The WaterCube has launched again with its fourth edition at the Stockholm World Water Week 2011. It is a collaboration between Avo, SIWI and IRC to capture and track the people and ideas floating in the global WASH sector.
Published on: 22/08/2011
The WaterCube started as a way to introduce professionals to the power of low-cost high-impact video, from a Flip camera or mobile phone, and has blown into more 309 videos as of today. It has become a record of the ideas and personal aspirations of water, sanitation and hygiene professionals. We've followed several individuals from event to event as they change jobs and their views evolve. It is a real record of the learning and knowledge exchange that happens in these global forums but also a rich library, which poses a unique opportunity to listen to these voices. What makes the WaterCube different from usual media is that it focuses on all people. From the Ghanian high school students who were 2010 Stockholm Junior Water Prize finalists to Sue Yardley, a Senior WASH Policy Officer at Tearfund.
The WaterCube is open source. The designs and methods are not secret. They started as napkin drawings but now we have real PDF based designs so that carpenters can replicate the cube in new places. The physical cube itself offers a bit less background noise and a good environment to tap into the knowledge of event participants. In the end, it is partners who bring their technical and logistical expertise and this is what has made the cube work. Future versions of the WaterCube will continue to improve both the way that interviews are captured, the space is built, and how people access and find the videos afterwards. Low-cost video has proven a simple and effective way to share people’s voices, whether on Facebook, embedded in a website or in a presentation.
At IRC we have strong opinions and we value honest and frank discussion, so you won't be surprised to hear that not all the opinions on this site represent our official policy.
