Kwa muda mrefu nimekuwa nikiongea na walimu mbalimbali wa vyuo vikuu Afrika kuhusu matumizi ya zana kama blogu, podikasti, video-blogu, n.k., kama nyenzo za kufundishia na kujenga mahusiano na ushirikiano kati ya walimu katika idara au kitivo. Wengi wamekuwa wagumu kujaribu kuzitumia. Nimewahi kuandikia hata walimu wa vyuo vikuu Tanzania na hata kuwaahidi kutoa semina za bure ili waelewe jinsi ya kutumia zana hizi. Mara nyingi hata barua huwa hawajibu. Sijui wanasubiri hadi atokee mzungu mwenye cheo cha “consultant” ndio wamsikilize?

Sasa majuzi hapa nimekutana na mwalimu wa kwanza ambaye mambo haya wala huna haya ya kumhubiria. Anayaelewa na amekuwa akifiria jinsi ya kutumia hizi zana. Huyu ni Profesa Kingo Mchombu, toka Tanzania, ambaye hivi sasa ni mkuu wa Kitivo cha Sayansi Jamii katika Chuo Kikuu cha Namibia (UNAM). Yeye mwenyewe tayari ni mwanablogu katika blogu ya The Giraffe.
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Microblogging. Sithubutu kujaribu kutafuta neno la Kiswahili. “Microblogging” ni aina ya kublogu ambayo inamwezesha mtu kuandika ujumbe mfupi na kuusambaza kupitia ujumbe mfupi wa maandishi (SMS), ujumbe wa papo kwa hapo (IM), barua pepe au kupitia tovuti. Ni kama kublogu ila hii huwa na ujumbe mfupi zaidi. Kati ya huduma maarufu za “microblogging” zipo zile za Twitter na Jaiku.

Leo nataka kuzungumzia Twitter. Nadhani Twitter sio mchezo. Twitter ilipoanza baadhi ya watu walisema hiyo ni huduma ya kipuuzi na inayopoteza muda. Ila kadri siku zilivyokwenda ilionekana kuwa kuna matumizi mengi yenye manufaa yanayotokana na huduma kama Twitter.

Mashirika ya habari kama the New York Times, BBC, na Al Jazeera yanatumia huduma ya Twitter kutoa habari. Wanasiasa kama vile Barack Obama wanatumia Twitter kama sehemu ya zana za kampeni.
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Ni furaha kubwa kuona kuwa Ndimara Tegambwage hajanyoosha mikono hata baada ya lile shambulizi la kinyama kabisa lenye nia ya kunyamazisha watu wanaofichua uozo kwenye viambaza vya utawala wa “sisi twawala” wa Tanzania. Kweli uhuru hauna kikomo, kama inavyosema blogu yake. Ili kumuunga mkono na kuwatia haya majambazi yanayoitwa “waheshimiwa” nchini Tanzania, unaweza kutembelea blogu yake na kuacha ujumbe. Wakati huo huo kuna makala pale Global Voices Online kaandika Tungaraza kuhusu blogu za Kiswahili. Bonyeza hapa.

Jielimishe kwa kusoma mwongozo ulioandaliwa na Global Voices Online kuhusu masuala ya uandishi wa raia. Hapo baadaye mwongozo huu utapatikana kwa lugha ya Kiswahili. Yeyote ambaye angependa kujitolea kushirikiana na wengine kutafsiri tafadhali tuandikie: africa (at) globalvoicesonline (dot) org

Rising Voices proudly announces the first in a series of outreach guides meant to explain the fundamentals of citizen media to a non-technical readership.

The first guide, An Introduction to Citizen Media, offers context and case studies which show how everyday citizens across the world are increasingly using blogs, podcasts, online video, and digital photography to engage in an unmediated conversation which transcends borders, cultures, and differing languages.

Bonyeza hapa.

Chicago Tribune wametoa habari inayosema kuwa wanablogu ndio waasi (waasi kwa maana nzuri) wapya wa Afrika. Bonyeza hapa uisome.

Ukitembea mtaani Zanzibar, huenda ukakutana na mwanablogu wa Nigeria, Ore, aliyeko Zanzibar hivi sasa. Anaandika kuhusu safari yake hii ya Zanzibar na pia kutoa picha mbalimbali. Bonyeza hapa umsome.

Nimeandika habari inayoonyesha jinsi dhana hii ya harakati dijitali inavyokua kwa haraka Afrika kwa kutumia mfano wa mambo yanayotokea nchini Kenya. Wanablogu na wanaharakati wengine Kenya wamekuwa wakitumia zana mbalimbali za Webu 2.0 kama vile blogu, flickr, twitter, facebook na “mashup” kama njia mojawapo ya kuleta mabadiliko nchini humo. Sehemu ya habari hiyo inasema:

Kenyan citizen journalists and activists are increasingly turning to popular Web 2.0 tools and applications such as wikis, blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and mashups to organize and share news and information about the post election crisis, chronicle violence, share crisis photos and raise funds to help the needy.

Bonyeza hapa usome habari nzima.

Wanateknolojia wameamka. Wanatumia kila njia kusambaza habari za ujambazi uliofanyika hivi karibuni nchini Kenya. Wako wanaotumia blogu. Wengine wanatumia SMS. Wengine wanatumia Twitter (pia tazama Twitter ya KenyaNews). Wengine ni maripota kwa simu za mkono. Na wengine wanatumia video. Soma habari kuhusu matumizi ya video nchini Kenya:

Words can tell a story, pictures can give us images, and videos have a way of combining both, making it easier for an emotional connection to form with what is going on. During the violent events unleashed by the surprising results of the Kenyan election, media shut down and many had to depend on the internet for their information needs, others took it into their hands to create their media, bearing witness to these events, video camera in hand.

Bonyeza hapa usome habari nzima.

Global Voices Online imetengeneza ukurasa maalum kuhusu hali ya kisiasa na kijamii nchini Kenya. Bonyeza hapa ili ufuatilia habari na picha toka kwa wanablogu wa Kenya.

Ushahidi ni zana mpya iliyotengenezwa na wanablogu wa Kenya inayotumia teknolojia mpya ya ramani ili kuonyesha maeneo yenye fujo. Kazi wanayoifanya ni nzuri sana na inafaa kuwa somo kwa watu wanaotazama njia mbalimbali za kutumia teknolojia kuripoti masuala ya maafa. Zana hii ni kati ya zana ambazo zimepewa jina la “mashup.”

Zungu (White African) ameandika hivi kuhusu tovuti hiyo:

Ushahidi.com is a tool for people who witness acts of violence in Kenya in these post-election times. You can report the incident that you have seen, and it will appear on a map-based view for others to see. Ory and Daudi are working with local Kenyan NGO’s to get information and to verify each incident.

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Mwamba ngozi huvutia kwake sio? Ndio, ni ndugu yangu ila aliyosema hata kama yangekuwa yametoka kwa mtu mwingine ningeshauri watu wayasome. Ni darasa. Soma sehemu ya kwanza ya mahojiano yake kwenye blogu murua ya BongoCelebrity. Ni Freddy Macha. Bonyeza hapa.

Yaani kumbe unaweza ukaiweka Wikipedia mfukoni? Ni encyclopodia (toka kwenye neno “encyclopedia” and “iPod”). Hapa.

Intaneti ina faida kwenye jamii au haina? Au tuseme hii dhana ya Webu 2.0, je inajenga jamii au ni ibilisi? Mabwana wawili wamebishana kuhusu jambo hili. Andrew Keen amejijengea jina kwa msimamo wake kuwa Webu 2.0 ni ibilisi mbaya (ingawa ana blogu!). David Weinberger yeye anasema kuwa ibilisi sio Intaneti au Webu 2.0 ila ni sisi wenyewe. Yeye anatetea hii dhana. Mjadala ulifanyika siku za nyuma ila bado una nguvu. Hapo unaweza kupata karibu hoja zote kuhusu uzuri au ubaya wa Intaneti. Sijui utasimama upande gani. Mimi nimelalalia upande wa David Weinberger.

Keen anasema:

Now they won’t shut up. The problem is that YOU! have forgotten how to listen, how to read, how to watch. Thus, the meteoric rise of Web 2.0’s free citizen media is mirrored by the equally steep decline in paid mainstream media and the mass redundancies amongst journalists, editors, recording engineers, cameramen and talent agents. Newspapers and the music business are in structural crisis, Hollywood and the publishing business aren’t far behind. We’ve lost truth and interest in the objectivity of mainstream media because of our self-infatuation with the subjectivity of our own messages. It’s what, in “Cult of the Amateur,” I call digital narcissism. A flattened media is a personalized, chaotic media without that the essential epistemological anchor of truth. The impartiality of the authoritative, accountable expert is replaced by murkiness of the anonymous amateur. When everyone claims to be an author, there can be no art, no reliable information, no audience.

Weinberger anajibu:

Your wildly unflattering picture of life on the Web could also be painted of life before the Web. People chatter endlessly. They believe the most appalling things. They express prejudices that would peel the paint off a park bench. They waste their time watching endless hours of TV, wear jerseys as if they were members of the local sports team, are fooled by politicians who don’t even lie convincingly, can’t find Mexico on a map, and don’t believe humans once ran with the dinosaurs. So, Andrew, you join a long list of those who predict the decline of civilization and pin the blame on the latest popular medium, except this time it’s not comic books, TV, or shock jock radio. It’s the Web.

Bonyeza hapa usome mjadala mzima.

Soma habari hii kuhusu wanablogu wa Kenya kwenye tovuti ya BBC. Mmoja wao ni Juliana wa Afromusing ambaye ni mhariri wa blogu za mazingira wa Global Voices Online. Kama unablogu kuhusu mazingira, tafadhali mtumie anuani ya blogu yako.

Nimekuwa natumia Bloglines (ingawa pia Google Reader ni nzuri sana). Bonyeza hapa usome umuhimu wa Bloglines kama hufahamu. Ila Fav.or.it ni kiboko. Sio tu inakusanya mambo yaliyoandikwa na wanablogu, bali pia inakusanya na maoni. Kawaida kwenye Bloglines huwezi kusoma maoni. Ukitaka maoni inabidi uende kwenye blogu husika, ila Fav.or.it inakupa habari na maoni. Bonyeza hapa.

Ni kweli kuhusu majeshi ya Uganda kuwepo nchini Kenya? Bonyeza hapa.

Sitanii. Narudia: Usitilie shaka nguvu za Intaneti Afrika. Haki ya nani vile…

Has technology, particularly citizen media, played any positive role in covering the the crisis in Kenya? This is what White African wrote about the role of technology in the crisis:

If anyone doubts the power of the internet in Africa, they need to look no further than what is happening in Kenya right now…As of yesterday there was a media blackout. The only way to get any up-to-date news for the past 24-48 hours has been through the blogosphere (like Kenyan Pundit, Thinker’s Room, Mentalacrobatics), Skype and Kenyan populated forums (like Mashada). The traditional media has been shut out and shut down for all intents and purposes.

Bonyeza hapa usome habari nzima toka Global Voices Online.

Ukitaka kujua jinsi gani nchi zetu zina njia ndefu kufikia demokrasia halisi, soma habari hii inayoeleza kuwa eti Mwenyekiti wa Tume ya Uchaguzi ya Kenya alipoulizwa kama Kibaki ameshinda alijibu kuwa hajui. Alisema hivi:

The magnitude of the Electoral Commission chairman’s admission and the further dent on the credibility of the election was captured in his answer when asked if indeed President Kibaki won the elections: “I do not know whether Kibaki won the election”.

Bonyeza hapa usome habari yote. Halafu tazama picha kwenye blogu za akina Joseph (hapa kwake kuna picha za kutisha sana. Kama una “roho ndogo” usiende hapo), Ory (ambaye kulikuwa na habari kuwa blogu yake imefungiwa), Daudi, Thinkers, Afromusing na wengineo. Pia pale Global Voices Online. Ninavyoandika hivi natafuta tiketi, nabisha hodi Kenya. Nataka kukutana na Kibaki nimweleze kitu fulani. Asiponisikia nimzabe kibao.
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Mpya: White African ana orodha ya blogu zinazoripoti na kujadilia hali ya kisiasa na kijamii Kenya hivi sasa. Bonyeza hapa.