VIDEO HUB blog

CAPITALIZING on the popularity of camera-equip cellphones, a consumer watchdog group on Monday appealed to the populace to lend their hand in ensuring a credible and honest election this May by taking photographs of any violation of election laws using their phones.
Read more at The Sun

In a country where political sms messages are a norm and are able to rally hundreds of thousands to the streets of Manila in an uprising against President Joseph Estrada in 2001. It will be interesting to see what 'evidence' comes to light.

Posted by Tina Gongsakdi at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's another article I came across from the Unmediated feed. Drupal is a leading contender as the platform for development of the hub, this article from newassignment.net talks about how Drupal is being used by sites like Ourmedia, and the Onion.

Posted by Bryan Nunez at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a somewhat timely turn of events relative to my last post about Google Video, Google has just announced that Google Video will become a search engine for video content posted anywhere online. Users now get search results from YouTube in addition to Google Video.

Here's a full article from Arstechnica.

Posted by Bryan Nunez at 04:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Re-Remediated (again) from unmediated, who got it from JD at Social Media.

Our friend from blip.tv, Mike Hudack, wrote an article a with some handy guidlines at Video Vertigo:.

• Aggregators should always identify the individual show, videoblog or video podcast in their index, and include a link to the appropriate site for that show. When possible, the link should be to the show's own Web site, when that's impossible the link should be to the show's presence on a service provider's Web site.

• Aggregators should always conduct video playback in the video's original player, rather than the aggregator's player. ...

• In one way or another the aggregator should make clear that the video content they're displaying is aggregated, and not originally uploaded to the aggregator's Web site.

Posted by Bryan Nunez at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By now most of you have already heard that Mayor Bloomberg has announced a program that will allow people who call 911 to also send images and videos from their cellphones. It was also mentioned on SNL's Weekend Update last night.

Posted by Bryan Nunez at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Barack Obama announced his potential run for president last Tuesday, but not on any of the major media outlets, rather on Brightcove, a sort of YouTube for business.

This article from LostRemote explains.

Posted by Bryan Nunez at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Despite some other things that Google has done in the past, they are still make a lot of useful tools. The latest one I came across might be really good for allowing people to discuss videos posted to the hub.

The Google Video "Permalink" allows you to create a link to a specific point in the video. The article in Make you go hmm provides some good examples on how it works.

Using the "Outlawed" piece on Google video I've linked to 7minutes, 2 seconds into the video where Binyam is quoted about why he chose to go to Britain rather than the US.

Posted by Bryan Nunez at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This award is a joint effort established by Squidoo.com, NetSquared, and GetActive, designed to recognize nonprofits who are setting new standards in savvy Internet marketing. We were nominated for the Hub Pilot and web 2.0 smarts.

Posted by Tina Gongsakdi at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you have been following the developments of the Hub (no longer Video Hub) over the past months, you will know that safety and security of users and the people portrayed in the media is a very big concern of ours. It is one of the main reasons if not THE reason why we did not choose to simply build our Hub on YouTube or similar platforms.

HRW's 2007 World Report has a great essay on internet censorship and surveillance Technology as a Restraint: Internet Censorship and Surveillance.

Not only do we have to be concerned about our site being blocked, but increased surveillance and data collection make maintaining a user's identity even more critical.

Posted by Tina Gongsakdi at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2007 promises to be a big year for the Hub! We are already looking to grow the Hub staff and are currently seeking a Hub Manager to oversee all aspects of the Hub during development and roll out, scheduled to take place Summer 2007. For more information and how to apply please see the job description on the WITNESS site. Please pass it along to anyone you think might be interested.

Additionally, we are reaching out to ally organizations to strengthen and advance the Hub in areas such as content, technical, outreach, or media support. For additional information regarding how you or your organization may be involved either as allies or as beta testers please contact tina@witness.org.

Posted by Tina Gongsakdi at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Happy New Year. It's been awhile since the last entry, but better late than never I guess.

A lot has happened in the last year with user generated content culminating with Time Magazine's Person of the Year being "You." In particular, video from camera phones has gotten a lot of press attention with the notable examples of a student at UCLA being tasered by campus security and the execution of Saddam Hussein.

This article from ABC News is about how video surveillance cameras were used to capture a serial killer in Philadelphia. Watching footage from around 50 surveillance cameras around the city, police were able to piece together the direction and eventual location of the killer.

There is an interesting debate happening on Slashdot regarding the pros and cons of the panopticon, primarily concerns over privacy, transparency, and accountability - who controls the camera. Given these two trends - widespread use of cellphone video and the increasing sophistication of ubiquitous surveillance cameras - I think the "Participatory Panopticon" becomes even more important.

Posted by Bryan Nunez at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)