Steve Saint was here about a month ago and spoke in our Friday chapel. I got to spend some time with him and we talked about an idea I was rolling around in my mind to take his concept for non-verbal, completely visual technical training (thus doing an end run around language barriers) and applying it to video production. I’m still pondering the roadblocks that would have to be worked through, but I think that if tribal people can learn to do dentistry and fly aircraft (which has already been proven), then they can learn to make video.
A week or two ago one of my current students told me about some technology developments he’d heard about and sent me some URL’s to look up. The most exciting one was this:
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
MIT is developing a $100 laptop. It will not be sold in stores but is meant for government distribution to school children all over the world. From what the site says, it appears the machines will be able to do most of what any current laptop is able to do except for having mass storage ability. Basic video editing should be possible with such a machine. The other URL I received was this one:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1591602,00.html
a story about paper thin video monitors costing pennies that are slated to actually be bound into magazines for Harry Potter-style moving images on a page. This isn’t exactly germane to my current topic as far as I can see at this point, but it may play in somehow.
Another more widely known technology advance is the tapeless video camcorder. These are showing up in various forms at under $100. The quality leaves a bit to be desired in the current units (1/4 screen size, 10 to 15 frames per second, and limited recording time) but that is easily addressed. Clearly, this is the direction video recording is going. Perhaps the most dramatic application of this technology is in the area of kiddy “toy” camcorders that are on the market now for this Christmas. Check out the Hasbro VCam
http://www.hasbro.com/tigertoys/pl/page.vcamnow/dn/default.cfm
or the Mattel Vidster
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000023058474/ It’s not lost on me and is actually a bit jarring that these technologies have been brought to my attention within weeks of the above mentioned idea surfacing. Here we have the first generation of tools with the essential qualities to make the above vision possible: kid proof toughness, easy to operate, and dirt cheap.
A third thing is also happening at the same time that has me really thinking about the ramifications of all this. I won’t go into it in detail here as you can read all about it elsewhere, but the situation in Venezuela with President Chavez stating his intention to kick all New Tribes Mission workers out of the country is hanging in the balance at this time. Chavez stated about a month ago that he had made his decision and New Tribes was being kicked out and there was going to be no further discussion. But my missionary friend down there emails updates fairly regularly with stories such as that of indigenous people spending days on the rivers to make their way into the cities to try to get their voices heard. Some are getting into the newspapers. A couple of guys got on TV and stated that they are sick and tired of anthropologists in the cities making decisions for them and trying to control how they live out in their villages. Many are saying that the government has done little or nothing for them and the missionaries are the only ones who have ever provided any real help. Many Venezuelans are rising and speaking out against the president’s decision. The last I heard a departure date in mid February has been talked about but the official documents making this a legal order have not been signed yet. Interesting.
Okay, what if the folks in the backcountry of Venezuela had the ability to make videos about their lives and were able to show what was actually going on in their villages? Remember, many of these folks are illiterate, so their communication would have to be aural and/or visual, not written. I have read so much ridiculous conjecture on the internet about what’s best for indigenous people, what they want, and the evils of missionaries coming in to exploit and destroy cultures from people who have obviously never been there to see for themselves the actual state of affairs. The most powerful refutation is to quote what indigenous people themselves are saying. But how much more powerful it would be if they were empowered to tell their own stories. What if scores of village groups in Venezuela right now were able to make videos and tell their side and show irrefutable proof about the reality there to blow away all the opinions tossed around by far away, ignorant, but nevertheless influential outsiders? What if these stories were able to be uploaded in very short order to the internet for all the world to see? A great deal of pressure could be brought to bear in a situation such as this and Chavez’ self-serving political agenda would be plainly evident.
So, there we go. For a long time I have been waiting for the price/performance of video technology to develop to the place where using video communication in missions would be affordable for any organization. It just didn’t occur to me that the precipitous drop in cost would continue right past that point to where equipping jungle villages to make TV would be easily possible. The training component to put this tool into the hands of illiterate people would be the biggest hurdle in my thinking. But what a powerful thing that would be! I’ve tried to think of a downside. This technology could get into the hands of folks who would want to use it for evil. But I got to thinking that is already the case. Every terrorist group has a camcorder and gets their videos on Al Jazeera or our network news to show off their latest hostage. So the bad guys already have weapons. What will happen if we give a weapon of truth to good people?
I for one think that this needs to happen. It’s highly likely that it will happen eventually whether we like it or not. But we may need to help it penetrate to the most remote peoples who up until now have had virtually no voice at all.
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