The News is Coming

Local news reports disseminated through cell phones will help connect an all-black township in South Africa with the white population living in the urban center – giving everyone in Grahamstown equal access to news and information. Articles from the community newspaper, Grocott’s Mail, will be delivered to mobile phones, the only modern communications system available in the rural township. In a partnership with a local university, journalism students will create audio and video feeds for distribution. Meanwhile, masters-level students will study the project’s design and impact, while post-graduate students develop a sustainable business model for the technology. The project will create open-source software so that small town newspapers around the globe will be able to send mobile reports.