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From Syria to Burma: 2012 in Citizen Human Rights Video
Only six words accompany the video. But they are just enough background needed for the one minute and seven seconds it depicts: “ROHINGYA MUSLIM VILLAGE IN ANDI VILLAGE 2.”
WITNESS
December 28, 2012
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Is it Authentic? When Citizens and Soldiers Document War
On November 1, a particular video caught not only our attention at the Human Rights Channel, but also that of international observers, news outlets, and criminal prosecutors. It’s the type of video whose images have altered the discussion of the Syrian conflict, and may also revolutionize the role of citizen video in times of war.
WITNESS
November 20, 2012
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Anatomy of a Bombing in Syria
For many people outside Syria’s borders, shelling and bombings are concepts. They’re terrible and tragic, to be sure, but they remain hard to fathom as long as they remain unseen. That's why the Anatomy of a Bombing, our most recent playlist on the Human Rights Channel, is particularly arresting.
WITNESS
October 3, 2012
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In Depth on the Human Rights Channel: The Lonmin Mine Massacre
In recent months, we’ve maintained video feeds for citizen journalism from Syria and worldwide. We’ve published in-depth playlists on topics ranging from the recent anti-American protests, to the persecution of the Rohingya minority in Burma, to the Mexican #YoSoy132 electoral protest movement.
WITNESS
September 21, 2012
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Transforming Human Rights Reporting: Merging Mainstream News and Citizen Content
Human rights issues were never easily portrayed or understood in conventional news paradigms. Few news agencies can allocate sufficient resources to effectively depict these ongoing complex issues. Even with substantial budgets and protection, journalists often face life-threatening risks while reporting these stories.
WITNESS
September 5, 2012
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You Are Being Watched: What Faceprints Mean for Generation Y
On July 18, YouTube launched a new tool that would enable users to blur the faces in the videos they uploaded, thereby protecting the identities of people featured in them. The platform explicitly identified the human rights threat as a primary motivator for this online technological development.
WITNESS
August 21, 2012
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Tips for Activists Using the YouTube Face Blur Tool
Recently, YouTube launched a feature that allows blurring on videos uploaded to their site. It's a step we've pushed for from the commercial video-sharing platforms and social networks - as a way to enable easy, faster, more accessible options for preserving and enabling visual anonymity in a networked, visual age.
WITNESS
August 7, 2012
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Visual Anonymity and YouTube’s New Blurring Tool
Today YouTube announced a new tool within their upload editor that enables people to blur the faces within the video, and then publish a version with blurred faces.
Sam Gregory
July 18, 2012
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WITNESS and Storyful Announce New YouTube Channel For Human Rights
WITNESS is pleased to announce The Human Rights Channel, a new channel on YouTube. In collaboration with Storyful, the channel is a platform to tell breaking stories through the lenses of citizen journalists that will change the way we view, share and engage human rights video.
Sam Gregory
May 24, 2012
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Video for Change Best Practices: Sharing and Uploading Human Rights Videos
Regardless if you are uploading unedited or edited footage, it is essential to provide the following information so your footage can be found and coordinated with other footage.
WITNESS
April 10, 2012
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Video for Change Best Practices: Filming in Teams for Evidence
When filming protests, demonstrations and events, consider filming in teams to make sure you have multiple angles, perspectives and aspects recorded.
WITNESS
April 6, 2012
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Kony 2012: Juggling Advocacy, Audience and Agency When Using #Video4Change
"Kony 2012" is now the most rapidly disseminated human rights video ever. In six days it reached an aggregate 100 million views – faster than other pop culture phenomena like Susan Boyle (9 days), Rebecca Black (45 days) and ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ (445 days).
Sam Gregory
March 17, 2012
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Videos Critique (Un)Democratic Election and Educate Voters in Yemen
Earlier this month, I spent some time in Yemen's capital, Sana'a. Last year I spent four months covering the pro-democracy movement that has forced the three decade old despot, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy and current vice president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Raja Althaibani
February 27, 2012
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Universal Subtitles Video Editing Workflow: Working With the Subtitle Track
Universal Subtitles is an online subtitling/captioning tool for web videos. My colleague Bryan Nunez commented on the potential uses of the service in this post.
Martin Tzanev
February 14, 2012
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Top 10 Tips for Filming #Occupy Protests, Arrests & Police Conduct
We have seen some great videos coming out from the Occupy movement around the country - from documenting mass actions to capturing police misconduct and abuse. Many courageous filmmakers, first timers and experienced professionals, are using best practices to record what is happening, and it is paying off. See this most recent example of video being used to help hold a Dallas officer accountable for shoving a protester off a ledge:
WITNESS
November 14, 2011
