250K + 260M = AIDS PPSA

In the US, the CDC estimates that over one quarter of the individuals with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, do not know they are infected. That is 250,000 people who don’t have access to tremendous new treatments that can extend their lives almost indefinitely. And they are at greater risk of transmitting the virus.

Over 260 million people in the US have a cell phone.

The AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement Project (http://www.mynmi.net/aids_ppsa/) is our way of adding those to numbers to come up with a new solution.

On April 23rd and 24th we invited individuals from eight universities to Atlanta to explore ways use mobile media to fight AIDS. They created video messages to be pushed to cell phones encouraging young people to be tested for HIV. The teams could only use cell phones to create the messages. And they only had one day to do plan, shoot, edit and premiere the videos. Because they would be displayed on the most personal of media, we call these messages Personal Public Service Announcements.

Day one, we gave them a crash course in HIV/AIDS, health messaging, and mobile media technology. They started brainstorming. That evening, they presented their ideas to a panel of experts for feedback.

Day two, we sent them off with a Nokia N95 camera, Verizon’s BroadBand Access service, a laptop and a MARTA pass. They shot the video on the N95, transferred it to the laptop, then used Verizon’s high speed wireless network to send the raw video to a producer and editor waiting in a hotel across town.

In ten hours, five teams produced 22 Personal Public Service Announcements. They are amazing! You can see the eight that have been approved to be distributed (more on that below) at http://www.mynmi.net/aids_ppsa/videos.html.

Creating these video messages is only the first step. We can only realize the power of mobile media by showing these videos to the people who need to be tested for HIV. So this week we are launching a number of ways to get the AIDS PPSAs out. Read on to find out how.