MobileActive08

We'll feature Iindaba Ziyafika/The news is coming, a multifaceted initiative over four years to promote the use of cellphones for interactive journalism, especially by youth. The project is focused on Grahamstown, South Africa and concerns a triangle of high school learners, the local newspaper, and Rhodes University"s journalism school. There is a tech angle (we are developing OSS for receiving and sending communications on cellphones in relation to a local newspaper running a Drupal server) and there is a civic angle (an expanded public sphere).

Specifically we will be running workshops with 80 grade-11 learners in township schools during August and September. These will cover skills of using SMS to do reportage (as distinct from prevalent uses of personal info or pure opinion). Participants will be sponsored for a few months to send text messages to the paper which will then publish a selection. The content of these messages will be analysed in terms of their civic significance and contribution of youth news to the mainstream public sphere.

During 2009 the project will be elaborated through distributing content feeds from the paper (including the citizen content) to cellphones. Other technologies beyond SMS such as USSD and GPRS will be explored and OSS interfaces developed between them and the Grocott's Mail system.

Some information about our project at: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-06-26-messing-about-with-mobile