Join us for a presentation on participatory video and human rights in New Orleans at the 2008 Human Rights Center Conference!

Conference, November 6, 2008, 10AM to 5PM
Alumni House, UC Berkeley

Health, Human Rights and Vulnerable Communities - 10:00 AM to 12 Noon (Toll Room)

Faculty Discussant: Cheri Pies, School of Public Health

• Caricia Catalani, School of Public Health, Berkeley, Participatory Video in New Orleans, USA

Abstract
Billions of people worldwide have gained access to the Internet, digital recording devices, and other new media tools.  More and more, these new media tools are used as innovative solutions to enduring human rights struggles, however often without critical understanding of their potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  To begin to understand these aspects of new media more thoroughly, this evaluation of the New Orleans Videovoice Project describes the processes and outcomes associated with a particular participatory video methodology: videovoice.

Like its predecessor photovoice, videovoice involves partnering with communities to research health and human rights situations by putting digital cameras in the hands of everyday people.  The New Orleans Videovoice Project took place in Central City, an underserved nieghborhood that was hit hard in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Those who have returned from displacement have faced a difficult recovery period involving loss of family and friends, loss of housing and possessions, closures of primary sources of health care, marginalization by government and its recovery programs, and the ongoing stress of piecing one’s life and the community back together.

The New Orleans Videovoice Project arose out of a need to organize around human rights and health concerns at this critical time.  By building a partnership of diverse community members from the Central City neighborhood, public health researchers, filmmakers, and human rights advocates, the project has produced several participatory documentary videos.  The videos describe the neighborhood’s historical and current struggle for human rights, and their own solutions for a better future.  Beyond videos, this highly participatory project has resulted in other critical outcomes, such as increased capacity to produce media, understanding of community strengths and concerns, individual empowerment, and engagement in community action.

• Krista Kshatriya, School of Law, Berkeley, World Health Organization/Southeast Asia Regional Office, India
• Miranda Ritterman, School of Public Health, Berkeley, Christian Children’s Fund, Angola
• Nobuko Mizoguchi, Demography, Berkeley, Global Health Access Project, Thai-Burma border

Lunch Break - 12 noon to 1:30 PM

• Friday, August 22, 7:pm at Ashe Cultural Center, New Orleans
• Saturday, August 23, 5:pm (previously scheduled 3:pm screening has been changed) at Zeitgeist Multimedia Arts Center, New Orleans

Executive Producer Matt Wisdom and Digital Filmmaker Tim Ryan hope to help convey that vision in a new short Internet documentary about recent successes within New Orleans public charter schools. In addition to an insiders look into what makes public Charter schools successful, the short film addresses the impact current public school reform will have on the future of New Orleans.

The Sundance Institute announces the opening of a Request for Proposals for Stories of Change: Social Entrepreneurship in Focus Through Documentary. If you are creating a documentary film that frames, examines and amplifies social entrepreneurship as an innovative approach to the central questions of our time, read on to see how you can apply.

From electing candidates to fact-checking the traditional media, people-powered politics is become increasingly influential thanks largly to growing online communities. Find out how you can attend the Netroots Nation Conference this month to exchange ideas with like-minded individuals and learn how to become more effective in using technology to engage in the public debate.

“If print culture shaped the environment in which the Enlightenment blossomed and set the scene for the Industrial Revolution, participatory media might similarly shape the cognitive and social environments in which twenty-first-century life will take place (a shift in the way our culture operates)” (Rheingold, 2008, pp 99-100)

His talk at the TED conference — viewable here — encapsulates some of the thrilling possibilities for democracy, collaboration, and (in my mind) health promotion in our century.

Structures of Participation in Digital Culture. A new SSRC edited volume on culture, technology, and power in the digital era.  The book comes out of the Culture, Creativity, and Information Technology program, which focused on changing forms of cultural agency and the changing roles of cultural institutions.  Full text available free online (and for sale!)

The Bellagio Global Dialogues on Intellectual Property, or, How to Build an International Policy Research Field.  A report on Rockefeller Foundation IP Policy Initiatives, 2001-2006.

Moderated by NBC’s “Today Show” anchor and “Dateline” host, Ann Curry, the panel will discuss the impact activist journalists, filmmakers, writers and artists have had in ending human rights abuses and how we can refocus our energy to address the present crisis in Sudan.

Please come with your questions, observations and ideas to contribute to this important discussion.

EVENT DETAILS

When: Tuesday, February 19. 2008, 6:00 pm
Where: Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge
40 Washington Square South, New York, NY
FREE, but please register by emailing Kelly Ryan at: kellyr@juris.law.nyu.edu
Reception to follow

PARTICIPATING PANELISTS

Professor Ben Kiernan, Whitney Griswold Professor of History and Professor of International and Area Studies at Yale University, author of numerous books on genocide, most recently Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur.

Marie de la Soudiere, former Director of the Children’s Unit at International Rescue Committee (1997-2007), she has worked with UNICEF, UNHCR in war torn countries throughout the world and acted as a consultant to numerous NGOs on child refugee issues.

Susan MacLaury, executive producer of “War/Dance,” 2008 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature and executive director of a non-profit organization called Shine Global, which is dedicated to ending the exploitation and abuse of children worldwide.

Sam Gregory, Program Director of WITNESS, is a video producer, trainer, and human rights advocate. In 2005 he was the lead editor on Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press), and in 2007 he lead the development of the curriculum for WITNESS’ first ever Video Advocacy Institute. He is on the Board of the US Campaign for Burma, and the Tactical Technology Collective.

Upcoming opportunities and deadlines:

* February 12 – Nominations Due for CCPH Annual Award. The award recognizes exemplary partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions that improve higher education, civic engagement, and the overall health of communities. The complete “Call for Nominations” is available at http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/awards.html.

* March 17 – Applications Due for Community-Engaged Scholarship Faculty Development Charrette, May 28-30 in Chapel Hill, NC. We are seeking teams from 20 diverse colleges and universities across the U.S. to participate in a charrette to facilitate development of innovative campus-wide mechanisms for preparing and supporting community-engaged faculty. The complete “Call for Applications” is available at http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/faculty-engaged.html.

* April 4 – Early Bird Deadline for CUexpo Conference, May 4-7 in Victoria, BC, Canada. In lieu of our own major conference this year, CCPH is delighted to be a core sponsor of the third Community-University Exposition, “Community-University Research Partnerships: Connecting for Change.” We encourage CCPH members to adopt the CUexpo conference “as their own” and fully participate in it. The CCPH annual award will be presented at the conference and a CCPH member meeting is scheduled for Monday May 5th. For more information, visit http://www.cuexpo08.ca/index.html.

* April 10 – Applications Due for 11th Summer Service-Learning Institute, July 25-28 in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. Gain the knowledge, skills and strategies to incorporate service-learning into the health professions curriculum! We encourage early applications as past years’ institutes have had wait lists. See details at http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/servicelearning.html.

December 17 marks Martyrs’ Day in Bahrain, a day which pays tribute to past victims of state violence. During last month’s demonstration, Mr. Ali Jassim Mekki was killed, and a wave of protests and brutal arrests followed. Eight human rights defenders remain in detention. Reports claim those in detention have been subjected to physical and psychological ill-treatment and torture. Please click on the HUB link above to take action on behalf of human rights defenders at risk in Bahrain.

The mission of this unique network is to encourage involvement in community, promote participatory social action research, and endorse community leadership that is mindful of cultural diversity and welcomes the opportunity that this diversity brings.

The University-Community Partnership for Social Action Research Network is planning on advancing multimedia efforts by partnering with organizations like ours that are dedicated to building video and photo partnerships.

Two of my favorite things about this network is that it is multinational and multilingual, building a bridge between communities and scholars throughout the globe.

We are looking forward to attending the launching event in March and more!

As a part of the commitment that they made to the Clinton Global Initiative, Pure Digital Technologies recently announced a goal of giving away one million free Flip Video camcorders over the next five years to nonprofits to help them document world issues and highlight the invaluable work they do across the globe.

In the press release Jonathan Kaplan, the CEO of Pure Digital Technologies, states ‘Non-profit organizations do incredible everyday work that the public rarely sees. Imagine the impact that video would make if every on-the-ground staff member or volunteer had both a camcorder and the ability to broadcast their message to the world.

The deal that they are offering is 2-for-1 price through the Flip Video Spotlight Website for those organizations that are accepted by the scheme.

The deal: your nonprofit gets is a Spotlight Kit for $150.00, which contains two 60-minute Flip Video Ultra camcorders with built-in video editing and publishing software, detailed instructions for easily uploading video to your own website or popular video sharing sites (like YouTube, MySpace, and Blip.tv), tutorials, and other training materials. If your group cannot afford the 2-for-1 price, then the site also gives information about how to apply for funder sponsorship.

The Flip Video Ultra camcorders can be used by staff and constituents who are not trained videographers. The camcorders are easy-to-use point-and-shoot, lightweight, compact devices that produce ok quality video. Some digital cameras can capture video at a similar quality, but this price point for nonprofits can’t be beat!

Learn more about Flip Video.

To create Maquilapolis, the filmmakers brought together factory workers in Tijuana and community organizations in Mexico and the U.S. to collaborate on a film that depicts globalization through the eyes of the women who live on its leading edge. The factory workers who appear in the film have been involved in every stage of production, from planning to shooting, from scripting to outreach. This collaborative process breaks with the traditional documentary practice of dropping into a location, shooting and leaving with the “goods,” which would only repeat the pattern of the maquiladora itself. The process embraces subjectivity as a value and a goal. It merges artmaking with community development to ensure that the film’s voice will be truly that of its subjects.

The filmmaker’s ongoing commitment to the community participants and organizations that they work with led them to hold an intensive video editing workshop just this year. Each participant created a short 3-5 min documentary about their life histories. They will have them posted on the site soon!

Blip.tv is an online video sharing site for videobloggers, podcasters and Internet TV producers. This year, Blip.tv was rated the #1 online video sharing site by PC World. What makes Blip.tv stand out from the crowd is its superior video feeding (meaning that it loads really quickly for viewers) and its revenue share standards. If you are willing to accept advertisements on your video page (which is optional), Blip shares the profit with you 50/50. Advertising is the only proven profit-maker in the online video world and so, unlike the Veoh standard which relies on user pay-per-view, it is pretty certain that video creators will benefit from this deal. Blip is very open about the fact that they do not claim rights to your creative work and that they cannot sell your work for a profit without your express consent. To add to this, video producers will like the fact that viewing quality is very high, but still not as good as DVD, like you may be able to get through a .Mac membership.

Other benefits of Blip, according to Blip, are:

• Fair Terms. We believe that you should own the product of your hard work. When you upload to blip.tv you give us the right to distribute your video until and unless you delete it from our systems. You don’t have to give us any kind of exclusive rights, and we won’t sell your work or advertising on your work without your express, specific permission.
• Direct to TV. We’re sending our top shows directly to the television set with Internet video on demand. And that’s just the start. We believe that your show should be indistinguishable from a show on a broadcast network in terms of how people find and watch it. We’re working hard to make this happen.
• Multiple Formats. You shouldn’t have to choose between great quality Flash video and compatibility with iTunes. Your videos should work everywhere, no question. That’s why blip.tv supports every video format under the sun, from Flash 8 (much higher quality than most Flash video) to Quicktime (for the all-important iTunes) to DivX and 3gp (we think cell phones are cool, too).

Blip.tv Case Example

For nearly 25 years, the organization MADRE has been fighting for health, education, food sovereignty, and long-term solutions to the crises of women around the world. Now you can watch their video, see some of the results that MADRE has created, and join their effort. The video, as you will see, loads very quickly and the picture is high-quality although it is likely that the video was produced with basic digital storytelling software. Through Blip’s syndication options, you can post MADRE’s video to your own website or blog. MADRE opted not to have advertisements on their video page, so you can enjoy an unencumbered view of their work. If they had opted to include ads, MADRE would receive 50% of the profits earned by Blip.tv.

How do I use it?

One of the best things about Blip.tv is that they have a Learning Center, that walks you through the basics about uploading videos and using Blip.tv. As a part of this Learning Center, Blip provides mini-training videos on video production and online sharing by experts, like this one:

For an introduction to the toolkit and its components, please click here. An introductory webconference on the toolkit was held on October 13, 2005. To access, the powerpoint slides and audiorecording from the event, click here.

The navigation bar at the top of this page will take you directly to the different sections of the toolkit. PDF documents are available for the entire toolkit and each unit. Access these documents in the Toolkit Site Index.

“We’re not video experts,” said one project participant, “but we do know what we’re talking about.”

“No, You don’t know how we feel” - A film facilitated by Insight. UK, 26mins. This video was created in collaboration with kids in England who are facing the serious illness of a parent. Their film, funded by Macmillan Cancer Relief, is now being distributed to families, professionals and schools.

Insight is a UK/France based organisation pioneering the use of Participatory Video as a tool for empowering individuals and communities. Insight’s Participatory Video methods value local knowledge, build bridges between communities and decision-makers and enable people to develop greater control over their own development and the decisions affecting their lives.