Internet is the way to go for radio

We have recently been hearing a lot from our politicians about the development of radio and television stations, in an era when the Internet is now king

Our MPs should realise that computers take centre stage in the massive Information Revolution currently sweeping the globe.

In the near future, as wireless networking (Wifi) comes into play in Papua New Guinea, as in other countries, radio and television may become obsolete.

The newspaper you are reading may also follow the same trend because you don’t need to buy a newspaper when you can read it online.

Radio has played a pivotal role in our development, however, times are changing.

Internet radio is the latest technological innovation in radio broadcasting since the business began in the early 1920s.

Internet radio has been around since the late 1990s.

Traditional radio broadcasters have used the Internet to simulcast their programming.

But, Internet radio is undergoing a revolution that will expand its reach from your desktop computer to access broadcasts anywhere, anytime - and expand its programming from traditional broadcasters to individuals, organisations and government.

Radio broadcasting began in the early ‘20s, but it wasn’t until the introduction of the transistor radio in 1954 that radio became available in mobile situations.

Internet radio is in much the same place.

Until the 21st century, the only way to obtain radio broadcasts over the Internet was through your PC.

That will soon change, as wireless connectivity will feed Internet broadcasts to car radios, PDAs and cell phones.

The next generation of wireless devices will greatly expand the reach and convenience of Internet radio.

Traditional radio station broadcasts are limited by two factors:

The power of the station’s transmitter (typically 100 miles); and

The available broadcast spectrum (you might get a couple of dozen radio stations locally).

Internet radio has no geographic limitations, so a broadcaster in Wabag, Enga Province, can be heard in Japan on the Internet.

The potential for Internet radio is as vast as cyberspace itself (for example, Internet radio network Live365 offers more than 30,000 Internet radio broadcasts).

In comparison to traditional radio, Internet radio is not limited to audio.

An Internet radio broadcast can be accompanied by photos or graphics, text and links, as well as interactivity, such as message boards and chat rooms.

This advancement allows a listener to do more than listen.

The relationship between advertisers and consumers becomes more interactive and intimate on Internet radio broadcasts.

This expanded media capability could also be used in other ways.

For example, with Internet radio, you could conduct training or education and provide links to documents and payment options.

You could also have interactivity with the trainer or educator and other information on the Internet radio broadcast site.

Internet radio programming offers a wide spectrum of broadcast genres, particularly in music.

Broadcast radio is increasingly controlled by smaller numbers of media conglomerates.

In some ways, this has led to more mainstreaming of the programming on broadcast radio, as stations often try to reach the largest possible audience in order to charge the highest possible rates to advertisers.

Internet radio, on the other hand, offers the opportunity to expand the types of available programming.

The cost of getting “on the air” is less for an Internet broadcaster, and Internet radio can appeal to “micro-communities” of listeners focused on special music or interests.

What do you need to set up an Internet radio station?

• CD player;
• Ripper software (copies audio tracks from a CD onto a computer’s hard drive);
• Assorted recording and editing software;
• Microphones;
• Audio mixer;
• Outboard audio gear (equaliser, compressor, etc.);
• Digital audio card;
• Dedicated computer with encoder software; and
• Streaming media server.

Getting audio over the Internet is pretty simple:

The audio enters the Internet broadcaster’s encoding computer through a sound card.

The encoder system translates the audio from the sound card into streaming format.

The encoder samples the incoming audio and compresses the information so it can be sent over the Internet.

The compressed audio is sent to the server, which has a high bandwidth connection to the Internet.

The server sends the audio data stream over the Internet to the player software or plug-in on the listener’s computer.

The plug-in translates the audio data stream from the server and translates it into the sound heard by the listener.

There are two ways to deliver audio over the Internet: downloads or streaming media.

In downloads, an audio file is stored on the user’s computer.

Compressed formats like MP3 are the most popular form of audio downloads, but any type of audio file can be delivered through a Web or FTP site.

Streaming audio is not stored, but only played.

It is a continuous broadcast that works through three software packages: the encoder, the server and the player.

The encoder converts audio content into a streaming format, the server makes it available over the Internet and the player retrieves the content.

For a live broadcast, the encoder and streamer work together in real-time.

An audio feed runs to the sound card of a computer running the encoder software at the broadcast location and the stream is uploaded to the streaming server.

Since that requires a large amount of computing resources, the streaming server must be a dedicated server.

 

Iruupi villagers continue to suffer from river

The plight of Iruupi villagers in Western province, regarding their Kura River, continues to worsen by the day, according to villager Thomas Ame.

Mr Ame today showed pictures and video clips of villagers with rashes and sores on their bodies, dead fish, as well as food crops affected by the river.

A report by the division of health in Daru dated October 15,  confirms that the villagers are facing food problems as a direct result of the Kura River:

 

•           People were generally lost and wondering what was happening to their environment;

•           Their skin became itchy and swollen after entering the river;

•           Water samples were collected near upstream near a swamp, midstream close to Iruupi and  from Drageli village;

•           Fruit trees including coconut, pawpaw, banana and others were not bearing fruit while taro was not producing; and

•           Fish and other aquatic animals were continuing to die.

The report said people were moving away from the river as this phenomenon was destroying the livelihood they had enjoyed.

It added the problem was a kind of “complicated natural disaster” which nobody knew the cause of at this stage.

The report recommended that private scientific consultants be engaged to carry out studies;  Department of Environment and Conservation must closely monitor the situation;  provincial government and administration must support and fund a detailed study;  and proper and adequate sampling must be done to determine the physical, biological and chemical state of the river.

“Fish and other animals are continuing to die,” Mr Ame said.

“There is no food in the village because the food gardens are beside the river, and now, the villagers are making new gardens near the village.

“They get body pains when they touch the water in the river.

“Boils and rashes start appearing on their bodies

“People survive mainly through selling meat such as deer and wild pigs, and then using the money to buy food from the stores in Daru.

“People are surviving on sago and coconuts.

“People have put a stop to using the water from the river.

“They only use rain water these days.

“About half of the villagers are affected and the Fly River provincial government has taken so serious action to do something about this.”

In September, the villagers raised concerns in a letter to Governor Dr Bob Danaya, South Fly MP Sali Subam, and the Departments of Petroleum and Energy and Environment and Conservation about the increasing number of dead fish being found in the Kura.

At the beginning of October, after no response from relevant government authorities, the villagers again complained about dead fish and crocodiles, as well as birds, pigs, deer and wallaby.

Iruupi, south of Daru near the Torres Strait, is closer to Australia than the Western province capital.

 

FORUM SECRETARIAT SECRETARY GENERAL SIGNS REGIONAL STRATEGY PAPER AND REGIONAL INDICATIVE PROGRAMME

The Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) Tuiloma Neroni Slade, and the European Commissioner for Development, Mr Louis Michel have signed documents formalising the Pacific Regional Strategy Paper (RSP) and the Regional Indicative Programme (RIP).  

The signing was done at a ceremony held in Strasbourg, France, during the European Development Day on 15th November 2008

The RSP and the RIP form the basis for co-operation between the Pacific ACP States (PACPS) and the European Commission for the period 2008-2013.

Prepared on the basis of intense consultations among regional stakeholders as well as between the PIFS and the European Commission (EC), the RSP identifies two focal sectors for co-operation:

(1) Regional Economic Integration; and

(2) Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and the Environment.

 A non-focal sector for organisational strengthening and civil society participation in the development process is also included in the RSP. 

An indicative allocation totalling €95 million has been made for assistance in the three areas, €45 million for the first focal sector, €40 million, for the second, and €10 million for the non-focal sector.  

Work has already begun on the preparation of projects in each area for 2009.

The intention is to identify two major projects for funding in the first two focal sectors: for the first sector, projects relating to economic integration and trade and human resources; and, for the second sector, projects in areas relating to sustainable management of both marine resources and land resources to cover both the fisheries and agricultural sectors.

Speaking at a round table meeting of representatives of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regional integration organisations and Commissioner Michel, organised by the EC and held immediately before the signing ceremony, Mr Slade, the Regional Authorising Officer for the RIP, expressed the region's appreciation for the assistance that had been provided in the past to the PACPS by the EC and the assistance that had been committed by the EC for the coming five-year period. 

Outlining the region's programme priorities under the Pacific Plan, the Forum Secretary General Mr Slade explained how the assistance from the EC would greatly facilitate efforts by the PACPS to deepen their own regional economic integration as well as to conclude an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EU) as a positive basis for strengthening relations between the region and the EU for many years to come.

For more information, contact Mr Jim Gosselin, the Forum Secretariat's Multilateral Trade Policy Adviser on email: jimg@forumsec.org.fj .

All-in brawl at Papua New Guinea media awards

Simmering tensions mixed with alcohol have been blamed for Papua New Guinea's media night of nights turning into an all-in brawl, Australian Associated Press reports.

The 2008 PNG Media Council awards ceremony on Saturday night erupted in a fight requiring Port Moresby hotel security to step in and pull apart scrapping guests.

The fight came late in the proceedings, after speeches on the importance of media freedom and accurate reporting.

Fighting between staff at PNG's Post-Courier newspaper, owned by News Limited, and colleagues from PNG's National Broadcasting Corporation marred what was generally considered a successful evening.

"It is embarrassing," one attendee said.

"This stuff always happens at this end of year. Everything starts fine, but it all comes out with too much drink.

"It really is the silly season. Staff get drunk and then there will be a fight at the office Christmas party. All the simmering tensions erupt."

The media awards night was the culmination of a week-long Media Council program to raise industry standards.

After calm was restored, the Media Council provided karaoke entertainment.

 

Making ICT more relevant and practical for SMEs in rural areas

Many development practitioners and researchers – including Papua New Guinea - have traditionally regarded the area of communication either as a technical field, or as a means of "delivering messages" and not so much as a tool for enterprise development.

Yet, these assumptions are increasingly questioned, as media and communication tools become more accessible to marginalised people, particularly those in micro and small enterprises in rural areas.

Rural areas such as Memyamya in Morobe province, Marawaka in Eastern Highlands province, Oksapmin in Sandaun province, Karimui in Chimbu province, Kaintiba in Gulf province, and the list goes on and on.

We have to find ways of making Information and Communications Technology (ICT) more relevant and practical for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas.

Information and Communications Technology can also be used as a powerful weapon in the battle against the scourge of HIV/AIDS that is sweeping the world, including Papua New Guinea, where it now threatens the very livelihood of our people.

Examples can be found in uses of participatory video, community radio, print media such as newspapers and magazines, theatre-for-development, music, Internet, community television, and mobile phones and many other various forms of media.

These are used all over Papua New Guinea but have not been harnessed as much as a tool for enterprise development.

The technology is already there to take Internet to the rural areas of our country, such as Very Short Aperture Terminal (VSATs), but for reasons known to themselves; those in authority seem to be working at a snail’s pace to let our rural areas see the light of ICT.

We have to make ICT affordable and accessible for our people or they will continue to remain in the dark.

All over this increasingly-globalised world, a massive Information Revolution is taking place as economies use ICT as a passport to what economists call the “New Economy”.

Papua New Guinea will continue to remain light years behind the rest of the world if we do not jump on the ICT bandwagon in this globalised world.

Success in this globalised world is predicated on ICT knowledge and successful knowledge-based economies will be based on the efficient and widespread use of ICT by all sectors within any given country.

On the other hand, an increasing number of development projects on promoting mass media for development, such as the International Labour Organisation’s Business Development Services (BDS) Zambia project, are beginning to demonstrate creative and innovative ways of unleashing the power of mass media for accelerating market information services and creating relevant and accessible social dialogue platforms for lobbying for enabling small business environments.

Leap-frogging technologies such as mobile Short Messaging Services (SMS) are enabling Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in rural areas to access market information and opportunities in real time.

We only need to look within our own country to see the massive improvements in accessing market information and opportunities in real time since the introduction of mobile phone competition through Digicel.

There are real life stories of farmers, fishermen, artisans, PMV owners, trade store operators and many more seeing marked improvements in developing markets through their mobile phones.

The days of yodelling over the mountaintops to broker barter of goods is long over and our rural areas must also reap the benefits of the massive Information Revolution that is sweeping the globe.

Journalists also have a very important role in disseminating information to the bulk of our people in the rural areas rather than the bread-and-butter “shock and horror” stories.

The BDS Zambia project has been facilitating the capacity building of mass media and target MSEs in a few ways:

 

* Building the capacity of media to deliver market information services that are relevant and practical to MSMEs in rural and urban communities;

 

* Training and sensitising journalists on role of media in promoting access to service and commodity markets, creating a business enabling environment and promoting an entrepreneurial culture;

 

* Promoting a community journalism culture among farming communities to talk back to the media and make their views on access to services, information, markets known. And in turn, promote sustainable social enterprises whose business models thrive on harnessing a market of satisfied audiences;

 

* Enhance their participation in social dialogue processes and bottom-up communication on issues that concern micro-enterprise and community development, particularly at local government level by empowering Micro Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) rural and urban business communities to support and work with media that addresses their specific needs;

 

* Helping people in small businesses on how to cope with AIDS through relevant and practical information materials such as the HIV and AIDS Handbook for Entrepreneurs in Zambia.

 

The project has produced short videos highlighting the lessons and experiences of the ILO Business Development Services project in Zambia, working with media to facilitate information services for micro and small enterprises in rural markets.

Perhaps Papua New Guinea can take a leaf out of Zambia’s book as we ponder the future of ICT in our beloved country.

Something to ponder over Christmas/New Year period as we wonder what benefits ICT will bring to us in 2009 and beyond.

 

Post-Courier scoops media awards and causes a drunken brawl!

I notice the Post-Courier came out big today, expect, extolling its own virtues about how good it was.
The fact of the matter is that they nominated themselves for the awards they and their reporters received.
The National could have beaten them any day, in any way, but nominations didn't go in as expected.
I am widely regarded as the best feature writer in the country but I don't go around boasting like some of these drunk Post-Courier journalists last Saturday evening at the Hideaway Hotel in Port Moresby.
Post-Courier journalists cannot behave themselves if their behaviour at the 2008 media awards last Saturday night were any indication.
They caused a big drunken brawl after scooping up the awards!
And don't forget that the Post-Courier is now history as The National is by far Papua New Guinea's leading daily newspaper!

Malum Nalu

Chinese 'living longer than ever'

By Michael Bristow

BBC News, Beijing 

 

A UN report on China says the lives of its people have been vastly improved over the last three decades, BBC News reports.

Poverty has fallen, adult literacy has climbed and Chinese people are now living longer than ever, it says.

But despite rapid economic progress, new problems have emerged, such as the gap between rich and poor.

The United National Development Programme (UNDP), which published the report, says these problems need urgent attention.

The report, entitled Basic Public Services for 1.3 Billion People, comes just weeks before China celebrates 30 years of economic reforms.

During this period, the Chinese government has largely ditched central planning in favour of the free market.

'Stunning achievements'

These reforms, started by the late, former leader Deng Xiaoping, have brought spectacular results, as the report makes clear.

"The speed, scope and magnitude of the improvements… rank among the most stunning achievements in the history of human development," says the UN's chief representative in China, Khalid Malik, in the report.

Between 1978 and 2007, rural poverty fell from 30.7% to just 1.6%, according to the UN.

But new problems have emerged, with not everyone benefiting equally from rapid economic expansion.

Rural areas lag behind urban areas, the east coast is richer that the western hinterland and there is a large wealth gap between different social groups.

Schoolchildren in the wealthy coastal city of Shanghai receive 10 times more funding than some rural pupils, the report says.

Rural registration

According to the UNDP, one problem is the Chinese system that requires all citizens to be registered in one particular place.

People usually receive welfare benefits in the area they are registered, which brings difficulties if they move.

This is a particular problem for the tens of millions of rural people who move to the cities to find work.

Chinese leaders have already acknowledged the existence of some of these problems, and have launched programmes to solve them.

The report makes it clear that the country now has the money to fix some of these problems.