Mobile Media and National HIV Testing Day (6/27/08)

AIDS is one of our country’s biggest public health challenges. New media advances have given us powerful communication tools. In the last year, the NMI has been exploring ways to use these tools to address HIV/AIDS. This Friday (6/27/08) is National HIV Testing Day (http://www.napwa.org/public/programs/nhtd.php). This update is dedicated to sharing what the NMI and a host of other partners are doing to bring the power of new media to the problem of AIDS.

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.

Verizon’s Biggest Gift -- a VCast Channel

Gifts mean more when they contain a piece of the giver, No dah, right? The galleries of precious mother’s day art on refrigerator doors all over the world prove that. With their support of the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement project, Verizon has shown that it is has many lessons to teach corporate America about the fine art of giving. The best giving is when you give a part of you.

I had pitched the idea of the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcements to other potential partners before I got to Verizon. Those groups were usually excited about the technology. But “couldn’t you do a project around the environment or literacy or …” I understood their reticence. AIDS is about sex, disease, blood, and it is always political. But the young people around the world who are making cell phones a powerful medium for the future are the ones at the greatest risk. Nope, we were doing this project on AIDS -- that wasn’t going to change.

Truthfully, when I sat down in a boardroom of Verizon executives to ask them to fund the AIDS PPSA project I didn’t expect the meeting be much different. Verizon is the biggest cellular provider in U.S. Market leaders aren’t usually known for taking risks. The public relations department in a company that is number 17 on the Fortune 500 would naturally be leery of attaching their precious brand to controversial causes. Today I count that meeting as one of the highlights of my career. I wish you could have seen those corporate types (and I mean that in a loving way) banging out ideas for how their bread and butter products and services could be used to help people stay healthy. That is something I will never forget.

Verizon has provided funding for the last two AIDS PPSA projects –Philadelphia in November and Atlanta in April. They have written generous checks to buy equipment, travel, food, whatever. They never blinked an eye.

But they knew we wanted something more. Verizon Wireless is a daily part of over 80 million American’s lives. We wanted to reach those users. We wanted Verizon to help.

Last Friday (6/20/08) Verizon came through in a big way that we couldn’t even have imagined. Verizon Wireless created a special channel on its mobile video network, VCast. On the “Take Control. Take the Test.” channel, VCast subscribers can see all of the approved AIDS PPSAs. Crazy great! But that isn’t all. Verizon has also placed the videos on it FiOS network – that is Verizon’s state of the art telecommunication system that delivers voice, data, and video to homes using an all fiber network. There has never been a fiber to the home network before. And now you can watch the AIDS PPSAs in blinding speed FiOS.

Verizon has given more than funding. Verizon has given us a part of itself. With these important Verizon channels, we have the potential to change people’s lives for the better. Verizon is truly a company that knows how to give. Thanks.

CDC's Brave Voyage of Discovery

Working at the CDC must be like paddling in an ocean of competing currents. Off port is the gale of Hippocrates’ mandate to do no harm. And to starboard are the treacherous shoals of impending health crises (AIDS, pandemic flu, diabetes, you name it). Navigating these dangerous waters requires intrepid mariners. Thank goodness we are blessed with so many willing to “go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters. (Psalm 107).” (Man, can I beat a metaphor to death or what? Can you tell that I am daydreaming about the beach?)

The CDC bravely sailed tricky waters with the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement project. The CDC covered the costs necessary to bring our teams to Atlanta to participate in the project. Imagine a huge federal agency staffed with professionally trained health professionals endorsing and supporting a project where students make messages on cell phones in one day. Yeah, it pushed their comfort zone big time.

The CDC understands that we live in a new media world. They know they have to adapt to new ways of using the media. They embraced this radical approach.

Throughout this project we have been blessed to work with a host of CDC people who took heat and took chances to make it happen. After our event in Atlanta, the CDC began the tough process of having the videos reviewed for accuracy through both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. In record time, these federal agencies approved for distribution the first campaign ever built on user created content. In addition, with the AIDS PPSA project the CDC established new mechanisms for partnering with outside companies such as Verizon and Nokia. This project was only successful because of the CDCers who were willing to break the mold and break new ground. I can personally say that I am proud that we have such progressive, forward thinking individuals managing our nation’s health care response.

As part of it’s new media approach, the CDC has created a YouTube channel where you can see the AIDS PPSAs -- http://www.youtube.com/CDCStreamingHealth.

This is a great resource because it will give you the opportunity to share these videos with others – more on that in a minute.

Nokia N95 is star of AIDS PPSAs

Every project has to have supporters who believe so much in what you are doing they don’t ask questions. When we first conceptualized this project, we knew we wanted to push the limits of what is possible with mobile technology. In the Philadelphia PPSA, we used small format handicams – cool but not cool enough. So we reached out to Nokia. I personally own a Nokia N95 (http://tinyurl.com/yokvvy). It is an absolutely amazing phone with astounding video capability: a 5 megapixel camera capable of 30fps video at 640X480 (that is techno speak for “awesome!”). We knew this was the phone that we wanted to use in this project. But we didn’t know where we could buy them in the quantity we needed – and, ok, we didn’t have the money.

We wrote to our contacts at Nokia. Next thing you know six N95s are on their way from New York to Athens. Not another question asked (they didn’t even ask when we are going to return them – soon, we promise).

The N95 was a champ in this project. When you look at the videos online (http://www.mynmi.net/aids_ppsa), you will be amazed at how good the video looks. Well just remember that what you are seeing has been stepped on by encoders and processors to make the videos online-friendly. I wish you could see the raw video we worked from -- YouTube doesn’t do the N95 justice. Plus we helped the N95 do things it hadn’t done before. For instance, we set the N95 up as a wireless webcam for our teams in the field. Using this setup, the producers back in the hotel could see in real-time exactly what the field team saw through the N95’s viewer. Professional video producers were speechless when they saw that.

Nokia is an industry leader who believes in the power of experimentation – that is rare -and fun. Our partnership has with Nokia has been a true joy. I am proud of their commitment to using their products for important social causes. And let me just tell you that it is a special treat to see a Finn geek geared fired up about changing the world with his phone.

AIDS PPSA at Mobile Innovation Marketplace – TOP SECRET

If you can keep it to yourself, I will let you in on a little secret. The AIDS PPSA project is just part of a bigger master plan. We want to help the mobile industry understand the responsibility that comes with their power. We want to convince cellular providers, device manufacturers, and mobile content producers to use their products and services to help people. That mobile give back is our secret agenda.

This month, the GSM Association (a global trade association representing more than 750 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 territories and countries) helped us spread the word about our project. On June 3 & 4, the GSM Association hosted the Mobile Innovation Marketplace 2008 (MIM 2008) in Atlanta (http://www.mobileinnovation.us/). The MIM 2008 brought together over 400 senior executives from a range of companies and organizations to explore mobile innovation. It was an exclusive gathering of the movers and shakers in the mobile space.

The GSM Association recognizes its role in helping the mobile industry understand its potential for affecting positive social change. As part of that mission, the GSM Association allowed New Media Institute students and staff to attend the conference for free (it normally costs over $1000 to register). But that isn’t all. They also provided the NMI with a booth where we could show and tell about the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement. This gave us an extraordinary venue to talk with influential mobile leaders about future projects. Hundreds of very cool people from a range of countries and companies stopped by to see the AIDS PPSA videos.

In the last two years, the GSM Association has recognized the important role that Atlanta is playing in the global mobile marketplace by relocating large parts if its operation to Atlanta. Now that the GSM Association is local, we can expect to hear global mobile speak with a southern dialect. And the GSM Association earned kudzu kudos by serving fried green tomatoes and fried catfish at one of their MIM banquets! Way to go, y’all!

YouHelp with YouTube

So now you know about all the powerful networks we are using to get these Personal Public Service Announcements out: VCast, FiOS, YouTube, GSMA. But that ain’t nearly enough. Now we want to use our most powerful network – YOU!
Share YouTube Videos with your friends http://www.youtube.com/CDCStreamingHealth. Push your contacts links to the NMI website about the project – http://www.mynmi.net/aids_ppsa/.
Tell them they were produced by students on cell phones in one day. They will be amazed. And then tell them to get tested. AIDS knows no boundaries – it affects us all because it affects so many. And make arrangements to go get tested together on National HIV Testing Day, June 27.