AN ACADEMIC and a media entrepreneur are beating the credit crunch with an innovative internet video service, writes Sarah O Reilly. Goldsmiths College lecturer, Dr James Ohene-Djahn of Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale, and partner Duncan Barclay, hit upon the

AN ACADEMIC and a media entrepreneur are beating the credit crunch with an innovative internet video service, writes Sarah O'Reilly.

Goldsmiths College lecturer, Dr James Ohene-Djahn of Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale, and partner Duncan Barclay, hit upon the idea for WinkBall while researching a way of allowing deaf people to communicate on-line via video messages.

Two-and-a-half years later the site employs more than 30 full time staff and more than 50 video reporters to cover events around Westminster and beyond.

Dr Ohene-Djahn said: "The next generation of internet based services is using video not just for watching, but for communicating.

"It's a brilliant way of giving people a chance to have their say, which is what I think WinkBall is all about."

The company turns a tidy profit creating private internal video communications systems for large companies.

But it is interested in much more than just making money.

Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris Hollins and David Cameron MP are just two of the people who have recorded goodwill messages for Armed Forces as part of the site's 'Faces for the Forces' campaign.