Documentary Project Just Launched

I've received word of this just-launched documentary project through Maryum Saifee:

Introducing: 18 Days in Egypt, A Crowdsourced Documentary

As we approach the one year anniversary of the revolution, many of our Facebook and Twitter feeds continue to be flooded with images, status updates, blog posts and videos about the revolution.  Whether you were physically in Egypt or streaming in solidarity from abroad, the revolution captured the imaginations of millions.  18 Days is an attempt to archive an extraordinary moment in human history.

Unlike social justice movements in the past with charismatic leaders, the beauty of the Egyptian revolution is that it was (and continues to be) leaderless and its documentation is decentralized.  Anyone can participate in 18 Days by uploading videos, images, stories, blog posts, tweets, etc.  You can login using pre-existing social media platforms like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.   The more users, the more powerful the platform.  For the first time in history, archives will move beyond the voices of state-centric bureaucrats or elite journalists and academics.  Future generations will benefit from a crowdsourced digital archive that will hopefully continue to inspire social justice movements for years to come.

18 Days is more than just a website documenting the revolution, it is a people-powered platform to capture the breadth and depth of a people-powered revolution.  The 18 Days team have spent months developing a platform that is user-friendly, visually engaging, and creatively organized.  18 Days has also launched a fellowship program to train and mentor a cohort of digital storytellers throughout Egypt to ensure the vast majority of voices who were not connected to social media are not lost.  The fellowship was launched a few weeks ago and the hope is that this pilot will evolve into an annual, recurring program.  Much like the revolution itself, for 18 Days to succeed, it requires mass participation.

I encourage you to participate in any way you can.  Whether it's:

1) uploading your own story to the website (http://beta.18daysinegypt.com/)

2) supporting the kickstarter page to fund the 18 Days in Egypt Fellows program (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/18days/18-days-in-egypt)

3) spreading the word on this project to your friends by joining/posting the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/18Days) or forwarding this e-mail to your networks

If you have any questions or can think of other creative ways to share your stories, talent, networks, and energy to help this groundbreaking project succeed, feel free to reach out to the co-founders of 18 Days in Egypt: Yasmin Elayat (Yasmin@18DaysinEgypt.com) and Jigar Mehta (Jigar@18DaysinEgypt.com)