We will exchange ideas, lesson learned and shortcomings of digital media to inform and warn during crisis or events ( such as elections etc…).
The format of a barcamp will be utilized but panelists will present their experiences and expertise beforehand to pose the bases of the conversation:

The projected order of presentation is as follow:

1) Former journalist of L’Express Madagascar Alain Andriamiadravola will open the un-conference with a short welcoming kabary

2) Lova will present a call for increased collaboration between journalists and bloggers, especially in times of rapidly unfolding  events.

3) Cyber Observer and pakysse will discuss his personal experience of on site reporting and photo shooting during the protests.

4)   Thierry Andriamirado will present the role of social network in distributing information ( twitter, facebook, friendfeed)

5) Christie Turner ( of radioactive) and Rafiq (Foko)  will present community radio intiation and management.

6)Lalah and Tahina will explain the details of Foko-Ushahidi and how they manage the site.

7) Tsiry will explain that conservation effort must go on despite the crisis and showcase Zebu Nation project. 

Patie will elaborate on her photoworkshop with kids with Unicef

9) Claire Ulrich will present the current state of online censorship worldwide.  

We expect powerful testimonies from many other bloggers ( Randy, Jentilisa, Avylavitra, saveoursmile and Thierry)  and an engaged conversation with journalists on the ethics of news reporting. 

Ivotel is offering the conference room free of charge and Moov.mg is generously providing free high speed wifi . In turn, they hope to see a valiant online discussion about connectivity in Madagascar and a debate free of political propaganda.
Let’s honor the request.

Last Saturday, Foko crew was in action again teaching blog and new media to IST students. The IST (fr) is a renowned private institute located in Ampasampito (not far away from downtown) that proposes several fields of studies to its students.

Stéphane was contacted by the one of the first responsables of the event and she asked him if Foko could hold a workshop in their cybercafé prior to their official graduation ceremony. In an ordinary day, students should pay to have Internet access but for this time it was for free. Then, we, as zealous volunteers, arrived there at 7:30am (I was a bit late in fact) ready with brochures and handouts about blogs, twitter and … Foko of course :).

The first group arrived an hour and a half later after we spent our time brainstorming how we were going to manage it and sticking Foko posters in some strategic (lol) spots of the block. I stood next to the main door to invite people to get in because they were a bit shy at the begining “Is it here … the workshop on blogs?”. And because of this shyness we had to send Pati and Ariniaina to make them aware that it is warmer and more interesting inside

The workshop went well in a good ambiance and the connection speed didn’t spoil it too much. We noticed that few of them were more curious than the others and that led Andry to jump on the basic uses of Twitter (yes, they wanted more and more) after being through with Wordpress.

What surprised me during the workshop was these ladies, I guess they are teachers, whom Ariniaina and Affick took good care of. And according to what I overheard, they had a lot of questions. The room was not wide enough for the students and somehow made (some of) them go away before the end of the workshop. But the good thing is they asked for another workshop.

I’m waiting for the list of the new IST bloggers to put it here but meanwhile you can have a look at the photos taken during the workshop.

[Update] Here is the list of the IST bloggers

http://fichristel.wordpress.com
http://njaranga.wordpress.com
http://quiidam.wordpress.com
http://ramelolive.wordpress.com
http://sorohitra.wordpress.com

Patrick is regularly writing chronicles on Tamatave’s life and BUEC (Barikadimy’s United English Clubs) activities. Thanks to his intensive Twittering, we can easily get stories from this dynamic region located in the eastern coast of Madagascar where he is also working as the a very active tour guide. Lately, he has published a serie on different historical and touristical spots of Tamatave but also about the Ravinala association, one of the biggest tour guides associations in the country. You thought you knew everything about this successful student in Management? Wait until you read more about him in this interview :

Yeah, it’s around one year now that I started to blog.
Why did I start to blog?

To be frank, I don’t know. You know why? Because when Mr. Stéphane and Mrs. Valerian called me with my team from BUEC for the first time, I never even heard about that “BLOG” Then when I started and surfed around the old bloggers blog at that time, one thing came out from my mind: it’s the only one way where can I make my voice heard, the only one way to make BUEC known, the only one way to have a lot of friends in very short time, the only one way that I can listen from all around the world. That’s why I became fan of blogging.

What is the best blogging experience?

In term of experience, I got lot of from blogging but the best one is: now I get used to shut my mouth up when I heard something which I’m not  sure.

Why do I write much on tourism?

I guess, you probably know since we get touch that I’m a tour guide. And as a guide, my team and I would like to have as lots tourists as possible, because, for us, life is getting tougher without tourists. To be precise, I think I do not write only on tourism but also for our lovely English Club (BUEC), because I’d like it will be among of the big and famous English Center here in Madagascar one day. Any way, several of an English-speakers guide of Tamatave are from BUEC, and indeed I can say that 70% of translators – Interpreters who are working for a very big company or society like Sherritt and its contractors are from BUEC here in Tamatave. But do you know why BUEC ain’t developing yet until now? Because those persons who had taken an advantages or profits from there don’t want to help the club where they are from. It’s a pity. But I think they will remember where they are from one day.

My advices to the new bloggers is:

You guys! Go ahead to blog, I’m pretty sure that you won’t regret for that. Fight, fight and fight, then you will win. Be friendly and helpful, as an expression says: “Scratch my back and I will scratch yours.”

BUEC from Tamatave

Will I keep on blogging

Why not? I did it, now I’m still doing it and I insure you that I will always do it. I feel very happy on blogging, it’s like my pastimes. I love it and I will love it. And as you know: “with LOVE everything is possible.”

I do hope that that can help you, thanks for the interview. Pass a good time.

Blog: http://Layshiyuu.wordpress.com

Podcasts and Videos : http://www.netvibes.com/foko#VID%C3%89OS_ET_PODCASTS

Twitter: http://twitter.com/layshiyuut

I will go into further details later on how these three organisations have been of tremedous help in documenting the multiple acts of violence during the Madagascar crisis but for more info now, here is an interview by Solana Larsen of Tahina, one of the manager of the foko-ushahidi platform in Antananarivo, Mg.

A New York Hub for the conference was also organized by Cristina Moon and she graciously invited Foko to present their work at the brooklyn location.

As you know, Foko primary mission is to document the everyday lives of Malagasy citizens and local agents of environmental change, not record potential human rights violations by their government. Yet, the ongoing crisis decided otherwise for the time being. The hub was a great opportunity to meet and learn first hand from Human Rights activists present at the event.

The presentation went over the background of the crisis, the known human rights violations that were documented since January 09, the use of new media by tools by the dynamic new media users’ community in Madagascar (both related and non-related to Foko) and the obstacles for more extensive reporting of current events. We also posit that among all the past and current human rights violations in Madagascar ( military repression, limited freedom of speech, arrest etc..) the most glaring offense in our views is the 400,000 people (mostly children) currently at risk of hunger in the South because the political deadlock prevents an effective response.

The fact that Foko is present in 5 different regions of Madagascar is important but still insufficient to provide comprehensive reports from all the regions of a nation twice the size of Great-Britain.

The Conference had a specific emphasis on data accuracy, fact-checking and the use of mobile reporting. Michael Ferola present at the NY hub, has been very kind to offer an analysis of the entire database collected on the foko ushahidi platform. We are evaluating a way to measure the quality of the data and present them in an effective manner.

The videos of the panel discussions at the conference will soon be available on fora.tv

However, here a few important reviews made at the conference:

1)On the panel “PDAs and Phones for Data Collections”, speakers discuss the potential of mobile reporting for providing additional information during humanitarian crises in developing countries. For more info, here is the notes from Erik’s talk at the conference and a post on Kiwanja website on how FrontlineSMS was used in the film “The Reckoning”.
No groundbreaking news here so I will take this opportunity to describe the collaboration with mobile technology experts and thank the people at FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi who worked with us overnight to get the platform ready for sms reports as soon as possible.

As Tahina explained, there were a few obstacles to overcome but FrontlineSMS developpers ( Alex Anderson, Carlos Genz and Ken Banks) provided timely technical support and sped up the release of a new version they were working on to take into account the urgent need for an SMS/computer interface for the Madagascar crisis. We cannot thank them enough for helping us establish the first project to collect SMS reports directly onto a computer via the intelliSMS software.
The Ushahidi team was also tremendous in setting up the platform quickly and showing us how to modify the interface to allow for the translation of key words, categories and timeline.

2) on the panel “Blogging Human Rights”, David Sasaki spoke about the internet tools used to shine a light on issues that media often ignored. He also explained the importance of giving people on site during the opportunity to tell their stories in their own words and stop using proxy as voices for the oppressed. He also emphasized the importance of translation in breaking the “echo chamber” and reaching new audiences about issues that most people are not familiar with. A case in point for this statement that is related to Madagascar is the online petition for Razily, a protester who was arrested on March 28th for flag theft and who has not been heard of since then. The petition has now reached moe than 500 signatures in a week thanks to media attention in different languages (ny marina momba ny Razily news2dago, Madagascar-Tribune, Ethan Zuckerman, Jillian York on Huffington Post and Madagaskar-Vision.de) For the ultimate comprehensive resource on translation and new media, read Chris Salzberg’s thesis on the lingua GV project. (PDF)

Finally, David also emphasized the importance of addressing the safety of citizen journalists

In short, the conference was a reminder that supporting the development of new media users and communities in developing countries is a worthwhile endeveaor, especially considering their added value when a crisis situation breaks out.

Antsirabe meet Tamatave :

Thanks to Patrick and Randy’s amazing coordination, ESSVA students from Antsirabe had the opportunity to visit their collegues from BUEC at Barikadimy’s University of Tamatave. A memorable trip which had a very sad ending with the drowning at sea of Frederic, a talented student in communication, at Tahiti kely beach .

From Patrick’s blog

For Frédéric, From Randy’s blog

Antananarivo meet journalists and bloggers :

r1lita, dadandry and ariniaina took their citizen media activism to another level by sharing their kwowledges to new communities of journalists. It was an afternoon rich in exchanges and new experiences for everyone who was present at APC (American Press Center). The day after, ICE team met pro-bloggers at the 5th edition of Antananarivo’s blog meeting to share their latest exeperience and discovered they weren’t the newbies they were supposed to be but had a lot of fun too!

From Tahina’s blog

From Ariniaina’s blog

Former les Femmes aux nouveaux médias au Yemen :

Ghaida’a al-Absi de Hand in Hand Initiative va inviter les femmes politiques et activistes à partager un nouveau point de vue sur leur pays à traver les outils du Média Citoyen. Elle encouragera par la suite des ONG à rejoindre la discussion afin de marquer un changement dans la communauté. Ghaida nous explique tout cela dans cet interview prise par Rezwan : http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2009/04/08/video-interview-with-ghaidaa-al-absi/ et visitez la page du projet : http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/projects/empowerment-of-women-activists-in-media-techniques-yemen/

Nomad Green Mongolie :

Vous sauriez un peu plus sur la Mongolie grâce aux actions des ONG locales qui viendront nous informer à travers leurs blogs sur l’état environnementale dans ce pays de l’Asie . En attendant le lancement des ateliers, informez-vous sur leur site et tenez-vous prêts à les commenter : http://www.nomadgreen.org/?lang=en avec un nouvel outil de cartographie en ligne  : Nomad Green Map Tools

Ceasefire Liberia :

Sans nul doute la communauté de journalistes la plus prometteuse et ambitieuse car elle réunit des talentueux représentants de la presse écrite mais aussi des radios et télévisions dans ce pays qui souffre d’extrême pauvreté et qui essaye de guérir ses plaies de la guerre civile. N’attendez pas ils ont déjà ouverts plus d’une vingtaine de blogs!

Nat Bayjay qui blogue sur http://natlyn.wordpress.com/

Real Experience of the Digital Era  - Chine

Nous avons beaucoup de la Chine mais en même temps des Chinois eux-mêmes très peu . Dans la province du Lianoning, Shenyang City, sera le coeur de la communauté  des travailleuses du sexe qui nous partageront leur quotidien par des vidéos et des articles de blogs : http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/projects/real-experience-of-the-digital-era/

Abidjan BlogCamp

Sera animé par des jeunes de quartiers de la grande mégapole d’Abidjan et sera la 3è communauté francophone de Rising Voices (Congo AIDS Right fait dèjà un excellent travail). Les blogs Camps commencent d’ici peu…

Latest posts from Jelona in Fianarantsoa :

Join The Malagasy TIGWEB
Fianarantsoa : Une Ville Authentique, un grand village !

Gouvernance locale menée par les jeunes : Plajevak, un témoin vivant

So maybe…YOU, READER, can come to their rescue.

*star-blogger at Foko is Everyone!

Le début du mois d’Avril a  été ponctué, encore une fois, de divers et graves évènements politiques autour de l’île et lorsque Jelona a réussi à nous mettre à jour sur les tournées politiques à Fianarantsoa,r1lita, Layshiyuut et Dadandry ont été très actifs et …rapides! pour transmettre les nouvelles des sites mêmes grâce à leurs Twitter édités avec leur téléphone portable. Merci les amis mais restez à l’abri!

Voici les derniers comptes ouverts et n’hésitez pas à rejoindre la communauté pour dialoguer plus spontanément au moindre coût :

Dagomc http://twitter.com/dagomc

Julienne http://twitter.com/juleetam

Randy http://twitter.com/randydonny

Rondro http://twitter.com/rondro

Listen to the voice of BUEC :

Read stories from Juleetam :

It’s like very odd, makes marvel but believable. The nails are should be took care, should be clean because we can have an enormous advantages from them.

Learn about Bosco :

and don’t forget to leave comments on their blogs to wish them good luck !!!

Antananarivo

Association Namana Serasera - Novembre 2007

Club pour L’ONU du Lycée Jules Ferry - Février 2008 : Blog des CPO http://cpojulf.wordpress.com/

ICE Club (I am Crazy about English) - Octobre 2008 : Blog des ICE http://www.iceclub-mada.com

Majunga

École de Journalisme de Majunga - Mars 2008

Tamatave

Barikadimy United English Clubs - Mai 2008 : BUEC’s page http://buec.englishclub.googlepages.com/

Antsirabe

Ecole Supérieure Spécialisée du Vakinankaratra - Octobre 2008 : Blog Classe de Com’ http://essvacomm.wordpress.com

_______________________________

Lite des membres (mise à jour : Avril 2009)