August 8, 2008
For Immediate Release
For an Interview:
Emily Hedrick
(801) 885-8128
Two UVU Digital Media students recently travelled to Windhoek, Namibia, located in southwest Africa, as part of a humanitarian project called Podcast Katutura. Emily Hedrick from Salt Lake City, Utah and Brittney Asper from South Jordan, Utah worked closely with Namibia native Vicky Matjila, a student at Polytechnic of Namibia, to organize and produce a podcast for a community radio station, Katutura Community Radio 106.2 FM. The podcast is the first of its kind in the African nation.
The foundations for the project began a little over a year ago when UVU’s Digital Media Department and the Polytechnic of Namibia began working on the Digital Namibian Archive Project, which is a project focused on digital imaging and digitizing Namibian images, documents, films and books that have been locked away in the national archives. The Digital Namibian Archive Project opened doors for other student-driven projects in Namibia and with the help of Michael Harper, an associate professor of digital media at UVU, the Katutura Podcast Project began to take root. In addition to Hedrick, Asper and Matjila, the Podcast Katutura Team also included UVU student Mary Lynn Lunden from American Fork, Utah and Whitney Ransom, a student at Brigham Young University.
Before flying to Africa, the Podcast Katutura Team worked to raise funds for supplies and equipment for Katutura Community Radio. Through the help of the UVU Digital Media department and The Friends of Namibia, a student club at UVU, they were able to provide KCR with a used iMac, as well as some other equipment necessary to produce radio podcasts.
In Namibia, Hedrick, Asper and Matjila worked with the staff of KCR, providing training and assistance with the production of the podcast. The students created a template for the podcast, mock-up models, album art and a technical manual for the staff.
“We’ve developed a close friendship with the KCR staff and had the most amazing experience in working with them,” said Hedrick, “Our hope is to see podcasting grow and be used in other developing nations as a more efficient communications tool.”
Matjila will continue to work with KCR in Namibia to develop and maintain their radio podcasts. Hedrick and Asper will give a presentation on their experiences at the New Media Expo which takes place August 14-16 in Las Vegas, Nev.
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College Marketing Contact:
Kim Chapman
(801) 863-6807
Written by:
Brenda Johnson
(801) 863-7011