Media & ICTs
A new blog space on the "freedom and responsibility in the media"
From June 29 to July 25, the journalists will use the blog to post their ideas, criticism, questions and answers relating to the main topic of the Internation Institute of Jounalism (Berlin) Summer Ac
South Africans against xenophobia, racism and tribalism assert themselves on Facebook
News reports from South Africa are shocking. Violence unseen in years was unleashed in the poorest districts of Johannesburg, a city where APC counts four of its member organisations and many staff. From neighbouring Pretoria, Tshepo Thlaku of member Ungana-Afrika decided to act, using what he knows best: technology. He started a group on the social networking website Facebook called South Africans Against Xenophobia, Racism & Tribalism. “The group is growing fast like wild fire and there is a number of people from NGOs and church groups sharing contacts and project ideas,” Tshepo declared.
Citizen journalism in Africa project
SANGONeT and Hivos are collaborating on a project aimed at developing citizen journalism in Africa, with a specific focus on South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.
Media Piracy workshop
Digital television and radio: Democratisation or greater concentration?
Digitalisation of media is an approaching reality for Latin American countries. This technologic paradigm shift promises more democratic and diverse access to radio and TV frequencies. However, there is also a great risk of reproducing the same inequalities and power relations that exist in the “analogical” world and thus of media being in the hands of a few. This paper by Gustavo Gómez Germano illustrates the political and regulatory implications of an apparently technical and thus neutral phenomenon. It also suggests advocacy priorities to create a more informed and active civil society.
Free Culture House
iCommons announces a new project called the ‘Free Culture House’ project, recognising the growing importance of physical spaces in building the kinds of communities that will spread the global commons. The creative and information commons is by its nature a virtual and intangible thing, and having a physical space where people can learn from and talk to one another, becomes more and more important.
NEW PUBLICATION: Convergence for development: Community radio as a digital inclusion strategy
The distinction between “new” and “old” technology is no longer significant in the current state of technology convergence. People from community radios and telecentres are working together for more democratic and participatory access to communication, specifically in rural and poor urban areas. This paper by Carlos Rivadeneyra provides conceptual tools to re-think, from this perspective, what we understand by information society [pdf version, in Spanish].
NEW PUBLICATION: Digital television and radio: Democratisation or greater concentration?
Digitalisation of media is an approaching reality for Latin American countries. This technologic paradigm shift promises more democratic and diverse access to radio and TV frequencies. However, there is also a great risk of reproducing the same inequalities and power relations that exist in the “analogical” world and thus of media being in the hands of a few. This paper by Gustavo Gómez Germano
illustrates the political and regulatory implications of an apparently technical and thus neutral phenomenon. It also suggests advocacy priorities to create a more informed and active civil society [full version, pdf format].
LAC Monitor: Research on broadcasting as a digital inclusion strategy
The research: “Effective access of rural communities to broadcasting in equal opportunities: A key strategy for digital inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean” aimed at answering the question: “How can broadcasting be used as a digital inclusion strategy?”.