Reportr.net / International Symposium on Online Journalism
Harry Dugmore of Rhodes University in South Africa talked about the importance of SMS in his country during a talk at the International Symposium on Online Journalism at the University of Texas in Austin last weekend.
There are some fascinating tidbits in his talk, which was about “The News is Coming” project funded by the Knight News Challenge. For instance, most families have access to cell phones, and people swap out SIM cards for different carriers to avoid roaming charges. Perhaps most interesting, he showed a map of wireless connectivity in Africa. Overlaid with a map of democracy, it was almost a 100 percent match.
Dugmore and his colleagues are working on a content management system, called the Nika Digital Newsroom, designed specifically to work with mobile devices. The CMS will allow small newspapers to push out news via social networks and SMS.
He had three pieces of advice for those working to engage and inform people in low-income areas:
- Embrace citizen journalism and provide training and incentives.
- Shift publishing emphasis to mobile and Web first.
- Use low-cost social media to get news to people where they are.
