THe 3rd video edit is up. If this doesn't touch you, you're not ****ing human...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4B5wypBaJM[/media]

I think this video might ease a longing desire I've had for sometime now...

I've been wanting to do something meaningful on the North Korea Human Rights front for over year --- ever since I saw the CNN-aired documentary Undercover in the Secret State and heard about the world-wide human rights conference hosted in Seoul around the same time -- if I remember correctly.

I did do something that took a good bit of time and effort and was somewhat satisfying back then: by emailing and posting stuff in the comments section of several of the expat blogs in the K-blogsphere, I was able to hook up via email and snail mail with Brendon Brown.

I had hoped we'd get more interest in the conference among the bloggers and we'd be able to get video of each day and presentations by all the big time orgs on the NKHR front - since none of them were going to take advantage of internet broadban and film it (I had emailed most of them about it beforehand)....

....anyway, Brendon was the only expat who was both going to the conference and willing to video some of it and sent it to me.

The result was this site.

My hopes were bracketed - which is how I think about most things: At minimum, I wanted to offer on a continual basis ---- as the wonderful internet allows us these days ----- at least some coverage of the event for people like myself --- not in Korea but wanting to attend. At best, I hoped the work would give these organizations some idea of what they could be doing with multi-media on the internet.

I sent the groups an email after I finished the video edits and webpages explaining that this was all set up on the fly by 2 guys thousands of miles and the Pacific Ocean apart who didn't know each other from Adam just a few days before the conference took place...

....but as of then, and I believe still to this day, it was the only internet coveage of the conference available.

I've preached on the blogs a few times how easy, affordable, and such a no-brainer putting together C-Span-like videos is. Unless there is some hitch I don't know about, it makes no sense to me why these groups have not made their message available online in multi-media format....

Even something as great as Undercover in the Secret State was - and how much attention it gathered right away in the world media ---- if it isn't ready for on-demand airing, it is literally ---- yesterday's news.

There is some great material to read online about NK's Human Rights situation. I have linked to some of the ones I know about in one of the "sticky threads" on this section of USFK Forums.

But, I believe, this material is primarily great for ---- people already invested in knowing about the issue. Yes, I am sure it pulls in a significant number of people month-to-month ---- year-to-year........

....but the sad fact is most people don't take the time to read.....

Video-on-demand is something so many more are willing to give a try --- so many more than those willing to download a pdf file with 50 pages in it....

And a site should use 2 forms of video: 1. The C-Span lecture type stuff that is highly informative ----- and ---- 2. Things like these videos I'm making these days ---- something that attempts to reach out through the screen and grab you by the heart --- or slap you upside the head ---- to give you the desire to spend time watching the boring lecture type videos or even reading a thick pdf document....

Which is why I am finally a little happy with my effort on NK Human Rights to date....

...The NK Human Rights Conference webpages and videos took a lot of time, and I felt good about the effort, but it didn't accomplish much.

The videos get a trickle of traffic, but as far as I know right now, and I haven't checked in awhile, the big NKHR orgs haven't taken advantage of the revolution of broadban internet access.......and the site doesn't pull in enough traffic to hook much of anybody into learning more....

This video today ---- however ------ I think ------ has a shot of doing much better.....

....I think it has the potential to convince some people to type in the url addresses I put at the start and end of the video ---- urls for the orgs that do much direct work with refugees and pressuring governments.....

I'm not a part of those groups, so I can't do much good that way. I also quickly scrapped the other portion of the North Korea Human Rights website I had created along with the conference material --- because there were already so many sites with much more information in their heads and such greater access to information sources (like One Free Korea's excellent work) ---- I would never be able to catch up or do anything close to the good work they do.......I'm too far behind and too isolated....

So, I dumped the other NK pages I had started on and decided to stick with the anti-US/USFK stuff (since I think I'm about the only show in town on that issue....)

but.......I think with this video (and perhaps the others).....I might get to add something..........If this video doesn't move people, they have no heart..........and if it hits a viewer like I think it might.......it might get them to take the time to learn more about the issue and even type in the urls to the NKHR ngos and donate some money. That would make me very happy....

I've had a mind to do videos like this for a long time, but not long after getting that website up, I entered a MA student-teacher training program and have been extremely busy....until my father's recent illness.

Now, I have a lot of time on my hands, too much and too much pressure needing a distraction, and I was able to finally do something.....