Written by
widge
August 1, 2010
Participants at the 2010 Citizen Media Rendez-Vous are lucky that Shubhranshu Choudhary is spending 3 months in San Francisco this summer because it allowed us to invite him to be a panelist. He is from the Indian region of Chhattisgarh where tribal languages flourish. Poverty is high despite the abundance of minerals in the region and so is illiteracy.
Shubhranshu Choudhary trains tribal woman in India. (CGNet Swara)
Shubhranshu will come to Montréal to share his perspective based on his experience establishing a citizen journalism initiative that allows remote communities (7 million people) to use CGNet Swara, a cell phone platform inform each other in their own tribal dialects.
Shubhranshu said in an AlertNet interview, “People just have to call up and they can hear news in four different languages - Gondi, Kurruk, Chhattisgarhi and Hindi. It’s helped to bridge the information gap for tribals who are on the other side of the digital divide.” The project, started in February 2010 now receives about 50 calls a day, some to record audio messages and news, while others to listen to the reports left by others from their remote region. All messages are verified by Shubhranshu and the project’s volunteers by others on the ground before translating the messages and reinserting them into the system.
Shubhranshu is bringing a communication revolution to Chhattisgarh where more than 50% of the communities do not have electricity. He is coming to Montréal’s Citizen Media Rendez-Vous on August 23. Are you?
Leave a comment
Category : Event, panelists
Tags: cell phone, CGNet Swara, MediaRDV 2010, Shubhranshu Choudhary
Written by
widge
July 30, 2010
CitizenShift, Parole citoyenne, the Institut du nouveau monde (INM), Media@McGill, Alternatives and Communautique invite bloggers, engaged filmmakers, photographers, citizen journalists, media experts, independent media practitioners and others to the 2nd Citizen Media Rendez-Vous on Monday, August 23, 2010 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. This international event begins at 8:30 am and runs until 6:00 pm, with networking sessions, 2 panel discussions, a Cinema Politica Rendez-Vous screening room and a multimedia exhibit of posters from 40 years of social movements in Québec related to media. The event is open to the public and will provide a venue for discussing topics such as content creation using diverse technology platforms and applying collaborative models for citizen media.
Participatory media projects that include multiple platforms, genres and issues are adding diversity to conversations at a speed and across distances that are changing the way people communicate with one another. A goal of the Citizen Media Rendez-Vous is to encourage a collaborative exchange to learn about, and advance the practices of, citizen media that cultivate inclusive participation and social justice.
Panelists, moderators and participants will discuss the central question: How is citizen media being used by civil society, independent journalists, media practitioners and others to better inform the public, and to what effect? To review this question from multiple angles the 2010 Citizen Media Rendez-Vous is divided into two central panel discussions. The morning panelists will consider how accessing and appropriating citizen media can better inform and mobilize the public. Panelists include: Norman Cohn, co-founder IsumaTV; Tim McSorley, editor Media Co-operative; Georgia Popplewell, Managing Director Global Voices; Craig Silverman, Managing Editor MediaShift & Digital Journalism Director OpenFile. Discussions will be encouraged between panelists and the audience by moderator, Patricia Bergeron.
The afternoon discussion will focus on the citizen use of new media for the defense of human rights. Panelists include: Jaroslav Valuch, Haiti Project Manager Ushahidi; Priscila Néri, Program Coordinator, Witness; Shubhranshu Choudhary, CGNet Swara. Discussions will be encouraged between panelists and the audience by moderator, Frédéric Dubois.
The event is bilingual and simultaneous translation will be available in English and French. For more details about this not-to-be-missed event visit the Citizen Media Rendez-Vous website. Online registration is free but mandatory.
This independent one-day conference is being held in parallel to CIVICUS’ 9th World Assembly from Aug. 20-23. The World Assembly is a place for information exchange and debate to best identify practices that will attain a wider global social justice. Benefit from a 3 for 1 registration offer for Canadian civil society organizations until July 30.
Leave a comment
Category : Event, panelists
Tags: CGNet Swara, Global Voices, IsumaTV, media, Media Coop, MediaShift, Mobile Voices, OpenFile, Ushahidi, Witness
