Originally on AfriGadget:
Alfred Sirleaf is an analog blogger. He runs the “Daily News”, a news hut by the side of a major road in the middle of Monrovia. He started it a number of years ago, stating that he wanted to get news into the hands of those who couldn't afford newspapers, in the language that they could understand.
And this blackboard blogger even makes money from advertising. [via Bizcommunity.com]
Makes me wonder why we allow technology to dictate the terms of cultural evolution, when things could be the other way around. Life gets faster and more stressful simply because technological development makes it so. When it comes to technological innovation, sustainability is about the use of appropriate interventions that support the social, economic and environmental context. This black and white, handwritten newscast does just that.
It's an unusual application of a very normal principle for informal sector entrepreneurs in developing countries: do what you can with what you have available to suit the market. Not unlike traders clustered around public transport facilities in South Africa, roadside driver training in Botswana or coal cycle wallahs in India.
