Video Blooging a tool for for development

By Brenda Zulu

Creating local language video with a translation in the national language text is important for increasing participation and sharing observed Prince Deh, Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (GINKS) Assistant Country Director.
Talking about knowledge sharing Web 2.0 participatory tools called video blogging or vlogging, Deh observed that local language was important and this was an area which GINKS was going to explore as all their videos were in English. The term Video blogging or Vlogging may mean making videos and posting them on the Internet with the intention of getting a response from viewers.

Vlogging major challenges were listed as connectivity or access and getting people to share Information and Knowledge and cost of equipment.
From my his own view, Deh said Web 2.0 tools were important and even more important because of the deeper impact the tools would have on marginalized societies, even if these impact are not immediately felt.
He observed that many more rural communities have stories to share with the larger public and voices to amplify and saw Web 2.0 tools as perfect applications to project the voices of the rural poor in the future.

“How do we solve the problem of rural connectivity in order to extend the benefits of Web2.0 tools much wider beyond the scope of the cities?” he asked.
He pointed out that it was important to have knowledge of video editing and innovativeness in order to create story telling videos.

It was interesting to note that vlogs provided an alternative media for presenting an otherwise long stories or presentations in very simple and attractive manner.
Deh explained that short videos have an added advantage in view of the visual component that helps promote deeper understanding of stories, especially for people with less educational background and or for people who do not have a reading habit. He added that they also had the power to reach an unlimited audience with minimal cost as the vlogging process does not require specialised expertise and can be easily controlled by any non-technical person.

“It is technologically simpler and cheaper to maintain than a website. Videos are interactive medium often encouraging readers to comment” said Deh.
The experience of GINKS in using video blog and the importance of the tool in promoting Information and knowledge sharing has informed the network to extend the use of the tool to capture some of the interesting experiences from a two year Research project the network undertook with a community in Rural Ghana in collaboration with the International Development and Research Center (IDRC).