Harnessing the internet for traditional PNG archives

Pacific Media Centre: UPNG

At the National Cultural Commission's Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, a team of local researchers has the mountainous task of recording the traditional knowledge of PNG societies.

With some 814 distinct cultures, Ralph Wari, the institute's director, freely admits that they have hardly touched the surface of local language, customs, arts, and music. But with limited resources, the team must record and archive as much material as possible as well as disseminate it, in many cases to help ensure its survival.

While most of the collected materials are currently residing at the institute's Port Moresby base, Wari is hoping that the internet will prove a useful tool in making the vast stores of local knowledge more widely available.

The Institute of PNG Studies is one of several potential information providers taking part in a project coordinated by the University of Papua New Guinea's South Pacific Centre for Communication and Information in Development (SPCenCIID) and funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as part of its Pan-Asia Networking (PAN) programme.

The project – named PAN Information Networking and Services Papua New Guinea (PINS-PNG) – will lead to an information server being established and encourage institutions to publish electronically. Similar PAN country-level information servers have been funded in the Philippines, Vietnam and Nepal by IDRC.

PINS-PNG aims to bring together some of the country's best sources of local content to build up a PNG presence on the internet, as well as provide training for relevant organisations, and encourage the distribution of research materials within the country.

With one of the largest pockets of biodiversity in the world, PNG has long been a focal point for researchers from all parts of the globe.

Unfortunately, the same enthusiasm given to collecting data is not extended to its dissemination within the country.

Big potential
John Evans, a lecturer and book publisher within SPCenCIID and project leader for PINS-PNG, says that much of the research is published outside of the country and often does not make it back.

When it does, it is often limited to one location and its availability is not known elsewhere, particularly in outlying areas where much of it originates. To counter this, Evans will coordinate efforts to make more research information available through the internet as a result of the project.

“People used to go off and write their report somewhere else and it never got back again,” he says.

“Now people might be more inclined to put summaries of their research on the net.”

Locally, there is certainly no shortage of information providers with an abundance of potential content.

For the project, seven organisations have been identified initially - the Institute of PNG Studies, the University of Papua New Guinea, the National Parliament Library, the Government Office of Information and Communications, the Small Business Development Corporation, the National Association of NGOs (NANGO), and the Melanesian Institute.

Papua New Guinea has itself only been connected to the internet since 1997. But since then there is a growing awareness of its potential and no shortage of ideas on how best to use it within the context of PNG resources.

Webbing new and traditonal knowledge

Tnews intern, former Fiji publisher win Pasifika scholarships

Staff Reporter: Pacific Media Centre

A Triangle TV Tnews intern and continuing AUT University media student and a former Fiji newspaper publisher have been awarded the two AUT/PIMA Pasifika communication scholarships for this year.

John Pulu, a 20-year-old former Otahuhu College student who is now in the final year of a Bachelor of Communication Studies television major, has won the undergraduate award.

Thakur Ranjit Singh, 53, a former publisher of the Fiji Daily Post who migrated to New Zealand with his family and is an outspoken columnist for papers such as the Fiji Times, Fiji Sun and Indian Newslink and a community advocate, has been awarded the postgraduate award. He will undertake a Master in Communication Studies degree.

The annual scholarships have been sponsored by AUT's School of Communication Studies in partnership with the Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) since 2003.

While at Otahuhu College, John Pulu helped produce a news item broadcast on TVNZ's Tagata Pasifika about the "gateway" project enabling students from decile one schools in South Auckland to get industry experience.

"I'm a firm believer that Pacific people deserve to be served by and represented in the media and I have worked hard for this goal since leaving high school," he says.

After joining AUT, he has worked as a part-time reporter filming and covering news items for the Tongan community on T-News.

As part of his coursework, Pulu has also filmed a couple of short documentaries currently available on the Pacific Media Centre's channel on YouTube.

They are Kava Commune, which was screened at the 2008 Manukau Film Festival, and a short video about the 2008 PIMA conference which Pulu filmed, directed, and edited.

As well as television, Pulu co-hosted the breakfast shift at the Pacific Islands radio network Niu FM.

"At AUT’s Pacific Media Centre, I'm an enthusiastic and motivated team player, often volunteering in the centre’s projects," he says. "I like to share my experiences and advice with fellow students and hope this will develop into a mentor role in the future."

Pulu is also a student representative for PIMA.

"I'm passionate about documenting Pacific Island issues and highlighting our rich history."

Ranjit Singh was publisher of the Fiji Daily Post at the time of the George Speight coup in 2000 and he wrote a lively weekly column about cultural and political issues.

While much of his career has been in administrative and business roles - he graduated from the University of the South Pacific and later did an MBA at Massey University in New Zealand - he has for several years been striving to take up a career in journalism.

He has a keen interest in Pacific issues, human rights and political and social challenges facing the region. At one stage, he was an exchange student from USP with the University of Papua New Guinea.

Since migrating to Auckland, he has contributed regular columns to newspapers in Fiji and New Zealand and believes the AUT/PIMA scholarship will help refine his analytical and journalistic skills for community benefit.

"I welcome the challenge to contribute to more analytical journalism and media research for the Pacific. We need more Pacific voices in the media in New Zealand," he says.

"And it will be good for PIMA to have a fresh, different perspective too."

Pictured: Top: John Pulu at work in the AUT television studio. Above: Ranjit Singh at PIMA 2008.

Pacific Media Centre
PMC on YouTube
PIMA
Scholarships
Triangle TV T-News

No nonsense journalism guide migrates online

The News Manual Online
by David Ingram and Peter Henshall, with illustrations by Bob Browne

Reviewed by Julie Middleton: Pacific Journalism Review

An important journalism primer that has trained many Pacific journalists has finally migrated online, ensuring it a wider audience and a longer life. The trio of books dubbed The News Manual, which grew out of a search in the mid-1980s for resources for University of Papua New Guinea students, were published in 1991 with backing from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
A thorough and clear guide to basic reporting skills, including ethics, the law, and English grammar, their 700 pages formed an important resource in a region where only a lucky few got tertiary training, let alone specialised journalism coaching, and were (and still are) often plucked from a short secondary school career and thrown in the deep end.
The updated online version bills itself as a "straightforward, no-nonsense guide" to journalists in developing countries - it has a Commonwealth bias, reflecting the authors' teaching experience - but it is just as relevant to journalism newbies in more developed societies.
So much of learning the craft of journalism is about marrying technical skills with common sense, nimble thinking and people skills, and the resource reflects this in a way a lot of developed-country textbooks don't (but should).
The beauty of The News Manual Online is that in its friendly, straightforward tone and content it makes no assumptions about what readers know. Journalism texts do need to discuss the telephone manner that gets results, how to break the ice with strangers in a natural way, and how to accurately calculate the numbers of people in a crowd, all areas covered by The News Manual Online.
The chapters give simple, clear examples in explaining concepts such as news
sense. This is how it describes the need to make every intro word earn its
keep:

>> Your intro is like a canoe being paddled against a fast flowing current. Every word in the sentence should be like a man with a paddle, helping to push the sentence forward. There is no room for lazy words sitting back without paddles in their hands. They just make work harder for the rest of the words. So look closely at every word and ask yourself: "Does it have a paddle in its hand?" If it doesn't, throw it overboard!
>> Some of the fattest and laziest words to be found in the intro canoes are titles. Inexperienced journalists often think that they have to put full titles in the intro when, in fact, they belong later in the story.
>> Try to shorten titles for your intros wherever possible.

Exercises offer practice in intro writing and news story structure. The News Manual Online also discusses important issues for all reporters such as the dangers of stereotyping, the need to protect victims, and gender-neutral language. It looks at tricky issues such as the impact of tradition, culture and outside pressure, personal beliefs and reporting, and asks questions media everywhere still struggle with, such as whether the families of public figures should be fair game for media.
There are useful links and resources and a public feedback page. Most importantly, the website is easy to navigate and uncluttered, so those with sluggish internet can make the most of it.

>> Julie Middleton is an Auckland journalist. She is a former advocacy and communication officer for the Human Development Programme, Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Cartoon by Bob Browne.

>> Contact David Ingram