Knowledge Sharing at I-Network

Ali Balunywa in Kampala, Uganda 

I-Network Uganda www.i-network.or.ug is a national network of individuals and organizations that acts as a platform for sharing knowledge and information on applying ICTs for equitable national development as well as influencing and supporting ICT policy development and implementation in Uganda. The Netherlands-based International Institute for Communication and development (IICD) supports the organization.

I talked with Rachel Kadama who holds a Masters in Business Management degree is the knowledge sharing activities manager. She joined the organization in 2006. 

The knowledge-sharing plan has 6 core activities viz:

•     Publishing a newsletter
  
•     Maintaining a website
  
•     Holding seminars
  
•     Maintaining a mailing list
  
•     Preparing and distributing short publications
  
•     Video making and uploading 
  

The above mentioned core activities were relevant to my research.

The Newsletter 

The secretariat generates story ideas that are given to the editor to pursue. The editor of the newsletter is outsourced and is not part of the staff of I-Network. Freelance journalists can also be commissioned to write stories. The organization also encourages projects that are supported by I-Network to send in stories about their projects.

Project stories examples include; 

•        How mothers use internet cafes
  
•        Or how the health change project’s resource centre is used in combination with the internet     facility 
  

A team of journalists and I-Network workers write the stories in the newsletter. Before a newsletter is published, the staff at I-Network decides on the theme of the particular issue. Readers interact with writers through email. The feedback is always published in the following issue. 

Readers of the newsletter include; the ICT sector, development workers and most projects incorporating ICT. The newsletter stories are shared mainly the development areas. A modest 4,000 copies are published and distributed free of charge. It is funded through IICD.

Stories come in via email and follow the editorial process. The I-Network staff edits the stories to maintain the integrity of the organization. The layout of the magazine is outsourced and indesign software is used. 

The ready pages are PDF-ed and sent to the printers by email or on a flash disk. The printers are also outsourced.

New Media was welcomed with a sigh of relief. From typing, emailing, flash disks and PDFs to Googling for background and facts and sourcing stories. An online subscriber base is also a new media tool used for communication circulation 

A blog will be established on their website to enable people to comment and discuss issues. The Wikipedia is also frequently used for reference. The mobile phone and digital camera are very useful tools during the gathering, sorting, publishing and distributing of the newsletter.

The newsletter website is a Joomla - open source content management system.  The organization updates the website themselves every week especially with ICT news in Uganda. It is also used as a platform for other ICT based organizations to advertise themselves and upcoming events. The website carries a resource centre for documents, activities, presentations, discussions and National Information Technology Authority (NITA). All these are made available foe people and can be downloaded or commented upon. So the main purpose of the website is to be a resource.

I-Network also publishes short publications. These are focused on promoting certain projects for example; Internet connectivity, guide for rural ICT in Uganda and Cordaid/IICD health project. The come by way of hard copy and also via email to subscribers. Short publications guide the people to understand things like the Internet. 

Lastly, I-Network has started shooting videos to complement the short publications. They intend to shoot a video every quarter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freelancing for Monitor Upcountry

Ali Balunywa in Mbale, Uganda

Mbale city is in the Eastern part of Uganda bordering Kenya. It is the administrative headquarters of the Eastern region. In its glory days, it used to be the cleanest city in East Africa.

It is here that I found Mudangha Kolyangha freelancing for the Monitor newspaper. The Monitor is Uganda’s other second daily newspaper. It is an independent daily founded by a group of journalists. Currently, it is owned by East Africa’s biggest media house, The Nation Group of Companies that publishes the biggest circulating newspaper in East Africa. It also owns radios and televisions in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Mudangha has a diploma in journalism and he joined the monitor in 2001. He freelances in the districts of Pallisa, Budaka and Butaleja. These districts neighbor Mbale district. They are under the jurisdiction of the Mbale bureau chief.

Freelancers have their areas gazetted to avoid clashing in their search for stories. Whenever there is an event in his area, the bureau chief calls him to assign him the duty to cover such an event.

However, he also follows up stories on his own initiative everyday. After getting his story/stories, he proceeds to the office to type them out after which he hands them to the bureau chief for editing. Sometimes he sends the stories direct to the Monitor in Kampala. Should the bureau chief or news editor in Kampala need some clarification, they call or send an email. 

Mudangha’s use of new ICT is limited to the computer, digital camera and mobile phone.  The computer is used for typing stories, emailing and cross checking facts using Google. The digital camera is used for taking photos which can be instantly sent to the newsroom. Lastly he uses the mobile phone for communicating, making appointments, interviews, receiving assignments and reporting.

Other new media were still new to him. He had no idea what social networking sites, blogs, Skype etc were. This was not strange as it is quite common with most upcountry reporters, correspondents and freelancers.

 

 

Environment Journalist and ICT

Ali Balunywa in Mbarara, Uganda

Uganda does not have many specialist journalists, so when I met Ebenezer T. Bifubyeka in Mbarara, Western Uganda and he told me he was an environment correspondent for the New Vision I was pleasantly surprised.

The New Vision newspaper is a member of the New Vision Group of companies and it is the biggest multimedia house in Uganda. It publishes 8 newspapers and 5 magazines. It owns 3 FM radio stations and a television network. (www.newvision.co.ug) 

Ebenezer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social sciences. He joined the New Vision in the year 2000. He is now its environment correspondent.

His typical day starts every morning by listening to radio. He tries to sieve out environment issues to provide him with tips for the day’s newsgathering. He arrives at the office at 9.00am and proceeds to read the newspapers especially the New Vision. He looks out to those stories that he can react to or use as tips for new stories.

Most of the time he assigns himself leads to follow. However, once in a while, the editor assigns him stories to follow up. His articles are always well researched and take time to complete. After completing an article he emails it to the editor in Kampala and also uploads it on his blog; www.tenbifubyeka.blogspot.com.

Apart from the computer and blogging, Ebenezer uses other ICTs in the course of fulfilling his journalistic duties. He uses his mobile phone for communication. He also uses the Internet’s search engines like Yahoo and Google.

He further uses the Internet’s social networking sites like Panos to share experiences and ideas with his peers. He is also a member of the online Mbarara environment journalists association 

He is additionally a frequent user of Yahoo messenger to source tips, generate ideas and exchange information 

Other new media he uses include the digital camera, spell checker, fm radio and television for tips. Lastly he subscribes to online bulletins on the environment.

Finally during his free time, Ebenezer writes novels. He has to date written 6.

 

 

 

American Journalist Reporting for Vision

Ali Balunywa in Kampala, Uganda

Rebecca Jane Harshbarger is an American journalist who freelances at the New Vision newspaper. She has a BA in African Studies, a Masters in Journalism and specialist in print and web reporting, podcasting and blogging. Last summer she was an intern at the New Vision for 10 weeks and since March this year became a freelance reporter. 

The New Vision Group is the biggest multimedia house in Uganda. It publishes 8 newspapers and 5 magazines. It owns 3 FM radio stations and a television network. (www.newvision.co.ug)

Rebecca is a freelance journalist at the Saturday and Sunday Vision’s business desks. Usually her editor gives her a story idea and she follows it up in the field. She has many contacts in the field that supply her information. Her contacts are based in companies, the stock exchange and other sectors of the economy.

Rebecca reads a lot, watches television and asks her contacts many questions to expand her information base. She has also written several articles outside her expertise like:

-       Recovery centre in Gulu for sexual violence survivors

-       Men and fitness

-       Wetlands

-       Youth offenders

On a normal day, Rebecca takes notes as she chases a story. She also uses a tape recorder, reads a lot and makes many follow-up phone calls. She later types in her story and sends it to the editor. She has not yet had a story rejected, but sometimes she re writes it.

On her use of new media tools, Rebecca admitted that they assist her a lot during her day-to-day beat.  She always has a digital camera with her to take pictures for her stories.

She uses the Google search engine a lot for research and beefing up stories. She also uses BBC, Washington Times, The Independent and other news websites for background information.

Face book is her best Social Networking Site. She has over 300 contacts in East Africa. It helps her for interviews, consultations, searches expert contacts for comments on current subjects for example if she is looking for a comment from the man on the street, she just asks her contacts. She is also a member of Twitter and LinkedIn.

Within the editorial the internal network: the intranet is used for communication and editing and correcting stories. The mobile phone is also another communication gadget that is used for both internal and external communication. Texting is more convenient for Rebecca, than calling. She also claimed she liked the way Ugandans use text messages for communication. Sometimes, journalists receive text storylines and set time to talk.

Rebecca’s blogs are ugandabeatslivejournal.com and ugandabeatswordpress.com. She uses them for searching and story ideas. She uses her computer at home to video podcasts. It helps her to get in touch with international news and to download American programmes. In the morning or late at night I sometimes log onto the New Vision system because then it is not to busy and can be quite fast. 

I have 3 email addresses, which I never close. I check on them from time to time, I never log out. I receive news stories, press releases and contact information through my email addresses.

 

 

 

 

 

A Day at the Uganda National Assembly

This morning I was deployed with veteran New Vision parliamentary reporters to cover the proceedings at the house of parliament of Uganda. I was attached to Joyce Namutebi, a senior reporter. She took me through the rituals of parliamentary reporting. For the committees, it is not so strict. One can go with a camera, recorder, mobile phone, computer or other devices to the committee rooms. However, if one is to attend the plenary, all these gadgets are not allowed. Only pen and paper.

A parliamentary reporter tag was provided for me and off we went. Committee meetings are supposed to start at 10.00am, but by 10.30am, none of the committees had started. I was more interested in the ICT committee and after moving up and down, decided to go to that committee and wait. Having visited a number of committee rooms, I was surprised with the bareness of the ICT room. The rest of the rooms had modern equipment like microphones, speakers and screens, all high tech equipment. The ICT committee room had none of these amenities. A far cry from what the committee represented. Attendants were few and there was only one journalist!

Honorable. Edward Baliddawa a Member of Parliament and veteran computer expert chaired the committee. This morning’s session was discussing Uganda’s ICT ministry proposed budget for 2009 – 2010.

The chairman observed that the ICT ministry which supervises the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) has a budget of only Shs 6.5 billion (approximately € 2.5 million) per year compared to UCC which has a shs 46 billion allocation. It was observed that the parliamentary act that established the UCC did not envisage the creation of an ICT ministry. UCC was set up in 1995, yet the ministry was created in 2006.

Most functions of the ministry are being carried out by UCC, yet it is supposed to be a regulatory body. 1% of the annual income of all telecommunications operators is remitted to UCC in a fund called Rural Communication Development Fund (RCDF). This fund is supposed to take communication nearer to the underserved rural areas where major players don’t reach because of its unprofitability.

The committee agreed to recommend to the plenary to review the UCC act in view of the current dynamics. UCC would remain the industry regulator, but the ICT ministry accompanied by the budgetary allocation should take up the function of implementer.

The ministry of ICT was also found running parallel to the ministry of information. The latter was in charge of the government satellites, which should ideally be under the ICT ministry. To harmonize this situation calls for a review of the media act according to the members.