Download to read offline
More Related Content
More from Knight Center
Dugmore
- 1. Cell phone newsand online newspapers: a transition to personalized, inexpensive news and information on mobile phones: some South African experiences and experiments Harry Dugmore MTN Chair of Media and Mobile Communications Knight News Challenge Iindaba Ziyafika (‘the news is coming’) project coordinator School of Journalism and Media Studies Rhodes University, South Africa
- 2. • Very lowbut rapidly improving broadband access, doubling almost annually off a low base • Rapid uptake of cell phones. Almost 100% family access to cell phones in South Africa. • Rapidly growing ability of phones to access mobile web, phones are getting smarter, faster. • But hugely expensive in a poor continent and costs not coming down as fast or far as needed • Low media and journalism density. • USG input, and pared down and cheap outputs still beats fast and richly featured outputs and professional content in the news and info space Core challenge is that we are (like everyone) operating in a fast moving techno-social flux
- 7. Rapid uptake ofcell phones. Almost 100% family access to cell phones in SA
- 8. Rapidly growing ability of phonesto access mobile web.
- 12. Low media densityand the related problem of low numbers of journalists
- 14. A big setof questions: How to help create ‘informed, engaged communities’ in often undemocratic and resource poor contexts, with low levels of expensive, slow broadband, and still make money (or at least breakeven!)?
- 15. Induce and publishmore and more audience generated input, and create low bandwidth and cheap mobile outputs (rather than 100% professional produced fast and richly featured outputs) Solutions in three areas: 1.Train citizen journalists, offer incentives and use more of their journalism. 2.Use SMS/texts and Instant Messaging to supply news and information. 3.Embracing low cost social media as critical to the ‘news will find me’ culture
- 16. Iindaba Ziyafika (‘the newsis coming!’)
- 21. 20 million users! 20million log-ons per day! 250 million messages sent and received per day!
- 24. MADAGASCA R Yahoo Google.mg Google.fr Google Facebook Moov.mg Sobika Windows Live Free MSN KENYA Yahoo Google.ke Google Facebook Windows Live MSN Youtube Blogger Wikipedia Tagged ZA Google.co.za Facebook Google Yahoo Youtube Wikipedia News24 Blogger Gumtree MSN NIGERIA Yahoo Facebook Google.com Google.com.ng WindowsLive Youtube MSN Wikipedia Blogger Vmn.net
- 25. Instant messaging Sms/aka texts Facebook etc and social media Instant messaging news& info Sms/aka texts news & info Facebook etc & social media
- 26.
- 36. • Embrace user generatedinput and provide training, editing, and even some cash incentives. • Shift to mobile/web news first and print second strategies. • Get content in and out through multiple, mobile friendly platforms -- and
- 37. Thank you! Professor. HarryDugmore MTN Chair of Media and Mobile Communications School of Journalism and Media Studies Rhodes University Grahamstown South Africa email: H.Dugmore@ru.ac.za (w) (27) 046-603-7136 cell: (27) 082-885-7537 hardug@iafrica.com Skype address: harrydugmore
Editor's Notes
- #4 This slide is from telegeograhy.com. As you can see, Africa has been poorly connected the rest of the world. This, coupled with poor internal connectivity, means the new technology has a long way to go to reach its potential in Africa.These are very thin ‘pipes’ even compared to South America for example.
- #5 This slide is create by Steven Song, one of South Africa’s foremost expert on connectivity and other digital/mobile phone issues. See http://manypossibilities.net/african-undersea-cables/ But this year, all this is starting to change. African connectivity is going to improve 400 TIMES by the end of 2012, and even this year will take a giant leap. That thin black line is what we’ve had to make do with so far. So democracy is ON THE MARCH, and our connectivity is starting to change. What does this mean for NEW MEDIA, for DEEPENING DEMOCRACY?
- #6 Table from: www.internetworldststs.com
- #7 Table from: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm
- #8 This graphic comes from World Wide Worx, South Africa’s premier internet research company. http://www.worldwideworx.com/archives/204
- #10 Cell phone change everything! Almost ½ of all African now have cell phones, and by 2012, it is predicted that almost 2/3 of adults in Africa will have them. Take Ghana – it does NOT have much broadband connectivity, or even fixed phone lines. In fact it has fewer than 400,000 fixed lines in 2008. But mobile phone users rose from 215,000 in 2001 to 7.6 million by the end of December 2007. http://www.opera.com/smw/2009/11/#chart_data Mobile phones now represent around 90% of all telephone lines in Africa. The subscriber base is still growing at around 50% per year, but the growth curves are beginning to flatten in the continent’s more mature markets, forcing operators to compete more aggressively on price, quality of service and by introducing new services. However, enormous further potential remains, with overall market penetration standing at little more than 30% for the CONTINENT as a whole.
- #11 http://whiteafrican.com/
- #12 This slide is sourced by from a PowerPoint Presentation by Erik Hersman, Big Surprises, Small packages. http://www.slideshare.net/whiteafrican/mobile-phones-in-africa-picnic-08-presentation See Erik’s website: http://whiteafrican.com/
- #13 African Media Development: Research Summary Report http://mediadevelopmentresearch.com/?p=170 USA has a working journalists for every 4600 Dense (1-15,000): South Africa had the most dense population per journalists with one journalist for every 1,300 citizens. With the exception of Nigeria, the other dense countries were in excess of 10,000 citizens per journalist. Medium (15-30,000): Comprising almost half of the countries surveyed, these medium density countries clustered around that of Cameroon (18,350) with Uganda (27,820) at the upper end of the category .Sparse (30,000+): Less than 20% of the surveyed countries, these countries ranged from those slightly in excess of 30,000 (Zimbabwe, Mozambique) to Ethiopia’s marked distance from others with only one journalist for every 99,000 habitants. AMDI report: summary of research finding. The USA has about 50,000 journalists, 17 journalists per 100,000 people. That might have changed – those are 2007 figures, but Robert Picard suggests, it is probably still under 1 to 20. see http://themediabusiness.blogspot.com/2009/03/overblown-journalist-employment-crisis.html
- #14 This democracy map is from FREEDOM HOUSE for 2008/9. Overlaid on a slide from Erik Hersman found at: http://www.slideshare.net/whiteafrican/mobile-phones-in-africa-picnic-08-presentation What do we mean by this PARTIAL democracy. Just look at these three countries: why are they NOT regarded as democracies. What about Angola – it now has election, 8 parties stood, and yes, the MPLA gained 82% of the vote, and outspend the opposition by ore 100 times combined, and controlled all the media, but they were the first ‘real elections’ since 1992. But they are widely regarded as a shame. But Kenya and Nigeria? Why are they not ‘green”?
- #17 http://www.pbs.org/idealab/harry_dugmore/
- #21 http://whiteafrican.com/
- #22 See.www.MXIt.com
- #24 This snapshot is from Opera Mini’s monthly State of the mobile web stats: http://www.opera.com/smw/ This selection was made by Rhodes colleague. Jude Mathurine from: http://www.slideshare.net/judem1/why-the-future-of-african-journalism-lies-in-mobile-social-networks
- #25 This snapshot is from Opera Mini’s monthly State of the mobile web stats: http://www.opera.com/smw/ This selection was made by Rhodes colleague. Jude Mathurine from: http://www.slideshare.net/judem1/why-the-future-of-african-journalism-lies-in-mobile-social-networks
- #27 This is a screen shot fro NIKA. Please see http://netserv.ict.ru.ac.za/tracs/nikatrac/roadmap
- #29 See www.Grocotts.co.za
- #37 SLIDE 40: Thank you!!!!!