Rising Voices » Video

Video Contest: Everyday Digital Native

Rezwan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:38:40 +0000

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), India, and HIVOS of the Netherlands are hosting the 2011 Digital AlterNatives Video Contest as a part of the ‘Digital Natives with a Cause’ project. The contest revolves around the theme “Everyday Digital Native” and asks participants to share stories on what makes their everyday life “digital”.

In this modern world we are using using digital devices and gadgets and thinking Digital everyday. We are living the Digital life by acting digitally - always clicking, linking, tagging and Liking. The contest is your chance to tell your story “What makes your life so click-worthy?”

The competition is open to everyone - professionals, amateurs - anyone in the world can apply. There is no upper or lower limit on age. (details here)

Click on image to enlarge poster.

The contest will progress through four main rounds. In the first stage, participants will send in their written abstracts by 26th January 2012, giving details of their video proposal and what inspired their story line. The proposals will be judged by a panel of jurists where 25 ideas will be shortlisted for the next round. The list will be voted by the public and top ten favorites will be chosen. Finally, the judges will pick the two best videos among the ten.

The Top 10 videos will receive a prize of EUR 500 each and will also get a chance to be part of a film screening at CIS premises in Bangalore. The two best video makers will receive loads of prizes.

Please submit your proposal via Online Application Form by 26 January 2012.

Here is a video produced by Harry McKillop Elementary School, Melissa, Texas, to show that today's digital natives are hungry for guidance and opportunity to experiment with all the new tools available.

Ukraine: Photo Art Helps Fighting AIDS

Maryna Reshetnyak — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:46:56 +0000

On the occasion of the World AIDS Day (November –December, 2011) a photo exhibition of the project “AIDS- Open Faces” took place in ‘Lavra’ gallery in Kiev. The exhibition was devoted to people whose life was affected by HIV/AIDS and it was organized by the private charity Elena Pinchuk AINTIAIDS Foundation. The pictures of HIV positive people and their families presented on the exhibition had been taken by a well-known photographer Brent Stirton from New York agency ‘Getty Images’.

The images shown at the exhibition (available online) are fascinating and many of them are not easy to look at. Brent Stirton together with the activists of the foundation and other partner NGOs traveled all over Ukraine and filmed street children in Odessa, gypsy settlements, families with HIV positive children and HIV positive orphans, injection drug users, prostitutes and imprisoned people, reported the web-site of AITIAIDS Foundation. The project contains pictures of very sick people as well as ‘stories with happy end’ – images of people whose lives were saved with the antiretroviral therapy which is currently available in Ukraine thanks to international support or images of people who stopped using drugs or images of HIV positive orphans who found new families.

It was the second time when Brent Stirton came to Ukraine to film people affected by HIV. The first time was in 2005. In his video appeal Stirton compares the impressions from his first and second photo shootings.

A journalist and a blogger Olga Ivanenko who helped Brent Stirton to organize the filming in Ukraine both in 2005 and 2011 shared her reminiscence of work on the project in her blog. She wrote:

В 2005 году я принимала участие в проекте - помогала иностранному фотографу в его работе над документальным фотопроектом о проблеме ВИЧ/СПИДа в Украине. Несмотря на многочисленные ограничения в использовании снимков, фотографии Брента Стиртона до сих пор “живут” в сети своей жизнью. Они достаточно спорны и провокативны, они - “на грани”, и потому вызывают ожесточенные дискуссии и споры.

В этом году Брент Стиртон приехал в Украину снова и отснял еще одну документальную серию об проблеме ВИЧ/СПИДа в Украине. Мы встретили некоторых “героев” первой серии. Встреча с одними радовала - они смогли начать новую жизнь, нашли поддержку, получают антиретровирусную терапию. Встреча с другими огорчила - они не изменили своих привычек, постарели (хотя это странно звучит, когда говоришь о 25-30 летних). Некоторых уже нет в живых. Как и шесть лет назад, мы также встретили невероятных людей. Когда у них диагностировали ВИЧ, от них отворачивались близкие и друзья, их увольняли с работы, им угрожали… Но они выстояли. Доказали себе и другим, что они сильные, и что жизнь продолжается. Хотя теперь она зависит от строгого графика приема лекарств. А также, к сожалению, от того, провело ли государство очередной тендер по закупке лекарств для АРВ терапии…

In 2005 I took part in a project – I helped one foreign photographer in his work on the documentary photo project on HIV/AIDS issues in Ukraine. Despite many limitations on use of the images, Brent Stirton’s pictures still ‘live their own live’ in the net. They are fairly disputable and provocative, they are on a margin that is why they are argued and discussed so much.

This year Brent Stirton came to Ukraine again and filmed one more documentary series on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine. We met with some of the ‘heros’ of the previous photo shooting. It was a pleasure to meet some of them – they had been able to start a new life, found a support, started receiving antiretroviral treatment. Meetings with the other were upsetting – they had not changed their life habits, they get aged (it sounds strange when you use this word talking about people of 25-30). Some of them have passed away. As six year ago we met fascinating people. When they were diagnosed with HIV they were turned down by their relatives and friends, they were fired from their jobs, threatened… But they had survived. They have proved to themselves and to others that they are strong and life continues. However they life now is depends on strict schedule of taking the drugs. And, unfortunately, on the question whether the government completed a new tender to purchase the antiretroviral medicines.

Olga noted that the participation in the photo project completely changed her stereotypes about HIV positive people. She posted:

Некоторые из героев сюжетов переворачивают представление о тех, кого принято считать “опустившимися”. Как бы низко ни пал человек, многие все же способны сохранить человечность - ухаживать за парализованной матерью, переживать за свою жену и ребенка и делать все, чтобы защищить их после своей смерти…

Some of the heroes of story completely turn over my notion of those who considered being degraded. Does not matter how descended people are, many of them can still stay human – to take care about paralyzed mother or worry about their wives and children and to do everything to protect them after they pass away.

Olga thinks that the main task of the project is to make the society to think about the people affected by HIV/AIDS. She wrote:

Вторая серия - не менее провокационна и спорна. Она тоже вызовет бурю дискуссий о людях, живущих с ВИЧ, и о том, нужно ли это все показывать. Дискуссии - это хорошо. Мы все, причастные к созданию этого документального проекта, считаем, что это часть нашей жизни и об этом нужно говорить. Нельзя просто закрыть глаза и сказать “я этого не вижу, значит этого не существует”. Если это заставит задуматься и что-то изменить в своей жизни хотя бы одного человека, значит время и усилия были потрачены не зря.

The second part of the project is not less provocative or disputable. It also initiates a storm of discussions about people living with HIV and about whether it worth to be shown. Discussion is a good thing. All of us, involved in the project, believe that this is a part of our life and it should be talked about. You cannot just close the eyes and say “I do not see this, so it does not exists”. If this make to think and to change something in his life at list one people, than all the time and efforts were spent not for nothing.

Ukraine: Using Video for Advocacy

Maryna Reshetnyak — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:56:52 +0000

As we wrote earlier, the main problems which the Ukrainian patients of opiate replacement therapy (ORT) face is the absence of continuity of the therapy in the medical establishments other then special ORT sites where patients have to personally come every day to receive the medication. This situation is true in most of the rejoins of Ukraine with a few exceptions. Avoiding the abstinent syndrome many patients refuse from a treatment which requires staying in the hospital. Before joining the substitution therapy most of the patients had been injection drug users for many years, many of them are HIV and Hepatitis C positives, infected with TB and other infectious diseases, so the opportunity to receive a decent medical treatment is crucial for them.

As a part of advocacy efforts aimed on solving the issue with the continuity of ORT treatment, Ukrainian harm reduction activists produce videos which describe the situation around this problem, tell stories of real people who suffer because of inertness of the health care authorities and report the small successes in this regards.

The video produced by an activist of the Association of Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine Igor Kuzmenko not only presents the personal stories of a patients suffering from the problem but also contains the quote from the medical doctor of Donetsk Methadone site saying how important the continuity of ORT treatment is for her patients. The regional representative of the Association Natalia Zlenina talks about the steps the Association is making to change the situation for better. The video ends with the appeal to the society to help to solve the problem and the words “Don’t let us die”.

The video story of the ORT patient Elena is filmed by one of the hero of the previous post Eugene Selin. The sad story covers a yearlong battle of the Donetsk harm reduction NGO ‘Our Victory’ with local health care authorities to help Elena to receive the Methadone in the hospital where she needs to stay because of the surgery she requires. Unfortunately, this struggle has not brought any results yet.

The video posted by the activist of the NGO ‘Chance’ from Sumy could be viewed a small success story. The hero of the video was an active injections drug user and started the ORT treatment on the recommendation of his doctor in a TB clinic. Now he stays in TB hospital and is able to receive both TB and ORT treatment in the same place.

Ukraine: Using Video in Promoting Harm Reduction Ideas

Maryna Reshetnyak — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:42:54 +0000

Activists of the Association of Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine film and post personal stories of the therapy patients to demonstrate how the opiate replacement therapy could change the life of people living with a drug addiction for better. Images tell more than worlds. The activists believe that real stories of real people who does not look at all like typical drug addicts would help to improve the public opinion towards the substitution therapy and convince opponents that the treatment has positive effect on lives of people living with a drug addiction.

Screenshot from the video

Substitution therapy helped 33 year old Eugene Selin from Eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk to change his life dramatically. For more then 15 years Eugene had been an injection drug user, but now he has a beautiful wife, a home and he successfully runs a small business. Eugene believes that everything in his life has just started.

Click this link for the video with English subtiles.

The 44 year old patient Segey Tetiorkin lives in the Western part of Ukraine in the City of Ivano-Frankivsk with his mother and daughter. In the video he very warmly talks about his relations with mother and how he makes sure that his daughter who is now a student of the music college does not repeat the mistakes he made in his life.

The stories was filmed and edited by the member of the association Igor Kuzmenko.

Languages: Phil Cash Cash and Nez Perce

Eddie Avila — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:18:09 +0000

Phil Cash Cash estimates that approximately 20-25 fluent speakers of the Nez Perce language remain. It is something that concerns him as a linguist pursuing his PhD at the University of Arizona, but more importantly, as a member of the Weyiiletpu (Cayuse) and Nuumiipuu (Nez Perce) Indigenous tribes of North America.

He has been taking an active role in promoting the use of language preservation and revitalization efforts of all indigenous languages through the use of participatory web 2.0 tools. Currently he is one of the list administrators of the Indigenous Languages and Technology listserv, which provides a space for discussion and information exchange between “community language specialists, linguists, scholars, and students.” He is also has been curating videos related to language preservation efforts on his YouTube channel called Weyiiletpu.

In addition, Phil has also been taking a more active role in encouraging fellow speakers of the Nez Perce langauge in participating online. On his personal Google+ page, Phil has been writing bilingual updates, such as these related to his recent trip to Quito, Ecuador where he gave a keynote talk at the annual Foundation for Endangered Language Conference:

watíisx wíhnenu’ ’íin koná Quito Ecuador-pa.
kawó’ c’íiqin ’ew’níiyu’ wiwaqititóoqana (kaa linguists).
kaa ‘íin ciklíitoqo’ kinú’ Sept 18th.
páay’s kiyéeyiku’ yóX wéetes hiwe’nikíin “amazon.”

Tomorrow I will travel to Quito Ecuador.
I will give a talk to the indigenous peoples (and linguists).
I return here on Sept 18th.
Perhaps I will wander around that land named “amazon.”

All of this work is something that Phil calls “e-Language 2.0,” which during his talk he described as:

the idea of language learning through digital connections and peer collaboration enhanced by technologies driving Web 2.0. In such an environment users are empowered to search, create, and collaborate in order to fulfill intrinsic needs on being exposed to an endangered ancestral language.

Argentina: The Cultural Shed of Piedrabuena Neighborhood

Eddie Avila — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:24:06 +0000

Rising Voices note: This continues our series highlighting projects that previously applied for an RV microgrant, but continue to use citizen media to tell the stories of their community.

In Villa Lugano, located on the outskirts of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, there is a neighborhood called Piedrabuena, which has become a hub for community engagement with the arts, music, and citizen media. At the center of this neighborhood comprised of 2,100 households and approximately 20,000 residents, sits the Galpón Cultural Piedrabuenarte [es] (or the Piedrabuenarte Cultural Shed). At one time, this Shed was used to store sets and other items from the famous Colón Theater. And once the Shed became unoccupied, some artists living in the neighborhood imagined that it could become the foundation of a thriving cultural community for the children, teenagers, and adults of Piedrabuena.

Piedrabuenarte Cultural Shed

Beginning in 2006, the Shed started to offer workshops in diverse subjects such as drawing, photography, theater, drumming, and even the construction of musical instruments from recycled materials. The Shed is open for individuals or groups in the neighborhood, as well as from outside, to come and share their knowledge and expertise with area residents. The Shed is also where artists plan the murals that decorate the ground floor of the neighborhood housing blocks.

The activities that take place inside and around the Shed are well-known around the neighborhood, since it has become a regular meeting place throughout the year. In addition, news about upcoming workshops and events is often spread by word of mouth, but increasingly also through the use of social network sites such as Facebook. However, the group's leaders believe that more people should know about the activities taking place, which provides a different perspective on how the neighborhood is often portrayed in the media. Through the use of a YouTube channel called Piedrabuenarte TV, regular episodes depict some of these activities, and shows what life is like in the neighborhood on a daily basis. These videos also reach former residents that now live abroad allowing them connection with their neighbors.

There are plans to work more closely with the youth in the neighborhood, showing them how they can use the cameras on their mobile phones to contribute to the YouTube channel. This would allow for additional perspectives on the diverse Piedrabuena neighborhood. In the following video, two of the founding members of the Shed, Juan “Pepi” Garachico and Lucian Garramuño, talk about what the Shed means to the residents and how they use citizen media to tell the stories of Piedrabuena.

Argentina: La Flecha Engaging Youth Through Citizen Media

Eddie Avila — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:38:11 +0000

Rising Voices note: Our last open call for proposals for citizen media outreach projects resulted in an outpouring of interest from around the world. Even though we were unable to fund each and every good idea, we would like to feature some of these projects that continue to do great things in their communities related to teaching others how to create citizen media. We will try to showcase as many of these projects as possible.

La Flecha [es] (The Arrow) is an organization based in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina founded in 2001 that began with the production of a free pamphlet that discussed issues relating to youth participation in society. It came at a time when the country was experiencing a serious economic and social crisis, and the creators of La Flecha felt that there needed to be more, not less participation from the youth. The project has since expanded and is working to engage with youth in various neighborhoods of the city teaching them how to create their own media to begin and sustain conversations about issues that affect their daily lives.

Through existing relationships with various public schools in the city, the staff of La Flecha, as part of their “Otros con Voz [es]” (The Voice of Others) project, provides workshops in graphic arts, radio, and digital photography. The content produced by the youth is often featured at open community events, but also online through existing social networks. The youth are quite active on platforms such as Facebook, which allows them to share their artwork, photograph, and stories with their friends, where they receive instant feedback from other like-minded young people.

Many of these workshops are run by volunteers of La Flecha, and the organization has been selling t-shirts [es] created by a community member as a way to raise funds. La Flecha updates their blog [es] with recent activities, and can also be found on Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr.

Here is a short interview with Pablo Moschen, one of the coordinators of the organization, who provides more information about the project's activities.

[Video] Interview with Jamila Venturini of Friends of Januária

Melaina Spitzer — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:31:24 +0000

Jamila Venturini, a Brazilian journalist, is one of the coordinators of the Rising Voices grantee project Friends of Januária. In this video interview, she discusses the reasons behind starting the citizen media outreach project in the town of Januária. The project will engage young people of the town showing them how to use citizen media to become better informed and monitor the work of the local municipal government.

[Video] Scenes from Mokattam Blog Tales

Eddie Avila — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:47:18 +0000

As part of our Rising Voices in Egypt initiative, which is made possible with funding from the Heinrich Böll Foundation – Regional Office Middle East, we commissioned three videos that would provide a closer look at each of the projects. Egyptian filmmaker Mahmoud Saber and his team recently completed the three videos which we will publish here on the Rising Voices website.

For these three videos, we also utilized the Universal Subtitles platform to add subtitles in English. The collaborative platform allows for additional languages to easily be added, and we invite readers to add subtitles in additional languages.

The second video features the Mokattam Blog Tales project led by Nesma Gewily, who has been working with young people from the Mokattam area of Cairo with storytelling and photography workshops.

[Video] Scenes from the Women of Minya Day by Day Project

Eddie Avila — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:43:51 +0000

The second video features the Women of Minya Day by Day project led by Nevine Fahem, who has been working with young women from the rural regions of the El Minya governorate.