Strategic Witnessing
What do we talk about when we talk about citizen witnessing? In an era when the phone in one’s pocket has the power to record, broadcast, and even notarize acts of injustice, the simple act of pressing the big red record button suddenly has so much political weight. It also has a longer and deeper reaching history than we sometimes remember.
From today’s global citizen justice movements, to 1991’s ground-breaking Rodney King footage, to Ted Nelson’s utopian spec for an internet ruled by micropayments, to the architecture of the First Amendment, the citizen’s right to bear witness has taken many forms. Join us for a discussion with technologists and activists about the arresting power of the digital image, and the political currency of user-generated content.
Moderated by Harlo Holmes, with Yvonne Ng, Jackie Zammuto, and Sydette Harry.
“A lot has changed in the past twenty-three years [since the founding of Witness] and now everyone has a camera for the most part. But we’re now confronted with the question, does more video equal more justice?”
Author: Deep Lab