the soap box

Digital Migration increasing the digital divide

2007-09-05T01:26:00.000+02:00

I recently gave an apparently ‘thorough’ workshop on digital migration in South Africa specifically examining the Department of Communication’s Digital Migration Strategy and its implications for South African media. Within this discussion a central question relating to development kept coming up: what are the implications for those living on the poorer side of the ‘digital divide’?

I know this is quite a technical and at times perhaps boring topic of discussion, but it is an important one. South Africa is in the unique position of needing to be somewhat ‘catapulted’ into digital migration because of well, soccer. Sounds like a bit of a leap, but really there is a connection. South Africa is due to host the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010 , an event of international proportions requiring top quality, fast and effective coverage. This need for digital infrastructure and broadcasting adds to an already daunting list of requirements for South Africa to fulfil before 2010. In reality absolutely everything from our airports, transport systems, stadiums and roads need to be organised by the time millions of soccer-lovers fly into our country.

The question becomes one of priority: will those living in rural or impoverished areas be left out of receiving top quality soccer matches and details in favour of getting the major cities up to scratch?

It is ironic that so few of the general public seem aware of this process called digital migration and how it will affect their lives. So let me briefly explain digital migration: It is best described as the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting at both the levels of transmission and reception of broadcasting. This transition is to take place within television broadcasting services and sound broadcasting. The digital transition consists of two important phases: the switch-on of digital broadcasting on the one hand, and the switch-off of analogue broadcasting on the other.

This discussion of ‘switching-off’ in particular led me to realise that the digital migration process, while positive in the long run, will have negative implications for those living on the wrong side of the digital divide. Firstly , Africa as a continent will be left behind in terms of the global digital divide because of the major costs involved in introducing the digital technologies. Whereas the UK have already begun switching off some of their analogue infrastructure this year, almost all African countries have yet to commence with even switching on their digital broadcasting.

Moreover, due to the high costs involved in purchasing digital receiver equipment, there will be a huge division among those who can afford to make the switch to digital and those who will be left receiving analogue transmission for years to come.

One suggestion for maintaining access to information has been discussed in terms of the Public Broadcasting Services. It has been proposed that at least one SABC service remains available on analogue indefinitely to ensure public access to news and information.

In their discussion of the digital dilemma in Africa, C Armstrong and R Collins say: “citizen access is perhaps the thorniest issue in the digital TV debate in South Africa”. They believe the problems for citizen access should be a powerful reason for adopting a cautious, phased approach to digital migration in South Africa. This issue includes problems of signal coverage (the metropolitan areas will take priority), affordability (of reception devices) and home-language provision (will all languages be taken into consideration?)

Affordability of things like the Set Top Box (STB) receivers needed in people’s homes is a serious deterrent for viewers wanting to undergo the digital switchover process. The Digital Migration Working Group found that around 4.5 million households in SA will be unable to afford a digital STB, no matter how low the entry-level price may be. A comprehensive government subsidy scheme has been proposed in order to remedy this situation to ensure STBs are accessible and affordable to the majority of television households, no matter how poor they may be.

Guy Berger's 2006 article on digital migration shows how digital broadcasting will certainly widen the digital divide in Africa, with those citizens unable to pay subscription fees being “condemned to analogue service for many years yet” (Berger, 2006:2).

Government’s promise of subsidies for the poor should therefore be heavily encouraged and monitored, or else the poor stand to be left even further behind than before. For ICTs to truly aid development in the future, the digital migration process should be taken into serious consideration. If this is done sooner rather than later, we could consider how the digital migration could actually benefit the poor and marginalised.

For updates on government policy on this matter go to: DVB’s website . You can also compare Africa’s development here in relation to other countries.

A better quality of life for the blind

2007-08-28T23:08:00.000+02:00

If the aim of ICTs within development is to provide access and resources for all, this of course should include those with disabilities. I recently covered a story for Grocott’s Mail about the South African Library for the Blind (Blindlib) conference held in Grahamstown earlier this month.

The conference focused on discussion and networking around issues concerning the blind, with the purpose of promoting national and international cooperation in the field. The conference, and the organisation as a whole, encourages research and development, “thus improving the access of information for the blind and other people with print disabilities”.

What really struck me is the issue of access, and the role which better ICTs and bandwidth will play in giving those in developing nations access to technology and programs for the blind. The issue was addressed by a couple of the key delegates such as Hiroshi Kawamura, project leader of DAISY for All (Digital Accessible Information Systems) and the Urakawa Project in Japan.

Organiser of the conference, Wendy Ling, noted while there was no doubting the progressive and high quality nature of the technologies exhibited at the conference, there is a difficulty with regard to access which is a symptom of the “first world, third world divide”. However, she said simply knowing about what technologies exist, even if they are unable to gain access to them immediately, was still positive for developing nations as it “gives them something to work towards”.

This issue of access to computers and the Internet - and also mobile phones - was addressed by Kawamura and others. Kawamura explained that “the expansion of broadband will play a role in increasing access to technologies for the blind” while Richard Tucker from the UK noted the role which mobile phones could potentially play in aiding the blind.

I am thankful for witnessing this conference as it introduced me to an area of ICTs for development I had not previously considered: the role they could potentially play in dramatically increasing the quality of life for those with disabilities. Through having access to a computer and other such important technologies, those who are visually impaired living in poor, often rural areas could be given a greater chance to stand on their own and live independently, enabling them to read, write and learn unaided.

Some investigating showed me there are in fact organisations working to provide ICTs for the blind. In fact, at a glance it seems Ethiopia is the country where the most movement is happening in Africa to help the blind, although Neville Clarence Technologies has recently opened an ICT Skills Development Centre in Pretoria, South Africa. In Ethiopia, the Adaptive Technology Centre for the Blind (ATCB) is doing amazing work to “empower the blind community with technological approaches in attitudes and self-confidence”.

It seems that access to ICTs for the disabled needs to become a priority in developing countries around the world. Ling from the South African Libraries for the Blind, says there is currently a worldwide move to help Africa come up to speed with other developed nations already benefiting from nearly full access to technologies. Lets hope such promises reap actual results and rewards.

Finding funding online

2007-08-15T02:04:00.000+02:00

I recently gave a fundraising workshop to a group hoping to launch an organisation for young people with an interest in the sciences called Young Royals. In discussing development project fundraising, I drew on the example of a campaign I have been involved with for over a year – Ikhaya Losizo .

This is a fundraising initiative whereby Rhodes University students “either as individuals or as clubs, societies or residences raise funds”. All the money raised is donated to Child & Family Welfare in Grahamstown for the express purpose of building a local safe house for abused and neglected children.

Amazingly, this campus-based campaign reached its proposed target of R200 000 – a hefty amount from youth who supposedly hold no interest for such campaigns.

In advising the eager Young Royals group, my fellow Ikhaya Losizo committee member, Dominique Schafer and I presented a possible recipe for success. This included a discussion of the importance of tight branding and advertising of a new campaign, and among other things – the advantage of having a website.

I then realised that for all my earlier discussion on funding, I had failed to draw on my own very personal example where ICTs have aided development in my own experience. The Ikhaya Losizo website turned out to be a real asset to our campaign: it gave the project a legitimacy which meant our donors felt more comfortable that they were donating to an identifiable, verifiable cause. And most significantly: we attracted an anonymous donor in the U.K. wanting to donate R50 000 to our cause.

Without the website, this would never have happened. The donor says he was simply running an internet search for South African fundraising projects, looking for a worthy cause to which he could donate when he stumbled upon Ikhaya Losizo. I ran a Google search for “fundraising projects South Africa”, and I didn’t come up with Ikhaya Losizo within even the top ten pages.

Apparently this anonymous donor ran a search for “fundraising projects Grahamstown”, because then Ikhaya Losizo appears as the top hit. This means the donor must have been looking specifically in this area of South Africa for one reason or another.

If you consider the vast number of projects needing funding in South Africa, Ikhaya Losizo was extremely lucky to attract this donor. So are there sites in South Africa which act as portals connecting needy causes with prospective donors? Are there ways to leave it up to more than luck?

The Funding Site is one such example which “aims to support the development of an effective social capital market by providing a social broking and information service”. The site helps NGOs in accessing social capital and other resources through its searchable online database of prospective donors and its comprehensive range of information, training, advertising and marketing services to the South African non-profit and development community.

Downes Murray International is a South African company fundraising consultancy company working to help organisations from another angle altogether. They are employed by organisations to:
• assess funding needs
• examine and identify the potential of the constituency to meet those needs
• design and implement a tailored programme to raise the required money
• provide training where necessary
• analyse results
• guide and advise in whatever areas may be necessary for the successful continuation of the programme.

Yet I failed to find any sites acting as a database of South African projects where potential donors such as Mr Anonymous in the UK could look for a worthy project like Ikhaya Losizo. Perhaps this is an important way in which ICTs could help aid development: through working harder to connect donors with those organisations needing their help. A database with a list and description of various projects in South Africa is an excellent idea. Anyone up for the challenge of creating one?

In a rich man's world

2007-08-09T21:28:00.001+02:00

People say money makes the world go round, and I argue it is no different in development. The myriad of good intentions aside, we have to face the reality that very good, worthwhile projects are left abandoned due to lack of funds, initiatives fail, and people become disheartened all for the simple need of funding. These are the thoughts that have been sparked through the comments posted to my last blog: “A gateway to change”, where people voiced concern over the role of big organisations in comparison to development / empowerment at the local level.

It seems one of the key issues here is that of funding: while grass-root level initiatives are best, they need to get the funds from somewhere. The “inspirational” William Kamkwamba is an example of someone actively seeking funding which will help him and his family in their daily lives and to fund projects such as building windmills to create electricity. The response to Kamkwamba’s blog has been phenomenal, and he has been lucky enough to be one of those voices that does get heard, supported and yes, funded.

One person commented on Kamkwamba’s blog: “it is great to donate money directly to an African family without going through an organisation”. They praised the fact that one can see exactly where the donations have gone, and can have satisfaction in seeing results. I certainly can understand that, but I think we need to realise that Kamkwamba is the exception, not the rule. I say this because not everyone can use the outlet of the Internet due to lack of access and skills, cannot speak the vernacular – English, and for many other reasons which mean millions go unheard and unsupported.

It is so exciting when people like Kamkwamba or those of Nata Village blog about their lives, their needs, their hopes, and most wonderfully, their successes. But most obviously, these blogs are all about getting support – most importantly financial support – for their causes. Money, I say again, makes it all possible.

This is where I think big organisations have the potential to really make a difference: greater established organisations like Development Gateway Foundation have the time and resources and very importantly, the credibility to seek funding for their initiatives. This places organisations in a powerful position – one which many fail to fill properly or in the positive way they should. Yet if larger organisations, with corporate and government funding at hand, are able to filter this money down to the local initiatives that need it, then the process is working for the right reasons and in the most logical, effective manner.

Yes, the idealists out there would like to dream that every individual, community and country in Africa can embrace their own future from the outset. But the reality is they need the funding to do so. Yes, development needs to be from the bottom-up, but people need the tools with which to embrace their future – people like Kamkwamba need the money so they can build their windmills and any other innovative project they may visualise.

So lets not hasten to idealise and ignore the potential which bigger organisations possess to bring funding to the table. The extent to which organisations may succeed or fail to integrate this funding at the necessary grass-roots level may be another discussion entirely.

A Gateway to change

2007-08-01T01:30:00.000+02:00

The Nata Village Blog , and a recent essay I wrote on blogging’s promise for democratic development in Africa, have both inspired me to look more closely at other websites aiding development. The Nata Village blog is refreshing because it focuses on a very small community and talks intimately about their lives. It is therefore something of a grass-roots site, able to serve its purpose simply and effectively. The personal nature of the Nata Village blog is probably one of the reasons it has had such an impact on viewers and therefore has been able to generate significant funds for their fight against HIV in the village.

Yet what about ICT development efforts on a greater national or perhaps global scale? I set out to find a site which shows a commitment to development around the world and constitutes something of a larger scale ICT-for-development success story.

And I think I found one… hurrah!

I found an organisation with a mission to “reduce poverty and enable change in developing nations through information technology” called The Development Gateway Foundation . It is an international non-profit organization providing web-based platforms to make aid and development efforts more effective around the world.

The organisation is working towards a world where: the digital revolution serves people everywhere and creates great opportunities for people due to increased access to critical information; where there is greater reliance on local capabilities; and more effective, better coordinated international aid.

So how is this site aiding African countries at a basic, accessible level? Well the Development Gateway Foundation aims to be exactly that – a gateway to issues and projects in developing countries around the world.

The organisation focuses on three ways in which even small investments in information and communications technology can make a major difference:
• Effective government
• Knowledge sharing and collaboration
• Local partner programs in nearly 50 countries – connecting developing country organizations into a global network to empower them to use information and communications technologies to bolster local development efforts.

This last point is important, because here is one of the reasons the site works so well: while it gives a global overview of issues and projects, it also has a strong local focus. The organisation has helped set up and hosts development sites for developing countries all over the world – including Africa.

One such example is Rwanda Development Gateway (RDG) . The RDG is a group of three “ICT for Development” initiatives under the Rwanda’s Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Scientific Research, being funded by the Government of Rwanda. This project is a national portal for information sharing and represents a one-stop-shop for information on Rwanda and the country's web interface to the rest of the world.

The Development Gateway Foundation acts as a portal – an oversight of and entrance to development issues globally. They are building online resources which enable development information and knowledge-sharing worldwide through bringing people and organisations together, all of whom are working to improve life in developing countries.

The site shows a fair balance between two extremes – a locally-orientated and driven site for development, and a large-scale organisation for development. All online websites for development should remember to keep a clear focus on the people whom they are hoping to assist. If they remember to do this, it seems their priorities, and their site will be pointing in the right direction.

A website making a difference

2007-07-24T21:33:00.000+02:00

There is no denying that developments in ICTs have huge potential to facilitate and encourage development. The digital revolution can be used to the benefit of those needing access to better information and can provide those who traditionally have been voiceless, to have their voices heard. Yet closer inspection on this topic so far has largely led me to develop a rather grim perspective on the use of digital technology in development, because it often seems to have little real effect.

This is why discovering the Nata Village Blog was so exciting. I stumbled upon this blog through reading Christian Kreutz’s discussion of web 2.0 in the context of development. While there are numerous challenges regarding web2.0 for rural development such as connectivity and lack of skills, Kreutz says the Nata Village blog is a positive case study which shows communities can “communicate their messages and interact with a worldwide audience”.

Nata is a small village of 5000 people in Botswana, which has been extremely hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. With over 400 AIDS orphans and nearly 50% of all pregnant women in Nata testing as HIV positive, the village is taking steps to take control of a fate which seems sure to wipe out most of their population.

Through the help of a US Peace Corp in Nata, Melody Jenkins, and Jon Rawlinson, a Canadian television producer and IT specialist, Nata has become one of the first rural villages to establish its own website to raise funds to fight HIV/AIDS. The website is dedicated to the people of Nata who despite enormous losses and challenges still have the courage and determination to fight the ravages of this pandemic.

The site has stories, photographs and videos about Nata Clinic, features about PLWA’s (People Living with AIDS), village life, youth groups, the Kgosi’s (chiefs) and the professionals involved in the fight to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

As most of the village residents are apparently illiterate, the blog posts are written by Jon Rawlinson & Melody Jenkins, but a camera has been donated to the locals so that they can tell their story through photographs. This is one of the ways in which the site is sustainable and effective – through the local residents’ input. Local residents have said they see the importance for the communities to resuscitate the spirit of self-reliance rather than relying on the government for assistance.

And most importantly, the initiative is having an effect, with funds being donated towards furnishing the clinic, HIV/AIDS education programs, support groups and more.

While the ideal would be a site where residents could play a bigger role in the posting of content, this is still an inspiring example of a locally-run website which is benefiting a rural village, which otherwise would still be struggling to get their story heard or find support for their cause.

Global development plan continues to fail

2007-06-13T01:01:00.000+02:00

The UN has recently released an Africa and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2007 report which states that sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve ANY of the MDGs. This is cause for concern, bearing in mind we are exactly half way through the period in which the goals were meant to be achieved. Guido Schmidt Traub, from the UN Development Programme says "the stark reality is that there's not even a single country in the continent that is on track to achieve the MDGs". So what has gone wrong?

The Africa & MDGs report says although there have been major gains in several areas and the Goals remain achievable in most African nations, even the best governed countries on the continent have not been able to make sufficient progress in reducing extreme poverty in its many forms.

Before I discuss this issue any further, let me remind you of the Millennium Development Goals, which committed to:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development.
(You can go to the official MDG site to find out more)

The Africa & MDGs report shows while there have been some success stories, they are few and far between, as targets have failed to be met in all of the eight categories. The report attributes continued challenges as ranging from lack of capacity to unfair global trade, as well as the failure of rich countries and donors to live up to their pledge of doubling aid to Africa.

My previous discussion about the new economy increasing the digital divide has interesting implications here, as the era of technology and digitisation may be a contributing factor to increasing global economic divides, and preventing the achievement of the MDGs in countries like those of sub-Saharan Africa.

However, this is not to say that the MDGs are unachievable and we should all give up. Reports such as the ICT for Development: Contributing to the Millennium Development Goals shows there are projects around the world where ICTs have successfully aided development. As I discussed previously, developing countries need to work effectively with the changing global regime of ICTs and need to adopt practices such as telemedicine, distance learning and e-government in order to work towards development in this new economy.

This 2003 report sees what we can learn from ICT projects in developing countries about proper design, sustainability and impact of such interventions. It notes the widespread hope within the international development community that ICTs could potentially “be a powerful tool of development and poverty reduction, and of achieving the Millennium Development Goals”.

We need to transfer hope and plans into concrete reality. The Africa & MDGs report says donors need to “accelerate their plans to scale up assistance” and concludes on a positive note, saying that “despite the lack of progress towards the MDGs, the Goals remain achievable in most African countries”.

Yet time is indeed running out, and the commitments made and reaffirmed by world leaders “must be urgently translated into practical plans with systematic follow-through”. Once again, world leaders need to put talk into action, and one of the key areas they should be focusing on is how ICTs can be used in development.

See the following articles on this issue:
China's Xinhau news agency
SABC News

The ‘New Economy’: increasing the digital divide?

2007-06-06T14:03:00.000+02:00

Most of us have heard the term ‘new economy’ thrown about in discussions of ICT and development, often without having a concrete understanding of what this term means and what real effect it has on countries. The ‘new economy’ has also been described as: the ‘knowledge economy’, an ‘information-driven economy’, ‘networked economy’, and an ‘e-conomy’. These terms all express the fundamental point: that we now live in an knowledge-based global economy.

An International Monetary Fund article defines a ‘new economy’ as “one characterised by higher long-term growth that is due to a permanently higher growth rate in productivity stemming primarily from the production, adoption, and continued diffusion of ICT”.

The IMF article uses examples of industrial societies where the rapid adoption of ICT has been the driving force behind acceleration in labour productivity, such as in the United States during the 1990s. For instance, technological innovation resulted in sharp declines in computer prices of about 22 percent a year between 1995 and 2000. This meant industries could invest in information processing equipment and peripherals.

While it is all good and well to consider what the new economy has meant for the U.S. and European countries, there is far less discussion and consideration of developing countries and how they may (or may not) be benefiting. This is why Anthony P. D’Costa’s article is refreshing. He acknowledges that “knowledge-based economic activities are key to international competitiveness and productivity growth,” and that with industrialisation no longer the principal driver of economic growth, developing countries need to catch up in ICT development.

Whether or not developing countries can work effectively with the changing global regime, how they might utilise the open access to knowledge and information, and how they can adopt best practices (such as telemedicine, distance learning and e-government) are significant questions for development.

Developing countries are structurally disadvantaged in seeking the best from the global regime of ICT infrastructure, which is related to their lack of key ingredients such as human capital, physical infrastructure, and lack of venture capital to exploit ICTs. But D’Costa says this does not mean the doors are completely shut. Poor countries such as the Philippines, which have unwittingly created human capital, have shown they are able to interact with the global economy, adapt imported ideas and know-how and localise them.

D’Costa suggests that the old (non-ICT) economy and the traditional development concerns are equally important to secure the benefits of the new economy. Previously emphasised development needs, such as infrastructure investments and domestic market stimulation, are still relevant.

Gale T C Rigobert’s article continues in this same vein, examining the implications of the new economy for a country on the less-beneficial side of the digital divide: the Caribbean.

Rigobert says firms or national economies that fail to incorporate ICTs in their economic or productive structures are likely to be abandoned at the fringes of the global economy. The repercussions of this being: declining competitiveness, and negative or poor economic growth. This suggests that the ‘new economy’ threatens to increase the digital divide, with those countries already on top of ICT development maintaining an advantage over those countries still lacking in such developments.

Like D’Costa, Rigobert says for poor countries to benefit from ICTs, there are important social, institutional and cultural preconditions for entering the digital age and evolving into a knowledge society/ economy. The existence of an apparently daunting digital divide, however, raises significant doubt about the potential of ICTs to raise the living standards of the poor in the Caribbean.

So in this ‘new economy’, where knowledge has become a very important factor of production, countries like that of the Caribbean need to move toward fostering an innovation culture and environment to secure a place for itself among the technological leaders. Rigobert says this includes the need for a more vigorous attempt at resolving the technology access divide, skills divide, social capability divide, and the technology production divide.

It seems it is only then that “any significant strides can be made in narrowing the economic divide between the haves and the have-nots in the current techno-economic context”. If developing countries fail to make these necessary steps, they will continue to be left behind.

Development as a wholistic process

2007-05-30T01:11:00.000+02:00

I was starting to build a rather bleak picture of ICTs and development in Africa – there seemed to be a lot of policy making going on, and not enough projects with tangible results. Upon closer inspection, however, I have come to realise there are in fact numerous worthwhile projects of various shapes and forms all over Africa. One such program, the e-learning Africa news portal ‘Intel Teach Program’ , proved to be an excellent case study of ICTs development. This program promoted the effective use of technology in DZJ Mthebula High School in a semi-rural region of Limpopo province.

What struck me about this story were two key nuances: firstly that dumping technology in a community is useless unless the skills are taught for the consumption of and production using this technology. Secondly, this case study emphasised the importance of focusing on schools and introducing students to technology which can aid their learning experience, and teach them the skills they need to thrive in the knowledge economy/ information society.

Mthebula High School was donated computers by Telkom a few years ago, but none of the teachers were incorporating the technology into their instruction. School language teacher, Mercy Ntlemo, attributed this to most of the teachers lacking “the specific knowledge and training to integrate technology in any substantive way”. This meant the computers were gathering dust, barely used beyond basic information retrieval and simple word processing.

This example speaks to the larger debate within ICTs and development: development needs to happen on a multitude of different levels. It makes no sense to think you are aiding development by donating free technology like computers to those who lack the skills to utilise this technology effectively.

In this particular case, Ntlemo underwent the Intel Teach Program, a professional development program designed to help teachers integrate technology effectively in the classroom with the objective of helping students build 21st century skills. Ntlemo felt she really benefited from the training and following her success, many other teachers did the program, to help “conquer their technophobia”.
This training program exposed the teachers to new approaches for creating assessment tools and aligning lessons with educational learning goals and standards. Additionally, they discover new ways to incorporate the use of the Internet, Web page design, and student projects as vehicles for powerful learning.

As a result of the Intel Teach Program, Ntlemo says that technology is now an integral part of the curriculum at DZJ Mthebula High School, and project based learning is the norm. The training program revolutionised the way the teachers used the computers – a wonderful resource which until then were being completely underused. Ntlemo says the program “has revolutionised the way we teach.”

So what does a story such as this one teach us? It teaches us that we need to have a wholistic approach to development, and that development occurs within a particular context – such as lack of digital literacy. We need to understand the contexts of the communities needing developments in ICTs so that development does not become a worthless endeavour but rather a meaningful process of change.

To find out more on some of the interesting ICT development projects in Africa, visit the following links:
1. Un Economic Commissions for Africa
2. Acacia: Communities and the Information Society in Africa Program
3. APC Women’s networking support program
4. World Bank: Africa and the knowledge economy

World Information Society Day passed us by…

2007-05-23T10:35:00.000+02:00

This week I visited UNESCO's Communication and Information homepage , only to discover that the 17 May was World Information Society Day - a fact which had completely passed the Rhodes new media class by. As young people studying new media and exploring this notion of the ‘Information Society’, it seemed embarrassing we didn’t even know the day existed. As far as I’m concerned this day actually went unnoticed in South Africa as a whole, a rather disturbing realisation considering the focus of WISD is supposedly those on the furthest end of the digital divide.

That said, what is WISD all about; does it have any real significance? The UNESCO site says the day is celebrated each year to remind the world of the “vision of the World Summit on the Information Society to build ‘a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society’ based on fundamental human rights”.

That’s fantastic… but how is this day reminding the world of this vision if we aren’t aware of the day and what it means? This worries me, considering the vision they speak of starts seeming more like hot air than actual policy-making and active development and change programmes.

Judging from the links in and around UNESCO’s information about WISD, I get the impression it was more resolutions and re-affirming of previous development plans in the global ICT realm than real action. For instance, the message from UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, urged “policy-makers and industry leaders to put their minds together, and to work cooperatively with children and youth to produce suitable technologies, applications and services to facilitate access to information and communications technologies”.

He noted that young people are the driving force behind innovation in the development and use of new technologies, but the digital chasm leaves many unable to capitalise fully on the benefits of globalization. He emphasised that “young people everywhere must have equal opportunities to rise out of poverty and illiteracy and to realize their full potential”.

I agree of course, but the question remains: what is really being done on a practical level? How are organisations like UNESCO, which should hold responsibility for helping to facilitate ICT development globally, actually aiding this development? I wonder how many youth in Africa were aware of this grand notion of a WISD? How many will be empowered to the extent that they can really be the “driving force behind innovation in the development and use of new technologies”? I don’t mean to be cynical, and I recognise the need for strategy and goal-making, but if this has no real impact then we’ve completely missed the point. I hope WISD resolves to be the global promise, with a global reach and real affects next year.

ICTs, Development and the New Economy: an introduction

2007-05-17T12:39:00.000+02:00

In the following weeks I will be blogging on the topic of ‘ICTs, development and the new economy,’ a topic of great significance in a continent largely lagging behind in the digital age. We seem to be facing the unfortunate reality that the telecommunication revolution is increasing the divide between the wealthy and the poor, “creating two distinct classes of information haves and information have-nots” (Sonaike, 2004:41). This is disturbing considering the potential digital developments have to facilitate and encourage development – a potential governments, NGOs and Intergovernmental organisations should be harnessing. The digital revolution can be used to the benefit of those needing access to better information and can provide those who traditionally have been voiceless, to have their voices heard – if only we focus on making this a priority.

We need to understand that a so-called ‘information society’ cannot be measured according to the extent of internet access available in a country, but rather how and to what effect people are able to use these technologies. In Africa, although research shows all 54 countries on the continent have Internet access at least in their capital cities, “the global impact of their connectivity is negligible” (Sonaike, 2004:41). It is clear that, “having access to the Internet and being active participants in the digital revolution are two different things” (Sonaike, 2004:42), if you consider that computers in Africa are mostly used for secretarial work, and the Internet is mostly used for personal email transactions. This is in sharp contrast to ‘Northern’ countries like England and America, who are driving the digital revolution, shaping and determining information on the web, which is disseminated globally and impacts on people around the world.

My following blogs will address this notion of the ‘digital divide’; which refers to disparities in access to, and usage of, the telephone, computers and Internet within and between countries. We need to keep in mind that this divide is experienced on a variety of social levels – from income, education, age, gender, race, occupation, geographic location, language group and many other ‘divides’. Aside from the clear differences between third and first world countries, there are clear inequalities within African countries, with those currently benefiting from the Internet being an affluent “minority, urban-based elite” (Sonaike, 2004:42).

I will be addressing some of the reasons for Africa’s current lagging position in the global technology context – such as the lack of:
- Appropriate telecommunication infrastructure on the continent (and high cost of computer hardware, low bandwidth, restriction of Internet use to major cities)
- Material access i.e. possession of computers, network connections, etc
- Digital experience
- Skills access

Perhaps most importantly I want to address ideas as to how the new medium of technology can be utilised to the benefit of existing development priorities in Africa. Ideas as to how technology like the Internet can be “a partner, rather than a cog, in Africa’s development effort” (Sonaike, 2004: 43) are essential if we take development seriously – and we should. The implication of neglecting such efforts is an increasing world of inequalities, one where Africa at large will continue to suffer.

Works Cited
Sonaike, S. 2004. “The Internet and the Dilemma of Africa’s Development”. International Communication Gazette; 66; 41.

SciFest bootcamp - conclusions

2007-03-30T11:18:00.000+02:00

SciFest has come to an end, leaving me with a lot to consider. I faced frustrations getting used to problematic equipment and programs, learnt the complexities of multi-tasking at events and the sleep-deprivation dealing with a lengthy production process. Some of what happened was out of my control, while other problems that arose were due to lack of planning or other faults on my part.

Elements out of my control included things like: sound recording equipment not working, PhotoStory program giving issues marrying sound and photos, and individuals not getting back to me with regard to planned interviews.

I could have improved by having more forward planning around stories. I felt my SciKidz photo story was well-planned but my climate story became too long and text heavy because i got too bogged down in the large quantity of information instead of planning and sticking to a focus. Secondly, i failed in the group work process, and worked primarily alone. This was not really what the SciFest coverage experience was supposed to be about.

All the negative points aside, SciFest gave me great insight into the multi-media production process and what is required in terms of quality and content of stories. This experience, while throwing us in the deep end, showed us what covering 'real-life' stories in a new media format involves and thus prepared us for the work in the coming terms. I feel enriched by the knowledge gained during the process and now feel better prepared for up-coming events such as the National Arts Festival next term.

Thank you to Jude for persevering, staying many a late night in the lab with us and being a pedantic pain! No really, thank you - i learnt more in one week than i thought i'd learn in a couple of months.

Scifest bootcamp part 2 - i'm bad at group work

2007-03-28T21:25:00.000+02:00

Reflecting on this SciFest process has made me realise that I completely failed with regard to groupwork. For the purpose of SciFest, the class was divided into four pairs, and it has been interesting to see the dynamics within those different pairs. Some groups worked hand in hand on all the stories, while others (such as myself and Arther)ended up working on our stories on our own.

Each individual in the group was meant to produce one SciFest new media package and one photo slideshow - yet you were supposed to work on these stories as a pair. I found this concept a difficult to wrap my mind around, because I felt unsure about what level of investment Arther should have in my stories and vice versa.

This type of group work is best suited to a situation where the two indivuals are skilled in different areas and thus can assist one another in producing wholistic multi-media stories. This was problematic in our case because apart from my experience with photography, we were on equal footing with writing and audio recording/ editing skills.

On the first day of SciFest we headed out on every story together but I clearly felt the division between "my stories" - the ones i had come up with - and the one's Arther wanted to cover. He came with me to a couple of my lectures, but didn't really contribute anything to them or my follow up interviews and i largely was the same with his.

After the first day we ended up focusing on our different stories and apart from advising Arther at his photo story shoot, sub editing one of his stories and taking a couple of photos for him, i wasn't of any real assistance to him. Similarly, he has not contributed to either of my stories.

I attribute this to a failure on both our parts to fully utilise what could have been the benefits of working in a group. I really felt the struggle of working alone at some stages in the process, while in other ways it seemed more natural to me than having to take another individual into account along the way.

I know i will be taken to task on this issue and i can only say it has been yet another learning curve along the tumultuous road of SciFest. It has taught me to make group work arrangements from the beginning and develop a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities from the outset. Similarly, it would have helped if i had gained a clearer understanding from my lecturer regarding group work and the division of workload on the four stories between the two of us.

The best i can do is to work towards being a better group worker in the future!

Welcome to SciFest & the Box Cart Derby

2007-03-26T10:48:00.000+02:00

Scifest bootcamp - a kick up the *!@#

2007-03-26T10:12:00.001+02:00

"What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger". Okay so it turns out that saying is a little hard to appreciate when you are running on this little sleep and your week has consisted nearly entirely of living in the new media lab. In fact the only time you leave this windowless world is to attend SciFest events, trail the Monument and gather more material for your stories... and if you're lucky catch a bite to eat. Maybe i'm painting a rather grim picture here so let me rephrase - it has been a very good learning curve! Jude has officially thrown us in the deep end, and it turns out most of us seem more adept at drowning than swimming. As a photographer it has been a new experience covering an event not just with my camera but with my pen and notepad and with audio recording equipment. I've certainly felt like i've learnt a whole new range of skills in multi-tasking, and have performed many acrobatic balancing acts trying to hold a microphone while taking notes, with my camera slung over my shoulder!

Another learning curve has been the length of the multi-media process, I never expected it would take quite so long to get stories ready for publishing. Jude is intent on being meticulous and insists the stories are perfect before they can be published on the Grocott's Digital site. As a result of his perfectionism and our amateur status, there is currently very little content sitting on the site! In fact I am eagerly waiting to have my first multi-media package published later today - much cause for celebration, even if it is several days later than i hoped!

There is no doubt that Darb and Jude's name for this week, "Scifest Bootcamp 1.0" was incredibly accurate!

Web accessibility for all

2007-03-08T00:18:00.000+02:00

Why accessibility of web pages should be of concern to journalists and why information access technologies should be careful not marginalise people.

As a journalist operating in the new media age it is important that I ensure the content I produce does not marginalise people. In terms of online media, this means the web pages I create must be accessible to everyone: including those who are physically disabled, as well as those who are disadvantaged in terms of the quality of their internet connection and limited bandwidth.

Before reading on this topic, I have to admit that I had not considered users who have visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities and was not aware that organisations and initiatives such as that of the W3C existed to promote web accessibility for people with disabilities. In investigating web accessibility it became clear to me that “most web sites and web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use the Web” [1].

These accessibility issues are a real setback for someone producing media which should be freely available to the whole public. When thinking about what the web has come to mean to people today I realise that it is an essential resource for millions of people, including those who are disabled. In fact, the web can be an even more valuable resource for a disabled person, because it can “help people with disabilities more actively participate in society” [1] as well as offers the “the possibility of unprecedented access to information and interaction” [1].

I am sure that media would form a (probably large) portion of the information which disabled people consume and thus as journalists we have a responsibility to take web accessibility for all into consideration. Thus as a content developer, I need to take different people with their different situations into consideration and design user-friendly and accessible web pages.

This can be achieved for example through using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which allows the XHTML author to “have more control over their pages, make those pages more accessible to people with low vision, and by sharing the style sheets, will often shorten page download times for all users” [2].

Some other key tools can be used when striving for greater web accessibility such as text equivalents, user agents and non-text equivalents. Text content, which conveys the same function and purpose, can be provided instead of images. This helps those with sensory and other disabilities as well as helping users find pages more quickly. User agents such as screen readers and Braille displays present the information to the user. Lastly, non-text equivalents of text are helpful for those who may have learning or cognitive disabilities or those who may be deaf.

While the full span of web accessibility guidelines are too vast to discuss here, there is an important lesson to be learnt: journalists have a responsibility to consider their entire audience and think creatively and usefully about how to ensure web pages are accessible to the greatest number of people. It seems that learning XHTML as we are currently doing in our new media course at Rhodes, and through using this in tandem with style sheets, are steps in the right direction to greater web accessibility. As the W3C point out, we need to consider that many users are operating in contexts very different from our own [2] and we need to consider all possible users in an equal manner and cater accordingly.

Works Cited

[1] W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. 2005. Introduction to Web Accessibility. Retrieved on the World Wide Web on 07 March 2007: http://www.w3.org/WAI/

[2] W3C Recommendation. 1999. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 07 March 2007: http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

The advantages of knowing XHTML as a journalist in Africa

2007-03-07T23:09:00.001+02:00

Why it is important for journalists to have a solid grasp of the technical language of XHTML in the African context.

As a journalist working in the bandwidth-poor continent of Africa, it is essential that I have a solid grasp of the technical language of XHTML. This is because those who consume online media in Africa are using varying digital devices and internet which is costly and has an incredibly low bandwidth. In fact it is very important that I take this into consideration in my media production, considering this problem is most acute in sub-Saharan Africa where I work, “which has the lowest teledensity in the world and the highest unmet demand for telecommunication services” [3].

In light of this, there is huge value in using XHTML as it creates more accessible pages through making it easy to share and process electronic documents regardless of the type of device, computer platform or operating system used [1]. This is invaluable because it makes websites more predictable, more portable, and more accessible, as they are built to work on more than just one specific browser [1].

Thus through using XHTML one can create “optimized easy-to-manage web sites that upload and download faster, and enhance search engine optimization” [2]. Essentially ‘less is more’ in that the cleaner one’s pages are and the least markup and tags they have, the more streamlined, efficient, easy-to-mange, search engine-friendly the web design will be [2]. This is especially the case where web pages are designed with Cascading Style Sheets modelled on well-structured XHTML pages.

Structural XHTML markup also has the advantage of device independence and repurposing of documents. A basic XHTML structure document can be paired with any number of stylesheets to provide output to numerous devices such as “computer screens (through web browsers), high-resolution printers, handheld devices, aural browsers or braille devices for those with visual impairments, and so on” [5]. Readily available stylesheets make this a simple matter of pairing a semantic HTML document with the appropriate stylesheets, which is helpful for providers with low bandwidths. [5]

In addition to all these advantages for those wishing to consume media in Africa, knowing XHTML has a lot of benefits for the journalist themselves. Considering that we may not always have access to expensive software, the ability to create web pages just with a basic text editor is invaluable [4]. Hence, as a contemporary journalist wishing to go into this great continent and produce significant multi and online media, my skills in XHTML are all the more relevant and pertinent to my context and will benefit me and the media I produce in the years to come.

Works Cited

[1] Byrne, Jim. 2003. The Advantages of Using Valid HTML. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007: http://www.mcu.org.uk/training/usestandardmarkup.php

[2] Kraus, Bud. 2007. Why learn XHTML and CSS? Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 26 February 2007:
http://www.joyofcode.com/reasons_to_learn.html

[3] Jensen, Mike. 2006. Open Access: Lowering the Costs of International Bandwidth in Africa. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007:
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/apc0612.php

[4] Niles, Robert.2005. From the Teaching Trenches: Hardcoding is Harder, but Results are Worth It. Retreived from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050113niles/

[5] Wikipedia. 2007. HTML. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 07 March 2007: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html#Semantic_HTML

The advantages of knowing XHTML as a journalist in Africa

2007-03-07T23:09:00.000+02:00

Why it is important for journalists to have a solid grasp of the technical language of XHTML in the African context.

As a journalist it is essential that I have a solid grasp of the technical language of XHTML, especially considering that I am working in the bandwidth-poor continent of Africa. For those in Africa who do actually have access to the internet, it is far more expensive than in developed countries and providers have “less bandwidth that a home broadband user in North America or Europe” [3]. For reasons such as the lack of optic fibre cables which are able to supply international low-cost bandwidth, the developing nations of Africa continue to struggle with low bandwidth and high internet access costs. In fact this problem is most acute in sub-Saharan Africa “which has the lowest teledensity in the world and the highest unmet demand for telecommunication services” [3].

In light of this, there is huge value in using XHTML as it creates more accessible pages through making it easy to share and process electronic documents regardless of the type of device, computer platform or operating system used [1]. This is invaluable because it makes websites more predictable, more portable, and more accessible, as they are built to work on more than just one specific browser [1].

Thus through using XHTML one can create “optimized easy-to-manage web sites that upload and download faster, and enhance search engine optimization” [2]. Essentially ‘less is more’ in that the cleaner one’s pages are and the least markup and tags they have, the more streamlined, efficient, easy-to-mange, search engine-friendly the web design will be [2]. This is especially the case where web pages are designed with Cascading Style Sheets modelled on well-structured XHTML pages.

Structural XHTML markup also has the advantage of device independence and repurposing of documents. A basic XHTML structure document can be paired with any number of stylesheets to provide output to numerous devices such as “computer screens (through web browsers), high-resolution printers, handheld devices, aural browsers or braille devices for those with visual impairments, and so on” [5]. Readily available stylesheets make this a simple matter of pairing a semantic HTML document with the appropriate stylesheets, which is helpful for providers with low bandwidths. [5]

In addition to all these advantages for those wishing to consume media in Africa, knowing XHTML has a lot of benefits for the journalist themselves. Considering that they may not always have access to expensive software, the ability to create web pages just with a basic text editor is invaluable [4]. Hence, as a contemporary journalist wishing to go into this great continent and produce significant multi and online media, my skills in XHTML are all the more relevant and pertinent to my context and will benefit me and the media I produce in the years to come.

Works Cited

[1] Byrne, Jim. 2003. The Advantages of Using Valid HTML. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007: http://www.mcu.org.uk/training/usestandardmarkup.php

[2] Kraus, Bud. 2007. Why learn XHTML and CSS? Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 26 February 2007:
http://www.joyofcode.com/reasons_to_learn.html

[3] Jensen, Mike. 2006. Open Access: Lowering the Costs of International Bandwidth in Africa. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007:
http://www.africafocus.org/docs06/apc0612.php

[4] Niles, Robert.2005. From the Teaching Trenches: Hardcoding is Harder, but Results are Worth It. Retreived from the World Wide Web on 06 March 2007: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050113niles/

[5] Wikipedia. 2007. HTML. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 07 March 2007: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html#Semantic_HTML

Planning XHTML for CSS

2007-03-06T22:23:00.000+02:00

Why is it important, from the perspective of design/style of a webpage, to critically think about the structure of your content, navigation and other sections?

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are external style sheets which provide a “means of separating the content of an HTML document from the style and layout of that document” [2]. CSS is an incredibly useful and effective tool, but can only be truly maximised through creating a well structured HTML page first. Thus, it is absolutely essential to think about the structure of your content, navigation and so forth if one wishes to benefit from the numerous advantages of CSS.

Some of the main advantages of style sheets are their ability to save the designer of a webpage a lot of work through making it very easy to change the style of a document compared to the difficulties you would face with table based design [2]. Aside from the other advantages resulting from the reduced file size and so forth, CSS means that the “layout and position of navigation can be completely consistent across a site” [2] which was previously not as easy to achieve.

W3Schools sees CSS as “a breakthrough in Web design because it allows developers to control the style and layout of multiple Web pages all at once” [3]. The advantage of CSS is that the designer can set styles for each HTML element and then apply this easily to numerous Web pages. In this way then, “style sheets can save a lot of work” [3] through clearly separating the document’s presentation layout from the HTML content of the document.

However, as I have said, CSS is only truly effective if the HTML content is well-structured. Thus in order to maximise the potential of CSS there needs to be a shift from thinking about the look of the webpage first to thinking in terms of the structure. One must divide the page into content blocks, think about what the purpose of these blocks will be, and then “design an HTML structure that supports the meaning and purpose of your content” [1]. After this one can add the appropriate content in the appropriate divisions of the page, and only then should one start conceiving of the layout of the page.

Ultimately, if the HTML is well-structured, the page can be made to look like absolutely anything. This has been proved by the revolutionary CSS Zen Garden [4], whereby unlimited variations of the page were presented through using the exact same HTML page. In order to achieve this, one needs to just ensure content is clearly and neatly organised into and named attributes which “creates the context needed to write pinpoint accurate selectors for each individual element” [1]. The aim is to create a carefully structured HTML page, within which each element is used for its logical structural purpose.

Virginia DeBolt’s (2004) article, The Early Bird Catches the CSS: Planning Structural HTML, stresses the importance of creating well-organised and well-structured HTML pages which are structurally-ready for CSS [1]. While CSS takes some getting used to because it’s presentational attributes are different to that of HTML, there are many clear reasons for making the switch to CSS. Thus, there is clear reason to change the way in which one creates HTML content and to think about the end product through building it from the basic content up.

Works Cited

[1] DeBolt, Virginia. 2004. The Early Bird Catches the CSS: Planning Structural HTML. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 02 March 2007:
http://www.wise-women.org/tutorials/cssplanning/

[2] Vord Web Design. Advantages of CSS. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 05 March 2007: http://www.vordweb.co.uk/css/advantages-of-css.htm

[3] W3Schools. 2007. Introduction to CSS. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 05 March 2007: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_intro.asp#top

[4] CSS Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design. http://www.csszengarden.com/

Murders per capita

2007-02-28T23:35:00.000+02:00

Computer ‘assisted’ researching and using spreadsheets – trials and tribulations

2007-02-28T23:34:00.000+02:00

I marvel at the diversities of this new media course – one day I am learning XHTML coding, the next its all about how to use sound recording equipment and today I’ve been working on Microsoft Exel. This certainly is all about multi-media and exploiting every available tool which can aid the ‘new age’ journalist.

This component of the course opened my eyes to the mind-boggling amount of information on the web and the ways in which journalists can and should utilise this vast resource in a more reliable and effective manner. I have also learnt that more traditional methods and tools such as Excel have great advantages, especially when used in tandem with the often random and badly organised data on the web.

The assignment we were set, to tabulate certain crime statistics for Grahamstown, Johannesburg, East London and Mangaung (formerly Bloemfontein), led to some lessons which we all unfortunately had to learn the hard way. Basically the web does not have all the information you want in an easy-to-find and easy-to-use format. All of the new media students were in various states of hysteria, trying to find municipality population statistics – important information which one would assume the government has made available. Instead, we struggled to find the information even on the official Stats S.A website. Once we did find the information it was tabulated with codes, which first had to be accessed before you knew which statistics were for certain cities.

Once the relevant statistics had been found, it was really easy to take it across to Excel and make some useful and easy to understand graphs. One such graph (for murders per capita) is displayed above.

In terms of the results of the data, I am now fighting the urge to run as far away from Grahamstown as possible – all of the crimes investigated were by far the highest in Grahamstown over any of the other cities. In fact, Grahamstown's crimes per capita are three times higher than the next highest, which was East London. It is also interesting to note that the order of highest to lowest crime rates remained the same throughout each of the four different types of crimes investigated. On all accounts, Mangaung seems the safest place to live, as their crime rates were extremely low.

All that said, I now have to head home, in the dark, on my own and with all these frightening crime rates running through my head – thanks Jude for making me paranoid (but at the same time you taught me a whole lot)!

XHTML: love it or hate it, learning it is essential!

2007-02-27T12:35:00.000+02:00

Why should a new media journalist understand and use XHTML?

With advanced web design programmes such as Dreamweaver available some may argue that there is no need for a new media journalist to understand and use XHTML. However, just like with any skill, one needs to understand the basics on which these programmes are built in order to really exploit the full potential of web design coding. XHTML, which stands for eXtensible HyperText Markup Language, is an advanced version of HTML, with many advantages over its predecessor. Joe Gillespie says that using XHTML allows you to “tighten-up your markup, [get] rid of ambiguities and sloppy coding” (Gillespie, 2002) thus improving the robustness of your pages across browsers. As Linda Roeder says, “XHTML is really not all that much different from HTML [it] is really just well informed HTML” (Roeder, 2007).

Now that we have established what XHTML is, we can discuss its relevance and advantages. Bud Kraus (2007) is adamant that although there are many high level web site development tools available to create web content today it is still essential that one learns how to “make web pages, ‘by hand’, the old fashioned way using nothing but a text editor” (Kraus 2007). Firstly, through knowing how to edit XHTML code, one is able to “use web page editors, like Dreamweaver, more effectively by using creative options you otherwise can’t achieve” (Kraus 2007).

Secondly, you gain a huge amount of independence by being able to make or edit a page through a basic text editor such as Notepad without relying on web publishing software. Another advantage is that XHTML allows for “streamlined, easy-to-manage, search engine-friendly web design” which creates “optimized easy-to-manage web sites that upload and download faster” (Kraus 2007). Furthermore, knowing XHTML makes learning other markup languages such as RSS much easier as it shares a common syntax.

Therefore, through developing a solid ground work in XHTML, the new media journalist is able to fully utilise the options which programmes like Dreamweaver provide. Moreover, journalists may find themselves in situations where they do not have access to a web design programme, so knowing XHTML allows one to produce a basic web page through using such a simple application as Notepad.

Works Cited

Gillespie, Joe. 2003. Web page design for designers. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 26 February 2007:
http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/wpd0903.htm#feature

Kraus, Bud. 2007. Why learn XHTML and CSS? Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 26 February 2007:
http://www.joyofcode.com/reasons_to_learn.html

Roeder, Linda. 2007. Basics of XHTML – why, what and how. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 26 February 2007:
http://personalweb.about.com/od/basichtml/a/409xhtml.htm

XHTML tutorial
Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 26 February 2007:
http://www.softlookup.com/tutorial/XHTML/index.asp

A discussion of new media

2007-02-26T09:00:00.000+02:00

Critically discuss the significance of your introduction to new media and journalism studies, focusing on all of the following issues:
a) The uniqueness and opportunities of ‘new’ media
b) How ‘new’ media relates to critical media studies
c) Whether ‘new’ media is just ‘old wine in new wine skins’

The evolution of ‘new’ media has brought about many exciting opportunities and possibilities for both those who provide and those who consume the news, and is constantly changing the face of media as we know it. The striking new developments are seemingly unique to all the forms of media that have gone before, but this ‘newness’ is an erroneous assumption for reasons I will presently discuss.

That aside, there is no denying the unique nature of the opportunities which ‘new’ media provides. For instance, the digital nature of ‘new’ media allows “a flexibility and creativity that more traditional formats would constrain” (Kawamoto, 2003:2). Digitality results in several important characteristics such as hypertextuality, interactivity and nonlinearity. All of these characteristics have allowed for a fuller, richer media experience and there is a clear interest in ‘new’ media, seeing that since the mid-1990s “millions of people have adopted the Internet as their primary or secondary source of news and information” (Kawamoto, 2003:24).

Such a massive development as ‘new’ media must be discussed with regard to its relationship with critical media studies and with society as a whole. Thompson (1995) critically examines the media in terms of its central role in social life and how the development of the media in the modern era “has transformed the nature of symbolic production and exchange in the modern world” (Thompson, 1995:10) in a profound and irreversible way.

One such example is that “the use of technical media enables individuals to transcend the spatial and temporal boundaries characteristic of face-to-face interaction” (Thompson, 1995:31). Seeing as this process has also been influenced by other developments social such as in transport, proves we cannot view the emergence of ‘new media’ as a stand-alone phenomenon, but rather must see it as “part of a much larger landscape of social, technological and cultural change” (Lister et al., 2002:11).

Furthermore, our critical study of ‘new’ media must examine to what extent ‘new’ media is really new versus what is just a reformation of already existing media. The newness of new media “represents a challenge to some of our ways of analyzing media and, […] gives us an opportunity to think through whether our use of media now is shifting and changing the way we relate to it” (Marshall, 2004:2). Marshall (2004) argues that we need to alter our approach “towards a more intricate reading of cultural production” (Marshall, 2004:12) and that a critical study of new media requires a close examination of the new cultural landscape which has been created and developed through new media culture’s various forms.

In examining whether ‘new’ media is really new, we need to identify some significant change which underpins all new media. Most argue that turning analogue media into digital media is where the specific change has occurred but Lister et al.(2002), warn us “although digital media is accurate as a formal description, it presupposes an absolute break (between analogue and digital) where […] none in fact exists” (Lister et al., 2002:12). For instance the digital nature of new media is really just a “continuation and extension of a principle or technique in place; […] the principle of conversion from physical artifact to signal” (Lister et al., 2002:15). They argue the reason people may conceive of the experience of digital media as a complete break from analogue media is due to the significant scale and nature of the extension.

We therefore need to be historical in our approach to ‘new media’ and remember that “new media are not born in a vacuum and, as media, would have no resources to draw upon if they were not in touch and negotiating with the long traditions of […] older media” (Lister et al., 2002:40). ‘New’ media has developed essentially through the appropriation of “some of the qualities and relationships from past media forms” (Marshall, 2004:3).

In many cases then, new media is simply ‘old wine in new wine skins’ – meaning an ‘old’ medium in new era. The term, ‘new’, is thus quite obviously misleading, and perhaps it is better to adopt Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin’s (1999) term of remediation to explain the “repurposing or refashioning of old media with new media, not just in terms of content or retelling stories but through the incorporation of old media into new media forms” (Bucy, 2005:50). They argue that ‘new’ media cannot be developed in a vacuum as the very act of remediation “ensures that the older medium cannot be entirely effaced” and the “new medium remains dependent upon the older one” (Bucy, 2005:56). In conclusion, when discussing the developments within media we must remember that “old and new are relational terms and not absolutes” (Marshall, 2004:2).

Works Cited

Bucy, E (ed.). 2005. Remediation in Living in the Information Age: A New Media Reader. USA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Kawamoto, K. 2003. Digital Journalism: emerging media and the changing horizons of journalism in Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.

Lister, Martin [et al.]. 2002. New Media and Technologies in New Media: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.

Marshall, P. 2004. Introduction: new media and cultural studies in New Media Cultures. Arnold.

Thompson, JB. 1995. Communication and Social Context in The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polity.

Finally....

2007-02-17T16:13:00.000+02:00

Its taken me way too long to start my own blog so today is a good day ;) I guess i've got a lot of work to do, setting this up and making it how i like it. I'm not going to get a chance to start things off slowly either, as part of my course requirement for the New Media course at Rhodes University is that i blog at least twice a week. I'm really pleased about that - nothing like getting a good kick up the backside to make you do things ;)

Watch this space...