Remixing human rights: Rethinking civic expression, representation and personal security in online video

Abstract

This essay examines how remixes that combine human rights footage with popular songs complicate our understanding of the relationship between media production and civic participation. We argue that editing and compositing complicates establishing the authenticity of source material and that rapid dissemination of digital files through distributed networks may compromise the agency of victims. Furthermore, we raise questions about how so-called “conflict porn” that depicts graphic violence is received by Internet audiences. We offer a number of basic ethical principles for remixers of citizen journalism to consider in the post-Arab Spring milieu.

Redrawing boundaries: WITNESS and the politics of citizen videos

“…Simmering debates over the acceptable limits of what was appropriate to share online came to the fore, including with respect to how such decisions should be made, by whom, when, and why. 'As we find horrific images only a click away, each of us individually, as well as technology companies, newsrooms, and society as a whole are grappling with what images we should see', Bair maintained, 'and if there are ones to which we should not bear witness' (see also Gregory and Losh, 2012). Compounding matters for WITNESS' curatorial work were examples of manipulated footage that surfaced that year in places such as Gaza and Ukraine, making the work of confirming authenticity particularly challenging.…”

Gardening Metadata in the New Media Ecology: A Manifesto (of Sorts) for Ethnographic Film

“…This meaning resonates with more recent scholarship on the information age. Manuel Castells (2001:36), for example, has emphasized the role of "producers/users" in the rise of the Internet culture and network society, and numerous theorists of new media have focused attention on the productive agencies of users, amateurs, and fans (Coppa 2008;Gregory and Losh 2012;Ito 2010;Jenkins 2006;Manovich 2002). This blurring of the categories professional producer and amateur consumer is fundamental to the profound changes in media production and consumption addressed in this essay for their significance to ethnographic film.…”

“…Those interested in Pacific cultures and stories will enjoy this film and the way the story unfolds through the exploration of various perspectives. The European scientists' attitude and ignorance of local kastom (custom) makes one feel uncomfortable and clearly raises the question of whose knowledge matters and who should benefit from research, questions that have increasingly been raised in Melanesia and the Pacific region (see Gegeo and Watson Gegeo 2002). The film does not offer a solution but seems to call for more collaborative research, incorporating traditional knowledge with scientific knowledge.…”

Community Uses of Co-creative Media Digital storytelling and Co-creative Media: The role of community arts and media in propagating and coordinating population-wide creative practice

“…WITNESS has been looking practically at how such information might be embedded in media items via its collaboration with the Guardian Project on new metadata standards. (Gregory and Losh, 2012) The current research suggests that there are at least two layers of ethical responsibilities that CCM practitioners may need to consider. These may be framed as:…”