Solitary Squares to Collaborative Circles
The motivation and thinking behind the development of the world’s first Participatory Video App
by Gareth Benest, Director of Programmes, InsightShare
The idea of creating a participatory video app has been swirling around at InsightShare for around four years, though what it actually meant or entailed had never been fully imagined or defined. There was a sense that its time had come, yet it remained an unformed idea and an unfulfilled ambition.
Personally, I was at best agnostic about the idea and at worst downright hostile. In-keeping with the reputation I have amongst colleagues for being the ‘pv policeman ’ who is fiercely protective over the authenticity and rigor of the participatory video method*, I simply couldn’t imagine how an app might do anything except dilute and threaten the practice.
Furthermore, I have long held serious misgivings about mobile devices and the opportunities they appear to present to the field of participatory video. For years my colleagues and I have vigorously defended the use of camcorders (remember them?) in participatory video processes against the march of their hand-held rivals. It all began with the development of Flip-style video cameras; roughly the size and shape of a mobile phone and custom-designed for instant transfer of videos to a computer. They were (relatively) affordable, very easy-to-use, robustly built, the video produced was half-decent, and they could accommodate a range of accessories including good-quality microphones. So what’s not to like?
Well, at its core, participatory video is a collaborative activity. It relies on groups of participants working together to co-create their videos, as part of a wider collective effort to explore, investigate, interrogate and communicate on a chosen issue or theme. Small teams of participants can easily congregate around a camcorder and involve themselves in a range of production roles (which are rotated constantly, to ensure maximum access and participation) such as Director, Camera Operator, Sound Recordist, Boom Operator etc. Once you include Interviewers, Interviewees, Presenters etc. it’s easy to actively engage over half a dozen people in the production of each shot or sequence in the production. In this way, collectively authored videos are produced of which everyone has contributed equally.
Smartphones and tablets are by their nature highly individualistic. They are designed to be operated and enjoyed by one person at a time, and that, in turn, is how we understand and relate to them. We engage with tablets and smartphones like books: absorbing ourselves in them to the exclusion of all that surrounds us. They are our personal portals for accessing new worlds or documenting and understanding the world around us. They are great, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t exactly shout out: “come on everybody, let’s work together...pass this around!”. It’s difficult to work collectively around a mobile device in the same way as around a camcorder, particularly given our assumptions, our starting point with smartphones and tablets.
Unfortunately, however, our beloved camcorders are rapidly becoming obsolete. For years the market for video cameras has been split between catering to the consumer, for whom producing ever cheaper and smaller models has meant stripping out any (apparently) superfluous functions, and the ‘prosumer’ who gets all the latest gizmos but at eye-watering prices. This is a serious issue for us given that, in (almost) all of our projects, we leave the equipment behind with the communities in which we are working, whether that be as part of a capacity-building process (training local facilitators) or a straightforward participatory video process where a group has made a video on a particular theme, for a specific purpose, yet retain the skills in production and often the keen desire to continue using video for social change purposes.
One of the most frequent issues we have faced over the years has been finding camcorders at reasonable prices that include both a headphone input and an external microphone input. Both are essential for anyone planning to record even half-decent sound, however they seem to be the first functionality stripped from a camcorder in order to reduce its size or cost, rarely both. Consequently camcorders that are appropriate for participatory video have remained stubbornly expensive, pushing project budgets higher and higher and increasing the pressure to make the transition to the cheaper, hand-held devices.
The pressure to adapt our participatory video approach to incorporate this new world of mobile devices is significant and growing. As that pressure has grown so has my appreciation of the opportunities mobile devices present in the world of community-authored video. In addition to having half-decent cameras (which are improving all the time), tablets can be used by participants to: draw and review storyboards; take notes between shots; input additional meta-data; record quotes; consult guidebooks and other resources; screen back to small groups, edit and disseminate their videos ‘on the go’ and all within the device itself. Tablets in particular tend to be highly accessible - large screens replacing tiny viewfinders, big icons instead of fiddly little buttons - and visually appealing.
Yet the question ‘how to incorporate mobile devices without sacrificing fundamental aspects of the approach such as: collective action, group working, equal participation, collaborative authoring and shared ownership’ have, until now, remained largely unanswered. Innovation and adaptation, pushing the boundaries and sharing the outcomes is a major obsession for the team at InsightShare. In typical fashion we grasped the nettle, faced the challenge, applied ourselves to the fundamental questions and began development on the world’s first Participatory Video App, so far as we know.
The name of the app we are developing is: PVA
It’s an acronym of Participatory Video App but also a commonly used term for Polyvinyl Alcohol, which is a glue. PVA is a bonding agent.
Our mission is to disrupt the individualistic nature of video-making on mobile devices by creating free platform through which groups can collaborate and co-create in the real world. Through the development of the PVA we intend to open access to participatory video for groups who might benefit from collaborative exploration and filmmaking processes, but without the necessary resources to support the external facilitation, training and support required.
So, I should probably explain what it does...or will do, when it’s complete. We are as far as a working prototype and eagerly looking forward to beginning the next stage in the development process.
The app is designed to guide groups through a sequence of activities that emulate key aspects and workflows in the participatory video process. It provides a framework for groups to learn basic video skills through the same experiential, action-based, reflective processes that are familiar to a normal facilitated participatory video workshop.
Groups can use their mobile devices (ideally tablets) to undertake classic exercises like ‘Name Game’, ‘Questions In A Row’, ‘Show & Tell’ and ‘Devil’s Advocate’. Each exercise leads the group through the action-reflection-action cycle central to the iterative learning model. Each time an action is performed the app encourages the group to review their footage, discuss their responses, formulate key learning points, and determine future actions; through a series of simple questions and prompts.
As the groups skills and confidence in operating the device and filmmaking as a group grows so the process leads gradually into formulating a shared focus and intention for the process. It guides groups through making decisions about what to record, why and who should see it. The app incorporates simple planning tools such as visual storyboards, which feed into the production process by becoming visual prompts the pop-up and remind the group what they intended to record.
Crucially, the app enables multiple mobile devices to work together on the same project with the same plans, tags, users etc. A large group of people can participate in the exercises and planning before splitting into smaller sub-groups to record specific scenes or sequences in the group video. Once footage is recorded the devices sync with one another through an amazing function which creates a dedicated wireless network (not bluetooth and not online) over which files can be immediately shared. This allows footage to be pooled on a central device and editing in one place, keeping it all collective and collaborative.
Ultimately we intend for the entire app to be operable by groups with little or no literacy. In the future we intend that PVA will be navigated through a combination of visual and audio prompts only. We plan for users to include their own visuals to replace icons and to form their own image-based meta-data (e.g. a photo of a local tree becomes the tag for a tree). Of course, using the app will require at least one person to have basic knowledge of operating a mobile device, not least to install the app in the first place. So we are assuming that someone with access to the devices will be able to play the role of an ‘initiator’ in the process. They will have access to help screens that guide each aspect of the process through visuals and prompts, and we will offer an online support service so that users can contact us for advice setting up and using the app.
Eventually we hope to create bespoke versions of the app for organisations and individuals who wish to use it for very specific processes such as direct advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, research, community consultation etc.
For now we are still in the development phase and are keen to hear from any organisations or groups who would like to take part in user-testing (during 2015) or who can offer skills or other resources necessary to realise the world’s first participatory video app.
* Participatory video is a form of participatory media in which a group or community creates their own film. The idea behind this is that making a video is easy and accessible, and is a great way of bringing people together to explore issues, voice concerns or simply to be creative and tell stories. It is therefore primarily about process, though high quality and accessible films (products) can be created using these methods if that is a desired outcome. This process can be very empowering, enabling a group or community to take their own action to solve their own problems, and also to communicate their needs and ideas to decision-makers and/or other groups and communities. As such, participatory video can be a highly effective tool to engage and mobilise marginalised people, and to help them to implement their own forms of sustainable development based on local needs.
