Local Content.
Summary script of Simon Batchelor’s presentation on “the importance of local content for Information and Communication for Development”, given in Ghana, at the workshop “Can digital Media add anything new to health education?”, Organised by Health Foundation of Ghana, Funded by IICD and Gamos/BigWorld, Feb 2003.
Introduction
“When people first considered the impact of information and Communication Technology on the poor, they talked about access. Some people thought that if the poor could gain access to ICTs, they would be able to access information that would help them improve their livelihoods. In particular people thought that the internet would offer them useful information.
“But try this test – try to find on the world wide web, a page that explains how to vaccinate a cow. There are millions of farmers all over the world in both the North and the South, so it’s reasonable to think that someone would have put up a simple explanation on how to vaccinate a cow? The reality is, that even with very fast access to the web, it will take you several hours to find a simple explanation (most search results are adverts for specific drugs), and even when you do find a clear easy to read page it will be in one of the European languages (probably English), and is likely to have a picture of a cow very different from that found in the South.
“Despite all the “content” on the web, there is very little that is accessible and relevant to the average poor person in the South, and what there is, is buried in a million other pages!
“So people have gradually become aware that if ICTs are to be relevant to the poor then there is a need to stimulate content, and to ensure that that content is accessible and relevant.
“But who should stimulate this content and what do we mean by local content?
The diagram
“A workshop on content in Feb 2001 in Tanzania (Ref 1) found a helpful conceptual diagram which gives us a framework within which to discuss content. Page 6 describes a “local content taxonomy” – the following is a presentation of that taxonomy.
“Consider a y-axis that is the place content is produced, stretching between global production and local production. We don’t know what the scale is, its only a conceptual diagram. Now consider an x-axis where content is consumed. We end up with four quarters.
“This conceptual “graph” is actually all about movement. Think about a story breaking where a high school student in the States shoots his class mates. The first action is that teachers phone parents – local content being shared locally (position A). The information gets shared more and more locally, until a reporter decides to post the information to Reuters (the global news agency) (position B). Its then picked up by CNN (for instance) and produced globally (UK based news desks using US footage), for global consumption (position C). This may be heard/watched by someone who then goes into work and asks his or her colleagues if they saw the news. The workgroup may then start discussing the rights and wrongs of gun laws, probably in their local language. The news is now being re-produced more and more locally, and perhaps finally someone who did not see CNN, could be in the know through local discussion – ie local production of global content for local content.
“I have drawn the diagram with wavy lines because this is not a precise process. Local content becomes global and then become local again. The issue for the South is that this flow is dominated by the North, and one might well question the relevance of US High School shootings to local people in Ghana for instance.
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“But we now have four quarters to discuss which helps us talk about content. Local content is quarter A. It is information produced locally for local consumption. It MAY be relevant globally but it need not be. Examples could be regarding
agriculture
– a local crop, information about local markets, local ways of improving crop
production, etc
small
business – local products, local market info, etc
governance
– local procedures, local tax information, etc
health
– local beliefs about feeding children, local medical practices, etc
A lot of health materials are currently in quadrant D, they are global best practice information being contextualised for local consumption. However there are also many opportunities for local health content – for instance, some people in Ghana believe that feeding eggs to children will make them thieves as adults – this needs local discussion.
“Local content then is more than just global content in local language. It can be content that has been produced locally for local consumption – local context, local language, local relevance.
“The quadrants are more fully explored in Ref 1. Let us now move on to the opportunities presented by Digital Media……….
Ref 1 – IICD, Collecting and Propagating Local Development Content, Research Report (Tanzania), No7 May 2002, IICD, Holland
SJ Batchelor Feb 2003