The Monitor’s Systems Connectivity

By Ali Balunywa in Kampala, Uganda

Gladys Buteraba works at the Monitor as the Helpdesk Administrator. The Monitor is Uganda’s other second daily newspaper (www.monitor.co.ug). 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.

Gladys is a computer nerd who studied Business computing and also holds a Cisco Certificate of Network Association (CCNA). Her job is to look out for internal clients with computing problems. She understands the sections of every department, which enables her to provide tailor made solutions.

In the course of her work, she logs on and makes personal checks to find out if the systems are running properly. The systems include; the intranet, email, accounts and editorial. She also handles the day-to-day user codes sections composed of networks, systems and helpdesk.

The networks include the Local Area Networks (LAN) and the Wide Area Networks (WAN) in other words Internet connectivity. The Systems administrator manages all the systems in the organization. These include; the editorial, digital and finance systems. Lastly, the Helpdesk is first line trouble shooting area. It also coordinates all the sections and redistributes work. It further does the check on the physical structures like the satellite Vsats that provide the wireless link to the head office in Nairobi, Kenya and also downloads foreign news from Reuters and other News organizations.

The Helpdesk department receives calls from people in trouble with their systems and someone is assigned to go and look at the problem and solve it where possible on site. Sometimes the system might need reformatting or re installation, which can only be done in the IT room.

Gladys explained with pride how the Monitor is leading in digital innovations. She mentioned the mobile alerts service, which the Monitor outsourced from service providers called: True African. They teamed up with all mobile telephone providers to provide alerts on clients’ mobile phones. The clients pay some money on subscribing to the service. 

The Monitor mobile alerts offer breaking news and news headlines to subscribers. A new client just types in “monitor alert”, enters a number and sends to a specific number provided and he will be subscribed to the service.

Gladys was also happy to note that the Internet through Outlook organized the journalists. It provided an internal email address, keeps contacts and appointments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monitor Launches E-Paper

By ISMAIL MUSA LADU in Namuwongo, Uganda

Daily Monitor has officially launched an electronic version also known as e-paper, for its newspaper to expand its reach and offer more interaction to its readers.

The e-paper is a digital version of the Daily, Saturday and Sunday Monitor with the same ‘Look and Feel’ as its print editions.

The e-paper comes with in-built features that can allow readers to easily access information in a number of formats like RSS feeds, PDF and audio.
Articles search will now be possible with this revolutionary facility.

Speaking at the launch of the e-paper yesterday at  Monitor Publications Limited(MPL) offices, the Presidential Advisor on ICT, Ham Mulira described the initiative as “excellent”.

Dr Mulira who is also the former Minister of ICT said with the new digital format, the entire world will have unlimited access to Daily Monitor  news, an advantage he implored advertisers not let go in order to tap into global markets.

“Somebody in San Francisco will now be able to read articles about Uganda and possibly inform a friend who may pick interest to come and see our gorillas here, so this is very crucial (initiative),” Dr Mulira envisioned. According to Dr Mulira the         e-paper will increase mileage for advertisers because of its ability to expand on the reach of Daily Monitor.

The Managing Director- MPL, Tom Mshindi said the company’s values of accuracy and independence among others will be continuously upheld in order to live to Daily Monitor brand promise of ‘Truth Every Day’. He emphasised that the e-paper is easy to use since it allows that user to easily scroll through the newspaper and view a particular page or article.

Mr Allan Zaramba, Digital Sales Manager for MPL adds that the e-paper has ‘save and print’ capabilities for reference purposes.

The e-paper which is currently on free trial will in a few days require a minimal subscription fee of only Ug. Shs 10,000 per month to have unlimited access. The fee is payable by credit card online  or cash at the Monitor Advertising Centre at Crown House, Kampala Road. 

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Monitor_launches_e-paper_85174.shtml

“I cannot do without New Media,” Barbara

                                Barbara Among, Senior reporter, New Vision

Ali Balunywa in Kampala, Uganda

Barbara Among is a senior reporter at the New Vision. She is a prolific writer, blogger and New Media user. She was recruited in 2008 after working at the Monitor and The East African newspapers.

On the Internet; 

Barbara said she uses it all the time for her research. She uses many search engines including Google and Yahoo. She also subscribes to Google alerts on conflict in Uganda, Kony, Museveni, and oil refinery topics among others. She also subscribes to Africa Intelligence.com; AllAfrica.com, BBC News, The UN website (On conflicts) and Al Jazeera news feeds.

She prefers Mozilla to Internet explorer and uses the Alta Vista programme to search for news.

On mobile telephony

She is full of praises for her mobile telephone and Zain, her mobile telephone operator, through whom she has mobile access. Her phone has modes for reminders, internet for receiving jokes, horoscopes, ring tones, banking rates, stock rates and other information.

On writing stories

Barbara no longer uses pens and paper. She claims she types in her stories direct even while interviewing some one. After typing in and correcting the grammar, she sends the story direct to the editor through the intranet. Before the new system was in place, reporters used to type in stories, print them out then take to the editor hard copies, which would be used for editing.

On what New Media is close to her

She claimed that every morning she ensures that her bag has her mobile telephone, a notebook, a digital camera, a digital voice recorder and laptop.

On ICT role

Barbara claims to use different ICTs as she does her work. For example she says sometimes she conducts interviews via Yahoo chat online. Thereafter she copies and pastes and feeds the interview into the system.

She also uses social network sites like face book, LinkedIn, Yahoo Messenger, Skype,Gmail, chatting and generally to meet people.  Barbara also frequently blogs via www.bamong.blogspot.com 

Last word

Barbara passionately reminds me that she cannot do without the New Media and that if everyone could be logged in all the time, the world would be an easier place to live in and the work would not be difficult to do.