To kick off the productive year ahead, EngageMedia met up for the second time with Gurindam12, our ASTEKI partners in Riau, Indonesia, to discuss and share more about online video distribution and subtitling.

As we've mentioned in our report on the last workshop in Riau, the Gurindam12 group utilizes video and new media to cover and address many issues surrounding this vast area in the middle of Sumatra, ranging from the rapidly growing rate of deforestation to the loss of much of Riau's unique culture.

Our 5-day workshop with them began with exploring FTP for the stable uploading of files and Handbrake, for efficiently compressing video. The several technical discussions helped everyone to re-cap and gain a better understanding of how best to work with and distribute online video.

With the help of Seelan (our new Video Lingua Coordinator), we had a session on how to use Universal Subtitles for collaborative, online subtitling and translation. We also went through the capabilities and benefits of the EngageMedia team page on Universal Subtitles, which we encourage all of you to join. Here's a recent video that's been subtitled using Universal Subtitles. Check it out, and please add more translations to it to help more people understand it's important content.

As luck would have it, this workshop coincided with some major developments on the EngageMedia site. We’ve succesfully upgraded our site to HTML5 and added direct subtitling capabilities for videos via Universal Subtitles. Since last December, we’ve also built and expanded our server in Indonesia, to help local viewers access our site faster.

We closed this workshop with an added video shooting and editing session that emerged out of the spontaneous exchange of ideas between Gurindam12 and ourselves. One of results of the session is viewable here, and many more should be up soon!

Check out our previous blogpost about Riau Workshop I

We made some big updates to EngageMedia in December going live with Universal Subtitles and html5 video support.

You can now view and subtitle any EngageMedia video online using the Universal Subtitles. Html5 video support means pages load faster, videos can be played on more devices and we are no longer reliant on proprietary Flash software.

We'll be going live with a subtitle and translation community project in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more on that.

Other key improvements include

• play count on videos is now counted when the video is played embedded on another site
• videos are available for download in multiple (5) formats, including low and high resolution quality
• better and more reliable support for 16:9 video
• sort and find videos by language

Full details on the Plumi Blog.

Papuan Voices is a collaborative project of EngageMedia and Catholic Church groups JPIC and SKP KC. It is a combination of empowerment and production. Since early 2011, together with video activists in Jayapura and Merauke, the project has produced over 20 short videos, from the culture of eating 'pinang', doing the traditional Bilogai handshake, to the plight of the Malind tribesmen to survive in 'Ironic Survival' .

On Human Rights Day 2011, Papuan Voices showcased five videos in Jakarta, Arso and Jayapura. There were two videos from the border village of Wambes, Arso (Jayapura) - What Mama Kasmira Wants and The Hope of the Cendrawasih Children, one video from the Jayapura market - Awin Meke (My Mother), and two videos from Merauke - the culture struggle in Coconut Trees that Bear Jerry Cans, and an estranged woman's love in a border village in Surat Cinta Kepada Sang Prada (Love Letter to the Soldier).

In Jakarta, the screening was held in Neo Journalism Club, Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara. About 100 people packed the little cafe. Aside from the main screening, the event was also a showcase of Papuan culture, where Gorby the Rastaman combined reggae and Papuan music, and dance/theatre group the Black Wissel played a drama about how Papuans struggle with their identities.

In Arso, SKP KC held a screening and discussion in a church filled with over 50 villagers, including the people featured in the videos. They laughed when they saw themselves, and angered when seeing the injustice. In Jayapura, video activists organised a screening in the indigenous market in the City of Jayapura. It was an emotional roller-coaster ride as the market traders, mostly women, watched in anger of their plight for justice in their video Awin Meke, and saddened to see the fate of Maria Goreti in Surat Cinta Kepada Sang Prada.

There are more videos to be made through the Papuan Voices project, and more screenings to be organised. But as the year closed, violence and injustice did not stop in Papua. As one of the Papua Voices video activist FX Making said: "The problem in Papua is more than just about the Morning Star flag. People in Indonesia and the international community must know this.This is why I choose video activism in this struggle."