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New media, Africa and 2020 …

New media, Africa and 2020 …. Guy Berger Rhodes University, South Africa. Sivu Mzamo. Tech story Career story Economic rights story Spatial – development story Cultural story. COMING UP:. Context: information society Africa and South Africa New Media Lab Highway Africa Conclusion.

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New media, Africa and 2020 …

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  1. New media,Africaand2020 … Guy Berger Rhodes University, South Africa

  2. Sivu Mzamo • Tech story • Career story • Economic rights story • Spatial – development story • Cultural story

  3. COMING UP: • Context: information society • Africa and South Africa • New Media Lab • Highway Africa • Conclusion

  4. SECTION 1: CONTEXT

  5. Modernisation paradigm • Assumption of desirable devt: Urban, affluent, informed, rational. • To get there: technology. (= Romanticism and determinism) • Temp hurdle: tech haves, have-nots • In ICTs, the Digital divide (widening) • Answer: disseminate (Rogers)

  6. Challenge!

  7. Limitations • Desirables? Eg. USA? • Technology can be negative. • Tech progress is not inevitable. • How separate & temporary is the Digital Divide? • Dissemination is a top-down ethos: • Misses bottom-up tech evolution • Misses that the ‘haves’ need have-nots.

  8. Future visions • Pete Rinearson: • Overestimate changes in 2 years • Underestimate in 10. • Media2020: 15 years away! • What is media? And its role?

  9. Predicting • Certainties: • Globalisation: one world • Conflict: security issues • China: language, script • Connectivity & content: cheaper • Uncertainties: • Shape of inequalities • Cultural power

  10. Options: what Info Society? • A holistic concept encompassing: • Tech: ICTs • Occupations • Economics • Geography • Culture. = An integrated global Info Society, OR = a divided, uneven one?

  11. CENTRES ICTs: ubiquitous Occupations: service Economics: GDP Geography: insular Culture: northern MARGINS ICTs: costly Occupations: mindless, none Economics: charity Geography: colonial Culture: subaltern 2020 scenarios OR: networked globe, automation, value co-created, cosmopolitan, diversity as sought-after.

  12. Summing up: • A two-tier Information Society? • An inclusive Information Society? • … or a transformed one?

  13. SECTION 2: AFRICA

  14. Continent commonalities • Not media-dense • “Information” not nec “rational” • Not an exporter of content • Limited beneficiation of imported content • Policy environment problematic. • Even in SA, role of media constrained by: • Investment deficits & market size • Language diversity • Class and access issues.

  15. South African media • Licenses: PBS, Commercial, Community. • National broadcasters • Terrestrial, analogue: advert dependent • Satellite TV by subscription. • Regional & local radio. • 15 dailies, 20 weeklies, 50 mags = Important info-structure components.

  16. SA media content and role • Independent, democratic • Commercialisation • Tabloidisation • Plagiarism, but not much piracy • Contraints on exports • Quality of content: mixed.

  17. SA new media: internet • 3,6 million online users (5% adults) • Mainly white, 50% at work • Govt online, but weak MPCCs • Media web content: shovelware • Limited experiments in pay models • Not commercially viable for publishers

  18. Connectivity: • 2 big ISPs plus Telkom • Still buying pipes from Telkom • Wireless: 3G from Sentech • Wifi – very limited. • VOIP banned. • February 2005: liberalisation • BUT: connectivity will still be costly!!!

  19. Current costs: • SA was in top 20 connected countries • Now 34th. • Cost differential: 13x higher than UK.

  20. Convergence Bill: • Move from vertical licensing: • To date, Telkom could do everything and a consumer received chain of services, infrastructure and devices from them. • To horizontal licensing: • Will be tiers of licences that are “tech neutral” and open for competitors. • But: radio spectrum use is not neutral.

  21. Policy problems: • Infrastructure is one thing; • Applications is another; • Eg. signal distribution, ISP, ecommerce; • Digital content is something else. Apps can be tech neutral – go on diff infrastructure Content can ride on various apps & infrastructure • But historically, providers of content via airwaves (unlike newspapers) have conditions: local content, watershed periods, electoral obligations

  22. Under new law?: • Suppose SABC is licensed as content provider (via airwaves) … • Does not need license for its website. • But what when the same website content travels on wireless? • Licensing of websites??? • Is diffs between broadcast push & internet pull significant? (even wrt webcasting?)

  23. What impact for future? • Or: will all content producers need licenses? Even newspapers with sites, or stand-alone sites, or bloggers? And not just audio-visual, but text content producers? • Or will those other than “spectrum-hogs” be exempted as a class? • Point: content licenses should not be relevant to channel (i.e. airwaves, but how this vehicle is used) = not tech neutral! • …. Until digital broadcasting comes along.

  24. Telecoms industry: • Telkom: SDC, Malaysians. • Universal service targets but failure. • USA levy but failure. • Cellular operators success. • Vodacom (Telkom, Vodafone) • MTN, Cell-C • Predicted <500 000, now 18 million • African business expansion

  25. Broadband blues • Telkom: ADSL • 2nd national operator – 2 years overdue (Transtel, Esitel) • Sentech: 3G

  26. Evolution: content, other • SMS – 17 a month per user • Voice services • Costly to use GPRS • MTN going into M-commerce.

  27. Journalists & ICTs • Barely use cameraphones. • Poorly skilled at web research. • Inadequate access in newsrooms. • Under-researched content in general. • Not multi-skilling, SABC bi-media reversed. • Negligible convergence of native & online newsrooms.

  28. SECTION 3: NEW MEDIA LAB

  29. Rhodes New Media Lab • Teaching • Research • Development • Highway Africa

  30. 1996-1998: phase 1

  31. 1998-2001: phase 2

  32. 2002-2004: Phase 3

  33. Multimedia: 3 sites Tenyearson.org Alivingstage.org egazini

  34. 2004: NML’s cms in Cuemedia

  35. Work flow tracking

  36. Performance monitoring

  37. Automated online publishing

  38. Time management

  39. Going open source:

  40. SECTION 4: HIGHWAY AFRICA

  41. NML 2004 vision: • We see African journalists, empowered by the skills, understandings and access to technology, contributing to a communication and information enriched community, country and continent.

  42. NML 2004 Mission: • Educate and train journalism students and the media industry; • Advance knowledge through research and dissemination of that research; • Innovate and experiment with technology; • Engage with industry and relevant interest groups.

  43. 2005-2008

  44. Highway Africa history: • 2001: all African countries connected

  45. Highway Africa history: • 2001: all African countries connected • 1997: HA commenced – 65 people • 2004: 430 external delegs, 17 sponsors • Aims: • Raise awareness • Impart skills • Bridge industry-academy • Continental networking

  46. HA themes:

  47. HA themes:

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