I spoke at a meeting organised by the Quakers in Hebden Bridge. Two of the constituency candidates came along and the issue of tax justice got a good airing. Thanks to all involved, including those who came.
Afterwards I was talking to my host for the night, Geoff Tansey (a food specialist, whose work has also been supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust) and he suggested I am missing a trick by not making shortish videos (5 minutes at most) on the major themes of my work, and, as importantly, what people can do about creating change.
It's something I have often considered and not done. Partly that has been cost. This could not be done on an iPhone, I suspect. It's also because I wonder what the impact would really be, although Geoff is clearly using this medium to good effect.
Any thoughts?
And suggestions on what I should talk about?
And are campaigning themes of interest?
I stress, there are no promises. But I am interested.
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Video has one big disadvantage: it’s linear. You have to start at the beginning and scan right through it for the choice nuggets. Text is not linear: it’s all there in front of you and someone experienced can scan it much, much faster.
That’s not to say that video done well can’t have an impact. But if you have complex arguments I’d go with text every time.
I tend to agree
But I know how powerful video is with some others
Definitely a good idea – worth collaborating with a good graphic designer/animator to get some good visuals in there, too. It might also be fundable from the right source.
A youtube channel is completely free to use (as I belive is vimeo) and can easily be run off an iPhone. Actually it can end up an income source if your vids get popular enough and google will pay you to have ads on the channel.
The issue is not cost, it comes down to time. I’ve got 2 channels on different topic areas and the issue is most definitely time.
If you are not bothred about production values then it takes little to no time and or effort at all. However as soon as you start to get finicky and start try to make your vids look really polished and professional the time ramps up considerably.
Subject wise. Exactly the sort of content you carry on the blog. As it is a realtively complicated subject take only one aspect at a time so the viewer can absorb it.
Youtube attracts an entirely different audience I have found from blogging. The important part with getting noticed is getting all the metadata in the tags.
Thanks
Richard, I think this is a very good idea.
The issues of tax abuse and unfairness are at the forefront of public opinion.
So, the role of tax havens perpetuating poverty, regressive taxation and corporate cheating making life harder for poor and working people are all relevant.
Short videos that inform is something that Robert Reichd (former Secretary of Labor in Bill Clinton’s administration in the 1990s) uses effectively, see some of his work here:
http://robertreich.org/
Yes. They are very good. i would recommend them. They are relevant here, not just America.
Good quality cameras, including many compact cameras, produce excellent HD video and could be tripod-mounted for your purposes.
It can also be done on an iPhone or tablet. You would just need some method of holding it in a fixed position. Video quality is pretty good.
Independence Live, one of the pro-independence websites, broadcast good video of the recent SNP conference using an iPad.
Having said that, please keep publishing the words.
The words would not stop
This is true – there is plenty of evidence that film makers on tight budgets are using digital SLRs to make hi-res films and these are not as expensive as you might think. A decent Canon or Nikon SLR (I have no experience of the other makes) to fit your budget will give you good picture quality and you might need a tripod. The rest is up to you.
I think that the themes that are really important now are around making the case for tax so the themes that you might be exploring in your forthcoming book might benefit from getting an airing using the video medium.
Short Youtube videos (or equivalent) should be relatively cheap and easy to start with. You could start with an iPhone and work up if they are popular. You have strong views, and no doubt you would have an impact.
How much time and effort does the Tax Justice Network podcast take? How many people are downloading it?
That Podcast has massive reach
Naomi Fowler who does it is a professional
Myth busting. Debunking ludicrous statements. You wouldn’t be short of topics. Sadly this should really be a function of the opposition but……..
Yes, could be very powerful – very urgent though:
1. Why Austerity is a con.
2. Why the rich should pay their tax.
3. Green QE.
4. What the Tories really did achieve.
Agree with @SquidgyBidge – do not be too ambitious. This can be very time consuming (we’ve done some). Or collaborate, try a local HE or FE to apply their media software to enhance a presentation.
I love Nick Hanauer’s TED talk. A modern day version of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx2Y5HhplI
My imagination is running wild – A mash up cassetteboy style 🙂
Thanks Tony
I love the idea of short videos on perhaps a Youtube channel. I have no idea about technicalities of making a podcast or in terms of cost, but the Tax Justice Network has been making really good use of their monthly podcast and people love it.
Initially you might like to consider a weekly review of what’s been happening in Westminster and how that affects us all. If you then wanted to extend that I would definitely suggest topics should be as per the things you are campaigning for. Eg. how we could use our majority shareholding in RBS bank to help grow the economy. Definitely another really important topic would be the UK tax gap because most people don’t know about these topics. Green quantative easing would be another really good topic, again because most people don’t understand it.
You may even be able to get some help from university or college students studying film making and digital recording, or even politics as part of their coursework.
Interesting idea
Richard, you only have to look at the Russell Brand campaigning Youtube channel to realise just how effective this can be. If he can do it, then so can you. However, Russell may be a tad funnier
Maybe…..
I have to accept that
Hi Richard, Well you know my answer to your question .. yes videos work, but they have to be properly produced and not shot like an amateur on an Iphone or it will be counter-productive. If you produced short, punchy videos that are also visual and sometimes qwirky, you will be more likely to get a bigger following and at the moment that is what you need. You don’t want just people who are interested in tax justice, you want to make more peope aware of exactly what is going on. You have a really good reputation amounst your peers and with good reason. Social media is the best way to get millions of followers and you would increase your following if you do this in the right way.
Get the youth on your side!!
How?
I’d support the idea of videos, especially to engage a younger, social media orientated audience, but as well as and not instead of the blogs
What I especially value on your blogs, is the analysis and data, distinguishing the fact from the fiction as it were, at a time when there is so much complete fiction flying around. That is in turn I suspect, a significant factor in people’s mistrust of politicians.
So some pithy videos, using good graphics to present the data, using the sort of techniques of Hans Rosling. Who knows, he might be interested…. Picking up some of the current fact vs fiction arguments, for instance:
– what caused the debt to double – spending on welfare or bailing out banks
– are corporates really over-taxed?
– who pays how much tax as a proportion of their income – and how has this changed?
– closing the deficit – by increasing income or decreasing expenditure?
I keep pointing other people at your blogs – videos would certainly add another dimension
Thanks again for all the great stuff
Thanks
Iy seems it is something I really do have to look at