visionOntv mission statement

The ease of watching traditional TV, but with content which is very, very different, with all the interactivity of new media just one click away – visionOntv.

The Vision

Seizing the power of television to expand social consciousness, VOTV will fuel the movement for progressive social, economic, and political transformation. By exposing the public to perspectives excluded from or marginalised by the corporate-owned media, VOTV aims to empower citizens to halt injustices, to revitalise democracy, and to build a more compassionate world.

What we do
visionOntv broadcasts video for social change and for saving the planet. visionOntv is a lean-in, lean-out experience. We give you the option to interact and find out more about the content, or to lean back and watch it like normal TV. Around all our programmes, we will enable people to link up directly for grassroots campaigning and direct action, but also for all the other forms of social networking. For us, most importantly visionOntv is an outreach project and we aim to make social change via video a real possibility.

Outreach
visionOntv aims to inform, engage and inspire the wider public. In practice this means we will broadcast content with the widest possible definition of “alternative”. We believe that social change takes many different forms, and we aim to be a portal to them all.

Quality
visionOntv puts the viewer first. We are not an open publishing project and we have a quality threshold for all films featured. We provide training and tools for less experienced producers to enable their work to have maximum impact.

Ease of use

Our aim is to make viewing visionOntv as easy as watching traditional TV. The whole range of options for knowledgable people will be there, but never in a way that confuses the first-time viewer.

The tools we use
visionOntv strongly favours the use of open source tools for video production and distribution. There is an on-going battle for the soul of the worldwide web, between client / server relationships (what people need they have to get from a corporation) and ‘people to people’ relationships (people freely sharing skills and knowledge with each other). The internet is fundamentally based on peer-to-peer relationships, which we strongly defend.

We will not approach this dogmatically, however. At a given time we need the best tools available. For outreach to be successful, the tools need to be reliable and simple to use.  We will help to develop these tools where they do not exist, but sometimes the best ones will be corporate and closed source.

Creative commons and media democracy
Digital information is innately free, but some corporations want to restrict that freedom. We defend that freedom via creative commons distribution, which makes up the majority of our content. This means that anyone can re-edit and re-distribute the films, or even the whole project itself, under a non-commercial creative commons licence. We also promote a view of media democracy which breaks down the social divide between those with broadband and those without. Viewers receive high-resolution copies of films downloaded into their computer. These copies can be independently distributed or projected in a cinema, festival or community hall. In this way a single broadband connection can serve a whole community.

We see visionOntv as one of many interconnected alternative media projects around the world.

Sustainability
visionOntv has substantial costs for its maintenance. We will work hard to be sustainable by generating income, to give project workers and content producers funding into the future.

We include ethical advertising on the core visionOntv project - non-aspirational info-verts from ethical companies.

It is our aim, from monies raised beyond the running costs of visionOntv, to create a production fund, where producers of already-featured content can easily (and non-bureaucratically) apply for production grants.

Log on to http://visionOn.tv and tell us what you think.

Roll up, Roll up!

Defend civil liberties and have a laugh at the same time, with

POLICEWATCH

Filming them Filming us Filming them etc

It's yer once-in-a-lifetime chance to win War on Terror, the only game with suicide bombers, political kidnaps, intercontinental war, filthy propaganda, rampant paranoia and secret treaties.......

All you have to do is send us your videos or photos
of the British constabulary's finest moments.

Why?
On 16th February 2009 the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 comes into operation, which threatens to make it illegal to take a photo of a police officer, or to “elicit information” about them. So bang goes alerting people to cops spying on peaceful protesters, and bang, clunk go journalists investigating police corruption or malpractice.

How?
Fitwatch is launching a competition which will give a copy of the award-winning War on Terror to the winner of each of three different categories:

1. SCARY – for the most shocking bit of police abuse recorded. Dixon of Dock Green it ain't!
2. FUNNY – for the most piss-yourself classic copper moment.
3. EFFECTIVE – Did you make the police help you with your inquiries? - for the pictures which proved a case against the police or had most success in defending civil liberties (please tell us what it did).

You can enter still images or video footage. Just post them on flickr (preferred for stills), blip.tv (preferred for video), youtube or anywhere else (please put the tags “visionontv” and “fitwatch”) – then send us a link to defycops@yahoo.co.uk

We welcome images from anywhere in the world, but only the best of the British constabulary can win a prize.

For more details on how to make your images available, go to the bottom of this page.

Where?
On 16th February, the first day of the new legislation, the Policewatch series commences on visionOntv . Films and photos submitted to the Fitwatch competition will feature in this series on visionontv's grassroots channel.

When?
Closing date for entries: April 9th 2009
Date winners declared: April 16th 2009 – the 2-month anniversary of the new law

Who?
Fitwatch is a group of people who have come together to resist and oppose the tactics of the Forward Intelligence Teams (cops who harass protesters).

We aim to act in solidarity with each other, supporting campaigns by being at meetings and protests, making it harder for the police to film and gather intelligence.

We get in the way of their cameras, taking photos and publishing as much information as we can about them on our blog.

visionOntv is a new online TV station, which has all the ease-of-use of mainstream TV, but with content that is very very different.
To watch the whole of the Policewatch series, plus the best of activist video from around the world and a whole lot more, go to visionOntv . On this link you can watch the streaming version, but to get the full TV experience download the player app and enjoy!

Please email info@visionontv.net for further info on the Policewatch series.

If any police officer would like more information on the Policewatch competition, please contact Fitwatch, as it is not an organisation, and has no spokespeople.

How? part 2
We strongly recommend giving your pictures a creative commons license, so they can be distibuted as widely as possible. Please let us know which license you prefer, or if you need to keep copyright.
The creative commons license we advise choosing is “Non-Commercial Share Alike” – which allows people to use your footage for anything non-commercial, and as long as they release it under the same license. That's what visionOntv puts its own films under.