Rethinking “Sustainability” in International Media Development

As an international media developer, I am frequently bombarded with concerns regarding sustainability and evaluation. Media development, particularly journalism development, is a very tricky field to create project sustainability, and an even trickier field to evaluate using the tools of the day.

The difficulty with journalism development sustainability is that journalistic outlets – newspapers, magazines, radio, etc. – face a whole slew of economic, social, and political barriers, including limited advertising revenue due to an undeveloped marketplace, a culture unused to how such outlets operate in a marketplace, cultures that distrust information openness, governments with a history of censorship, the list goes on. There are a lot of forces working against them, and few if any working for.

MediaNext: Facebook Pages for Journalists and NGOs in Ukraine

During my training on Facebook in Ukraine, figuring out how to use the Translations application on Facebook to translate Facebook to Ukrainian and Russian opened up the possibility of training Facebook Pages. Of course, about a week later, I discovered that Facebook had simplified the process by putting a link in the lower left corner of every page that can easily be clicked to switch languages, saving a lot of explanation time. The funny thing about all of these Web 2.0 sites is that they upgrade without being too loud about it. There’s a lot of serendipity to working with them.

I really became a fan of Facebook Pages during this training, when I saw how much they could do for journalists and NGOs that just isn’t that easy to do elsewhere. I came to understand just how extraordinary they are as a marketing and communication tool. And in the context of Ukraine, it was clear that they presented a paradigm shift in how journalists and NGOs relate to the internet. Here’s essentially what I trained:

MediaNext: Facebook and Social Networking – Training Links I Used in Ukraine

Here are the links I used during my MediaNext training seminars on Facebook, Vkontakte, and Social Networking for Ukrainian journalists and NGOs in June and July. You will find examples of how these tools are being used by journalists and NGOs (case studies, if you will), links to articles with statistics and trends in these tools, and other misc. links backing up with at I was training. You will also find at the bottom a section of “helpful links” and one on “Facebook Tips”. I was working with co-trainers, so these aren’t all of the links we used in our seminars. But, this gives you a good base.

Three other things to note:

1. Languages – You will see that some of this is occasionally in Ukrainian or Russian. In those instances, I tried to provide an English translation to make it easier to read for non-speakers. In some cases, I have used Google Translate to translate into Ukrainian. Be careful with these, because occasionally the translations are a bit funny. However, they are close enough to be informative. Also, ideally I would have a Russian version, Ukrainian version, AND an English version. But, time is finite.
2. Downloadable Version – I have also created a downloadable PDF version that might be a useful alternative for you. Please let me know if you have troubles with this, and I could post a different version.

I hope these links below will prove useful for you. I tried to stay current, using links and info only from 2008 and on. I’d love to hear any thoughts, questions, or feedback on any of this. Enjoy!

MediaNext: Twitter – Training Links I Used in Ukraine

Here are the links I used during my MediaNext training seminars on Twitter for Ukrainian journalists and NGOs in June and July. You will find examples of how these tools are being used by journalists and NGOs (case studies, if you will), links to articles with statistics and trends in these tools, and other misc. links backing up with at I was training. You will also find at the bottom a section of “helpful links” and one on “Twitter tips”. I was working with co-trainers, so these aren’t all of the links we used in our seminars. But, this gives you a good base.

Three other things to note:

1. Languages – You will see that some of this is occasionally in Ukrainian or Russian. In those instances, I tried to provide an English translation to make it easier to read for non-speakers. In some cases, I have used Google Translate to translate into Ukrainian. Be careful with these, because occasionally the translations are a bit funny. However, they are close enough to be informative. Also, ideally I would have a Russian version, Ukrainian version, AND an English version. But, time is finite.
2. Downloadable Version – I have also created a downloadable PDF version that might be a useful alternative for you. Please let me know if you have troubles with this, and I could post a different version.

I hope these links below will prove useful for you. I tried to stay current, using links and info only from 2008 and on. I’d love to hear any thoughts, questions, or feedback on any of this. Enjoy!

MediaNext: YouTube and Video – Training Links I Used in Ukraine

Here are the links I used during my MediaNext training seminars on YouTube and Video for Ukrainian journalists and NGOs in June and July. You will find examples of how these tools are being used by journalists and NGOs (case studies, if you will), links to articles with statistics and trends in these tools, and other misc. links backing up with at I was training. You will also find at the bottom a section of “helpful links”. I was working with co-trainers, so these aren’t all of the links we used in our seminars. But, this gives you a good base.

Three other things to note:

1. Languages – You will see that some of this is occasionally in Ukrainian or Russian. In those instances, I tried to provide an English translation to make it easier to read for non-speakers.
2. Downloadable Version – I have also created a downloadable PDF version that might be a useful alternative for you. Please let me know if you have troubles with this, and I could post a different version.

I hope these links below will prove useful for you. I tried to stay current, using links and info only from 2008 and on. I’d love to hear any thoughts, questions, or feedback on any of this. Enjoy!

MediaNext: Web 2.0 and Blogging – Training Links I Used in Ukraine

Here are the links I used during my MediaNext training seminars on Web 2.0 and Blogging for Ukrainian journalists and NGOs in June and July. You will find examples of how these tools are being used by journalists and NGOs (case studies, if you will), links to articles with statistics and trends in these tools, and other misc. links backing up with at I was training. You will also find at the bottom a section of “helpful links” and one on “blog tips”. I was working with co-trainers, so these aren’t all of the links we used in our seminars. But, this gives you a good base.

Three other things to note:

1. Languages – You will see that some of this is occasionally in Ukrainian or Russian. In those instances, I tried to provide an English translation to make it easier to read for non-speakers. In some cases, I have used Google Translate to translate into Ukrainian. Be careful with these, because occasionally the translations are a bit funny. However, they are close enough to be informative. Also, ideally I would have a Russian version, Ukrainian version, AND an English version. But, time is finite.
2. Formatting Issues – The formatting is a little wonky. I have these links stored in a Google Doc, and transferring them over resulted in HTML coding craziness. Please bear with me on that issue.
3. Downloadable Version – I have also created a downloadable PDF version that might be a useful alternative for you. Please let me know if you have troubles with this, and I could post a different version.

I hope these links below will prove useful for you. I tried to stay current, using links and info only from 2008 and on. I’d love to hear any thoughts, questions, or feedback on any of this. Enjoy!

MediaNext: Training Materials for Facebook Pages and Groups, in Russian and Ukrainian

In this post, you will find links to documents I created that explain how to use Facebook Pages and Groups in Ukrainian and Russian. If you click on the links, you should be able to download Word docs. I have also provide the links to the original English versions of each of the Facebook pages.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find these instructions available in Ukrainian or Russian, so I had to translate them myself. I used Google Translate to do it. The translation will probably be a bit funny at times. Better than nothing, right? The text comes from Help Center pages on the Facebook site. I would have just run those pages themselves through Google Translate, and provided the links below, except that Facebook has been programmed in a way that won’t allow Translate to actually translate these pages. To get around this, I copied the text itself over to Translate, translated it, and then dropped it into Word docs. Therefore, this information will have to be from these documents I uploaded.

• Facebook Groups Ukrainian – From the English Version of this page
• Facebook Groups Russian – From the English Version of this page
• Facebook Pages Ukrainian – From the English Version of this page and this page
• Facebook Pages Russian – From the English Version of this page and this page

Also, here is a blog comparing benefits and drawbacks of Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages

• Translated into Ukrainian using Google Translate - http://bit.ly/OhaTP
• Translated into Russian using Google Translate – http://bit.ly/OCRS0

Enjoy!

MediaNext: Training Facebook in the Land of Vkontakte

So, you are sitting in Ukraine, and you are wondering, “Do I train Facebook or do I train Vkontakte?” If you understand what both can do, which one is more powerful, you think the answer’s easy—Facebook. Then you realize that Vkontakte is the website that gets the most traffic in Ukraine, among ALL websites. Yeah, it’s that popular. Facebook? #36.

Do you train the more powerful tool? Or, do you train the tool that everyone is already using? If your goal is to train skills that add a lot of value and power, using a site that is #4 in the world, and will therefore catch you up with everyone else in the world, you go with Facebook. If your goal is to tap into large groups of people in your country, you go with Vkontakte.

This presented me with a real dilemma. On the one hand, my mantra for the whole training was to “go where they already are”. Social networking doesn’t groove so well if you go somewhere dead (and by dead, I mean like when you walk into a bar or a restaurant and the serving staff all look up at you at once, happy to finally have a customer). On the other hand, this is Facebook we are talking about. Facebook can flat out haul ass compared to Vkontakte. It can do so much of what I wanted our trainees to go home knowing how to do that Vkontakte simply can’t.

MediaNext: Heading Back to Ukraine

Well, looks like I’m on the Ukraine commute, as my friend, The Goat, pointed out. I’m heading back to Ukraine today to do another set of New Media trainings with Internews-Ukraine. For the most part, these will be the same trainings. Just some tweaks here and there. The big difference is we are hitting new cities. The first will be in Kyiv, like before, but will draw in some journalists and NGOs from Vinnytsya. Then, we head to Odesa for two days on the beach, um, I mean, trainings. Finally, to Kharkiv.

I can’t decide which I am more excited about. Odesa or Kharkiv. I’ve been to Odesa before. But it’s Odesa. On the Black Sea. And this time, it will be July, instead of March. Or April. Or whenever I was there with my wife in 2006. Should be a lot more fantastic. Though, Odesa’s a pretty cool city, regardless. So it wasn’t like it was terrible before. Even when it is cold, hey, you are still at the beach, right?

MediaNext: Training Online Social Networking in Ukraine, Americanskiy Style

This is how social networking is really done.

Teaching social networking in Ukraine is a fascinating experiment in “how can an American, with a rather different concept of social networking from Ukrainians, explain this concept and the tools to be used with it in a useful way for these trainees, and not offend anyone in the process?” 

The main tools for our social-networking session were Vkontakte and Facebook (not excluding all the other tools that qualify as “social networking”, like LiveJournal, YouTube, Podfm.ru, all things Yandex. However, before we got into the tools, it was important to explain social networking. After all, the tools aren’t the end, they are the means to the end. 

So what was the end in the case of this session? First, to help them understand the basic principles of social networking, and connect them to these tools. Second, to help people understand how social networking will help them as journalists, media activists, and NGO strategists. Third, to confuse people, and offend them, as little as possible with my “American” perspective of America, and more importantly, Ukraine.