The NaijaLive Official Blog

Introduction

Even though Internet access in Nigeria has become relatively cheaper in recent years and more people are beginning to embrace the possibilities created by it, the medium is still grossly underutilized in the country especially when compared with usage statistics in many other countries, particularly her African neighbors like South Africa and Kenya. The primary cause of this low level of utilization is traceable to a serious lack of awareness and unavailability of useful and usable web based services and applications.

The best way to scale these challenges is the large scale development of low cost and free-to-use web based services coupled with a massive sensitization drive that must be cost effective and must permeate even the lowest strata of the Nigerian society.

About the program

Pens & Programs (P&P) is an extensive program where we intend to form partnerships and collaborative ventures with members of the Nigerian mainstream media in a bid to develop websites and web based services for Nigerians and in the process creating awareness and garnering large scale acceptance by the public (“Pens” represents the media while “Programs” represents the [computer] programmers – us).

The goal of P&P is to brainstorm with partners in a bid to develop unique and workable ideas for websites, web applications and web based projects that would be of significant benefit to Nigerians. Once an idea has been generated, both parties will be expected to play specific roles leading to its actualization. (These roles are described in the section “Roles” further down)

The Nature of the program

Pens & Programs is an umbrella program and is comprised of several sub-programs each focusing on specific aspects of the overall P&P blueprint. Below is a list (and short description) of the already commissioned sub-projects. As we go along, new sub-projects will be added.

1. Blogarithm

The focus here is on blogs and media participation in local and global discussions via the platform of the web. (Click here for more info on blogs). The objectives are to:

• Create awareness about blogs, blogging and citizen journalism (Click here for more info on citizen journalism)
• To teach journalists how to blog i.e. creating and managing blogs
• To build a free blog for every mainstream journalist in Nigeria

2. 3MI: Mainstream Media Meets the Internet

The focus of 3MI is on developing and deploying websites and applications that are of general interest to Nigerians. Areas of concentration include:

• Websites for Volunteer projects, NGOs and Non-profits associations and Agencies
• Websites that highlight the plight and give a voice to marginalized sectors and people in the society
• Media websites (for magazines, newspaper sections, columns, and other print based publications)
• Free-to-use web based services and knowledge resources
• Commemorative websites (for people and events, issues and architectural structures)
• Databanks and knowledgebases
• Public document repositories
• Web content aggregators

Participation

Participation is by invitation and referrals ONLY

Roles

We (NaijaLive):

1. Brainstorm and develop workable ideas in conjunction with the partner
2. Supply technical skills by building a demonstration prototype (where required) and eventually a full working version of the generated idea (i.e. in the form of a website, web application or web portal)
3. Develop written proposals (where required) to be used in the sourcing of an idea’s sponsors
4. Provide web hosting and technical support for both prototype and full versions
5. Develop documentation and media campaigns (e.g. press briefs, press releases, PR articles, usage manuals, advertising campaigns, basic graphics and all other related content)

You (Media Partner):

1. Brainstorm and develop workable ideas in conjunction with NaijaLive
2. Create awareness about the developed idea by publishing the material developed by us in #5 above, in addition to personally generated material. Infusing same into columns, articles and other write-ups
3. Seek out and obtain sponsorship and support by leveraging your positions as media personalities

Benefits of being a Partner

There are numerous benefits and potentially countless more for media partners. These include:

1. 50% partner commissions for sponsored projects
2. A free personal website/weblog
3. Official recognition as a NaijaLive Network Development Partner
4. Certificate of Partnership

Conclusion

Pens & Programs is a unique opportunity for newspaper publishers, media houses, journalists and columnists/contributors to make their mark in the development of journalism in Nigeria. It is our hope that with time we shall be able to make our offers open to all media practitioners and personalities.

We love you all!

Today we officially flagged off Cycle II of The NaijaLive Network Project in our usual low key manner. This cycle is essentially a consolidation of the work done in Cycle I. In this phase, we intend to forge partnerships especially with the mainstream media in a bid to create awareness, increase our visibility and raise funds for our ongoing work.

Just like in the beginning, we are still not in a hurry, which means that you should not expect any fireworks or drastic changes (except probably a redesign of this temporary homepage). What you should expect however, are a couple of new sites and some mentions in the media based on our intended collaborations with journalists and media houses.

According to our blueprint, Cycle II kicks off with “Pens & Programs” a sub-project whose objectives are to create many free websites/web applications and to promote Internet usage via synergies with the Nigerian Print media.

At this stage, it is not certain how long Cycle II will last but what we know is that we are gonna keep bungling, wobbling struggling and pushing forward until all our targets are achieved. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

We still love you all!

We are Happy to announce that today marks the end of the first Cycle of the NaijaLive Network Project. Cycle I of The Project was essentially a test period in which we tinkered around with various ideas and technologies. During the period, we also laid the foundations for many of the defining aspects of The Project, created a detailed blueprint for the near term and developed most of the core philosophies that would guide us into the future.

Cycle 1 was a learning phase filled with countless challenges: From cranky web hosts, overworked servers, shortage of volunteers and harsh criticism to several blunders and outright laziness. Yet somehow we stumbled our way forward and pushed on through with doggedness. In the end we were able to surpass all our targets and we managed to garner a handful of modest achievements to boot.

The top 5 high points of Cycle 1:

1.  Invitation to South Africa for the DCI 2007 Conference
2.  Receiving our 1 millionth page view on April 19 2007
3.  The Nigerian Super Blog rising to #1 for the terms “Nigerian Blogs” and “Nigerian Bloggers” on Google
4.  Nigerian Webmasters Forum rising to the top 5 for the term “Nigerian webmasters” on Google
5.  Successfully creating the largest collection of Nigerian blogs (517 blogs and counting…)

Thank you all

Even though The NaijaLive Project has been very low key and The NaijaLive People (the volunteers) have been rather distant and largely isolated, we cannot fail to recognize the fact that nothing could have been achieved without Baba God and of course the infinitely wonderful, supportive community made up of you (yes you, you and you).

Because there are too many names to start listing them all here, we want to therefore use this medium to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to and supported the Project in one way or the other. This includes:

• Jehovah God
• The staff and management of Potter & Ferguson LLC
• The staff and management of SourceCode N&D
• The Staff and management of Tanlen Ltd
• Those who criticized us (harsh and mild)
• Bloggers who blogged about us
• Those who linked to us
• Those who submitted their blogs to the Superblog
• All those who have left comments on our websites

Lastly, very special thanks also go to Lizzy, Orny, George, Tony, Sosa and everyone over at
Ciki-Africa

WE LOVE YOU ALL. Watch out for Cycle II

We are currently performing maintenance and service upgrades. We expect to conclude this within the next few days. Please bear with any quirks you might encounter while using our website.

Hello Friends!

Finally a place for all Nigerian bloggers to discuss!!!

Today we launched a new forum for Nigerian bloggers and webmasters.
http://naijalive.net/nigerianwebmasters

Direct Link to the Nigerian Bloggers Community
http://naijalive.net/nigerianwebmasters/index.php/board,2.0.html

This is the third website in the NaijaLive network. We’re actually still
testing and are yet to realease it to the public but we would like you to register and contribute to the very interesting topics which we have started in the Nigerian Bloggers Community on the website.

Direct Link to the Nigerian Bloggers Community
http://naijalive.net/nigerianwebmasters/index.php/board,2.0.html

We believe that this would be a good place for all we bloggers to meet, discuss and promote our blogs. Membership is free and registration is very short, you can join now and start contributing. Please make sure you introduce your blog so we know you were there and so that new readers can find you.

Registration is very fast and very free:
http://naijalive.net/nigerianwebmasters/index.php?action=register

Some ongoing discussions in the bloggers community:

• The most popular Nigerian blog?
• Blogville idols 2008?
• Who formed the name “BlogVille”
• What is the best blogging software/website?
• How to make money from your blog - are you really ready?

Main Link to the forum:
http://naijalive.net/nigerianwebmasters

Please blog about this new forum and tell your friends because for the very first time ever, all Nigerian bloggers will have a single place to meet and rub minds.

Graciously donated by NaijaLive. We love you!!!