WITNESS to launch Video Hub portal

R Jai Krishna 

NEW DELHI: WITNESS, an organisation committed to human rights, is in the process of developing a participatory website - the Video Hub, where anyone with human rights-related footage can upload video that can be used to create change.

Using technologies such as cell phones and other mobile devices, web-based video upload and content distribution, online community building, advocacy and organizational tools, the Video Hub will provide new opportunities to feed the populist shift toward user-generated content with media in the service of global human rights advocacy.

Users can create groups of community members with similar interests or concerns for issues that incorporate videos, online forums, event organizing and the ability to create campaigns and petitions so that video is not only seen, but also acted upon.

Serving concerned citizens, activists, journalists, researchers, and advocates worldwide, WITNESS’ plan is not to act as gatekeepers of content, but to allow community review to foster a sense of shared responsibility and accountability. WITNESS plans for a public premiere in 2007.

Human Rights Video Hub Pilot

The Human Rights Video Hub Pilot, which launched in collaboration with Global Voices, is a first step towards a larger endeavour that the organisation is currently undertaking: the development of a Human Rights Video Hub.

The first step in the project is the Human Rights Video Hub Pilot. The pilot is a curated forum that contains a subset of the functionality of the Video Hub, which will be released in the summer of 2007.

WITNESS hopes that the pilot project will give the organisation a better sense of the quality and quantity of Human Rights videos already in existence, and the type and level of public interest in dialogue around them.

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