WITNESS, Author at WITNESS Blog

Archives & Documentation Conference: a few thoughts Human Rights Archives and Documentation: Meeting the Needs of Research, Teaching, Advocacy and Social Justice. Hosted by Columbia’s Center for Human Rights Documentation & Research, the conference was really an excellent first step in promoting collaboration and dialogue among different kinds of organizations dealing with human rights materials. Participants included archivists from academic institutions, and […] October 6, 2007
Event: Human Rights Archives & Documentation Columbia Center for Human Rights Documentation & Research event, October 4-6, 2007: Human Rights Archives and Documentation: Meeting the Needs of Research, Teaching, Advocacy and Social Justice. Keynote by Juan Mendez and David Marwell, with speakers from the National Security Archive, the Cambodian Genocide Documentation Project at Yale, the Shoah Visual History Foundation, Human Rights […] October 4, 2007
Notes from the Association of Moving Image Archivists Conference WITNESS Media Archive Manager, Grace Lile, and I are attending the annual Association of Moving Image Archivists conference – held this year in Rochester, NY, the birthplace of Eastman Kodak. The conference, in its seventeenth year, draws over 500 media archivists, preservation lab technicians and others from around the world, and is an excellent forum […] September 28, 2007
Activist Archivists We did our session “Activism in the Archives: Working with Human Rights Collections” on Saturday. Patrick Stawski is the Human Rights Archivist at the Archive of Human Rights at Duke University. Patrick spoke about developing the collection there, and the importance of outreach and engagement. The AHR is now the home of the International Monitor […] September 4, 2007
Happy Labor Day I was privileged yesterday to hear the inimitable Studs Terkel on a panel about the Studs Terkel Oral History Center here in Chicago. He is an exemplar of the belief that the stories of ordinary people are important and meaningful, that they can be agents of social change, and that they should be documented and […] August 31, 2007
Digitization of Guatemala Police Archives Here is an update on one of the hopeful developments in Guatemala in years: the recovery of the secret archives of the Guatemalan National Police. Discovered by accident in 2005, the paper, audio and video documents may help shed light on thousands of murders and other crimes perpetrated during the civil war. Dating back to […] August 29, 2007
Blog Post 1 About the witness media archive blog: our purpose is to share news, developments, and upcoming events, and to discuss topics relating to our work: moving images archives, human rights archives, human rights documentation, preservation, digitization, metadata, social issue documentary, and a few other things I’m sure. Upcoming event: The Society of American Archivists Conference (SAA) […] August 24, 2007
Back in New York Hi Everyone, We’re back home in New York City and still reeling from the success of the event. Gillian said that as she walked down the aisle on the airplane headed back to NY, she saw lots of people reading articles about the event in the newspaper. It was heavily covered by the Mexican press. […] August 23, 2007
Mission Accomplished Well, we all did it. A major team effort. The CANANA event last night at El Museo Interactivo de Economia was a huge success. Tam and I were eating breakfast Sunday morning and the woman next to us had her newspaper open and was reading about our event! CANANA (Pablo Cruz, Diego and Gael) gave […] August 13, 2007
Press Conference in Mexico City WOW. About 80 members of the press corps packed the conference room at La Condesa DF Hotel this morning to hear Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, WITNESS and our partner org in Mexico (La Comision) discuss the power of film and video to promote change, and to hear Paty Cervantes and Miguel David Meza speak […] August 11, 2007
Everyone is arriving Hello, The whole WITNESS team has arrived and preparations are steadily underway for tomorrow’s events. Tickets are still being purchased, seating arrangements are being made, and everyone is convening in Mexico City. Tomorrow’s day will begin with a press conference where Gael Garcia Bernal y Diego Luna along with WITNESS’ Tamaryn Nelson and Gillian Caldwell, […] August 10, 2007
Made it to Mexico City Hi, So it was touch and go for awhile, but I made it safely to Mexico City. Huge thunderstorms rolled through New York City early this morning wreaking havoc on the highways and subway system. I made it to the airport 20 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off. In the end, we […] August 8, 2007
On the Road again…. Hi All, Tamaryn and I are busy preparing for our trip to Mexico City tomorrow (Wednesday August 8th). As you can see from the picture, the work is piling up! The actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna along with their production company CANANA and their film festival Ambulante are throwing a benefit dinner and […] August 7, 2007
Summerstage with Rodrigo y Gabriela In an uncanny feeling of deja vu beck and I are once again manning the witness table… This time at summer stage in central park for rodrigo y gabriela. Let me tell you, it’s a whole different experience when you’ve showered in the last 36 hours… Everyone is cleaner – including us. In an odd […] July 1, 2007
National Geographic’s Camera Phone Book Could be worth checking out…. Plus it’s got a photo essay on Williamsburg shot with cellphone camera. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/22645.php “By combining photography with communications, [the camera phone] has the potential to become the most influential kind of camera,” writes Baldridge. “It offers innovative functions that let you use images to communicate with others, link up with […] June 26, 2007