Inter Press Service has a fascinating story on newspaper delivery men and women in Brazil, so-called ‘motoboys’, who are becoming reporters in their own right thanks to new media technologies. Encouraged by a Spanish artist, Antoni Abad, to upload images of Sao Paolo taken by their cellphones to a website called Canal Motoboy, the motoboys – acquainted with the poverty of the favelas have created a ‘visual diary’ of the city. They publish events like “accidents, crimes, water pollution, traffic jams, street protests, street art like graffiti and sundry other events” not easily found in mainstream media. An encouraging example of how the ‘citizen journalism’ brought about by new media technologies, so often celebrated in more affluent parts of the world, can also work for those on the margins.
June 23, 2008...7:22 pm
Mobile journalism
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July 11, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Loved your post and will be doing some more research on this. My organization has been asked to help a group in Johannesberg develop some intra-community communication vehicles. Here are some of our ideas (of which mobile was a component, but not in the fashion you have outlined). Would love to hear some more of your thoughts. See our recommendations here: http://insearchofsymmetry.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/adopt-overview/