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Promoting Cameras Everywhere Recommendations at RightsCon and Stanford University
This week, WITNESS is busy in the Bay Area of California where we'll be at multiple public meetings discussing ideas in our Cameras Everywhere leadership initiative. We're speaking on a panel at the first Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference, attending the first advisory board meeting of the exciting new EngineRoom initiative, and we're presenting at Stanford University's Liberation Technology Seminar on the "Cameras Everywhere" report and the tools we're developing in WITNESS Labs.
Sam Gregory
October 24, 2011
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What do the World Cup and Olympics Have to do with Human Rights Violations?
Sometimes, quite a bit. Did you know that in Beijing alone, over 1.25 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes to make way for Olympics-related development in the lead-up to the 2008 Games?
Priscila Néri
October 20, 2011
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What Do You Want to Learn from Video Activists in the Middle East and North Africa?
For most of us, the epicenter of video for change work that we’ve seen throughout 2011 has been in the Middle East and North African region (MENA). The Arab Spring has illuminated the reality of what “Cameras Everywhere” looks like, and what the power of instant video capturing and sharing can yield to inform and mobilize for truly incredible social change.
WITNESS
October 19, 2011
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Setting a Global Standard for Human Rights and Technology Companies
In a world with more than five billion mobile phone subscribers and where 48 hours of video footage is being uploaded to YouTube every minute, the challenges navigating the nexus of human rights and technology are too complicated for any single company or human rights activist to manage on their own.
WITNESS
October 18, 2011
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Video Advocacy Example: Commercial or Advocacy Video for Marriage Equality?
This video is a good example of the blur between corporate advertising and video advocacy. The content and presentation resembles an advocacy video for marriage equality, yet the intention of the video was to sell a product (a dating site created by fashion company Björn Borg). The message of advertisement is lost to most viewers, and fails as an advertisement.
WITNESS
October 14, 2011
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Ugandan Women Use Video to Advocate for Psychosocial and Livelihood Support
I'm pleased to share a new video from our partners the Greater North Women's Voices for Peace Network (GNWVPN) in Uganda, and the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice. Our partnership with these organizations is part of our larger campaign aimed at ending gender-based violence in the context of armed conflict.
WITNESS
October 13, 2011
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2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Featured in WITNESS Award-Winning Documentary
We were very happy to hear about the three newest recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Tawakkul Karman, and Leymah Gbowee. We extend congratulations to them all.
Matisse Bustos Hawkes
October 9, 2011
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Yahoo! and YouTube Share Learning on Business Practices to Protect Human Rights Content Online
The latest in the Carnegie Council’s lunchtime workshops for Ethics in Business took place on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 in New York and brought together a range of business stakeholders to discuss the unique challenges that currently face the ICT sector.
WITNESS
October 4, 2011
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World Habitat Day Is About People: Their Struggles, Their Strategies
As I shared in an earlier post, Global Networks Unite on Forced Evictions, WITNESS, our partner the Habitat International Coalition and 6 other networks working on housing and land rights have organized World Habitat Days - six weeks (16 September - 31 October) to bring attention and activism to forced evictions, land grabbing and activists at risk.
WITNESS
October 3, 2011
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Video Advocacy Example: American Muslims Use Video to Help Shift Public Perception
With the online film and social media project “My Fellow American” - Americans are encouraged to pledge and spread awareness that Muslims are our fellow Americans. They have developed a productive and interactive way to engage society in identifying American Muslims in their communities and to discuss their important roles as part of the community.
Raja Althaibani
September 30, 2011
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WITNESS Launches an Online Toolkit to Create Effective Advocacy Videos
Are you using video to support your advocacy work, or are you thinking of using video? Fantastic. We are excited to share our newest training resource, which we think will help you - the Video Advocacy Planning Toolkit.
WITNESS
September 29, 2011
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Youth Use Video to Demand U.S. Government Protect the Atmosphere and Their Future
I manage our U.S. partnerships at WITNESS. This year I've had an important opportunity to combine my passions for human rights and the environment while working to produce films with youth across the country and support an unprecedented legal effort. Through our partnership with the iMatter Campaign, I've traversed the country meeting and working with youth that have already been affected by climate change and are standing up to ask the ruling generation for change.
WITNESS
September 28, 2011
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How Funders Can Support Technology for Human Rights and the Activists Using It
Sameer Padania, the lead author/researcher of our "Cameras Everywhere" report spoke recently at "The Power of Information" conference in London, organized by the Indigo Trust, the Institute for Philanthropy and the Omidyar Network.
Sam Gregory
September 27, 2011
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Inside the Media Archive: our Cataloging Manual now available online
Inside the Media Archive is an ongoing, occasional behind-the-scenes look at the practices, methodologies, tools, and resources the WITNESS Media Archive has developed and implemented to manage our collection of human rights video documentation.
WITNESS
September 26, 2011
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Video Advocacy Example: Not In Our Town – Light in the Darkness
The rise of anti-immigrant violence is an urgent global problem threatening the fabric of community life everywhere, creating complex new challenges—and it is most intensely fought at the local level.
WITNESS
September 21, 2011