"At Video Volunteers, we will always remember this year as the year that our network of correspondents came of age. They demonstrated their commitment not just to the work but to the organization; they proved to the world that Video Volunteers is a resilient organization, and thanks to them, we fini
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shed the year stronger than we began it. Though we did launch several new initiatives, this was a year where we consolidated our core work and reaffirmed our commitment to: Building the strongest network of activist journalists in rural India; Creating concrete, tangible impact in people's lives through local action campaigns; Broadening society's ideas of who is an expert, who deserves our attention and whose voice should be listened to." (Introduction)
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"This guide will offer a range of tools and methods that can be used to promote a more inclusive form of journalism and storytelling, with marginalised groups and individuals. It’s based on over half a decade of experience and making award-winning, high-impact content in collaboration with reporte
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rs from marginalised communities all over the world - from garment workers in Bangladesh and people living with dementia in the UK, to quarantined villages covering the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone. This isn’t intended as a definitive guide. Every context will have its own unique challenges and every organisation will have its own workflows, outputs and audiences. This is an introduction to a framework to make journalism inclusive and empowering and borrows heavily from lessons learned from community organising, service design and the humanitarian sector." (Page 3)
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"The first chapter is devoted to the project development phase. It includes advice and guidance to anyone considering using participatory video (within the context of anti-corruption work) together with recommendations for key elements in the planning stage. Subsequent chapters explore critical tech
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niques for facilitating corruption-focussed projects; from the workshop stages through to fieldwork and audience engagement. A collection of detailed case studies conclude the guidebook. These describe the participatory video projects implemented by Transparency International and InsightShare, together with an extra case study from a project that addressed corruption in the school system implemented by the India-based organisation Video Volunteers. The basic techniques and approaches of participatory video are not included in this guide. The guide does not include exercises for participants to learn technical skills, develop story structures, undertake group-based filmmaking, or ice-breakers and other complimentary workshop activities [...] Instead, this guide presents specific considerations for those designing corruption-focussed projects and provides a range of exercises for the facilitators. While the focus is on addressing issues of corruption, many of the ideas and approaches will be useful to practitioners in general. The sections on Choosing Participatory Video, Participant Selection, Project Structure, and Free, Prior and Informed Consent are likely to be relevant to a wide-range of projects." (Page 9)
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"Over ten years ago, two community media initiatives were founded by young people in their early twenties in Bogota, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador. While the Colombia-based collective, Ojo al Sancocho, has struggled to build bridges among urban and migratory communities uprooted by an entrenched, deca
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des-old armed conflict, the Ecuadorian group, El Churo Comunicación, has fostered audiovisual autonomy and resistance among indigenous, feminist and ecological social movements that have had to defend their rights even though they were supposedly guaranteed by a so-called progressive government. Despite formidable challenges, each has fulfilled a long-held dream - a community movie theater, and the expansion of a radio-based practice to a multiplicity of practices that include community filmmaking, cyberfeminism and capacity-building of communities across Ecuador and Latin America. Together with other collectives, Ojo al Sancocho and El Churo are building a network of community filmmakers across Latin America. Using each organization’s 2017 annual gathering as a point of departure, and subsequent meetings in 2018-2019, this article analyzes the characteristics that have led to innovation and sustainability in diverse contexts. It also indicates key challenges they face. This is an engaged, ethnographically-based, scholarly work." (Abstract)
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"El texto es un análisis visual sobre varios videos de dos grupos de música del resguardo Emberá Chamí del municipio de Pueblo Rico Risaralda, Bidika y Ibanafarag, estos grupos cuentan con características especiales en su concepción que logran permear en sus canciones, en la construcción est
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tica del video y que reflejan una realidad social que ha impactado tanto a su comunidad como a otros grupos sociales que han sido partícipes y a la vez víctimas del conflicto armado en Colombia, estas reflexiones sobre la estética, la composición y la denuncia social de la situación de los pueblos indígenas en Colombia es posible gracias a la apropiación que los miembros de estos grupos han hecho de las cámaras de video y circulación de su producción en Internet." (Resumen)
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"Children with disabilities often experience exclusion within their communities, and this exclusion can extend into research processes. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, however, emphasizes that children of all abilities need to be involved as decision makers in matters affec
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ting them. This article provides an in-depth description of the process of a participatory action research project carried out with children with disabilities from a rural village in India. It argues for the utility of participatory filmmaking as a research methodology that supports inclusion of children with disabilities as co-researchers in research and action processes. The different phases of the research project, namely the preparatory, participatory research, and the action phase, are made transparent along with the details of activities carried out within each phase. The technical and pragmatic challenges faced within this participatory filmmaking process are pointed out, and strategies used to negotiate challenges and adapt this methodology to fit context-specific needs are shared. This account of the complex, yet flexible and adaptable, participatory filmmaking process is presented as means to support critical and informed uptakes of participatory filmmaking for inclusive research practices with children with disabilities." (Abstract)
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"This guide provides advice, exercises and notes for local peacebuilders who wish to facilitate a participatory video (PV) process in order to enhance the resilience and peacebuilding capacities of their communities. [It] provides exercises for the facilitator to guide participants through experient
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ial learning on: how to use a camera; how to frame a shot; how to record sound; how to direct; how to conduct and record an interview; how to identify what makes a story, how to tell an audio-visual story; how to use a storyboard to plan a film; how to write a script for a fictional story; how to record and integrate feedback received from the community; how to use editing to tell a story in film; how to conduct a paper edit. Core peacebuilding objectives include: how to facilitate constructive group discussions on sensitive topics; how to view and present a story from different perspectives; how to select a topic and genre that meet the group's communication objectives; how to understand that any film they make can have both positive and negative impacts; how to identify dividers and connectors in a community; how to understand and integrate different perspectives on privilege and identity." (Framing & objectives, page 6)
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"Can the stories people tell influence the way they see the world? This book seeks to address that question through a study of the viability of movie making as a critical pedagogy activity. Positioned at the intersection of education and communication for social change, it explores the relationship
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between the generation of subjective knowledge through storytelling and analysis, and systemic change. Central to the book is a case study from Nepal. By using video as the action element and analytical material of coursework, youth participants generated a new critical awareness, engendered by themes arising from group discussion. Through the analysis of these themes participants initiated an emergence known as conscientization. Led by two critical educators, participants used the production, screening, and analysis of their own movies to propel the course, or praxis, forward. This book seeks to inform the practice of critical pedagogy both practically and theoretically, and also offers a contribution to the fields of participatory action-research and communication for social change." (Publisher description)
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"Benefiting from more than 50 years of practice and innovation, participatory video (PV) is a firmly established approach in the field of communications for development. The term “participatory video” is used to refer to a very wide range of practices that involve nonprofessionals in making thei
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r own films as a means to engage communities, develop critical awareness, and amplify citizens’ voices to discuss social problems that they prioritize. The canonical texts on participatory video all make reference to PV’s grounding in the praxis of Brazilian popular educator Paulo Freire, and the influence of feminist practice is often also noted in the literature. The authors also draw on affordance theory as a way of clarifying the possibilities for social action enabled by participatory video. In recent years, a number of important critiques have been leveled at PV which have reopened a normative debate about what practices, values, and objectives should constitute participatory video. Rapid recent advances in digital filmmaking technologies coupled with falling costs of mobile devices are opening up exciting new future possibilities and challenges for PV. This chapter reviews a range of PV practices, examines key critiques, and assesses potential future directions for participatory video in communication for development." (Abstract)
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"Video Volunteers is trying to make use of mobile journalism as part of its community media operations. As part of this, VV is also trying to popularise the concept of mobile journalism among NGOS, mass movement organisations and students. The main aims of VV’s mobile journalism program are: 1. To
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share community media information with NGOs, mass movement organisations and students; 2. To introduce the foundational principles of journalism-why are community voices important?; 3. How to ensure institutional transparency and accountability via mobile journalism?; 4. How to unite the community and strategize towards change making through video screenings?" (Introduction)
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"Young people are among the most affected and vulnerable groups in the HIV epidemic. Targeting young people in prevention strategies requires inclusive and participatory approaches. This paper discusses a film production project that involved youths in a remote rural community in the Highlands of Pa
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pua New Guinea. It explores some of the processes and impacts of integrating a visual methods community action project in a local community context while targeting young people in an effort to engage them in a reflective dialogue on HIV and AIDS." (Abstract)
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"Video Ethnography in Practice is a brief guide for students in the social disciplines who are required to produce an ethnographic video, the most significant new methodological technique in 21st century social analysis. The authors, both accomplished videographers, cover the basic techniques of cre
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ating a video that documents human culture and behavior with true stories of the process of videography throughout. This text shows how new technologies like smart phones, widely available video editing software, and YouTube, have turned video ethnography into something that is within reach of students in a conventional course framework." (Publisher description)
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"This handbook is designed to provide tools for civil society institutions interested in developing and utilizing participatory videos as part of their toolkit. It is intended to serve as a practical guide for aiding organizations to conceptualize, produce, and screen participatory videos in communi
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ty settings. Participatory video is a tool for positive social change, used across the globe as a means of empowering marginalized communities to take control of their destinies. This handbook outlines the Michigan State University approach to participatory video. Our approach differs from traditional participatory video methods in its emphasis on the use of video as a scalable teaching tool rather than advocacy. Our approach focuses on integrating farmers' stories in a narrative storytelling style in order to enhance the relevance of agricultural information for local communities." (Foreword)
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