Google is releasing Montage to the public April 21, a free web app that facilitates collaboration in analyzing video from war zones. Montage will enable reporters “…to sort, map, and tag video evidence from conflict zones” to make significant revelations. “…recently, it [the Carter Center] used the tool to track outbreaks of violence during a ceasefire between the Syrian government and some rebel groups. Partly through that video analysis, the analysts were able to confirm that most of the ceasefire clashes were started by a single Jihadi group, Jabhat al-Nusra, which wasn’t a party to that temporary truce, and thus didn’t represent a breakdown of the agreement,” writes Andy Greenberg in Wired, April 20, 2016.
The idea for Montage came from a 2013 Google Ideas summit in New York City attended by amateur conflict analyst Elliot Higgins who was using YouTube videos to uncover war trends and developments. (engadget, April 19,. 2016, by David Lumb)