muench wrote: was surprised to see Bill Gates himself at the end - what was he doing there?

"The Khan Academy is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation award winning not-for-profit organization with the goal of changing education for the better."

(The linked video doesn't work because of the HTML code - instead of the BBCode on the forum. You can easily spot the difference by the used brackets, i.e. <...> vs [....]. Just found it on YT, but to link it here the longer link is required, not the shortened http://youtu.be/fdwvuTrycYU" version which YouTube displays on default).



I believe it's not only about a good sanitation video, but also that this important approach is made available on all important platforms that have a lot of public exposure.

To me it's also not just the provision of sustainable sanitation solutions to 2.6 billions, but actually getting everyone interested into understanding this thing called material flow management and how to keep all biological and technical nutrients in a cycle. Or asked in another way: why should anyone watch a video on the provision of toilets for the poor if he/she already has a toilet and doesn't care?

So the rhetoric approach would rather be explaining the big picture and how things are interconnected - and that sanitation in the past has only been around finding a removal solution instead of making use of this "waste". Like what they did in the video above - mentioning the reinvention process (which is a positive message).

Hence the idea for a video like the one mentioned above. If BMGF manage to get this one into the repository of the Khan Academy, I'd be more than glad!

I also like the videos from www.commoncraft.com ("Xyz in Plain English").

Yes, probably between 20-50k EUR for the video, but if it's just animation like in the existing video and royalty-free music for the background, coupled with a passionate (!) artist, this could probably also be cheaper. Or set it up as a challenge via www.odesk.com, www.onlinevideocontests.com or 99designs.com.

Hmmm, well I personally didn't find this particular TED talk so amazing (but was surprised to see Bill Gates himself at the end - what was he doing there?).

Actually, the best existing video to explain sustainable sanitation which I know of is - in my opinion - the one from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which I first saw at the AfricaSan in Kigali in July 2011.
It is 1.5 minutes long and explains the issues and concepts extremely well. Maybe no need to make another video (although this one does not refer to "sustainable sanitation" and of course has other shortcomings if you were to disect it).

<embed src="www.gatesfoundation.org/_layouts/swf/Multimedia/player.swf" width="400" height="244" bgcolor="000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="file=http://gates.edgeboss.net/download/gates/gfo/toilet-web-video.mp4&image=http://www.gatesfoundation.org/watersanitationhygiene/PublishingImages/how-video-still-480x270.jpg">
(eh, why does the embedding code not work?)

Or link to their page:
www.gatesfoundation.org/videos/Pages/def...lter=&autostart=true

Of if that long link does not work, take this one:
www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/P...nitation-110719.aspx

Your idea about such a video is thus very valid. But imagine how much it would have cost to produce e.g. that one from BMGF. I can only imagine what a professional video company would charge... 50,000 EUR at least, or??

Regards,
Elisabeth

Thanks for posting the TED talk link, it is a really powerful concept and excellent talk. I like your idea as well and hope the SuSanA community has ideas with respect to funding!

Dear WG1 (& WG9b),
it was just announced via Facebook that (the maybe not so famous) "math doodler" Vi Hart (vihart.com/doodling/) recently joined forces with the Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org/) which you may remember from last year's TED Active talk www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_...nvent_education.html and this made me remember an idea I had when I first heard about the Khan Academy (if you haven't seen the TED talk so far, do it now! :-):

We (sustainable sanitation community) should hire professional folks and get a few videos out there that EXPLAIN the basic idea behind sustainable sanitation approaches and why we're (more or less) into reinventing the toilet in the 21st century - and the usage/reuse/material flow management concept behind it.

What do you think about this? Would it make sense? And would there be any fund from a donor org who would like to support this? BMGF? WB? Anyone?

I personally love the Khan Academy website and think it's one of the best websites out there as it helps in educating and entertaining upcoming generations (and also me).

thx.