The East African Community Media Workshop 2nd May 2013, Terrat, Tanzania

Introduction to using ICTs in making HIV/AIDS programmes available on the website and social media
Amos Ochieng KCOMNET/EACOMNET, Nairobi-Kenya

PHOTO: Farm Radio Photo credit: Ben Fiafor

ICTs?
This can be very difficult to define and explain.

ICTs is an umbrella term for technological tools and resources used to: communicate, create, exchange, store, and manage information.

In 2010 more than one third of rural households in Tanzania owned a cell phone, up from a mere 17 percent in 2007.
Source: World Bank
PHOTO: Farm Radio Photo credit: Mark Leclair

The ICTs situation in sampled community radio stations

There is a high level of familiarity with websites, social

media platforms and the use of mobile telephony. However they are not making use of the technologies in radio programming.

None of the community radio stations in Kenya have documented ICT policies.
in most cases the little integration of ICTs witnessed is driven by individual staff members who have an interest in technology.
Source: KCOMNET Survey 2012

Choose a free online space or create your own

Today, anyone can create, modify, and share content with others, using relatively simple tools that are often free or inexpensive.

The only thing you need

A computer or mobile device with Internet access and a little know how

Why new media and HIV?

People are online and looking for health information. TRUE or FALSE?

ICT tools help us bring HIV information to our colleagues and clients, and reach our audiences in new ways.

TRUE or FALSE?

Local governments, health

departments, AIDS service organizations, people at-risk for HIV, and others easily find information on HIV programs, policies, and resources online.

TRUE or FALSE?

People living with HIV/AIDS go online

to look for information on treatment literacy, coping mechanisms, local support groups and how they can engage with others and spread the information.

TRUE or FALSE?

Some people living with HIV/AIDS are

spreading it online

TRUE

or

FALSE ?

How do we respond?
Tools and tactics

#1: Tactic
If you have a bad Internet connection, write a daily text summaries of the programs and share on your website, by email to your listeners mailing list and post on your facebook and twitter.

#1: Tools

Mobile Internet

Twitter for SMS

Computer with internet

#2: Tactic
If you have a high speed connection, upload broadcast quality versions (MP3 or RealAudio format) on sound cloud for people to download.

#2: Tools

Mobile Internet

Computer with internet

Dont even ask, Sound cloud is absolutely FREE

you can get started at https://soundcloud.com/

#3: Tactic
There are people who want to listen online, create lower quality streaming audio in either MP3 or Real Audio format. They will thank you for it.

#3: Tools
Audacity, Adobe Audition

#4 Tactic: Create once, reuse often

#4: Tools
Summarize the programme in a blog post, post it on your website, link to it on your Facebook page make it available in an RSS feed, and reference it on Twitter. You can make it available as an audio podcast on soundcloud.

Make use of EACOMNET website

EACOMNET will embed your programs to its website and share them on its Facebook, Twitter and Blog.

Other ICT interventions for radio programmes

Store the audio files in CD/DVD ROMs, easy to distribute where there is no internet; make use of digital supports such as portable hard disks are useful for backup of audio files.

Get Started today..

Create a website: start with free resources such as word press and blogger Create a Facebook page, twitter account, soundcloud account and a Youtube channel

Measure your success

Systems and tools set to monitor progress efficiently Go to: www.hootsuite.com Google Analytics Facebook Insights

HootSuite at a glance
Manage & update multiple networks from one place
Accessible on the web from anywhere Team collaboration and task delegations

Monitor mentions and reply in real-time

Track key phrases and discover opportunities Schedule tweets and status updates Track your analytics

KEY NOTES

#1. Different people have varying levels of familiarity and comfort with technology.

#2. People may come to your site seeking general information. Or, they may be an individual with HIV seeking a particular resource, or looking for support.

#3. Returning or repeat users may have different needs, look for different information, and seek a different level of interaction or involvement than a first-time visitor.

#4. Attention is a precious resource: There is a lot of competition to get peoples attention. Only share compelling, engaging and immediately useful programmes

#5. Change happens: Audiences change. Needs change. Technologies change. Make sure you provide ongoing opportunities to hear from your users.

#6. With digital technology, offering a variety of formats takes very little time and effort and helps ensure a wider audience for the material. Use it to boost credibility and impact of your programs.

CASE IN POINT: The UNESCO-supported Kotmale Internet Project in Sri Lanka

Kotmale Internet Project has two main components: a community telecentre, using a dedicated line provided by the telecommunications regulatory body, and Radio Browsing, a daily two-hour radio program in which journalists take the Internet to the community by surfing the web in search of answers to listener queries. Sifting through the Internet's terabytes of data, Radio Browsing finds information that is useful to the communities and then interprets it making useful information meaningful. It plays a role that is part search-engine, part librarian, part journalist and part translator (English is the language of the Internet, but not of most Sri Lankans).

The overwhelming problems:

Barriers and challenges to use

Radio is widely available, internet is not

There are only two telephone lines for every hundred people in Africa, there are twenty radio receivers per hundred

Source: http://www.fao.org

The Internet faces hurdles related to language

English is the lingua franca of internet

High functional illiteracy rates

Most audiences only have indigenous knowledge and expertise

While technology shapes the future, it is people who shape technology, and decide to what uses it can and should be put
Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General

END

Meet me online
http://twitter.com/ochiengamos

Thank you

www.facebook.com/amos.ochieng
http://www.behance.net/amos http://linkedin.com/pub/amos-ochieng/23/733/912 http://plus.google.com/u/0/112687053980570437382/posts

http://flickr.com/photos/78873336@N04/