After attending a few sessions at the Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown last week, I struggled to find an answer to the question: How will convergence make our democracy better? Discussion about digital media and convergence tends to focus on the medium rather than the message; on the technology of communication rather than the content. […]
Media
Posted inMedia
Britney Spears, Vanessa Hudgens and Madeleine — the joke’s on us!
Two “talents” of, at best, limited duration and the tragedy of a child’s disappearance dominating the media’s attention must tell you something. Indonesia is suffering the after-effects of massive quakes, George Bush has outlined his plan for limited troop reduction, the Japanese PM has just resigned and been hospitalised, Putin has just installed a shock […]
Posted inMedia
Give us a break, Snuki!
The SABC celebrated itself, and only itself, at the 11th SABC Highway Africa new-media awards last Tuesday night in Grahamstown. It used the one-hour-long awards ceremony to promote shamelessly its new News International service and brag about its apparent excellence and professionalism in journalism. The mere fact that the SABC found it necessary to abuse […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, Tech
Social networking: a matter of geography
Two major shifts have occurred in the Facebook regional rankings that may point to the shape of things to come in social networking. Canada leaped ahead of the United Kingdom in the past two weeks, while Australia finally stormed past Norway. South Africa, meanwhile, achieved the quarter-million mark on September 8, but is warily eyeing […]
Posted inMedia
Careful how you play the media
Much has been said in the media, blogosphere and the world in general about the case of the disappearance of little Madeleine McCann. What has been the most interesting of the entire case has been the part the media and the public have played in the entire saga. When the initial story hit the news […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Technology qualifications not meeting needs of SA web
My colleague and fellow Thought Leader contributor Vinny Lingham and I recently spent some time together discussing what we believe is the next wave of innovation on the web, post the social-networking drivers of Web 2.0. We believe that the world is poised for a dramatic increase in demand for niche, concise, on-demand skills training. […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Money, money, money
Contrary to popular belief, there is money to be made on the internet. The Mail & Guardian Online has become a profitable part of the M&G empire with advertising revenues increasing by 60% in the past year. M&G Online publisher Matt Buckland told the Digital Citizen Indaba in Grahamstown on Sunday that advertising has not […]
Posted inMedia
Let’s talk about kissing
Kissing: in essence, two people licking each other and (sometimes) trying to devour the others’ lips. I’ve got me a definition that says: “A kiss is a touch of the lips as a sign of love, reverence, sexual desire or greeting.” Love, reverence, sexual desire or greeting. You’ve pretty much got the whole spectrum of […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Hear your Thought Leaders …
This is not a post, just a plug. In the form of a post. If you haven’t yet heard the Mail & Guardian‘s weekly podcast Between the Pages, then this is as good a time as any to get on the bandwagon. The show has been going for 43 weeks now and, each week, we […]
Posted inMedia
Challenges of content within the blogosphere in Africa
By Arthur Chatora The issue of content production and representation is important within African news production. Anna Badimo, the chair of LinuxChix in South Africa, highlighted the need for new approaches in African news production in her presentation at the 2007 Digital Citizen Indaba conference in Grahamstown on Sunday. African news products should deconstruct Western […]
Posted inMedia
Creating content for consumption
By Galen Schultz Die Burger, the Mail & Guardian Online, Independent Online and, more recently, the Times Online have all dived deep into the process of multimedia story-telling, the Digital Citizen Indaba in Grahamstown heard on Sunday. But what potential does this form of story-telling offer? What challenges do online news sites face? And what […]
Posted inMedia
I blog what I like
By Melissa Gardiner Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko published a collection of writings called I Write What I Like, speaking out against censorship under apartheid. With the rise of the internet, we have found ourselves in the throes of the “democratic” digital age and blogging gives people the opportunity to say what they like, in the […]