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The One to Watch Radio, New Icts and Interactivity The One to Watch Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity Edited by Bruce Girard In collaboration with The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) Geneva office and The Communication for Development Group Research, Extension and Training Division Sustainable Development Department FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2003 The One to Watch – Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief, Publishing Management Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected] © FAO 2003 Electronic Edition Version 1.0 Cover graphic: Claudia Rodríguez Page numbering in this electronic version does not correspond to the print version of the book. To order a copy of the print edition, contact the Research, Extension and Training Division, Sustainable Development Department, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Fax: +39 06 705 3801 – Email: [email protected] - ii - Table of Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................... v Ester Zulberti Preface......................................................................................................................vi Bruce Girard Section I - Concepts and Context........................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Radio and the Internet: Mixing media to bridge the divide.......................................... 2 Bruce Girard Chapter 2 Take Five: A handful of essentials for ICTs in development.................................... 14 Alfonso Gumucio Dagron Chapter 3 Linking Rural Radio to New ICTs in Africa: Bridging the rural digital divide.............. 27 Jean-Pierre Ilboudo and Riccardo del Castello Chapter 4 The Information Highways are still Unpaved: The Internet and West African community radio ...................................................................................................... 39 Lynda Attias and Johan Deflander Chapter 5 Public Radio and the Internet in the United States................................................... 47 Robert Ottenhoff Section II - Gateways............................................................................................. 51 Chapter 6 Community Multimedia Centres: Creating digital opportunities for all....................... 52 Stella Hughes Chapter 7 The Kothmale Model: Using radio to make the Internet visible................................ 61 Ian Pringle and MJR David - iii - The One to Watch – Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity Chapter 8 Creating & Sustaining ICT Projects in Mozambique................................................. 73 Birgitte Jallov Chapter 9 The Russian Rural Information Network .................................................................. 81 Nancy Bennett Section III - Networks ............................................................................................ 90 Chapter 10 Awaking from the Big Sleep: Kantor Berita 68H....................................................... 91 Martin Hala and Santoso Chapter 11 The Agencia Informativa Púlsar............................................................................... 97 Bruce Girard Chapter 12 InterWorld Radio: “The kind of thing that connects you to the world” ..................... 104 Francesca Silvani Section IV - Communication with migrants ....................................................... 113 Chapter 13 Blending Old and New Technologies: Mexico’s indigenous radio service messages......................................... 114 José Manuel Ramos and Ángel Díez Chapter 14 Callos and Guatitas: Radio and migration in Ecuador and Spain ........................... 120 Luis Dávila and José Manuel López Section V - Rural Radio: Cases from USA, Africa and Latin America.............. 127 Chapter 15 Farm and Rural Radio in the United States: Some beginnings and models ........... 128 Robert L. Hilliard Chapter 16 After 50 years: The role and use of rural radio in Africa ......................................... 133 Jean-Pierre Ilboudo Chapter 17 Radio Chaguarurco: Now you’re not alone ............................................................ 141 Bruce Girard About the authors................................................................................................ 154 - iv - The One to Watch – Radio, New ICTs and Interact Foreword Ester Zulberti We live in an era characterised by rapid technological advances in the telecommunication sector which affect all spheres of human activity. New communication tools, services and practices have emerged and information has become the most distinguishing trait of contemporary societies. Knowledge and information can greatly impact on agricultural production and food security. Improved communication systems can help rural communities access relevant and timely information on agricultural and rural development issues. With the dramatic expansion of various forms of electronic interchange, including electronic mail and the Internet, unprecedented opportunities exist for knowledge and information sharing and dissemination among development agents, policy makers and the beneficiaries themselves. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be effective means of providing development workers with huge amounts of relevant information on markets, technology, prices, successful experiences, credit facilities, government services and policies, weather, crop, livestock and natural resource protection. However, in order to have a significant impact on development programmes, ICT services must be readily accessible and meaningful to broad segments of rural populations and the information they carry must be adapted and disseminated in formats and languages that they can comprehend. They must also serve people’s needs for entertainment, cultural enlightenment, and human contact – needs which, despite being strongly felt by us all, are too often overlooked by development professionals. The convergence of ICTs with rural radio can serve these purposes, providing a powerful support for harnessing and communicating knowledge for development, for ensuring wider access to information, and for permitting local cultural expression and development. This is especially true in rural areas, where radio is an important mechanism for the rapid diffusion of knowledge and information in a diversity of languages and formats and where its long history and time-tested participatory methodology make it the most widespread and popular communication medium. The combined use of the two media not only allows wider access to a wealth of information, but it also provides an effective mechanism for bottom up articulation of real development needs. This publication provides an overview of the most significant experiences in combining radio and ICTs to sustainable development. It is a result of numerous attempts by FAO’s Communication for Development Group to foster information exchange and collaborative partnerships in rural radio initiatives. We hope that the reader will find in these pages some useful insights for stimulating discussion and concrete action in the context of their own development work. Ester Zulberti Chief, Extension, Education and Communication Service Sustainable Development Department FAO - v - The One to Watch – Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity Preface Bruce Girard In February 2001, the FAO organised an International Workshop on rural radio entitled Information and Communication Technologies Servicing Rural Radio: New Contents, New Partnerships. The fifty workshop participants exchanged experiences and developed ideas for how radio and ICTs could be used together to support rural communities. We were enthused by the idea of combining radio with the Internet and with its potential for breathing new life into radio and for making the Internet’s information truly accessible to rural populations. As Carleen Gardner, FAO’s Assistant Director General for Information, said at the conclusion of the workshop: Sometimes looked down upon as the “poor relation” of television, and certainly considered old-fashioned compared to the Internet, radio today has become the one to watch. That may sound like a bad pun, but as our discussions here this week have proved, radio’s stock is rising like never before. Still the most portable communication medium, the most widespread and the most economical, radio is now proving itself versatile enough to go hand-in-hand with the Web. This book grew out of that workshop. It focuses on the use of the Internet by radio stations in their efforts to support initiatives for democratic and sustainable development and it includes insights and experiences
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