Iindaba Ziyafika The news is coming Guy Berger

Iindaba Ziyafika “The news is coming” Guy Berger, Rhodes University

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

We won $592 000 And motivated to MTN for a 5 year Chair in Media & Mobile Comms to co-ordinate it all.

Grahamstown: divided x 5

Grocott’s Mail newspaper Transforming a paper into a learning operation, an experimental model, and a multi-platform and all-community info hub.

Iindaba Ziyafika strategy • Planning, design, monitoring • Sustainable content production • Dissemination lessons

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

• • • 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

Bringing youth into the public sphere

Cellphones: from 1: 1, to 1: many Editor, students, lecturers and learners. - Learners sending 160 characters long smses for possible publication in Grocott’s Mail. -Through a gateway to mail inbox - Translation into conventional English Three kinds of SMS citizen journalism: - Comment/opinion Handbook now in -Mini-news story production -and Haiku poetry (with a twist).

Enlisting journalism students to work with the school learners

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.

Editor giving learners tips on how to get their smses publish

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 2 b on the papers next time M 20 Drinkin&driving wat kind of leader is he tryin 2 make. He is an embarrasment 2 the council&Gtwn community. Xolani shuld b deciplined, quickly. M 18

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 1 z. Da cansilor wnt stp crshng bcz he knw hz nt gona pay. M 08 • 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: N 04

Contesting community radio • Radio G-town has alwyz bin gr 8 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. M 03 078 919 7395 • Why was it sabotaged in the first place? Do they think we will ever trust them again! M 20 - 078 304 8145

Contesting community radio • I think the board should put donation boxes up d new opening of radio gtown. M 06 073 083 4556 • From my view I feel that the ppl that’s 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. M 09 - 078 316 0809

Rhodes schools’ officer Sipho January assisting a learner from Nombulelo secondary school

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 4 rom the Municipality trying 2 cleane! • On ragland, the community of fingo village suffer through an unbearable&uncotrolloble sewage. Last week, on 25 August 2008. It waz damaged becouse of the blockage. By literation & pollution. (M 01) +27734437335

Mini-news - local issues • On Sat. at around 17 h 13 pm an unkwn man at hz late 20's ws knckd by a taxi in Barthust Str. The man wz knckd o 4 wen he wz rushng 4 rm 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. M 10

Mini-news - local issues • Friday afternoon pupils were caught doing sexual activities in public ethembeni ext 7. they were kissing, each others private parts also taking their clothes off they were beaten by the community but didnt the corps MO 7

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. M 18

Mini-news – local issues • In da area o 4 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. M 10

Mary Waters school learner, Pamela Matinisi sending her sms

Haiku poetry smses from the learners • On my way home. knives, "give me your phone" took ran away. N 07 • "give me a rand“ lunch in my bag; they ate it. M 06 • MY CLASSMATE busy as a bee braids on thursday; plaited on friday how's that possible? (m 03) • Filthy is da water. dirty polluted ground. at a near river M 09

Citizens …or (media) consumers?

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….

Graduation as Citizen Journalists

http: //nml. ru. ac. za/blog/guy-berger