This Saturday marks Human Rights Day, a day to pause and celebrate the rights we all share in common (even though they are not always respected or upheld). It also marks an opportunity for us to reach people who perhaps don’t think about human rights daily- as the mainstream media usually gives a few minutes of coverage to the topic.
At WITNESS we’re reflecting on what has changed since last December 10th. A lot. Cameras everywhere helped us witness the Arab Spring, widespread protests and rioting in London, and the Occupy Wall Street movement. The sheer amount of content being produced can be dizzying to keep up with. How to make sense of it all? And how can one be sure not to miss an important piece of footage that could be later used as evidence of a crime or abuse?
Activists weren’t the only ones keeping up with technology. Governments used technology to track down and arrest activists, to shut down communications networks, and even to lure activists into giving up information. All of these events highlight the need, now more than ever, for resources that can support supporting activists to use video safely and effectively.
In honor of Human Rights Day, of actions planned for Occupy’s week of action (Dec. 10-17), and for activists from Brazil to Russia, and Cambodia to Syria, we’re launching a new series on #Video4Change Resources for Activists. We’ll be covering: tips livestreaming via your mobile phone (e.g. via Bambuser) and your laptop, tips for using ObscuraCam and other helpful mobile apps, more tips for archiving and distributing your footage, tips for better protecting your privacy on Twitter and other social media.
We’d also love to hear from you. Is there a particular resource related to using video for change that you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments below. You can also share tips with us on Twitter by using the hashtag #video4change.
We’ll be sharing some of our own resources and we’ll also talking with some cutting edge activists employing good video for change tactics. We’d like to get feedback from you in order to improve these tips. We’ll continue to make resources available for free in the Training section of our website.
The series kicks off tomorrow. In the meantime, if you missed our Top 10 Tips for Filming Protests check them out here. Those Tips have been accessed over 8,500 times. The original blog post has received over 5,400 views so far, BuzzFeed featured the tips on its own site with more than 3,000 reads, and we shared them via the HuffingtonPost. We also posted the tips on our website as a downloadable PDF and did some in-person distribution.
We wish you a peaceful Human Rights Day and hope that this series is useful to you and your networks. We stand in solidarity with all those using video for change.
Resources in this Series (we’ll add to the list as the posts get published):
Rethinking the Mobile Workflow for Human Rights Video
Livestreaming From Your Mobile Phone- Bambuser Interview
New Twitter Settings Activists Need to Be Aware Of
Occupy Wall Street Livestream Curator Shares Experience and Tips
7 Tips For Ensuring Your Video is Usable in the Long Term
Top 10 Tips for Filming #Occupy Protests, Arrests, and Police Conduct
We couldn’t do this work without you. Whether you are reading the blog or commenting on it, taking a stand with your own camera, or sharing videos that others are creating- you make up this vibrant video for change community. Please help us continue building the community and providing resources by making a donation to WITNESS. Thanks for all your support!
My colleague Chris Michael shared a link to a resource on MobileActive’s site: Mobile Tactics for Participants in Peaceful Assemblies http://www.mobileactive.org/howtos/mobile-tactics-peaceful-assemblies