web 2.0

On Monday I attended a seminar on information for social change -- looking at the role of new technologies in the publishing arena. The presentations and discussions were exciting and sobering at the same time. There are some exciting possibilities arising from new developments  in the use of the Internet -- and of cell phones. But it is clear that there are still many barriers in the way in Africa, including high communications costs, slow bandwidth, and lack of widespread access to technology.

The World Bank's BuzzMonitor may be more Buzz than we need, but let's think about a similar service for the CJ Portal down the line.

A recent thoughtleader comment, Paddling without a compass, caught my eye this week. Anne Taylor, of Rhodes University's New Media Lab, writes about the ethics of blogging, and raises some of the questions we discussed at the Training of Trainers workshop in Johannesburg a few weeks back. Web 2.0 tools such as blogging open up new territory in the relationship between media houses and news consumers, but, Taylor cautions, it doesn’t mean old concepts like ethics and professionalism fall away.