[sustran] Global South Mobility - open video library in process. For comments and suggestions

[Eric Britton]

Dear Friends,

 

I would like to invite those of us here at Sustran who have a feel for this sort
of thing to have a look at and provide some guiding comments on the nascent
collection of a few more than fifty video clips on the topic of, we are calling
it, Global South Mobility. As you will see below it is one of three informal
video libraries that we have just pulled together on an experimental basis to
see if this might in fact be a useful additional tool in our as yet far to
limited set of tools and strategies for dealing with the – we think very special
– problems of mobility, environment and the economy in the cities of the global
south. 

 

Since I approach this with some trepidation, while at the same time being
convinced that something along these lines is very definitely called for, I
would like to invite views and suggestions on this topic here. For the purposes
of getting the ball rolling, I will start here with a set of bullet points
concerning which you may wish to comment. My hope here is that this process of
exchange and group consultation will make all this more useful (if indeed it
deserves to exist at all, which is maybe something else that you might wish to
share your views on.)

 

1.	Global South differentness: Those fifty plus videos – especially if you
view them in the context provided by the other two libraries indicated below —
certainly make it clear that the mobility problems of our cities in the
developing world are very very different from the experience of, let’s call it,
the Old World ;-).


2.	Uses: Despite the fact that these have all been contributed by amateurs,
and in most cases visitors (and often very naïve visitors), to me these views of
the city and its traffic have to have considerable usefulness. If only for
students and as a stark reminder to anyone who has not lived and tried to get
around in places like Quito, Lagos, Saigon, Manila and the long list goes on.
And for transport professionals, the media and even those organizations who are
trying to do something about these conditions. What is it that they say about
the value of a picture . . . ?


3.	Organization: Let’s bear in mind that if this is what we managed to find
by fishing for a first day around the web for clips that could easily be
incorporated here (and mainly via YouTube), and as such should be viewed as a
quick first cut. We can do better if we put our heads together on this.
Moreover, by creating such an open library, we can make this better known and
invite more structured and complete views of what is going on. (And as you are
aware there are alternatives to YouTube in this fast developing slice of the
web, including www.google.video <http://www.google.video/> ,
http://www.ifilm.com/, http://creative.gettyimages.com/, and others. After
having a quick look at the lot, we decided to work with YouTube for at least
this first round. You may have other ideas on this, and if so please do let us
know.)


4.	Content: And if thus far most of what you see here underscores the
problems and chaos of traffic in these cities, an important part of this library
will in time also be to provide a central place for exposing good ideas, new
programs and remedial approaches which are coming out of the Global South. It is
my hope that this is going to prove a rich and highly useful reference. The
first things we will doubtless see here will be views of some of the new BRT
projects which are springing up all over the place. But I am sure that we will
see a lot more as we get together to build up this new public resource.


5.	Openness:  What is it that they say is the best way to destroy a good
idea? To organize it?  To my mind that is the challenge here. The idea should be
not to impose all kinds of structure and attitudes, as invariably happens when
something along these lines is carried out by a government organization with a
specified mandate and higher-ups to satisfy -- what we want to do here is to
create an evocative, attractive, varied and useful framework for people to add
to and use for their own purposes. 


6.	Internal Structure: I am trying to communicate a few thoughts on how we
can have a more easily accessible site to the YouTube people. And if you have
your own suggestions for them, if you let me know I can try to put them into the
pipeline.


7.	Bottom line? To my mind I have long been convinced that the two most
important differentiating and shaping phenomena in these cities of the South are
(a) the massive issues surrounding two/three wheel vehicles, and especially
those with motors; and (b) small vehicle, usually entrepreneurial transport
(such as colectivos, small buses, share taxis, etc.).  Neither really has had a
;place in the transportation curricula of most of our specialized institutions
and agencies, and both are treated either in a mainly negative fashion or, more
often, not at all (at least from a strategic perspective).  


8.	Guidelines:  Might it be useful for us to get together to assemble some
rough guidelines to help those who may wish to prepare their own videos along
these lines?  Think of it from your personal perspective, If you were to go out
on the street to take shots of carry out interviews in an attempt to make your
point, might it be helpful for you to have a couple of pages of technical
counsel to help you do this better? Let us know and we can see what can be
offered. 



There is more to it than that of course, but I hope that these first thoughts
will be of some use and stimulate your comments and suggestions. That after all
is why we are here.

 

Eric Britton

 

PS When are we going to see your first video?

 

 


 <http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMobilityAgenda> 

New Mobility Agenda <http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMobilityAgenda> 

What you have here is for now what we call a thinking exercise. The idea is to
play with the site a bit and see if in good order we can create a useful video
library in support of the New Mobility Agenda at http://www.newmobility.org and
its associated collaborative programs. My thought was to begin by plugging in a
first set of films, and then to What you have here is for now what we call a
thinking exercise. The idea is to play with the site a bit and see if in good
order we can create a useful video library in support of the New Mobility Agenda
at http://www.newmobility.org and its associated collaborative programs. My
thought was to begin by plugging in a first set of films, and then to think
together about the internal organization of the site so that people will have
rapid access to the topic areas of particular interest to them (examples,
carsharing, economic instruments, cycle support, public spaces, etc.) And then
only when we are confident that this is going to be easy to use and useful,
should we take it public. Your reactions?
Related New Mobility Video Library Groups:
* New Mobility Agenda – http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMob ilityAgenda
* World Carshare Consortium - http://www.youtube.com/group/carsha re 
* Old Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmob ility 
* Global South Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/global south

... (more <http://www.youtube.com/groups_my> ) (less
<http://www.youtube.com/groups_my> ) 

Tags:

Sustainable transport, cities, walk, cycle, public space

Status: Public
Created: July 12, 2006, 08:23 AM
 


 

 

 


 <http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmobility> 

Old <http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmobility>  Mobility (Oops)

This is intended to work as a supporting subset of the New Mobility Agenda video
library site here and the full NMA program at http://www.newmobility.org. (If
you are not sure as to what “old mobility” means in this context, we can refer
you to http://www.ecoplan.org/briefs/general/old-mobility.htm from the New
Mobility Advisory/Briefs program This is intended to work as a supporting subset
of the New Mobility Agenda video library site here and the full NMA program at
http://www.newmobility.org. (If you are not sure as to what “old mobility” means
in this context, we can refer you to http://www.ecoplan.org/briefs/gener
al/old-mobility.htm from the New Mobility Advisory/Briefs program at
http://www.newmobilityadvisory.org.

In the following we are still very much at the play and think stage here. And as
with the other sub-sets here (including till now: Old Mobility, New Mobility,
and World Carshare) part of our challenge is not only to seek striking examples
of both problems and solutions, but also to lay the whole thing out in a way
that makes it easy to navigate, view and learn from. For now this is begin
organized as a collegial invitation-only activity during the development or
“thinking exercise” stage. Once we have something worthy in hand, we can see
what we will do next.

Related video library Groups:
* New Mobility Agenda – http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMob ilityAgenda
• World Carshare Consortium - http://www.youtube.com/group/carsha re 
* Old Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmob ility 
* Global South Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/global south
... (more <http://www.youtube.com/groups_my> ) (less
<http://www.youtube.com/groups_my> ) 

Tags:

traffic, congestion, accidents, pollution, global warming,

Status: Public
Created: July 13, 2006, 02:34 AM
 


 <http://www.youtube.com/group/globalsouth> 

Global <http://www.youtube.com/group/globalsouth>  South Mobility

This “Global South Mobility” section of the New Mobility Agenda video collection
provides a collection of private views of both the problems (most of which based
on the results of the imported car-based, “old mobility” model from the North)
and the Global South’s search for new and often original and surprising
solutions. And as with the This “Global South Mobility” section of the New
Mobility Agenda video collection provides a collection of private views of both
the problems (most of which based on the results of the imported car-based, “old
mobility” model from the North) and the Global South’s search for new and often
original and surprising solutions. And as with the other sub-sets here
(including till now: Old Mobility, New Mobility, and World Carshare) part of our
challenge is not only to seek striking examples of both problems and solutions,
but also to lay the whole thing out in a way that makes it easy to navigate,
view and learn from. For now this is begin organized as a private
invitation-only activity during the development stage. Once we have something
worthy in hand, we can see what we will do next.
Related video library Groups:
* New Mobility Agenda – http://www.youtube.com/group/NewMob ilityAgenda
* World Carshare Consortium - http://www.youtube.com/group/carsha re 
* Old Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/oldmob ility 
* Global South Mobility - http://www.youtube.com/group/global south
... (more <http://www.youtube.com/groups_my> ) (less
<http://www.youtube.com/groups_my> ) 

Tags:

traffic, congestion, accidents, pollution, global warming,

Status: Public
Created: July 13, 2006, 02:47 AM



 

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