I’ve finally got around to posting my notes for a presentation I gave at a convening in May 2011 on Media, Social Media, and Democratic Governance at Wilton Park (here’s a PDF of the conference programme - and here’s some more about the history of Wilton Park). It was a few months before Cameras Everywhere was published, and it was a much-appreciated opportunity to explain some of the thinking behind the report, and to pull out some underlying themes as they related to the people at the convening: a mix of media development, intergovernmental, governmental, donors and citizen/social media specialists. You’ll find the main themes after the jump (and if you want to read the whole thing, and to find out why the internet is not a horse, go here): Read More
I’ve been a little quiet on the blogging front in recent months, and here’s why. Over the past year, I have been working with WITNESS as lead researcher and lead author on a new report with my former WITNESS colleagues Sam Gregory, Yvette Alberdingkthijm and Bryan Nunez. It’s part of a broader initiative called Cameras Everywhere that Sam and I co-conceived and -developed when I still worked at WITNESS. It’s both exciting and gratifying to see the leadership role that WITNESS has taken with this initiative, not only in the field of video for change, but also more broadly in the sphere of technology and human rights – it’s a difficult job, trying to bridge the gaps between disparate sectors, but I hope this report can help demystify some of the key issues for all involved, and catalyse more open and constructive debate.
The report, which is based on over 40 interviews with experts in technology, media, human rights, policy and social media, just launched over on WITNESS’ website here (and here is a direct download link for the PDF file). We’re looking forward to your feedback and responses – let us know if you blog or write about it.
[Originally published here on the WITNESS Hub Blog.]
The falling price of digital technology and the capacity to distribute information rapidly have created the conditions for millions of people to record and exchange moving images. [...] … a new theatre of public information has emerged, a loosely connected mass of video creation and exchange. This activity is being driven by personal initiatives, collective endeavours and institutional interventions. It includes aspiring professional film makers and amateur vloggers alike. This is a realm populated by people who are attracted by the idea that video has a unique power to communicate. It is here where we see opinions, thoughts and feelings turned into video, by people, for other people. [...] The Video Republic is situated in the places where people’s opinions and feelings are made public via the language of the moving image.
So say Celia Hannon, Peter Bradwell and Charlie Tims of UK thinktank Demos in their new report Video Republic (Demos, like WITNESS, is a partner in James Nachtwey’s initiative to raise awareness and debate on extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB.)
The report looks at the rise of video as a new and vibrant public space, an alternative channel for self-expression, and increasingly, an alternative means of public deliberation. Although the authors identify three areas where the Video Republic takes place – television, online video-sharing and public screenings – they focus mainly on the newest area of the three, online. (Notably, they don’t really look at mobile video at all.) They’re particularly interested in how video promotes social inclusion (including a video-postcard project on migration and identity run by the very first person I worked for, Marion Vargaftig), and in how the confluence of cheaper technology and more widespread broadband has enabled content that was not possible before. They end, however, with a warning that the window for truly opening out participation and ownership is not going to be here forever:
It is possible that the redistribution of power currently taking place in the Video Republic will only last for a brief moment of time.
Video Republic is focused on online video-sharing among youth on a local level in Europe (specifically the UK, Turkey, Germany, Romania and Finland), and so doesn’t include or reference many international initiatives like Video 24/7 or the Hub, but they extract lessons for anyone working with video and inclusion anywhere, many of which are at the heart of why we built the Hub. You can read the full report here, and I run through the main findings as they relate to our work below. Before you read either, though, watch Demos’ intro video below:
