Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
Harvard Kennedy School
DRAFT SYLLABUS: AUGUST 2012
IGA 380-M: HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY USING VIDEO, SOCIAL MEDIA
AND PARTICIPATORY MEDIA
January Session 2013
Instructor: Sam Gregory, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, and Director of
Program, WITNESS (www.witness.org)
January 2-11, 2013
CONTACTING THE INSTRUCTOR
Sam Gregory can be reached at Sam_Gregory@hks.harvard.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Civil society actors press for the effective enforcement of human rights laws and
mechanisms at a national and international level - documenting, report-writing,
organizing, lobbying and conducting legal advocacy. Many new forms of
advocacy are incorporating video, mobile communications and social media.
These enable enhanced engagement, mobilization and participation by
concerned citizens -- both acting with formal NGOs and within formal structures,
and increasingly in decentralized and ad-hoc networks.
Aided by the spread in low-cost, high-quality technologies, video and moving
image media are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and multi-form (even though
a considerable digital divide exists in terms of access, literacy and skills both
within and between societies across the globe); video will soon be part of every
communications and advocacy strategy. Increasing moving image creation,
usage and literacy defines much of the experience of a connected younger
generation, particularly in the Global North and within certain sectors of Global
South society.
Use of video, including particularly mobile video, has publicized and documented
many emerging human rights struggles from Rangoon, to Oakland, to Tehran,
and most recently the 'Arab Spring' and ‘Occupy’ movements, and characterizes
many vibrant citizen media spaces that fill niches long ignored or abandoned by
the mainstream media.
However, strategic, directed, impact-driven use of video remains under-utilized
as an intervention by either NGOs or citizen networks in human rights spaces
including treaty monitoring systems, legislative debates, lobbying of decision-
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
makers, and community organizing. Many human rights actors do not yet have
the skills, connections or experience to organize, aggregate or coordinate others'
audiovisual media including citizen media content in spaces like YouTube, create
their own targeted advocacy media for specific audiences, collaborate to develop
compelling material with professional or citizen storytellers, or to link their
strategic use of video to new participatory technologies that enhance creation,
distribution, and debate, such as mobile, social media, data visualization,
mapping and Web 2.0 tools. Policy advocates encounter new challenges as they
consider how citizen media and technology usage for activism is enabled or
curtailed by government policy and adhoc decisions and the actions of private
sector actors such as mobile and online service providers.
This course, taught by a leading practitioner of using video, social media and
participatory technologies for human rights advocacy, will combine a focus on practical
advocacy skills for using video, as well as social media (particularly as it relates to
video) and other networked/participatory media with analytical discussion, expert guest
speakers, exercises and review of topline emerging trends and overarching policy
questions.
Although not focused on technical skills in video production it will include a
optional session on filming the basic building blocks of video testimony that are
utilized in many settings.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
In order to increase the capacity of human rights policy practitioners, activists,
advocates and campaigners to understand, analyze, evaluate and/or integrate
the use of video and related social and participatory media in advocacy
campaigns:
Participants will discuss and deepen their knowledge of:


A range of approaches to incorporating visual media, particularly video and
related multimedia into their campaigns, highlighted through case studies
(including a range of international and US examples) as well as
review/discussion of best practices.
New and social media-based approaches to advocacy incorporating the
power of participation and networks
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
Participants will learn how to:
 Plan the strategic use of video and related media as a tool for change in a
human rights campaign, and apply this learning to their own work
 Make appropriate decisions on safety, security and consent in a digital era
 Craft effective advocacy narratives utilizing moving image media –
‘storytelling for action’
Participants will be introduced to:
 Virtual worlds, mapping, visualization and geospatial-based approaches to
visual documentation, outreach and advocacy
 Social-media based approaches to advocacy more broadly
 Mobile-based approaches to video and documentation
 Key debates and questions in the field of human rights, social media,
technology and advocacy
PREREQUISITES
There are no prerequisites for participation in IGA-380M. However, students
without previous professional or academic background in either human rights or
advocacy strategy should read the following in advance of the class: Andrew
Clapham. Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press,
2007. This course is also a good complement to other IGA courses covering
Human Rights – particularly, IGA-384, Tools for Human Rights Practice. No
background in visual or social media is required.
COURSE METHODOLOGY
The course methodology is based on adult learning principles. This assumes that
learning will draw on, ground and anchor the topics in participants’ experience,
add new information and theory, and where possible provide the opportunities for
participants to apply the new information in a controlled, facilitated environment,
and then take the material away to utilize it in their professional development.
The course will additionally try to ensure:
Relevance - All content is relevant to participants’ needs
Immediacy - Where possible, all learning is immediately useful to participants
The curriculum model includes:
 Presentations, dialogues, group discussions, forums and debates on key
aspects of video and related multimedia advocacy drawing on facilitators’,
guest speakers’ and participants’ experience
 Small group discussion and a ‘seminar’-style approach to classroom debate
 Case studies, incorporating video screenings and discussions, from
WITNESS, participant experiences and peer practitioners
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory



Demonstrations of skills, simulations and hands-on projects to practice skills
Group and individual exercises
Teaching and learning teams working on specific thematic issues or regional
clusters
The course begins on January 2nd and concludes on January 11th, 2012
COURSE FORMAT
The course starts Wednesday January 2nd. It will meet 1:30-5:30pm Wednesday
through Friday in the week of December 31st and Monday through Friday in the
week of the 7th. There are a total of eight class days. Based on class interest,
there will be an optional technical session confirmed for one of the mornings of
the class schedule.
A. In-Class Meetings
The class will meet in a room TBC at the Harvard Kennedy School from 1:305:30pm beginning on Wednesday, January 2nd and concluding on Friday,
January 11th. There will be a mid-afternoon break in the course each day. Guest
speakers will participate in a number of classes – primarily via Skype Video Chat.
Class participation counts for 40% of the final grade. Students are expected to
attend every class (with notification to instructors beforehand for an excused
absence) and to actively engage in discussions and group work.
On one morning during the class (date TBC) there will be an optional hands-on
skills session focused on developing a basic level of skill in shooting
interviews/testimonies and documenting visual evidence. Participants will be
taught how to recognize and apply the key techniques of filming including
composition and framing, shot-sizes and camera movements, stability, sound
recording, interview techniques, and continuity. Participants will practice filming
an interview, including learning how to secure informed consent.
B. Preparation for Class
The course will involve daily viewings and readings requiring up to two hours.
Students are required to come to class prepared to discuss the day’s readings.
These are included in the syllabus but are subject to change as they will often
involve current web video and blog posts.
These readings will be available online at the HKS Course Page for IGA-380M
and, pending confirmation, there will be a limited number of hard copies available
on loan at the HKS Carr Center for Human Rights Policy or at the HKS Library.
All participants will also be expected to follow a class Twitter hashtag #iga380,
highlighting resources and discussion points and a Twitter feed at
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
@VideoAdvocacy.
C. Assignments
Assignment 1 (due January 6th 2pm): All participants will be expected to draft
an analysis of a usage of video and related social media in advocacy based on
principles, readings and approaches discussed in the first week of class.
Analyses should be written in a blog-style (no footnotes required), and should be
between 500-1000 words.
Assignment 2 (due January 18th, 6pm): All participants will be asked to draft an
effective S.M.A.R.T. visual and participatory media strategy for a human rights
advocacy setting. Participants may either choose a context with which they
themselves are familiar, or the Instructor will provide some template scenarios for
participants to use as a basis for the assignment. A set of guiding questions will
be provided to all students.
D. Grading
The HKS Academic Council has issued recommendations on grading policy that
includes the following curve: A (10%-15%), A- (20%-25%), B+ (30%-40%), B (2025%), B- and lower (5%-10%). Participation and assignments will be weighted as
follows:
•Participation in class, including contribution to class and small groups
discussions, participation in comments on discussion board, short responses to
readings, and contribution to Twitter feed (40%)
•Assignment 1: 25%
•Assignment 2: 35%
Late assignments without prior approval will be penalized by one grade.
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
CLASS SCHEDULE, READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Session 1 Wednesday January 2nd. Visual and Social Media Advocacy:
Questions of Scope and Impact
On the first day we will focus on key theoretical issues that will recur in the
course including the linkage between visual media and advocacy impact, and
questions of who is the participant/producer/audience and the challenges of an
information-dense environment. We will discuss our understanding of the
evidentiary or ‘truth’ value of visual media, and reflect on the dilemmas of using
testimony, visual evidence and graphic imagery.
As a grounding point and to develop an initial framing for the course, we will
discuss participants’ own experiences of effective moving image/visual image
advocacy, and will look back at events of 2011-2, in particular the ‘Arab Spring’
and subsequent events, as well as less-discussed human rights issues.
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, small group exercises, and
debrief.
Required Readings/Viewings
- Sean Aday, Henry Farrell, Marc Lynch, John Sides, John Kelly and Ethan
Zuckerman. Blogs and Bullets: New Media in Contentious Politics,
Peaceworks No. 65, Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2010:
http://www.usip.org/publications/blogs-and-bullets-new-media-in-contentiouspolitics
- Stanley Cohen. States of Denial, Chapter 1: The Elementary Forms of Denial.
pp. 1-20 (London: Polity Press, 2001)
- Sam Gregory. The Participatory Panopticon and Human Rights: WITNESS'
Experience Supporting Video Advocacy, forthcoming in Visual Cultures of
Nongovernmental Politics (Zone Books/MIT Press, 2012), co-edited by Yates
McKee and Meg McLagan
- Institute for the Future. The Future of Video: Becoming People of the Screen
(2009), available at http://www.iftf.org/node/3584
- John Pollock. Streetbook: How Egyptian and Tunisian youth hacked the Arab
Spring in MIT Technology Review, September/October 2011:
http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38379/?mod=ArabSpring_sidestory
- Zeynep Tufekci. New Media and the People-Powered Uprisings in MIT
Technology Review, September/October 2011,
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/guest/27122/?p1=blogs
Optional Readings
- Clifford Bob. Insurgent Groups and the Quest for Overseas Support, in ‘The
Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media and International Activism’,
Chapter 1: pp.1-13 (Cambridge University Press: 2005)
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
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-
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Francois Guerin and Robert Hallas. Introduction, in ‘The Image and the
Witness: Trauma, Memory and Visual Culture’ (Wallflower Press: 2007), pp 113
Margaret E. Keck and Katherine Sikkink, Transnational Advocacy Networks in
Regional and International Politics, International Social Science Journal,
Volume 51, Issue 159, pp 89-101, March 1999 (recommended for introduction
to underlying approaches in much international advocacy)
Meg McLagan. Introduction: Making Human Rights Claims Public, in
American Anthropologist, Volume 108, Issue 1, 2006, pp. 191-195
Optional Viewings
- WITNESS collaboration with the locally-based human rights group Ajedi-Ka
P.E.S. on targeted video documentation around voluntary recruitment of child
soldiers in the DR Congo including the videos ‘On the Frontlines’
(http://hub.witness.org/OnTheFrontlines) and ‘Duty to Protect’
(http://hub.witness.org/dutytoprotect) and a series of blogs posted by a
Congolese activist at Video for Change: Bringing a Warlord to Justice
webpage: http://hub.witness.org/Lubanga-trial
- Additional viewing options will be listed on the course page and circulated via
the Twitter feed
Session 2 Thursday January 3rd. Models of Advocacy… Models of Video
Advocacy
On the second day we will reflect on different approaches to using video in
advocacy and recognize and identify the strengths and limitations of using visual
media as a tool for human rights advocacy. We will look at the role of human
rights activists as curators, documentors, co-creators, creators and distributors of
visual imagery created by them, with others or ‘found’ in the world.
As one of a range of approaches we will begin by focusing on produced targeted
video as advocacy media, particularly within the context of formal nongovernmental organizations. Participants will watch, discuss and reflect on case
studies as a step towards understanding practical methodologies for how video
and related multimedia are used in work in a range of advocacy settings
including community organizing, decision-maker advocacy, online video, human
rights monitoring institutions and legislative settings.
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, small group exercises, and
debrief.
Required Readings/Viewings
- Gillian Caldwell. Using Video for Advocacy in ‘Video for Change: A Guide to
Advocacy and Activism’ in Sam Gregory, Gillian Caldwell, Ronit Avni, and
Thomas Harding (eds.) Pluto Press pp. 1-19
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
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Bridget Conley- Zilkic. Speaking plainly about Chechnya: on the limits of the
juridical model of human-rights advocacy, in ‘Nongovernmental Politics’, Zone
Books, 2007. Michel Feher with Gaelle Krikorian and Yates McKee, editors
Livia Hinegardner. Action, Organization and Documentary Film: Beyond a
Communications Model of Human Rights Videos, in Visual Anthropology
Review, Vol. 25, Issue 2, pp.172-185, 2009
Optional Readings
- Lisa Parks. Digging into Google Earth: An analysis of “Crisis in Darfur”, in
Geoforum 40 (2009), pp. 535-545
Optional Viewings
- Film: Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News (available
on loan from instructor), and see http://seeingisbelieving.ca
A short Reflection Exercise (contributing towards Particiption grade) will
be assigned
Session 3 Friday, January 4th. Targeted Video Advocacy and Storytelling
for Action
This Session will continue the discussion of targeted video advocacy begun in
Session 2. Case study films will be used to review a diverse set of approaches to
using human rights video footage in campaigning worldwide, both offline and
online. We will also explore key ideas on strategic timing and distribution of
video, giving participants a opportunity to identify a range of advocacy distribution
options including peer-to-peer, evidentiary video, community organizing, within
activist networks, direct-to-decision-maker, and online.
During a practical section of the session, participants will focus on identifying,
designing and evaluating S.M.A.R.T. objectives for video advocacy. They will
engage in exercises around identification of primary and secondary audiences,
and learn effective advocacy messaging in visual media work.
At the heart of effective advocacy is effective storytelling – the process of
converting ethical documentation and advocacy into effective persuasion.
Participants will continue to advance their understanding of the deployment of
visual persuasion for advocacy in this section on ‘Storytelling for Action’.
Alongside discussion of a number of case studies participants will review their
own experiences (within the course, and externally) around effective storytelling,
and learn about key concepts of storytelling for action – including utilizing genre,
character, hooks, and creating a ‘space for action’. We will also review a number
of non-traditional and non-linear approaches to storytelling.
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, and debrief.
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
Guest Speaker TBC: Kat Cizek, Highrise project, National Film Board of Canada
project (2012 speaker)
Required Readings/Viewings
- Melissa Brough, Invisible Children: Participatory Culture and Humanitarian
Spectacle, http://sites.google.com/site/participatorydemocracyproject/casestudies/invisible-children, last updated February 26, 2010; and associated
short video: http://vimeo.com/13115790
- Katerina Cizek, Storytelling for Advocacy: Conceptualization and PreProduction in ‘Video for Change: A Guide to Advocacy and Activism’ in Sam
Gregory, Gillian Caldwell, Ronit Avni, and Thomas Harding (eds.) Pluto Press
pp. 74-108
- Katerina Cizek websites: NFB Filmmaker-in-residence and ‘Highrise’ project
websites: http://filmmakerinresidence.nfb.ca/, http://highrise.nfb.ca and Kat
Cizek’s Interventionist Media manifesto
http://www.nfb.ca/playlists/katerina_cizek/manifesto-interventionist-mediabec/
- Prabhas Pokharel. Talking Change (And Not Just Campaigns) in Digital
Natives with a Cause? Thinkathon: Position Papers (HIVOS, 2010), pp75-91
available at: http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-KnowledgeProgramme/Themes/Digital-Natives-with-a-Cause/Publications/DigitalNatives-with-a-Cause-Thinkathon-Position-Papers
Assignment 1 is due, January 6th, 2pm, to be posted on the Class
Discussion page.
Session 4 Monday January 7th. NGO Media and Mass Media Models for
Human Rights Advocacy
Traditional models of human rights advocacy have often relied on securing mass
and mass media coverage of abuses as a tool for exerting pressure on policymakers. This section will explore this practice, and consider innovations that are
occurring in terms of distribution of video and related multimedia to mass and
alternative media outlets. We will look at the emerging multimedia work of
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty as well as approaches such as Brave New
Films.
During this class we will also look at methods of assessing the impact of our
video-based work, considering a range of qualitative and quantitative
approaches.
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, and debrief.
Guest Speaker TBC: Minky Worden, Human Rights Watch, Director of Global
Initiatives (2012 speaker)
Guest Speaker TBC: Fabiana Paranhos, ANIS, Brazil (2012 speaker)
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
Required Readings/Viewings
- Kimberley Abbott, Working together, NGOs and journalists can create
stronger international reporting, Nieman Journalism Lab Special Report,
‘NGOs and the News’, November 9, 2009:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/11/kimberly-abbott-working-together-ngosand-journalists-can-create-stronger-international-reporting/
- Ethan Zuckerman, Advocacy, agenda and attention: Unpacking unstated
motives in NGO journalism, Nieman Journalism Lab Special Report ‘NGOs
and the News’, January 19, 2010: http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/01/ethanzuckerman-advocacy-agenda-and-attention-unpacking-unstated-motives-inngo-journalism/
- Ethan Zuckerman. International reporting in the age of participatory media.
Daedalus, Boston: Spring 2010, Vol. 139 Iss 2; pp.66-75
- Selected films/multimedia from Human Rights Watch to be noted by instructor
Optional Readings
- Ivor Gaber and Alice Wynne Wilson, Dying for Diamonds: The Mainstream
Media and the NGOs – A Case Study of ActionAid, in ‘Global Activism, Global
Media’ (Pluto Press, 2005), Wilma de Jong, Martin Shaw, Neil Stammers,
editors, pp. 95-109
- Anna Husarska, Conscience Trigger: The Press and Human Rights, in
‘Realizing Human Rights: Moving from Inspiration to Impact’, Samantha
Power and Graham Allison, editors, Palgrave Macmillan: 2000
Optional Viewings
- Additional viewing options will be listed on the course page and circulated via
the Twitter feed
Session 5 Tuesday, January 8th. Web 2.0, Online Advocacy and NetworkCentric Video Advocacy
Use of online video, including particularly mobile video, has publicized and
documented many emerging human rights struggles from Rangoon, to Oakland,
to Tehran, and most recently the ‘Arab Spring’ and Occupy movements, and
characterizes many vibrant citizen media spaces that fill niches long ignored or
abandoned by the mainstream media. Video is also a key element of developing
models of advocacy that emphasize citizen participation, crowd-sourcing of
activism and a decentralized, networked approach to organization.
In this session we will discuss examples of online and participatory video
advocacy within frameworks of traditional and new models of advocacy, looking
at:
-
Video-sharing sites including YouTube, and niche online human rights spaces
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
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Viral/spreadable video in the human rights sector including the Amnesty
UnSubscribe campaign
Social media and video, including case studies of Egypt, Syria and Iran
Issues around internet censorship and surveillance
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, and debrief.
Guest Speaker TBC: Steve Grove, former Head, YouTube News & Politics,
current Head of Community Partnerships, Google+ (2012 speaker)
Guest Speaker TBC: Molly Beutz Land, New York Law School (2012 speaker)
Required Readings/Viewings
- Molly Beutz Land, Peer Producing Human Rights, New York Law School
Legal Studies, Research Paper Series 09/10 # 12,
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1475414
- Steve Grove, YouTube’s Ecosystem for News in Nieman Reports, Summer
2010: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102417/YouTubesEcosystem-for-News.aspx
- Gilad Lotan, Erhardt Graeff, Mike Ananny, Devin Gaffney, Ian Pearce and
danah boyd. The Arab Spring | The Revolutions Were Tweeted: Information
Flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions. Visualization and
article link at: http://www.danah.org/projects/IJOC-ArabSpring/; article in
International Journal of Communication Vol. 5 (2011):
http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1246 (focus on exploring the
visualization and the introduction and conclusions)
- Evgeny Morozov, Chapter 1, The Google Doctrine in ‘The Net Delusion: The
Dark Side of Internet Freedom,’ pp 1-14, Public Affairs, January 2011.
- Jonah Peretti, Notes on Contagious Media, in ‘Structures of Participation in
Digital Culture’, ed. Joe Karaganis (New York: Social Science Research
Council, 2007), pp. 158-163
- Kjerstin Thorson, Brian Ekdale, Porismita Borah, Kang Namkoong and Chirag
Shah, YouTube and Proposition 8 in Information, Communication and Society
13:3, 2010, pp 325-349
Optional Readings
- Jessica Clark and Pat Aufderheide, Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged
Publics, Center for Social Media, 2009,
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/public_media_2_
0_dynamic_engaged_publics
- Henry Jenkins, What Happened Before YouTube in ‘YouTube: Online Video
and Participatory Culture’ (Malden MA: Polity Press, 2009), pp 109-125
- Melissa Wall and Sahar El Zahed, “I’ll Be Waiting for You Guys”: A YouTube
Call to Action in the Egyptian Revolution, International Journal of
Communication Vol. 5 (2011):
http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1241
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
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Huma Yusuf, Old and New Media: Converging During the Pakistan
Emergency (March 2007-February 2008), working paper from Center for
Future Civic Media MIT, 2009,
http://civic.mit.edu/sites/civic.mit.edu/files/Old%20and%20New%20Media%20
Pakistan%20Emergency.pdf
Optional Viewings
- MIT Civic Media Session: Civil Disobedience with Ethan Zuckerman, Clay
Shirky, Zeynep Tufekci, and Sami Ben Gharbia (May 2011):
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/12932-civic-media-session-civic-disobedience
- Additional viewing options will be listed on the course page and circulated via
the Twitter feed
Session 6 Wednesday January 9th. Cameras Everywhere – Emerging
Ethical and Practical Challenges with Ubiquitous Visual Media
In today’s session we will review key areas of challenges that are emerging for
human rights at its intersection point with social media, new technologies and
ubiquitous video including issues of privacy and safety, the role of technology
providers as human rights facilitators, and issues of authentication, information
overload and new ethical questions raised by the broadening possibilities of
media creation and sharing.
A particular focus will be on the safety, consent and ethical concerns arising and
the session will include both case studies of both offline and online distribution of
video and ethical issues raised; as well as discussion of best practices,
particularly for visual media in order to reduce risk to advocates themselves,
those filmed and others involved in the video advocacy projects.
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, and debrief.
Guest Speaker: TBC
Required Readings/Viewings
- Katerina Cizek, Safety and Security in ‘Video for Change: A Guide to
Advocacy and Activism’ in Sam Gregory, Gillian Caldwell, Ronit Avni, and
Thomas Harding (eds.) Pluto Press pp. 120-73
- Sam Gregory, Cameras Everywhere: Ubiquitous Video Documentation of
Human Rights, New Forms of Video Advocacy and Concerns about Safety,
Security, Dignity and Consent, Journal of Human Rights Practice (2010) 2 (2),
191-207
- Sameer Padania, Sam Gregory, Yvette Alberdingk-Thijm, Bryan Nunez,
Cameras Everywhere: Current Challenges and Opportunities at the
Intersection of Human Rights, Video and Technology, WITNESS (2011),
http://www.witness.org/cameras-everywhere/report-2011
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
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William Quinn, The Other End of the Abu Ghraib Camera, in New York Times,
July 25, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/opinion/25quinn.html
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Torture of Others, in New York Times May 23,
2004, at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/magazine/23PRISONS.html
Excerpts from Module 7: Safety, Security and Consent in WITNESS Video
Advocacy Curriculum, pp. 4-10 to be provided by instructor
Optional Readings
- Institute for the Future, The Future of Real-Time Video Communication
(2009), available at http://www.iftf.org/node/3250
- Additional readings will be listed on the course page and circulated via the
Twitter feed
Optional Viewings
- Additional viewing options will be listed on the course page and circulated via
the Twitter feed
Session 7 Thursday, January 10th. Non-linear Visual Narratives: Focus on
Virtual Worlds and Gaming; Mobile Documentation
Outside of direct visual media documentation, advocates are beginning to use
virtual worlds (for example, ‘Virtual Guantanamo’ and a virtual IDP camp in
Uganda), social issue gaming and immersive environments to conduct outreach
and engage new constituencies.
We will also use this session to consider the most accessible tool in the Global
South for documentation, information sharing and information reception: the cellphone. The second half of the session will focus on mobile video, live-casting
from mobile devices, and other forms of documentation using mobile devices.
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, and debrief.
Guest Speaker TBC: Nonny De La Peña, USC Senior Research Fellow,
Immersive Journalism (2012 speaker)
Guest Speaker TBC: Andy Carvin, NPR (2012 speaker)
Required Readings/Viewings
- Nonny De La Peña, Peggy Weil, Joan Llobera, Elias Giannopoulos, Ausia
Pomes, Bernhard Spanlang, Doron Friedman, Maria V. Sanchez-Vives, Mel
Slater, Immersive Journalism: Immersive Virtual Reality for the First-Person
Experience of the News, in Presence, Vol. 19, No. 4, August 2010, pp. 291301
- Virtual Guantanamo YouTube tour by Draxter Despres:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kBfi_8wDUg&feature=player_embedded
- Mobileactive. Mobile Media Toolkit. http://www.mobilemediatoolkit.org/
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
Optional Readings
- Dale Peskin. News on the Go: How Mobile Devices are Changing the World’s
Information Ecosystem (A Report to the Center for International Media
Assistance) CIMA, 2011: http://cima.ned.org/publications/news-go-howmobile-devices-are-changing-worlds-information-ecosystem
Optional Viewings
- Additional viewing options will be circulated via the Twitter feed
Session 8 Friday, January 11th. Focus on Visualization, Geo-spatial
Documentation and Mapping. Wrap discussion on Video and Participatory
Media Advocacy.
In this session we will consider how to use video, SMS and social media data
combined with mapping and geospatial approaches to documentation to conduct
public outreach and policy advocacy, as well as the emerging field of crisis
mapping. Among the case studies we will consider: the ‘Eyes on Darfur’ Amnesty
USA Project; the Tunisian prison maps and Amnesty satellite documentation of
forced evictions in Zimbabwe, attacks on ethnic minority villages in Burma and
violence in Syria. We will look at the emerging field of crisis mapping, including
tools such as Ushahidi, and revisit our discussions around trust and verification
with citizen-generated documentation.
In the second half of the session we’ll focus on a wrap discussion on digital
activism and video advocacy, considering lessons learned, and how we can
consolidate course learnings into our future practice.
Presentation, case study analyses, discussion, and debrief.
Guest Speaker TBC: Nathan Freitas, Guardian Project (2012 speaker)
Guest Speaker TBC: Charlie Clements, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy,
Harvard and the Sudan Sentinel Project (2012 speaker)
Guest Speaker TBC: Patrick Meier, Stanford University/Tufts University/Harvard
Humanitarian Initiative/ Ushahidi/ International Network of Crisis Mappers (2011
speaker)
Required Readings/Viewings
- Lars Bromley, presentation on Satellite Photography for Human Rights at
HRC Berkeley Conference on ‘Soul of the New Machine’, May 2009:
http://fora.tv/2009/05/04/Eye_in_the_Sky_GIS_Satellite_Imagery_and_Mappi
ng (from minute 27:40 to 59:00)
- Matthew Levinger, Geographical Information Systems Technology as a Tool
for Genocide Prevention: The Case of Darfur, Space and Polity, 1470-1235,
Volume 13, Issue 1, 2009, pp. 69 – 76
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012
Human Rights Advocacy Using Video, Social Media and Participatory Media – Instructor: Sam Gregory
-
Patrick Meier. Changing the World: One Map at a Time,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh_PiVqf8BA
Optional Readings
- Davide Deriu, Picturing Ruinscapes: The Aerial Photograph as Image of
Historical Trauma, in ‘The Image and the Witness: Trauma, Memory and
Visual Culture’, Wallflower Press, 2007
- Review blog posts by Patrick Meier on http://irevolution.net, as suggested by
instructor
- Ory Okolloh, Ushahidi, or 'testimony': Web 2.0 tools for crowdsourcing crisis
information in Participatory Learning & Action, Volume 59, Number 1, June
2009, pp. 65-70(6)
- Lisa Parks. Digging into Google Earth: An analysis of “Crisis in Darfur”, in
Geoforum 40 (2009), pp. 535-545
Assignment 2 is due, January 18th, 6pm.
OPTIONAL SESSION TBC: Hands-on skills half-day focused on developing a
basic level of skill in shooting interviews/testimonies and documenting visual
evidence
DRAFT Syllabus – August 17, 2012