September 8-10: Highway Africa conference tackles citizen journalism
Date Posted: June 23rd, 2008
Thanks to social networking websites like Facebook and YouTube and instant messaging on cell phones, more people can not only consume journalism, but produce it. Welcome to the age of citizen journalism. But is it really journalism for citizens? Organisers of Highway Africa’s 2008 conference invite you to tackle these issues and more in South Africa this September.
Highway Africa, a partnership between Rhodes University and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), is dedicating this year’s conference to examining the surge of citizen journalism, from what it means to what technology best supports it, and how it can create new freedom of expression possibilities in Africa.
“Citizen Journalism, Journalism for Citizens” will also look at the challenges, such as the response of the traditional media, or how citizen journalism can affect the quality of journalism and the professionalism of trained reporters.
This year’s conference will be held from September 8-10, 2008 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown , South Africa. It is open to journalists, academics, bloggers, students, publishers and other interested media professionals.
A limited number of scholarships will be made available for participants who are unable to cover their costs. The application deadline is June 30th.
For more information, email: Highway Africa director Chris Kabwato at: c.kabwato@ru.ac.za or visit: http://www.highwayafrica.ru.ac.za or http://highwayafrica.wordpress.com/.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I find this course very intresting, and it would have been exactly what i required right now, because I am about to launch myself in working on a series of programmes about how young citizens in developing countries are using new technologies as means of communication. I however find that the lenght of time given to appl is too short. I guess i just missed a great opportunity.