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Seventh
World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters
Milan, 23-29 August 1998 Main | Activities | Local information | Register now! | Virtual Forum | Other links Septième
Assemblée mondiale des radiodiffuseurs communautaires
Séptima
Asamblea Mundial de Radios Comunitarias
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amarc-4
Hi .... My name is Mark Surman. Among other roles, I am the Information, Content and Tools Coordinator for the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) - a global federation of progressive Internet providers. As someone who will be helping with a workshop of community radio and ICTs at AMARC7, I have been interested in all of the postings to this list so far. In particular, I was impressed by the message from Muthoni Wanyeki. I would like to pick up where this message left off. -----Original Message----- From: L. Muthoni Wanyeki (by way of Lorencita Pinto <[email protected]>) >technologies 2) concrete ideas about training to ensure NICTs aren't >just seen as a means of accessing information, but also of disseminating >and mainstreaming marginalized (even within Africa) perspectives. To me, this distinction between access to information and dissemination is key! There are millions of private sector and donor dollars being spent on resolving the access issue. At the same time, very little work or discussion is focussed on the issue of dissemination by marginalized groups or regions. While access is important, this lop-sided focus will likely lead us down the same path we have been down many times before -- one way information flow emanating from those who already have significant power and resources. Despite this trend, I think we still have many opportunities to create a mediasphere unlike what we have had in the past. One where there is a diversity of voices, as well as real access to audiences and financing for smaller, previously marginalized producers working in a variety of media. One key to making this happen is focussing on the dissemination issue. There are some good dissemination projects out there which facilitate real information flow from diverse sources. Econews Africa is one good example. Another one (albeit often focussed within the north) is the AINFOS Media Network (www.ainfos.ca and radio4all.web.net). Aimed at facilitating information flow 'by and for an anarchists', AINFOS combines e-mail lists and WWW sites to allow alternative journalists to share print and audio files. These files are then picked up and shared by like minded journalists. My hope is that we can use this list and our time in Milan to further think through how to develop models and carve out space on electronic networks that will permanently ensure this kind of grassroots-to-grassroots and grassroots-to-mainstream communication can flourish using NICTs. Looking forward to further conversation ... - Mark -- Mark Surman - [email protected] voice: 416.531.9579 - fax: 416.878.3460 Programme Coordinator - Information, Content and Tools Association for Progressive Communications http://www.apc.org Civil Society Internet Consultant Commons Consulting http://commons.web.net ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMARC 7 Foro Virtual Forum Virtuel http://www.amarc.org/amarc7 to unsubscribe / pour se desabonner / para abandonar : e-mail "unsubscribe amarc-4 " to: [email protected]