PROMOTING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING THROUGH VBLOGGING

1. PROMOTING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING THROUGH VBLOGGING PRESENTATION BY PRINCE DEH (papalenzd@yahoo.co.uk) (ASSISTANT COUNTRY COORDINATOR) GHANA INFORMATION NETWORK FOR KNOWLEDGE SHARING(GINKS) ACCRA, GHANA

2. OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION • What is Video Blogging • Equipment Required • The Process of Vlogging • Value/Importance of Vlogging • GINKS Experience • Capacities required • Tools I have used • Challenges of Vloggging • The future of Vlogging

3. WHAT IS VIDEO BLOGGING AND WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO DO A VIDEO BLOG • The term Video blogging or Vlogging may mean making videos and posting them on the Internet with the intention of getting a response from viewers.

4. EQUIPMENT REQUIRED The minimum set of tools you need to do a Video Blog are ultimately • A video Camera/Camcorder • A computer with video editing software installed • An Internet connection • A blog Account /space • An online video account/space

5. THE PROCESS OF VLOGGING To do a video blog. • You first need to take a video: an individual telling a story or doing an illustration, a person sharing an experience. • The video is then edited using various video editing programs such as I movie, Final Cut Pro or Windows Movie Maker. With these editing programmes, you can edit your videos by giving them titles and doing other changes that make your video very interesting.

6. THE VLOGGING PROCESS CONTD. • You then upload your edited video onto a video site on the Internet. Popular sites for hosting videos are Google video, youtube.com andwww.blip.tv. • From these spaces, you then share your video with your blog. • On your blog, transcribe the video you have uploaded into text to give it meaning. • Announce your video link on your network or to individuals to make news

7. VALUE/IMPORTANCE OF VLOGGING • It is interesting to note that Vlogs provide an accurate media for presenting an otherwise long stories or presentations in very simple and attractive manner. • Short videos have an added advantage in view of the visual component that helps promote deeper understanding of stories, especially for people with less educational background and or for people who do not have a reading habit.

8. VALUE/IMPORTANCE CONTD. • The power to reach an unlimited audience with minimal cost • The Vlogging process furthermore requires no specialised expertise and can be easily controlled by any non-technical person • It is technologically simpler and cheaper to maintain than a website. • Videos are interactive medium often encouraging readers to comment

9. VALUE/IMPORTANCE CONTD. • There are 871 visitors to the GINKS blogspot since it establishment in April 2007 whereas the website which has been in existence for over 3 years has received only 450 visitors since the beginning of the year 2007 • That is the power of Vblogs(Web2.0 tool) as compared to websites(Web1.0 tool) as a means of Information and knowledge gathering and management for development

10. GINKS EXPERIENCE • The experience of GINKS in using Vblog and the importance of the tool in promoting Information and knowledge sharing has informed the network to extend the use of the tool to capture some of the interesting experiences from a two year Research project the network undertook with a community in Rural Ghana in collaboration with the International Development and Research Center (IDRC) on how to enhance

11. GINKS EXPERIENCE CONTD. • Information and knowledge sharing among underprivileged communities in Ghana by defining mechanisms and tools to generate and disseminate relevant local content using appropriate and acceptable ICT formats.

12. CAPACITIES REQUIRED • Fortunately, there is no special capacity required for video blogging. It can be easily done and controlled by any non-technical person. • However, you need to be very Innovative and creative • Those of you interested in becoming video bloggers only need to follow the processes to become great video bloggers.

13. TOOLS I HAVE USED • With the GINKS experience, I use a digital camera or sometimes my mobile phone which has a camcorder, to take a video normally five minutes or less. • I download the video onto my laptop and do editing using Windows Movie Maker and then upload to GINKS www.blip.tv space from where I share the video with the GINKS blog at www.ginks.blogspot.com.

14. CHALLENGES OF VLOGGING • The major challenge is connectivity or access • The challenge of getting people to share Information and Knowledge. • Cost of equipment

15. THE FUTURE OF WEB2.O TOOLS FOR DEVELOPMENT • From my own stand point, Web 2.0 tools are important and even more important because of the deeper impact the tools could have on marginalized societies, even if these impact are not immediately felt. • Many more rural communities have stories to share with the larger public and voices to amplify, I see Web 2.0 tools as a perfect piece to project the voices of the rural poor in the future

16. FUTURE OF WEB 2.0 CONTD. • The benefit of this tool to the rural poor who form the majority much depends on the issue of connectivity and access • The question I ask is “how do we solve the problem of rural connectivity in order to extend the benefits of Web2.0 tools much wider beyond the scope of the cities”.

17. THANK YOU