This video outlines the recent activities of the Kothmale Community Radio Station. Featuring interviews with staff and management of the station it follows one of the stations announcers into a Tamil Tea Estate community in central Sri Lanka. Using the stations etuktuk, a mobile telecentre and radio production studio, the community participate in a live broadcast from the mobile. Filmed and Directed by Kalinga Seneviratne and Produced by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC).
This short introductory video highlights the functionality of the etuktuk, a mobile telecentre and radio production studio operating out of the Kothmale Community Radio Station in Sri Lanka. The video was filmed and edited on location with special thanks to Sam de Silva.
Writing by admin on Friday, 11 of May , 2007 at 11:35 pm
This video is a short introduction to the UNESCO supported Community Multimedia Centres and features the Kothmale Community Radio Station and the etuktuk project. The short docu-graphic film is the work of the talented Deepikah Arora and was completed as part of her final dissertation.
This video was made by Pavitheran from the Kothmale Community Radio Station. It is the result of several visits the etuktuk has made to the community living in the line houses at the Riverside tea estate. It tells the story of the struggles the community have in obtaining fresh drinking water. Pavi along with members of the community have used the video to lobby the local politician to give assistance in fixing the problem. Later in a live radio interview on Kothmale Community Radio the politician agreed to find a solution, as yet he hasn’t acted upon this promise but the community are confident that he was genuine in his intentions and the problem will be resolved.
This work is indicative of how the etuktuk and the local research team is engaging with the local community and mobilising and facilitating their use of mixed-media to solve and the radio station to solve local issues.
The film is in the Tamil language and does not have subtitles.
The eTUKTUK is a community building initiative that aims to converge the technological benefits of digital communications and new media with community radio. The eTUKTUK is a self-contained mobile telecentre and radio broadcasting unit housed within a three wheeled motorcycle. By taking access directly to the villages and presenting it to users in a familiar environment, trained intermediaries can help overcome the barriers of language and illiteracy and the benefits can be focused on the most disadvantaged in the community.
