🚀 go-pugleaf

Guelph, Canada - August 6, 1998.
News release - for immediate release & please circulate

**Official Launch - DevMedia Web Site for communication efforts that promote
development and democracy around the world**

People interested in participatory and community uses of media now have
access to a dynamic database of information and resources: the DevMedia Web
Site - http://www.devmedia.org

If you are involved in radio, video, TV, Internet, or telecommunications
work that promotes development and democracy, you now have a central
clearinghouse site on the web to let others know about your work.

The new DevMedia site includes features that allow you to easily:
* access resources related to communication for development and
democracy
* contribute documents, reports and web addresses
* browse and add events to a calendar
* subscribe to DevMedia Digest to receive a monthly update and review of
new information on the site

"We have tried to make DevMedia as user-friendly as possible to encourage
people to take the initiative to add information and keep the site fresh,"
says Don Richardson, Director of the Don Snowden Program at the School of
Rural Extension Studies, University of Guelph, Canada - the organization
responsible for creating Devmedia.  "DevMedia is a global resource and will
grow and develop because it is ultimately maintained by its community of
users, all of whom are active 'information sharers'."

The site is functional in English, Spanish and French and the organizers
are taking steps to acquire the resources necessary to translate as much of
the site as possible.  Richardson notes that, "we are keen to establish an
informal network of people to help us keep the site up-to-date, especially
people in developing countries, women working with media for development
and democracy, and people fluent in Spanish and French.  To get involved,
all you have to do is add relevant information to the website, and you can
do that from virtually anywhere in the world."

DevMedia began at the University of Guelph as an e-mail listserv in 1994 to
help exchange information on "Media for Development and Democracy."  The
DevMedia listserv currently has 400 subscribers around the world.  Now,
with the DevMedia web site there are a variety of new ways to stay informed
and share information.  For people who do not subscribe to the DevMedia
listserv, the web site automatically "mirrors" and archives all of the
messages posted to the DevMedia listserv, as well as its sister listserv,
"rural-ict-dev" for discussions of information and communication
technologies related to rural development.

DevMedia database categories include: Development Communication
Organizations; Radio Links; Video & Film Links; Internet Resources with a
Devmedia Slant; Grassroots Media Producers and Collectives; Women Working
with Media for Development & Democracy; Telecommunications for Rural
Development; Reports; Events; and Listservs.  New categories can be added
according to user demand.  The site was created by the TeleCommons
Development Group (http://www.telecommons.com), an international Internet
and telecommunications consulting firm specializing in results-oriented
telecommunication solutions for rural areas, agriculture, health, education and
community development.

"DevMedia is a flagship project of the Don Snowden Program for Development
Communication," says  Richardson.  "The purpose of the Don Snowden Program
for Development Communication is to promote, through training, research,
and advisory activities, communication for community development and the
mobilization of human resources in developing regions of Canada and in
Developing Countries.  DevMedia is a key tool in these efforts, and will
help us to continue to promote the participatory communication for
development vision of the late Don Snowden who pioneered participatory
communication approaches in Canada and the developing world."

Other current Don Snowden Program for Development Communication activities
include:

- a forthcoming conference on ""Partnerships and Participation in
Telecommunications for Rural Development:  Exploring What Works and Why" at
the University of Guelph on October 26 & 27, 1998 - http://www.snowden.org

- the September launch of the new Don Snowden Program web site at
http://www.snowden.org which will include resources, papers and background
information related to the history of communication for development
initiatives with Canadian roots and global impact.  The site will include
information about Canada's innovative National Farm Radio Forum that helped
start radio listening groups around the world; Don Snowden's innovative
work with participatory video in Newfoundland & Labrador (the famous "Fogo
Island" initiative), the Arctic and India; and the National Film Board of
Canada's community-based film and video "Challenge for Change" program.
 From October 1 to October 21, 1998, the site will also host the "on-line
 pre-conference" for the Telecommunications for Rural Development
conference noted above.

- working with a diverse group of rural stakeholders to design a long-term
research and learning strategy for rural telecommunications and ICTs
related to Sustainable Rural Communities research program in the Province
of Ontario, Canada.

For more information on the DevMedia website or other Don Snowden Program
for Development Communication activities, please contact:
Don Richardson
Director
Don Snowden Program for Development Communication
School of Rural Extension Studies
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
N1G 2W1
Tel: 519-824-4120 ext. 3811
Fax: 519-836-9941
Email: drichard@uoguelph.ca
Web: http://www.oac.uoguelph.ca/res  -or-  http://www.snowden.org

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