Witness project
Monday, August 24, 2009 by Katie
While working at the design conference Semi-Permanent I was lucky enough to hear British graphic designer Harry Pearce speak. Towards the end of his presentation he spoke about his involvement in the project Witness, which is very relevant to the idea of 'sousveillance' (Steve Mann) as discussed in class.
Witness "uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations" by distributing video cameras primarily to developing countries, with the aim to give everyone an equal opportunity to defend and uphold their human rights. Alongside this they created The Hub, described as "the world's first participatory media site for human rights" it functions much like You Tube and Indymedia as a portal for people to upload content challenging mainstream media views from their respective countries, opening up viewers eyes to injustice and hardship that people witness daily.
Fascinating is the range of countries posts come from, including remote areas of South America and Africa, where without Witness' assistance their voices would not be heard. This seems like such a great tool to take a stand against some serious human rights issues and simultaneously bring developing countries up to speed with new technologies so they don't become a victim of the 'Digital Divide'.
Imagine if The Hub became as popular as You Tube the impact that could have on the world...
Thanks for posting these links Katie. I'm doing some research into new forms of documentary at the moment and these are really interesting and useful examples of participatory media used for social causes. I found this post on Witness about the ethics of online video to be particularly interesting:
http://hub.witness.org/en/blog/ethics-online-video-questions-dignity-re-victimization-consent-and-security