Future Journalists gather for Ghana's first online journalism boot camp

Future journalists will gather at the Accra International Press Centre on 21st October, 2011 for the first Boot Camp on online Journalism under the theme "Enhancing your Future as a Journalist through Online Journalism"

Keynote address for the occasion will be delivered by Ethan Zuckerman, Director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, USA and board member of Penplusbytes and Dr. Kwabena Riverson, board chair of Penplusbytes, will deliver welcome address with Kenneth Ashigbey managing Director of Daily Graphic Company serving as chair for this important boot camp.

The Boot Camp is aimed at providing learning and knowledge exchange opportunities in online journalism topics such as. ; online News Publishing and Online tools for gathering news, revenue models for online news, modern trends in broadcast technologies and social media and journalism.

The International Institute for ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) working with Ghana Journalists Association(GJA) is organizing this boot camp with support from Raycom Technologies, IPMC and Main One Cable.

The highlight of the event will be the launch of Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Social networking platform www.gjaghana.org. The platform is intended to provide members of the association with opportunities to effectively explore the inherent benefits of social networking  tools as they interact and connect with the general public. It has become necessary that today's journalists harness the presence of these social network tools in the creation and dissemination of news content. According to Mr. Bright Blewu, Secretary-General of Ghana Journalists Association "the face of journalism is changing rapidly due to the advent of new technologies bringing with it challenges and opportunities and as an association we are committed to support our members to take advantage of new media in order for them to serve their audiences better while at the same time maintaining the highest professional ethics."

The one-day media boot camp, will offer a practical, in-depth and hands-on application of new media in the newsroom and forms part of Penplusbytes 10th anniversary celebrations.  Kwami Ahiabenu, II President of Penplusbytes noted that, "As we celebrate 10 years of empowering the media through the use of ICTs to advance quality journalism we are excited to provide a unique opportunity to future journalists to help them navigate the new media world as they grow as journalists in our new information age".

Other presenters at the boot camp  will include; Isaac Yeboah of myjoyonline.com Chris Donkor of Dot house, Kent Mensah of Citifmonline, Nana Kwabena of Edge cube and Prince Asare of Viasat 1.The rest are Alex Adjei Bram of SMSGH, John Totoe of Mobile Content, Isaac Maafo of Bulksmsghana, Kofi Amamoo of Expresso, Charity Donkor of MTN and Prof Linus Abraham (Rector) of NAFTI

Participating schools will include, African University College of Communication, Ghana Institute of Journalism, School of Communication Studies, Christian Service University, Kumasi, NAFTI and Jayee College.

 

Editor's Note

Penplusbytes

International Institute of ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) is an organization that seeks to empower the media through the use of ICTs to advance quality journalism. It consists of a network of media organizations and journalists interested in using ICTs effectively to advance the course of journalism. We have trained over 500 journalists from various parts of Africa and across the globe in cutting edge new media technologies and contemporary ICT issues.

GJA

Created in 1984, the Ghana Journalists Association is a professional association for Ghanaian journalists. The Association's purpose is to improve the standard of professional practice in the press, encourage the growth of the mass media, and protect freedom of expression. The Association is a membership organization of journalists with a National Executive elected by the members

Technology to play a key role in the coverage of Liberia 2011 General Elections

As Liberians go to the polls on 11 October 2011 to select a new president, members of senate and house of representatives, African Election Project (AEP) www.africanelections.org is providing leadership in the use of information and communication technologies(ICT) to cover this landmark elections under its Liberia Incidence Monitoring Platform" project www.myliberiawins.org.

The ICT based incidence Monitoring platform will monitor  incidents of violence, irregularities and human rights abuses, spanning the period of pre-elections, during elections and post elections, thereby contributing to building peace and entrenching democracy in Liberia. Also the project is designed to facilitate the work of journalists and citizen journalists by actively using ICT tools in disseminating election information and knowledge thereby stimulating a vibrant online and offline dialogue between the media and civil society through forums on elections issues with the ultimate objective of promoting free and fair elections in Liberia.

Liberia's upcoming election has largely been viewed as a test of the willingness of Liberians to fully commit to democracy and the deepening of good governance in the country after the end of a 14 year civil war which ended in 2003.

 

According to African Elections Project Director, Jerry Sam, "the use of ICT during this election coverage will bring about transparency in the whole electoral process, ensure the timely release of electoral news to citizens residing in Liberia and in the Diaspora, issue alerts to the relevant institutions to prevent potential incidence of violence and to ensure credibility in the final outcome of the elections." 

 

He added that, a modern fully equipped Call Centre is in place to enable citizens report elections violence incident in additions to SMS reporting system via short-code 2011. In order to coordinate information transmission from elections observers throughout the country, a group of field officers have been deployed to play this role. The project will also make use of social media tools such as twitter, facebook  and youtube to reach out to online audience. Other tools to be deployed include cutting-edge call center software and a news database software which are designed to keep track of the elections activities as it happens.

 

African Elections Project in Liberian which covered the recently held Liberia referendum is   coordinated by the International Institute of ICT Journalist (Penplusbytes) with strategic and financial support from Humanity United (www.humanityunited.org) working hand in hand with key partners including ushahidi Liberia and Liberia Media Centre (LMC)

 

 

 

Editor's note

African Elections Project (AEP) www.africanelections.org  @africanelection

AEP was established in 2008 to cover elections using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) across the continent. AEP have successfully covered elections in Botswana, Namibia, Ghana, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Mozambique, Malawi, Togo and Niger.

 

Humanity United     www.humanityunited.org  @HUtweets

Humanity United is a philanthropic organization committed to building peace and advancing human freedom. We lead, support, and collaborate with a broad network of efforts, ideas, and organizations that share our vision of a world free of conflict and injustice.