Iindaba Ziyafika

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• Iindaba Ziyafika
• The news is coming
• Guy Berger, Rhodes University

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(No Transcript)
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Knight conditions

• 1. Use digital media.
• 2. Involve new forms of news in the public
  interest.
• 3. Focus on specific geographic community

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We won 592 000
And motivated to MTN for a 5 year Chair in Media
Mobile Comms to co-ordinate it all.
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Grahamstown divided x 5
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Grocotts Mail newspaper
Transforming a paper into a learning operation,
an experimental model, and a multi-platform and
all-community info hub.
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Iindaba Ziyafika strategy

• Planning, design, monitoring
• Sustainable content production
• Dissemination lessons

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Iindaba Ziyafika overview

• Tech devt, democracy survey, business model
• Grocotts hub - via online, paper, citizen
  newsroom schools
• Journalism Review, Highway Africa

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• Mobile CMS component open source
• Schools (Citizen journalists)
• Citizen newsroom (Grocotts)
• Audio news agency (Rhodes j-students)
• Community video content (j-students)
• Business model (Medman students)
• Democracy research (MA students)
• Highway Africa conference
• Rhodes Journalism Review

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Bringing youth into the public sphere
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Cellphones from 11, to 1many

• Editor, students, lecturers and learners.
• - Learners sending 160 characters long smses
  for possible publication in Grocotts Mail.
• -Through a gateway to mail inbox
• - Translation into conventional English
• Three kinds of SMS citizen journalism
• - Comment/opinion
• -Mini-news story
• -and Haiku poetry (with a twist).

Handbook now in production
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Enlisting journalism students to work with the
school learners
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3 schools, 45 CJs

• Learners invited to two x 1 day workshops.
• Basic skills in writing Mini-news stories,
  Opinions and Haiku poetry.
• Supplied with airtime.
• Send one sms at workshop the rest later.
• Commitment was volunteered to continue sending,
  and sharing cellphone access.

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Editor giving learners tips on how to get their
smses publish
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Opinion councillor crashing a car

• Councillor Simakuhle must "face the music"! This
  is the last think we expect from a Respected
  Councillor! So plz try not 2b on the papers next
  time M20
• Drinkindriving wat kind of leader is he tryin 2
  make. He is an embarrasment 2 the the
  councilGtwn community.Xolani shuld b deciplined,
  quickly. M18

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Opinion councillor crashing a car

• Mancipality is jst wstng muny by rentng carz 4 da
  cancilor he cud hv jst usd da money 4 da poor
  1z.Da cansilor wnt stp crshng bcz he knw hz nt
  gona pay. M08
• Simakuhle is a vry unresponsible person because
  he has crushd 2 cars all ready so the ppl in
  chrge of hm nd the traffic department shud
  suspend his license N04

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Contesting community radio

• Radio G-town has alwyz bin gr8 station 4 us in
  g-twn. I thnk dey mst rili gt bck on air coz we r
  tied of lstnin to wats hppng in ada plsces of ada
  station. M03 078 919 7395
• Why was it sabotaged in the first place? Do they
  think we will ever trust them again! M20 - 078
  304 8145

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Contesting community radio

• I think the board should put donation boxes up d
  new opening of radio gtown. M06 073 083 4556
• From my view I feel that the ppl thats suppose 2
  run da station shouldnt ask anything from da
  community coz its their fault. They should ask
  donation from the leaders of grahamstown. We
  rather give donations to the poor. M09 - 078 316
  0809

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Rhodes schools officer Sipho January assisting a
learner from Nombulelo secondary school
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Mini-news - local issues

• In Joza, Maseti str. There was a sewage burts,
  the owner of the house was nt home,wen she came
  bck there were people 4rom the Municipality
  trying 2 cleane!
• On ragland,the community of fingo village suffer
  through an unbearableuncotrolloble sewageLast
  week,on 25 August 2008.It waz damaged becouse of
  the blockage.By literation pollution.(M01)
  27734437335

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Mini-news - local issues

• On Sat. at around 17h13pm an unkwn man at hz late
  20's ws knckd by a taxi in Barthust Str.The man
  wz knckd o4 wen he wz rushng 4rm KFC 2 a
  CITY-2-CITY bus dat wz leavin 4 Pretoria.Da man
  wz vry unconcious nd had severe injuries.No
  arrests hv yet bin mde.M10
•  

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Mini-news - local issues

• Friday afternoon pupils were caught doing sexual
  activities in public ethembeni ext7.they were
  kissing,each others private parts also taking
  their clothes off they were beaten by the
  community but didnt the corps MO7

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Mini-news - local issues

• A 15 yr old boy broke-into a house on Thesday
  afternoon,in tantyi location. He sneaked though
  the bedroom window.And stole a cd case n food, he
  was only found out becoz he left a toy gun on da
  table, the home owner got the lead frm other boys
  in the area wen he found the boy in the street
  playing he beat him, so badly neighbours had 2
  stop him as 4 his cd's they were at the boy's
  home. M18

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Mini-news local issues

• In da area o4 Tantyi a house wz burglered by 2
  unknwn men.It wz Friday nyt wen da incident
  hppnd,dey stole zincs dat wre at da bck yard.It
  iz sed dey sold dem at a store in Cobden
  Str(CHICKS a iron nd zinc store).Dey jumped ova
  da fence az da gate wz locked.No arrests hv yet
  bin made da police r stl investigating.M10

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Mary Waters school learner, Pamela Matinisi
sending her sms
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Haiku poetry smses from the learners

• On my way home. knives,"give me your phone" took
  ran away. N07
• "give me a rand lunch in my bag they ate it.
  M06
• MY CLASSMATE busy as a bee braids on thursday
  plaited on friday how's that possible?(m03)
• Filthy is da water.dirty polluted ground.at a
  near river M09

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Citizens or (media) consumers?
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2009 bi-directional

• Building software to deliver niched content
  as well as receiving content
• (Including youth citizen-journalism
• i.e. from youth to youth)
• AND GPRS options for cheaper comms, and
  conversation around the journalism.
• AND And audio plus video.

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Graduation as Citizen Journalists
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http//nml.ru.ac.za/blog/guy-berger