Following the discussion at iHub in late August, Kwani Trust will hold a second event on Friday, September 14th, 2012 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Storymoja Hay Festival to discuss Online Audiences and Markets for ‘The Story’. The event will be split into two mini-sessions. The first session will feature traditional content providers in arts, culture, literature and public media talking about their experiences and perceptions in discovering and cultivating new online and mobile audiences. The second session will complement this discussion with digital and online experts expounding on how the creative arts can optimally utilise new technologies.

Kwani Trust’s first ‘digitisation’ event featured Kama Si Sisi, Digital Divide Data, and Buni Media discussing the dynamics and possibilities of collaboration between artistic and cultural content providers and new online, digital and mobile technology providers. The event on Friday will concentrate on one of the major talking points from the iHub event – Online Markets and Audiences for Creative Content. 

Program: Telling ‘Stories’ In Digital: Online Audiences and Markets

Session 1: Content Providers
Key Question: How does the publisher/artist adapt from traditional readership/audiences to the new communities and markets brought by online and digital technologies?

Kinyanjui Kombani – self- e-published author
Lauri Kubuitsile - Caine nominee from Botswana
Billy Kahora – Kwani Trust Managing Editor
Martin Njaga – Storymoja
Lawrence Njagi – Kenya Publishers Association
Rachel Gichinga – iHub and Kuweni Serious (Moderator)

Session 2: Technology Providers
Key Question: What spaces have new technologies opened for entertainment, artistic and cultural content?

Peter Mugo – Digital Divide Data
Stephen Mwakesi – Kama Si Sisi
Rachel Gichinga – iHub and Kuweni Serious
Tim Mruttu – On Demand Mobile (from the audience)
Jimmy Gitonga – Kwani Trust (Moderator)

Kwani Trust plans to hold follow-up events in the coming months to discuss the remaining challenge areas it has confronted during its digitisation pilot project, as outlined below:

• Research – There is a lack of current practical research on how artistic and literary narrative and expression is utilizing new online and mobile platforms.
• Non-Profit Frameworks Within A Commercial Environment – How to integrate artistic and cultural institutional non-profit frameworks within a commercial technological environment.
• National Policy Online, Digital Regulations And Legal Frameworks – What arts, culture and literary institutions need to know.