Learning By Blogging

Change of blog

2007-04-25T14:29:00.000+03:00

Hi reliable blogreaders and commentators,
just wanna inform you that we are closing down this blog and we'll continue our writing on our new improved blog under the name http://www.ugandanblogumentary.blogspot.com
We have had a great time here, and look forward to hear from you soon.

The species of blogren...

2007-04-16T18:42:00.000+03:00

TAK..

This Saturday we held a workshop with our newly found blogren (we already love the very special language in the blogosphere). To be honest we had no clue how many people would show up and we wouldn’t wanna be considered cheap so we were prepared with soda and biscuits that could feed at least one troop for a couple of days.

Well well, only 6 made it. But luckily, the ones who did show up were up for it and so much more energetic and enthusiastic than we could ever have hoped for. Thank you guys you are so cool!

For once we held this seminar to get a sneak peak into your universe, to find out what drives you and what it is that brings you together? Kind of like an anthropological study of the species ‘blogren’.

So what are the results of our studies so far? What is the blogosphere and what are the blogren? Following here:

[Blogosphere] is the collective term encompassing all blogs as a community or social network (wikipedia). The Ugandan blogosphere is a small community consistent of mostly young, sexy, cool and intelligent blogrens. The community is little and privileged, concerning 1,74 % Ugandans have Internet access (according to our latest numbers, can´t figure out if its from 2005 or 2007, see). And, so far, an unknown number is considered blogrens.

[Blogren] the term was invented and introduced by the Ugandan blogger the 27th comrade on February 6. 2007 to respond to his fellow citizens (please correct us if we’re wrong). What the blogrens have in common is their love of writing and their opinionated minds. Besides that they are very different indeed and they have very different motives of writing. Following some of the motives: release/therapeutic (public diary), escape of the mundane, to meet people, rebellion, to get connections and networking, to get publicity.

What we also have experienced is that the blogren is a very social and caring specie, it treats its fellow blogren with respect and a lot of looove, a lot of flirting is going on between the blogrens, we do not know though how far the flirting leads.

These are the results based on thorough studies of both interaction on the blogosphere and interaction between the species live/in person.

All right, now we know a little bit more about the blogrens and their community, please post us comments and corrections, before we post it on to wikipedia.

[Blogumentary]
The other reason for the gathering was, as we said at the seminar, to get you to create the storyline for the blogumentary, so that we spend the rest of our time in Uganda enjoying (=sipping drinks by in a swimming pool, safari, nightlife Kampala, any ideas?). That went well: The blogumentary is about young, sexy and intelligent blogrens, they think the west's picture of Africa is a farce, so they will instead give us sex, drugs and Rock’n Roll! – is that correct understood??
Questions to consider: How can we picture a ‘true story’ of Uganda focusing on you guys, an intelligent and privileged group of Ugandans? Are you guys the true picture to send to the west?
Fill in…

2007-04-13T18:46:00.000+03:00

We were out shooting today..

Plans for Saturday

2007-04-13T12:12:00.000+03:00

So the big day is arriving, and we know that you're dying to see us again:)

We have planned it so that it will take about two hours tomorrow. Our plan is to get you guys to talk about blogging and maybe you even have some good ideas for the documentary that we can discuss. Of course we also have ideas, but you are still the professionals while we're mere amatuers, so inputs from you would be of great help to us!

We'll buy drinks and snacks:)

The address is: MS Uganda, Kira Road, plot 54

We can be reached at these numbers 0774855379 or 0773103346

We look forward to seing you guys. We had a really good time at Mateo's!

Ugandan bloggers rock!

2007-04-12T11:36:00.000+03:00

So we finally met the people we've been reading so much about, and they were as nice as we thought they would be. Maybe even nicer.

We met at Mateo's around eight and even though the get together was arranged in only one day, nine bloggers showed up. They were: Carlo, Darlyne, Chantal, Dennis Matanda, Dennis Muhumuza, S.A.G.E., Revence, Peter, and Ivan.
We had fun. And we hope that the bloggers had fun as well!?

We arranged to get together again on Saturday around two o'clock to talk more about blogging and ideas for the documentary, and we're really looking forward to it!

Untill then we will keep working hard, especially on our tan, since we're white as chalk.

What's it about?

2007-04-06T11:55:00.000+03:00

We would like to explain more about why we’re doing this documentary!

When we started this semester at university we all felt like doing something different than just writing the usual paper. Luckily MS (the Danish association for international cooperation) had just sent out an email to different universities in Denmark saying that they had ten scholarships for students wanting to do a documentary with the theme ‘democracy in everyday life’, and we could choose between going to Nepal, Guatemala or four different African countries, Uganda being one of them. The criteria for the documentary were to be innovative and different – to do something that the Danish people would find exciting to watch.
We spent a long time discussing different ideas and agreed that we weren’t interested in doing the usual documentary about Africa – only showing poverty, sickness etc. We believe that we can picture a diverse country that people aren’t used to seeing. Obviously poverty and sickness are also a part of Africa, but we want to do something that shows a stronger and different side. As the 27th Comrade says in his comment on the “Back to high school” post, it would be to show the wrong Africa if we don’t show other sides than for example the poor.

Then we got in contact with Pernille (I’ve left Copenhagen for Uganda). She threw the idea of doing something about blogging at us, and we were immediately turned on. We spent a couple of weeks working hard on the application for MS, and it paid off. They had 27 applicants, and we were chosen as one of the 10 lucky winners.
One of the reasons why we found this topic ‘blogging’ so perfect was, among others, that it gave us the opportunity to picture Kampala’s everyday life from the perspective of some skilled and resourceful bloggers and this by letting the bloggers tell their story. All this will of course be related to the context of ‘democracy in everyday life’.

So what is it we want to do while in Uganda? Well, we haven’t yet decided exactly how to put the film together, since it depends on the persons that choose to participate. So we hope to find inspiration and maybe get our own ideas turned upside down when we are in Kampala or now for that matter. Any critique, advice or ideas for certain pictures, topics, facts of the community, interesting persons etc. are more than welcome – we really hope to get inspired by the experts, Kampala’s bloggers.
But amongst other things we would like to film during the UBHH, if we’re allowed that is. And then we would like to interview and do portraits of a couple of bloggers, who have volunteered. Nokia has been kind enough to sponsor an N93 video phone so that the bloggers can film their everyday life. That way they become co-producers of “their” part of the documentary.
Because our target group is young people we especially want to use local music as a means to make the documentary interesting. We’ve heard that hip-hop and RnB are very popular in Uganda, and it would be really cool if we could get our hands in some local stuff. If you have any ideas please write:)

Back to high school

2007-03-30T18:11:00.000+03:00

Today we went to a high school in Copenhagen to do a group interview with six students since they are part of our target group. It felt good to be "back" in high school, and we secretly wondered if any of us could pass for someone actually going to high school. Unfortunately being between the ages of 26 and 27 we agreed that we probably couldn't.
The interview went really well. They had a lot of good ideas on how to make the documentary more innovative and exciting, and they think that blogging in Uganda is a cool and interesting topic. They were surprised that people actually blog in Africa, and they seemed very interested in reading these blogs.

We're getting more and more ready to go to Uganda and do the coolest documentary!

It's all good!

2007-03-23T20:54:00.000+03:00

We're taking classes, we have to hand in papers before we leave for Uganda on the ninth of April, and we have so much practical stuff to do. It can get quite stressed! But then we talk to people who have been to Uganda, and they tell us of this beautiful and fertile country where it rains just a little bit everyday, about Kampala being a really cool city with friendly people, and we remember that we're actually going to Uganda to do a, hopefully, really cool documentary about really cool bloggers. Yes, it sounds corny but that doesn't mean it's not true!

Now it's Friday, and we're having the weekend off to relax (and study just a little bit). We do hope that we're getting smarter, but you never know;)

Introducing...

2007-03-20T01:25:00.000+03:00

Maria, Annette, Sara and Kirstine - all this blogging is new to us, but we fear nothing and are ready to venture into the blogosphere :)

We are four Danish students from the faculty of Communications at Roskilde University, and we are going to Uganda to do a documentary on blogging. We are very excited about this since we know little about blogging and have never been to Uganda before. We're really looking forward to learn, hopefully, a lot about both!

We would like to get in touch with Ugandan bloggers to learn more about why they blog and what blogging can do - what kind of opportunities does blogging create for communicating in Uganda, and to the rest of the world? What effect does it have on Ugandan society, if any? We are the amateurs, and we need help from the professionals - you, the Ugandan bloggers. Only you can tell us what blogging means to you.

When the documentary is finished, it is to be used as educational material on developing issues in Danish high schools. We want Danish teenagers to learn about Uganda from another angle than the usual - through blogging, which has never been done before.

If you are a Ugandan blogger and you have ideas for the documentary, would like to participate in any other way or just have questions, we would love to hear from you!