I'm so excited! In a couple of days, video bloggers Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson will be in Cambodia doing some work with Project Hope International to help them document the work they're doing to rehabilitate people involved in human trafficking. They are taking some video cameras, including 3 Kiddie Vcams donated by Doug from the video bloggers list. (Thank you Doug!)
I must share the back story. Several months ago, Jay Dedman mentioned on the video bloggers list that he had all these leftover t-shirts from 2006 VloggerCon and that he was moving and offered them to anyone on the list. The Sharing Foundation is always looking for new summer cloths to send over there, so I asked Jay for the t-shirts to give to the college students sponsored by the Sharing Foundation.
The t-shirts were delivered to the students in May - here's a blog post about it. After that post, I got an email from Doug offering to donate the kiddie cameras.
Since Februrary, Jay and I have traded emails about what it would take for the Sharing Foundation to do a video blog. My holy grail would be something ongoing along the lines of the project in India. I spent some time talking to Dr. Hendrie, the Sharing Foundation's founder and president, to educate her about video blogging I created this video post. We were both excited by the possibility, but acknowledged the challenges -- for example, no electricity. And, of course, there are many pressing projects and needs.
In April, at the NTC Conference I organized a video blogging panel with Jonny Goldstein and Andy Carvin. I met Christina Arnold who told me about her NGO and their work in Cambodia. She invited to come, but this summer's work deadlines for screencasts just didn't permit it. I thought a better option would be to have Jay and Ryanne. And here you go ...
So, the three kiddies cams are going over to the Sharing Foundation's computer school in Roteang Village and we will see what happens. It's baby steps. We have another camera, a Cannon Powershot going over and Ryanne and Jay will hopefully train TSF staff and some of the college kids in the art of moment capture. Then, the TSF staff email me the regular clips and I put them on blip. It is just a seed to get it started - there's a lot more work to be done - like learning how to do the video editing and posting on the Internet. But there are Internet access and equipment issues.
On another note, I received an invitation from my Cambodian bloggers colleagues to attend the first Cambodian Bloggers summit. It's at the end of August. There is no money for travel and it would cost me more than I earn in a month to send myself. So, I'm trying to figure out a way to cover the travel costs and go - and then attend the conference, and see if there are any potential video bloggers there to carry this further. Right now it is pipe dream, so stay tuned. If you have advice or suggestions, let me know.
we really appreciate the connection Beth. It's a dream of mine to one day go online and see personal video from people around the world. Having worked in developing countries, there are so manhy challenges for this to be a reality.
In Cambodia, Ill be happy to teach the students to use the cameras...and then play the videos back on the TV so they can see themselves.
Posted by: jay dedman | July 14, 2007 at 10:24 PM
I'm such a sap. Your posts often make my eyes moist and get me off my chair to yell hurray. This post certainly did!
There are so many seeds planted I'm eager to watch grow. In particular I'm so interested to watch what happens with the kiddie cams and Cannon camera at the Roteang village school. This method of sharing information with digital media has great implications for areas with limited electricity and connections.
August is such short notice and I don't have any money anyway. So it's a matter of finding ways to raise money for your trip. Be sure to let us know how we can help when it looks like you're setting the wheels in motion to actually go.
Posted by: John Powers | July 15, 2007 at 01:10 PM
Hi John,
Thanks for your kind note! It's partly a money thing, but also it is a week when school is out and summer camp is finished. And, of course, there are big work deadlines .. what else is new? So that's another set of challenges.
I feel a little compelled to go ... I'll probably also do a little campaign on the blog too if push full speed ahead button .. A little scary.
Here's a great video from Doug who donated the vcams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAjmXsph_gI
Posted by: Beth Kanter | July 16, 2007 at 10:23 AM