Bridges Web

Here is a website, bridgesweb.org, that is a platform for stories.

What they do is go out into all corners of the globe, and give people digital cameras... then teach them to tell their stories. The stories then get put on this site.

Brilliant.

Stuart and myself attempted a documentary of sorts in our final year of university. It was about 4 hours long and a lot of fun putting it together. It is very badly, if at all, edited and unlikely to be regularly watched. I did get it cut to dvd though. One day, I hope to learn to edit it myself and put together something more watchable.

I think it is awesome that the tools are almost available for all of us to tell our stories. Digital cameras and cell phones with digital video make all of us journalists. It becomes far harder to hide or control the truth.

As an example, a Chinese colleague told me that the Tibetan monks were slave owners and the society very unpleasant when the Chinese went in to `free Tibet'. The Western versions are somewhat different. Back then, there was no story telling or documentary tools. Both sides heard one version of the story. The colleague also told me that the Dalai Lama was in Beijing at the time of the takeover, and left by his own free will. The Westerners claim he had to dress up and be smuggled over the border on Donkey's back. Two stories.

I think going forward there will be so much documentary evidence through photos, video clips, verbal and written accounts that it will be far harder to create truth without limiting access to alternative versions.

The world may be noisier, and we will have to get better at filtering, BUT I think that with only two versions of most histories it is far harder to find the truth.

Exciting stuff