Tansen Community Media Centre
The Tansen Community Media Centre (CMC) was established in April 2003 in order to provide access to media and information and communication technology (ICT) skills and facilities for economically poor youth. The CMC combines various media and technologies to produce television programming and engage in training activities to help build capacity and economic opportunities.
Communication Strategies
Community multi-media facilities were established in early 2003 by Communication for Development Palpa, a local non-profit organisation in Tansen. The Tansen Community Media Centre combines new technologies such as computers, internet, CD-ROMs and specialised software applications with video production facilities and a local cable television network. Local community participants use a mixture of technologies to create new media content and programming for a local cable television channel. The majority of trainees and participants are from economically poor and traditionally marginalised groups.
Tansen Community Media Centre flagship production is 'The Local Programme', a twice-weekly, ninety-minute television magazine programme of youth features, community events, local activities and folk and pop segments. Twice a month, the channel also features television internet browsing, which combines information and visuals from the internet with local interviews and footage. Hosts surf the web on camera with local guest experts, simultaneously translating and interpreting internet-sourced information for local viewers. The audience can request particular topics and websites, essentially allowing them to surf the internet at home on their television sets. The twin aims of the programme are to provide viewers with web-based information and to provide exposure to new information and communication technologies.
Youth are trained together in batches of 30-40 learning both computing and media production skills, and there is an emphasis on the participation of girls. They plan and produce their own multimedia programming, using digitial video cameras and production software like Microsoft Moviemaker and Adobe Premiere. Their video productions end up as part of The Local Programme. The idea is to enable and amplify the voice of marginalised local youth, to improve both the quantity and quality of local media programming and to introduce new formats that actively combine Tansen’s various media: television, radio, print and websites. In the process the CMC hopes to foster a sense of community ownership that will support an increasingly wide range of local media. After one year of youth training programmes, the CMC began designing new training programmes for specific groups, e.g. housewives, campus MA lecturers, etc.
The Tansen CMC has used an integrated research methodology developed in conjunction with Queensland University of Technology and London School of Economics. The approach employs full time researchers as part of the local project team who use ethnographic research tools, including field notes, diaries and a range of interview methods to explore both what poverty means in Tansen and how it relates to what the research approach calls the local ‘communicative ecology’, essentially the complete range of communication media and information flows in a given community. The research places ICTs (radio, computers, mobile phones, print media and so on) in the context of all the ways of communicating, that are important locally, including face-to-face interaction. Research has helped the project team to understand the nature of poverty in Tansen, particularly the role played by caste, marginalisation and powerlessness and the lack of opportunities for self-expression.
The CMC has developed a number of ideas that aim to sustain their operations and provide employment and income generating opportunities for local youth. The CMC introduced a membership system through which community members and volunteers are able to use the computer and internet facilities. The Local Programme has started to carry some small advertising with spots made by youth volunteers. The CMC offers paid video and production services for local weddings and other ceremonies. Youth who do the video shooting split the fee with the centre. The centre has also started to offer limited paid, low cost training programmes.
Tansen Community Media Centre flagship production is 'The Local Programme', a twice-weekly, ninety-minute television magazine programme of youth features, community events, local activities and folk and pop segments. Twice a month, the channel also features television internet browsing, which combines information and visuals from the internet with local interviews and footage. Hosts surf the web on camera with local guest experts, simultaneously translating and interpreting internet-sourced information for local viewers. The audience can request particular topics and websites, essentially allowing them to surf the internet at home on their television sets. The twin aims of the programme are to provide viewers with web-based information and to provide exposure to new information and communication technologies.
Youth are trained together in batches of 30-40 learning both computing and media production skills, and there is an emphasis on the participation of girls. They plan and produce their own multimedia programming, using digitial video cameras and production software like Microsoft Moviemaker and Adobe Premiere. Their video productions end up as part of The Local Programme. The idea is to enable and amplify the voice of marginalised local youth, to improve both the quantity and quality of local media programming and to introduce new formats that actively combine Tansen’s various media: television, radio, print and websites. In the process the CMC hopes to foster a sense of community ownership that will support an increasingly wide range of local media. After one year of youth training programmes, the CMC began designing new training programmes for specific groups, e.g. housewives, campus MA lecturers, etc.
The Tansen CMC has used an integrated research methodology developed in conjunction with Queensland University of Technology and London School of Economics. The approach employs full time researchers as part of the local project team who use ethnographic research tools, including field notes, diaries and a range of interview methods to explore both what poverty means in Tansen and how it relates to what the research approach calls the local ‘communicative ecology’, essentially the complete range of communication media and information flows in a given community. The research places ICTs (radio, computers, mobile phones, print media and so on) in the context of all the ways of communicating, that are important locally, including face-to-face interaction. Research has helped the project team to understand the nature of poverty in Tansen, particularly the role played by caste, marginalisation and powerlessness and the lack of opportunities for self-expression.
The CMC has developed a number of ideas that aim to sustain their operations and provide employment and income generating opportunities for local youth. The CMC introduced a membership system through which community members and volunteers are able to use the computer and internet facilities. The Local Programme has started to carry some small advertising with spots made by youth volunteers. The CMC offers paid video and production services for local weddings and other ceremonies. Youth who do the video shooting split the fee with the centre. The centre has also started to offer limited paid, low cost training programmes.
Development Issues
Technology
Key Points
The founder and co-ordinator of Tansen Community Media Centre, Mahesh Ratna Shakya, was recognised for his contribution in disseminating information to society by innovatively using simple and cheap audiovisual technology by the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology in 2005.
Partners
UNESCO
Sources
UNESCO WebWorld Newsletter, August 26 2005 and i4d Magazine, September 2004.
- Log in to post comments