Issue 10 – June 2020
3CMedia
Journal of Community, Citizen’s and Third Sector Media and Communication
ISSN 1932-6161
Issue 10 (June) 2020
International perspectives on community and citizen’s media
Christina Spurgeon
The pursuit of sustainable, user-centred and volunteer-based production practices and business models are important drivers of innovation for community and citizen’s media around the world. These drivers are apparent in the rapid changes to making and managing radio that are occurring in Australian community radio as this issue of 3CMedia goes ‘live’, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also apparent in the sub-continental Indian and African cases of community media discussed in the two articles that make up this issue.
Read More: 3CMedia_Issue_10_Introduction.pdf
GlobalOriya.com: A case study in sudden failure of community media in India
Subhransu Mohapatra
Internal migration within India increased significantly after economic liberalization in 1991. The effect of liberalization really took effect on the ground in India around the year 2000 when the internal migration from the relatively poorer regions of north and east to the more prosperous regions of south and west saw a huge spike in numbers. GlobalOriya.com was an early initiative in community media for the internally displaced population of the eastern province of Orissa (now called Odisha) outside of the province. This was a very successful initiative, which spread to have a dedicated and engaged readership of more than 8000 members in little over three years. However, it died a sudden death in early 2007 when different factors combined to lead to its demise. It is an excellent case study of what can go wrong in an otherwise successful community media initiative. This paper details the journey of the initiative from the perspective of one of its founders and disseminates the learnings from this experience aiming to help other community media organizations become much more robust against such sudden failures.
Read more:
3CMedia_Issue_10_GlobalOriya.pdf

Low-data mobile apps: Latest Innovation Frontier for Community Radio Stations in Rwanda
Emmanuel Munyarukumbuzi
This paper examines the motivation of audiences to participate in the programming of community radio; the readiness of community radio stations’ management and their audiences to embrace mobile applications; whether Rwanda is a conducive environment for the deployment of mobile applications in community radio; and finally issues of affordability and availability of the internet. The study is qualitative and draws on interviews with community radio audiences as well as unstructured in-depth interviews with local technology experts and community radio representatives. Uses and gratification and diffusion of innovation theories guided the analysis. The study found that the pursuit of recognition within their communities is the main motivator for audiences to participate in community radio programming. The management and audiences of the four community radio stations who participated in this study understand the importance of mobile technologies for community engagement and are interested in adopting them. Rwanda is a conducive environment for the deployment of mobile apps in the community radio sector. Audiences can afford to use these services at least once a week, despite ongoing issues of unreliability of the internet. Further studies may investigate issues of adoption and affordability by the wider community as this paper focused on highly engaged community radio audiences.
Read more:
3CMedia_Issue_10_Low-data Mobile Apps.pdf
