James Scudamore explores how the Flip video camera has empowered citizen journalists in India:
Activism of this kind isn’t new, but affordable cameras have turbocharged its potential. In the past, the best tool an NGO like Video Volunteers had at its disposal was a magazine article or a radio broadcast. Then, in 2006, a small San Francisco-based firm called Pure Digital Technologies launched the low-budget Flip camera. The product was so successful that Pure Digital was bought out in 2009 by the data and networking company Cisco Systems, and its arrival in India changed things completely. Once recruited by Video Volunteers, each correspondent is given in-depth training. They are lent a camera of their own, and receive 1,500 rupees (about £15) per video, with the promise of 5,000 rupees for an impact [follow-up] film. The rise of smartphones and its own move away from consumer products led Cisco to discontinue the Flip in 2011. Video Volunteers petitioned Cisco to donate all its remaining stock and emerged with 583 cameras to keep themselves going until an affordable device with file-sharing capabilities becomes available in India—at which point things will snowball even more. You don’t have to wait for universal web access, it seems, to achieve some of its positive effects: the analogue internet is up and running, and networks are in place for when things go digital.
(Video: short documentary about Video Volunteers)
The Dish 