By Arthur Chatora Blogging significantly impacts how people share information around the world. Within the African blogosphere, specifically, there are a number of challenges that bloggers face including issues of language, representation and development. Were explained that blogging is not new to Africans. Africans have been blogging from time immemorial. Leadership has always been dependent […]
Media
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From rock painting to blogging
By Melissa Gardiner We assume that First World countries introduced social media tools, such as blogging and digital storytelling, to Africa. In his speech “From rock paintings to mental acrobatics”, Ndesanjo Macha kicked off the 2007 Digital Citizen Indaba in Grahamstown on Sunday saying that Africa already had social media before the emergence of the […]
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Media beware!
It doesn’t look too grand for media freedom in South Africa. I recently surfed the net on the search for some facts on how well we’re doing in growing our child, the new democracy with all its newly won freedoms, into a healthy teenager (now that we’re 13). What I found was a blow: according […]
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Innovative Book Marketing 101
Today is the day. Almost a year of non-stop obsession over my book, Strange Nervous Laughter, and today (today!) it hits stores. Hits them. Like a tidal wave (or, more likely, like a gentle wave lapping on the shore, seeing as there are usually only a handful or two of copies in each store.) I […]
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Let’s dump our ‘foreign, frigid and feelingless’ Bill of Rights
Dali Mpofu, the CEO and “editor-in-chief” of the SABC, has lashed out at members of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) for “pretending to be converted to foreign, frigid and feelingless freedoms”. The issue that provoked Mpofu’s outrage was the Sunday Times‘s reliance on the right to freedom of expression in defence of its […]
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Internet-savvy employees affect the bottom line
My company, Creative Rides, currently has four employees, including my partner and I. Although we’re a “workshop” focused on altering all types of cars in different ways, I’m doing the opposite of large corporations … I’m encouraging use of the internet and it’s certainly affecting on my bottom line each day that goes by. Here’s […]
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The numbers are in: Blogging reaches tipping point in SA
The three months from April to June 2007 are likely to be remembered as the beginning of the tipping point for social media and social networking in South Africa. Most of the country’s key platforms and innovations for what is collectively known as Web 2.0 emerged during that period. While it was obvious that growth […]
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Cliff Jennings: The facts
Cliff Jennings, the now popular Idols contestant, was exposed to blogger Bruinman to be a marketing ploy by Ogilvy. This was confirmed on Tuesday by Pierre Cloete, brand manager at M-Net. I don’t want to discuss how I feel the campaign should have been executed or how Ogilvy doesn’t understand the concept of social media. […]
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Tsch-tsch-tschooning into online video
I’ve been using the internet since the days of BelTel, so it’s safe to say that I’ve seen many technologies, concepts and ideas come and go, come again and go again and return yet again! I remember the excitement of logging on to IRC each evening to sweet-talk ladies around the world and bask in […]
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New Zealand — the capital city of Australia
The capital city of Zimbabwe is Kinshasa, and the capital of Australia is either New Zealand or Lisbon. Budapest is the capital of the Republic of Ireland, and Rwanda is the main city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Oh, and in South African politics, the tripartite alliance comprises the Democratic Alliance. These are just […]
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Google News shoots for source
The official Google news blog has alerted us about a new feature on Google News that will help readers “quickly and easily” find original stories from news publishers. This should be interesting to watch, particularly in the local context where the vast majority of content on South Africa’s major mainstream news sites is replicated from […]
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Dali gets surreal
I’m beginning to think there’s something in the water at the SABC. Statements by Dali Mpofu, the chief executive and, ahem, editor-in-chief, make me wonder if it’s not lead. Mpofu’s latest letter breaking up with the South African National Editors’ Forum is a lesson in how to write with drama, emotion, exaggeration and delusion. So […]