The invention enables “low attention recording,” i.e., recording that need not appreciably affect interaction of a recorder (i.e., a person in control of a recording unit according to the invention) or others with the environment in which the recording is taking place. The low attention recording enabled by the invention can be particularly advantageously employed in “social recording,” i.e., recording in which multiple participants in an event are recording the event. As described in more detail below, advantageous aspects of the invention can be provided by a small, lightweight, wearable recording unit. In particular, a “hybrid recording unit” having the above-described characteristics and advantages is constructed by adding to a portable video recorder (e.g., camcorder, portable dockable videotape recorder (VTR)) one or more devices (an “auxiliary device”) that provide additional functionality to the portable video recorder. The auxiliary device can advantageously provide, for example, one or more of the following capabilities: marking, position sensing, physiological monitoring and/or biometric identification.