EngageMedia kicks off Local Archives project in Indonesia

With the growth of community, artistic and activist video production, and ongoing improvements in broadband internet access, Indonesia is currently experiencing a period of transition. With this transitory state in mind, EngageMedia believes a staged approached to online video distribution is required that takes into account the uneven access to high speed internet and the need to offer both online and offline video distribution tools.

The Indonesian Local Video Archive project aims to deal strategically with this situation by mixing on and offline technologies. The project involves setting up a series of four local servers in Jakarta and Yogyakarta with four different organisations; Kampung Halaman, ruangrupa, IVAA and Combine.

The archives will be built using Plumi, one of only a few FOSS (free and open source software) video sharing platforms. It is based on the Plone CMS and produced by EngageMedia. The local archive will essentially operate as a website, but it will only be accessible via the local area connection or wireless network. Visitors will be able to access the archive by using any of the partner organisations’ computers connected to the LAN, or connect their own computer to the LAN via cable or wireless. Visitors browsing the archive will be able to view a flash video preview of the video and if they so desire, be able to rapidly copy any file to their USB device, phone and/or computer, or burn them to DVD/CD. The idea is to promote a “sneaker-net” effect; prompting people to pass on the files to friends via their own “offline social networks”.

To complete the first phase of this large project, EngageMedia is partnering with Kampung Halaman. Founded in April 2006, Kampung Halaman is a community based organisation fostering the use of the audio visual medium through popular-community based programs, particularly targeting youth in pursuing the transformation towards a better society. EngageMedia and Kampung Halaman aim to have the first local archive system live and operational by July 2009.