on TVO and Knowledge Network.

‘Once a documentary is in the can it’s over. But this online experience shows there’s new ways to view the content,’ says coproducer Richard Lachman, designer of the newly launched site, which combines new technologies with traditional, community-based forums.

The 3 x 60 doc bowed on TVO on Oct. 17, and explores the world diamond trade from its marketing to the plight of its miners. The online version not only gives background, but encourages dialogue and invites users to repurpose its content.

‘This website lets people jump in, direct their own experience, and participate with their own stories,’ says online coproducer David Oppenheim.

The site acts as a video and text library of diamond history. Users can search and view 300 clips from the documentary on demand, or take these clips, shuffle the content, and upload their own mini doc.

‘From a documentary producer’s perspective, the dialogue is mostly one way, from filmmaker to audience, but this lets us hear what topics are important to the audience,’ says Oppenheim.

Eventually, the team wants viewers to upload original content. In the interim, however, Kensington plans to connect with third parties to add to its approximately eight hours of online footage. Some current content comes from Taking It Global.org, an online environmental community. A member from Sierra Leone is uploading videos about its diamond industry to the site, for example.

Another feature is the site’s intelligent searching mechanism, similar to subject and word tagging found on sites such as Flickr and YouTube. The tags are logged, and the program suggests clips based on earlier requests and what other users have liked.

The team has one full-time person moderating the forums and handling community issues on the site. ‘This is a polished experiment – an open-ended development program,’ Lachman says. ‘We’d like to take this beyond Diamond Road and build it with other projects.’

The first episode of Diamond Road aired on TVO on Oct. 17, with the next installments following on Oct. 24 and 31. It debuts on Knowledge Nov. 14.