Community Media - Interactive World

In a recent post I noted that the earliest documentaries had a rehearsed quality: "... when Flaherty made his legendary film Nanook of the North: A Story Of Life and Love In the Actual Arctic (1922) he captured the hardship of the life there but presented it as though there had been no contact with Europeans, guns and gramophones; but these were 'primitives' who helped in the filming! It's a wonderful film and constructs a wonderful fiction out of community life." Flaherty's work excites both admiration and indignation for its recreation and reconstruction of a lost world. Part of is success is its artistry - its artifice (a kind if cunning); its natural nobility that turns out to be a mode of artificiality . Today we are perhaps more conscious than ever of the possibility of fakery and simulation. As inexpensive digital technology progresses it becomes more difficult to tell the difference between fact and fiction; simultaneously we suspec...

Advocates of social film, participatory video and community cinema will be delighted to hear that Surrey County Council in the UK has successfully launched a highly successful Community Film Unit which now operates as a Social Enterprise. Is it too much to hope that every county in the UK will now follow their example? Long live Community-led D.I.Y films! Or D.I.T.  "Do it Together"? To add to their success they have recently been awarded a Social Enterprise Mark. Their website reports: "The Community Film Unit is a registered social enterprise run by a team of skilled graduates who work to empower communities through film and an expanding range of media tools. The Community Film Unit have three social objectives, which are achieved through film, graphic design, photography, web design and music. To raise awareness of local issues To document and promote change within communities To create educational and developmental opportunities for young pe...

For people using science and media for social change... A Newsletter from the Soul Beat Team ... This is the first issue of our special newsletter on Science and Media in Africa. It is intended primarily for journalists, editors, and media institutions and seeks to increase and improve science reporting in Africa. It may also be of interest to anyone interested in science communication and the role of science education in development in Africa. The newsletter contains programme experiences, research reports, resource materials, and support opportunities recently placed on the Soul Beat Africa website and within our newly launched themesite on Science and Media. This initiative is supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). If you know someone who would be interested in receiving this free e-publication, please forward this edition to them. They can "subscribe" by subscribing to The Soul Beat (through the registration proc...

A short blog in which I list my Ten Demons of Domination Specialization . We are alienated from ourselves and our world by our confinement in restricted interest groups and narrow training. We are alienated in our work by being cogs in a fatal machinery of disempowerment. We build a house with one window and place bars across it. The notion of a survey, panorama and global perspective cause fear and anxiety. We doubt our capacity to understand the world and fall back into the safety of the prison house of self and narrow career paths. Age Discrimination works in many ways across contemporary society. In cases of superior seniority the older members oppress the younger. But in our highly stratified societies the younger also exclude the older. Our fashion and beauty industries promote a divided society where youth becomes the premium form of commodification. Top-down organization of society. Despite all the rhetoric of e...

Does documentary have to be gritty, harsh and real? Is there a space for romance and poetry in community film productions? Writing on Documentary and Non Fiction Films in Pakistan, Sarwar Mushtaq has asserted that Internationally, non fiction has already made its place in the mainstream marketplace, and is slowly occupying greater space. In Pakistan, we are catching up, getting both inspiration and encouragement from the global film landscape. Of course it helps that we are also finally moving away from the classic image of the Pakistani documentary as the visual of a man and his ox ploughing the field while a flute from PIA inflight music plays in the background. The last point is an important one for it points to the danger of turning to romance and the picturesque as a way of portraying one's land and one's people. It involves a beautification and hollow myth-making that builds frames within frames of unreality. There is an ox. There is a plough. But that ...

I’m trying to reclaim the notorious surveillance culture of CCTV. I'm not thinking spy-camera in the classroom . Here are some of my attempts to re-frame the use of film making in creative learning environments such as schools and communities: Collaborative Community TV Creative Circuits Transmit Values Community Creates Total Value Camcorders Communicate Training Virus Class Contests Totalitarian Values I'm sure you can create your own re-workings? With a cheap camcorder that costs less than $150, and access to a laptop and free software it’s possible to replace dreary Powerpoints with live action visualization, with dynamic group creativity and critical reflection. In schools, use of film will refresh the creaking machinery of school councils; rejuvenate and revolutionize magazines and text-based documents; transform and supplement field trips and special projects; enliven the prospectus when ...

Kindle and ebooks present a variety of new opportunities for reading and writing that the traditional forms could not and will not offer. Digital 'books' are more than just another version of our familiar and much loved print commodity and objet d'art . First, we will see the development of enhanced reading, in which the text is not merely supplemented by, but integrated with other multi-media. If I am reading an ebook on the History of Rap, one click will allow me to place the examples featured in the book. Similarly colour illustration and video clips also become an affordable option for content, citation, and diversity of approach. Second, improved opportunities for annotation are attractive for the many non-fiction readers who are studying or researching. Again, the transition is toward a more active reading process. Of course I can still underline and comment in the margins of my paper copy, but the ease of use for multi-coloured highlighting, commentin...

Is it surprizing that we are hearing more about the positive role of philanthropy? Is there a pro bono "for the public good" spectre lurking in the heart of every wealthy capitalist entrepreneur and successful business person? What was it Oscar Wilde said? "Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic." He also said, "Philanthropy is the refuge of rich people who wish to annoy their fellow creatures." Today they are back in fashion and philanthropic spirits rule over our impoverished world. If we are seeing  more philanthropy it does not seem to have made much of a difference, does it? And let's admit that even where the state has been rolled back and privatized, social investment by government outnumbers private donations by may hundreds of multiples. The Monster Philanthropy is a very big mouth clutching a very small purse. Does philathropy have any role in social transformation? The first...

Organizers have put together a stimulating programme of talks, discussions and film screenings ... Update from West Midlands Human Rights Film Festival which runs from 6 September - 4 October 2011 in Birmingham "Birmingham International Film Society presents the region's first ever Human Rights Film Festival. The Festival aims to screen a range of films that investigate the notion of human rights in the 21st Century as measured against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. With a wide selection of specially invited guest speakers – filmmakers, commentators, academics and campaigners – our aim is to give audiences the opportunity to discuss and debate the issues highlighted in the films. With recent events at home and abroad, the Arab Spring and the riots across Britain, as well as the consequences of recent conflicts – extraordinary rendition and Guantánamo – the whole concept of human rights has been put under intense scrutiny. What are human rights, who is e...