Video

Digital Stories for Transformation documents stories rarely told, and rarely heard. Organised by Women's Net, an organisation working to advance gender equality and justice in South Africa, these videos allow women to share their personal experiences of surviving violence through digital storytelling. The approach allows people to use animation, photos, music, and live video to tell first-person stories. These are then distributed to human rights advocates, policy-makers, and service and aid workers.

Wanting to raise public interest around the funding crisis for health in Sub-Saharan Africa and extend their support base to a young audience who would mobilise around this issue, ARASA turned to creative campaign tactics.

This documentary film produced by Witness in partnership with AJEDI-Ka, a DRC-based nonprofit organisation, tells the personal stories of child soldiers. After the release of the video, the international criminal court brought charges against those in the Congolese military who had enlisted child soldiers.

The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) used digital video to document abusive conditions and human rights violations reported by sex workers detained in so-called  ‘rehabilitation’ centres in Cambodia.  Sex workers interviewed after their release and escape told personal stories of assault, rape, and denial of access to clean food, water, and medicine.  They posted this video on YouTube and blip.tv, and presented it at a day of action for 500 sex workers in Phnom Penh.

Top Goon: Diaries of a Little Dictator is a 13-episode series, broadcast on YouTube, that was created by an anonymous group of actors from within Syria who go by the name of Masasit Mati. With a simple set and finger puppet characters they impersonate Assad, along with generic figures such as “the peaceful protester” and “Shabih”, a member of the state-sponsored militia.

ZA news is a satirical web-tv show that lampoons South Africa's politicians and current affairs. First aired in 2009, its format is a news show made to look and sound like the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). After commissioning the pilot, the SABC refused to air it. It is now shown online reaching 10% of the South African population who have access to internet.

In February 2011, after watching the late Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi give an hour-long speech in an attempt to regain control, Israeli DJ Noy Alooshe acted quickly. Using video software and Auto-Tune, a tool to digitally distort voices, Alooshe spliced snippets of Gaddafi's speech with beats from American rappers T Pain and Pitbull's hit 'Hey Baby'. Within 24 hours he had uploaded the mash-up to YouTube. After just one week, the video had been viewed 2.7 million times.

The website Iamjan25.com collects images and videos captured by demonstrators in Tahrir Square, where hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered on 25 January 2011 to protest against the regime of then-president Hosni Mubarak. It is a collection of eye-witness accounts recording this significant piece of history from the point of view of the people on the ground. Containing over 7,000 videos and pictures, the website is the largest online archive of its kind.

To provide a visual representation of the problems that the 1.7 million Gaza Strip residents encounter on a daily basis, an Israeli NGO, Gisha, created a Virtual Tour of Gaza. Through an interactive map of the Strip containing text, images and video, viewers can see how restricted access policies have affected local infrastructure and education, as well as the economy.

Taking up the baton from Areej Khan's 'We the Women' campaign against the fatwa on women driving in Saudi Arabia. The Women2Drive campaign has used Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter to mobilise support and take a stronger stand against the ban.