Saturday, May 5, 2007

Ugandan Blogumentary

Just stumbled on this blog: A Ugandan Blogumentary. It’s authored by a group of Danish students who are working on a documentary about blogging in Uganda. They’d like to show the greater diversity in Africa’s socio-economic makeup, deconstructing the view many outside of Africa have of the continent as a whole. In one post they give some of the terms local Ugandan “blogren” use.

I also liked their post about traveling north to get a different perspective on blogging, away from the yuppie blogging crowd of Uganda. Here they point out that the Diocese of northern Uganda utilizes blogging mainly as a donor tool- quite a change from the purposes of the Kampala bloggers.

Looking ahead at a possible project, I was caught by the insensitivity my vision has towards the much more basic needs of northern Ugandan IDPs. Why would they care about blogging when they live barely a subsistence life-style? Then again, if the Diocese is more successful by using blogging and the internet, then perhaps it is in their interest. If local NGOs can better utilize the internet, then maybe they too can have a better chance at making a difference. How can technology be used in a constructive, local way? Is there space for this in a land where the infrastructure is so limited? I wonder…

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