Capturing files using a professional camera, drones, etc
I don’t always capture media from professional cameras. I use my iPhone when I need to be discreet.
Darius is a freelance videographer.
He always works with one researcher in the field.
Darius captures high-quality videos, images audio recordings on his professional camera and sometimes on other devices - like drones.
Darius sends sensitive data securely over physical mail.
For media that is not sensitive, Darius transfers media from his camera to his laptop, along with consent forms and shot logs.
He then zips this data into a folder and uploads it to WeTranser/Hightail over WiFi. He uploads large amounts of data, 10-20 GB.
He does not want to compromise on the quality of videos, photos, etc., and therefore does not use mobile applications most of the time. However, when needs to capture data covertly, he uses his iPhone to capture media.
Darius's Case Summary
Tasks
Capturing high-quality videos and photos using a professional camera, sometimes audio files.
Ensuring the media has metadata that will serve to validate the authenticity of the media.
Uploading the data without degrading the quality
Goals and Motivations
Defending the human rights of individuals.
Gathering accurate and verifiable data to expose human rights violations (retaining metadata for validation and proof)
Environment
Always working with a researcher in the field.
Uploading content from hotel WiFi.
Primarily desktop user uses mobile for cover media capture
Needs
Speed of uploading data.
Quality of media.
Simple UI, easy to understand.
Pain points
Collects 60 GB data/day for 3-5 days' work, transfer through the internet is difficult due to mobile storage and internet speed.
WeTransfer upload stops in low connectivity, and has to start over.
Upload time estimates on Dropbox are inaccurate.
Dropbox UI is confusing.
Phone apps compress video and affect video quality.
Sending sensitive data via physical mail is prohibited in some countries, so he relies on connections to send data from different countries.
Sometimes data is stuck in customs.
Solutions
Discuss compression with HRW to see if it's an option to work with the compressed version sooner & get raw files later.
iPad/iOS/Mac versions to upload through various devices.
Automatically pause upload when there's no internet, and resume when the internet is available.
Give an accurate status of the upload.
Make UI simple, and have clear documentation.
A secure backend will prevent sensitive data from sitting in the cloud. It will reduce the dependency on physical mail
