Participatory Ethos, Multimedia Experiments and Disjunctures in Community Media in Uganda

This article investigates how information and communication technologies (ICTs) (especially radio because of its changing role and potential) are accessed and used in a selected grassroots community, and the significance placed on endogenous, people-centered, and participatory processes (theoretical tenets for effective communication for development), on the one hand, and the innovative uses to which ICTs have been put, on the other hand. The article’s main focus is the community multimedia center (CMC), a model that is being promoted as a channel for basic access to ICTs in remote communities in the South. The author argues that, although this model demonstrates several promising developments with regard to multimedia experiments and user participation, certain disjunctures and clashes are discernable.