Be a Hero: Protect the Vote With Just Your Camera Phone

Posted by Staff, The Uptake at 5:35 PM on October 31, 2008.

The UpTake, a video-based journalism website, empowers everyday citizens to get involved in media and politics, both through viewing and creating online content, as well as by becoming citizen journalists. Praised by Minnesota Public Radio, Wired.com, The Boston Herald and others for their instant live-streaming coverage of protester/police scuffles at the Republican National Convention, The UpTake has made ground-breaking progress in citizen journalism.

Through the use of cellphone cameras The UpTake is able to broadcast the news the moment it happens.

Do you have a video-enabled camera phone? Here's how you can help protect the vote on election day! Join The UpTake and the "Video the Vote" coalition's effort to make sure every vote counts. Reports of voter intimidation and disfranchisement are already coming in from around the country. Remedial actions need to be taken immediately, so time is of the essence. Live streaming video from your cell phone is the most effective way to protect the vote.

Here's how you can add your phone to our network of eyes and ears across the country now through Election Day, in just 15 minutes.



GETTING SET UP:

1. Sign up with Video The Vote, so you can get alerts about voter protection in your community: http://videothevote.org/


2. See if you have a compatible phone here: http://qik.com/info/supported_phones

• The iPhone and iPhone 3G are both supported but they will need to be jailbroken. (That sounds bad, but it's not. It's a relatively simple procedure that's easy to reverse after Election Day.)


• Instructions on how to jailbreak: http://www.iclarified.com/entries/index.php?caid=2&scid=11&seid=2 Choose which tutorial fits your operating system and iPhone version.
  

• Then follow these instructions from Qik: http://qik.com/blog/206/qik-announces-iphone-3G-support

3. Signup with Qik: http://qik.com/sign_up You will receive a text message on the your phone that will install and activate Qik on your phone. Qik is a standalone application on your phone. It's very easy to use and will walk you through the settings. If you need help call (877) 745-7459 or email support@qik.com.

4. Make sure you are signed into Qik.com. Go to the following link and click on "Attend this Event". It's near the middle of the left hand column (see image on right) http://qik.com/event/537/vote-chasers-

5. Immediately email live@theuptake.org with a link to your Qik page and where you will be located on Election day. Qik pages are always: http://qik.com/USERNAMEHERE


6. Spread the word to others with camera phones!


REPORTING AN INCIDENT:


1. Use Qik on your phone to live stream any voter intimidation or any other questionable election-related activity. Your footage will be archived on Qik for our editors to distribute. Make sure all your streams are set to PUBLIC within the Qik settings.


2. After any incident, email as soon as possible live@theuptake.org with your Qik username and a description of what happened (where, who, how, why, etc)


3. Contact jason.barnett@theuptake.org if you have any questions related to election day live streaming voter protection.

Tagged as: technology, voter protection, the uptake, camera phones