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View the Livingstone Field Diary online.

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Interesting Facts:

• WACS (West Africa Cable System) is a submarine communications cable linking South Africa with the United Kingdom along the west coast of Africa that was constructed by Alcatel-Lucent. The cable consists of four fibre pairs[1] and is 14,000 km in length, linking from Yzerfontein in the Western Cape of South Africa to London in the United Kingdom. It has 15 terminal stations along the western coast of Africa. The total cost for the cable system is $650 million.[1] WACS was originally known as the Africa West Coast Cable (AWCC) and was planned to branch to South America but this was dropped and the system eventually became the West African Cable System. (Source: WACS)
• SAT-3/WASC or South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable is a submarine communications cable linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route. It forms part of the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cable system, where the SAFE cable links South Africa to Asia. The SAT-3/WASC/SAFE system provides a path between Asia and Europe for telecommunications traffic that is an alternative to the cable routes that pass through the Middle East, such as SEA-ME-WE 3 and FLAG. SAT-3 has a capacity of 340 Gbit/s while SAFE has a capacity of 440 Gbit/s. (Source: SAT-3)

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To get walking directions, try one of the following:

• Click Get Directions, enter a starting and ending location and click Get Directions.
• In the search field, enter a from-to statement (example: from Nyayo House to Anniversary Towers) and click Search Maps.
• Click Directions in an info window that pops up for a business or location
• Right-click on the map to get directions to that location

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It is surprising that in this digital age some Journalists still use phones that cannot connect to the internet. Others still do own laptops or desktop computers, cameras, recorders, flash drives or mobile phones that can record. Some rural and even urban based journalists do not even have a presence on social media.

These Journalists are being left out of the highway and wide world web. It is unfortunate that a Journalist who is a disseminator of information cannot have this very vital information for him/herself.

According to Wikipedia, new media refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. Another important promise of new media is the “democratization” of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. The other aspect is the real-time generation of new, unregulated content.

This brings us to a term called Web2.0 that people loosely apply to these new, easier to use web-based tools for content creation, connecting with people, collaboration and many other forms of people to people interaction.

These tools are often called “social or new media” because they go beyond content, our connection to content and to each other.

New media in the development context

How can social media be useful in development? New media makes it easy for us toconnect with other people via social networks. There is need for Journalists to sign up and have social media accounts such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and blog platforms.

The above social media accounts have grown and have a lot of people. Facebook is mainly social and could be used by Journalists to publicise news items. Linkedin is a professional network which can be used by Journalists to connect with other professional and also help improve one’s brand.

There is also need for Journalists to collaborate and start networking online with other people. It is important for Journalists to be real in cyberspace as this helps with their brand and people will send them information related to how they portray themselves online. It is important to note that this opens up a Journalist to the whole world and does not limit them to their countries. Depending on how the Journalist networks online, it usually opens closed doors and the Journalist is able to get relevant training, many other opportunities and more information in a particular field of interest.

Journalists need to create and share content when online. This is important for the readers and followers of that Journalist as people are always expectant of something new. It is not fair that one can just be a consumer of other people’s content without sharing his own content. There are people who trust a Journalists perspective and analysis and all the time look forward to reading something new from them. The respect given to a journalist offline is usually transferred online. A journalist is a creator of content and therefore there is need to be consistent in news production and content management.

There is need for a Journalist to always share content. This should actually be a lifestyle. Too often, i have found Journalists holding on to workshops, trainings and other opportunities announcement and they wouldn’t want to share such information which will interest others. There is need for Journalists to change their mindsets and start sharing information online and even offline. It is clear that we live in a competitive world and that there is need to compete. Journalists also need to believe in themselves.

Journalists however need to learn how to find, use, organize and reuse online content. It is important for Journalists to learn how to use search engines in order to find relevant content online. One of the most popular search engines is Google. Google has a lot of content and many people use it at least once everyday whenever they use the internet.

Depending on what area of interest a Journalist has, it is important for Journalists to use google alerts for any update on relevant content. This helps in organising online content.

Discussion groups are very important platforms which can be very useful to Journalists as they can learn many things. In those groups there is a lot of content that is generated which can be used, organised and reused. With the permission of the writer some of the content can be shared with others.

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocOZLHyOSZw&w=560&h=315]

Visit Roberto at:

Facebook

Twitter

Personal Site

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The spirits have chosen the new born to be the successor of the village medicine man who also is his father’s uncle. Uncle Nkandu had given the name to the new born which is foreign to the parents and they demand to know the meaning. While they try to force their uncle to explain to them, he suddenly dies.

The grandmother makes the origin of Mnega and Nega´s powers known by unfolding the mystery to her confused son. This short film is directed by Angela Kafwanka.

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This follows the lack of a network of bloggers in Zambia who can work together to bring reports from blogs and other social media platforms by practicing citizen media. Bloggers are necessary to bring out other voices not ordinarily heard in mainstream media to make news and also contribute to the development agenda.

Zambian Bloggers will seek to share widely Zambian Issues online and will seek to interview the ordinary people often ignored by the mainstream media on different topics including health, business, sports, ICTs, fashion, gender and development, governance, politics etc

Some Zambians are blogging, podcasting, vlogging and uploading photos and information across the internet, but unless you know where to look, it can be difficult to find respected and credible voices.

Zambian Bloggers with the help of HIVOS are setting up a BLOG Ring for the Zambian Blogosphere to help in the generation of local content. We hope to work virtually and also meet in person during the monthly meetings to network on many issues. We hope to generate funds through micro payments, doing some relevant jobs to content creation and management and also through adverts. We still welcome grants, any donations and sponsorships to cover a lot of costs including high internet costs.

Zambian Bloggers hope to redress some of the inequities in the traditional media by leveraging the power of citizens’ media. We believe in freedom of expression and hope to focus our attention on the most interesting issues around Zambia by linking to social media, blogs, photos, podcasts, video and other forms of grassroots citizens’ media.

It is hoped that with the BLOG RING, Zambian Bloggers Network can grow to be consistent in it’s news coverage and regular in blogging and also become visible to Zambians and the world over. To critically reflect on the Zambian society issues, the bloggers hope to enlarge spaces of expression. It is hoped that bloggers may receive appropriate training in all forms of blogging and web 2.0 applications.

There is need for a Capacity Building Workshop for bloggers on blogging, social bookmarking, tagging, RSS feeds and generally on Web 2.0 applications. Bloggers however would like to know how to grow a network online and how to make money and also behave in cyber space.

One day while in Ghana I read a tweet about a Ghanaian Bloggers meeting and decided to attend. I liked their concept and looked forward to a day I would start this familiar platform in Zambia.

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