Why is it important for an African journalists to have a solid grasp of the technical language of HTML?

Teaching journalism students how to design and maintain HTML structures helps “reinforce many important journalism principles"[1] , such as the importance of precise writing. A journalist’s credibility is measured according to how accuracy they relay information.

Getting to grips with the technical jargon of HTML equips journalists with the ability to tackle and decipher technical documents, such as government statistics or budgets. HTML students learn how “to see content divorced from its presentation”.[2] Pretty colours and fonts do not easily fool them. As a result, corrupt governments and corporations are unable to hide behind (otherwise) intimidating technical jargon and documentation.

The ability to see content removed from its presentation trains the journalist’s (eye) and mind on how to critically and objectively report news. Therefore, an HTML journalism student does not merely identify irregularities in technical document structures; they can also conduct critical analysis of the content itself.

HTML also nurtures the journalist’s natural curiosity of how and why the world functions the way it does. Without this curiosity, the journalist is without his or her spark.

And finally, knowing how to code HTML style sheets puts a student journalist in a favourable position for when they do enter the journalism field; it is “a key concept for anyone who wants to take advantage of the ability to republish content across multiple media”.[3]

However, Travis Smith (a journalism and HTML educator) does not seem to fully agree with this:

“While knowing HTML code is useful today, we're not that far from an era where it won't be.

How many paginators can read and write postscript, or untangle a PDF document using BBEdit? Virtually none. Software provides an abstratction (sic) layer and allows them to spend their time on the presentation, not nitpicking the code.

From my perspective, and speaking on behalf of my students as well, that day can't arrive soon enough.” (2005)[3]

Considering that our continent is bandwidth[4] poor, we cannot afford to be thinking in this manner.

“Effective bandwidth management can only happen by applying a combination of technical computer skills, effective network monitoring, and a sensible policy that is understood by all users.”[5]

If we are to operate as responsible journalists, then we are to embrace the technicality of information communication technologies. This is one of the objectives the Highway Africa News Agency has been attempting to fulfil.


References:
[1] http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050113niles/
[1] http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050113niles/
[1] http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/050113niles/
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth
[1]http://wiki.bwmo.net/moin/English/Chapter1

Why is accessibility of webpages of concern to you as a journalist?

Journalists are faced with the responsibility of having to provide the public with enough information required to make informed decisions. This means that for the public to effectively engage in democratic processes, it needs to be informed about its options.

This is not always feasible), when considering that some countries (especially in Africa) are without sophisticated Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and are bandwidth poor. Under these unfavourable conditions, it is often difficult for a journalist to effectively fulfil this responsibility. How can we as digital journalists overcome the ICT divide and increase accessibility in marginalised communities?

One of the main objectives of media organisations such as the Highway Africa News Agency is to address the issue of accessibility in the continent. However, even that audience with access to communication technologies, accessibility to the information itself is still a problem.

Consider webpages for instance; many digital journalists are not familiar with HTML coding and the crucial role it plays in structuring website content in such a way as to render it easily accessible to its users.

“Content developers should make content understandable and navigable. This includes not only making the language clear and simple, but also providing understandable mechanisms for navigating within and between pages. Providing navigation tools and orientation information in pages will maximize accessibility and usability.”[1]

Digital journlists need to know how to do this in order to be able to efficiently structure their media packages in ways that make them accesible to their online audiences. We also need to consider the often marginalised disabled communities.

“Through better authoring, Web information providers can avoid shutting out the world's disabled population from the information age, and can garner a good portion of this largely ignored market.”[2]

ICTs such as braille displays and screen readers render your website content accessible also to the blind population.

Here are a few guidelines on accesibility as outlined by W3C1:[1]

• Mark up documents with the proper structural elements. Control presentation with style sheets rather than with presentation elements and attributes.


• Ensure that tables have necessary markup to be transformed by accessible browsers and other user agents.


• Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms -- orientation information, navigation bars, a site map, etc. -- to increase the likelihood that a person will find what they are looking for at a site.


• Ensure that documents are clear and simple so they may be more easily understood.

References:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
http://htmlhelp.com/design/accessibility/why.html