Big Picture Digital Journalism

Journalism trainers in Africa, as with any experts in a fast-evolving environment, are increasingly challenged to add new topics to their curricula such as multimedia production courses and the use of web applications, but so far little expert educational material exists about a key practice of digital journalism: crowd-sourcing.

Big Picture Digital Journalism is a nine-month project that will strengthen African journalists’ capacities to use crowd-sourcing approaches and that will be based in Kenya with supporting activities in Ivory Coast, Uganda, Rwanda and the Central African Republic. The project will involve 10 journalism trainers and up to 50 journalists who will be developing their skills through three major activity strands.

The first activity is a Crowd-Sourced Journalism Training component initially involving 10 journalism trainers who will build up a capacity of peer journalists. The 10 journalism trainers selected for the higher-level course will help spread knowledge to local journalists as well as support projects that will make use of participatory information-gathering to promote transparency, accountability and social justice.

The second activity will take place when most of the training phase is completed. It will support projects through the launch of a contest that will select the three best ideas. These projects will receive modest support and mentoring for two months, so that the project can be kick-started.

The third activity will run throughout the project. A Platform for Crowd-Sourcing Journalism Practitioners will be developed in the two first months and be updated throughout the remainder of the project. This tool will provide methodological expertise and peer support with a view to augmenting the quality and quantity of crowd-sourced journalism projects. For example, project ideas from the trainees will be published and support will be provided for remote mentoring activities.

The expected outcome of Big Picture Digital Journalism is that trained individuals will receive capacity building training that will allow them to achieve impact through compelling “big picture” stories which carry considerably more weight and reach than traditional approaches.

Overall, Big Picture Digital Journalism aims to support the use of ICTs, which empower journalists but also civil society organisations and communities. The use of crowd-sourcing will enable peer-to-peer production and distribution of information in the form of cheaper, bottom-up channels. Journalists will realise projects that leverage citizen participation through ICTs, allowing for the enhancement of information ecology across a wide range of social issues.

Contact

Name: Jun Matsushita
Email: jmatsushita(at)internews.eu
Phone: 0044 207922 7970
Project webpage: www.internews.eu/projects/big-picture-digital-journalism