The Hub Unconference
The Julius Chongono stage
“Sunset” had Momo Size with a
well polished violin and guitar
backed poetry act. Charity did an
acoustic music and poetry set and
then Josh Meck did a Solo with a
bass guitar .(That was amazing by
the way) . As Josh Meck was
closing, he called a poet on the
stage and Madzitatiguru turned
up giving a dose of unusual
“Poetry and Bass fusion ” (it was
unusual for me ). The following
“sunset” featured SoProfound,
Batsirai E Chigama (with a band)
and ?oem the Answa (I insist , the
Question Mark is not a typo).
To close of the festival was ‘Peace
in the Hood’, that was held at
Glen Norah shops on the King
Pinn stage. This event was filled
with local and international acts
who gave explosive performances.
There was also spray-can art
(graffiti ) and a number of dance
ciphers around the area. I
personally liked most of the
performances but Symbiz Sound
Shut it down , enough said...
By Elspeth Chimedza
Being my first time to attend Shoko
Festival, I was delighted to attend at
least one of the workshops, by
invitation of course.
In a day and age where technology
has made the dissemination of
information faster, accessible and
somewhat reliable, how do we as
young people in media utilise this tool
to share information which could
change our world.
In attendance were eager journalism
students, social media activists, youth
activists, technological developers and
of course artists. A great mix for
exchange of knowledge about media
trends, tools, applications and even
styles of relaying information to the
world around us.
Facilitators included Lukonga
Lindunda (Zambia), Natasha Msonza
(Zimbabwe), Privilege Musvanhiri
(Zimbabwe), Koketso Moeti(South
Africa) and Fungai Machirori
(Zimbabwe); with each of them
sharing their challenges with media,
new innovations in improving media
and the importance of one’s online
presence.
Lukonga discussed about the “Mobile
Revolution” whereby mobile phones
are slowly replacing large computer
monitors as technology advances
hence the accessibility to the internet
and other applications by every mobile
user. Apparently “most people in Africa
will never use a computer….”-Gustav
Prackett; and seeing the increasing
purchase of smart phones by most
‘urbanites’ in Africa and the trend is
slowly encroaching rural areas , too.
On the other hand, Natasha shared
about using phones for social impact
and how to secure our phones so as to
avoid ‘índiscretions’ in the case that a
phone lands in the wrong hands. (Wise
advice).
A new way of telling stories in
media is through ‘Visual Story
telling’. Story maker is a software
created by Small world News
(USA) in assisting journalists in
visual story telling. A very
interesting innovation which is
still undergoing testing and
upgrading but it could change the
way people share information.
So how many of us are into
blogging or follow blogs? I myself
am a blogger (although I have not
been very consistent ), and
Koketso Moeti and Fungai
Machirori opened my eyes about
‘blogging in the future’. How
important is blogging in
disseminating information? How
does one put value in blogging ?
Well ,if done well, an individual
can use blogging as a way of
sharing things that affect them
and the rest of the world. A
blogger can also monetize their
blogs for as long as they have the
right strategies and consistency in
assuring their readers relevant
information that they can always
look forward to.
Fungai highlighted about an
individual’s ‘digital footprint’; in
English, the information history
that you leave in cyberspace. In
other words, think before you type
and post anything on any platform
because that leaves an impression
of the kind of person you are and
what one represents.
The workshop was quite
insightful looking at present
journalism and what the future
holds. Taking from the Shoko
Festival theme I would say,” We
are the people……the people who
bring about change for the future!”
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