Participants at the GV meetup in Accra
The emergence and social media penetration is rapidly growing in Ghana, as a result, GVers in Accra oraganised the first ever Global Voices meetup [1]- #GVmeetup [2] in Accra on the 15th November, 2015. The meetup was organised in partnership with iSpace [3]- a tech hub in Ghana an expansion of a successful initiative that offers product-oriented technology startups with a dedicated co-working space, community gathering point and network for driving entrepreneurial success.
This was a great platform to present Global Voices to the community of journalists, bloggers and communications experts in Accra. The activities that happened during the event are:
- Providing an overview of the work that we do at Global Voices, including Rising Voices [4], Global Voices Advocacy [5], and Lingua [6];
- Sharing ways that the wider community can get involved with Global Voices;
- Networking activities so participants can share information about their own digital projects or ideas for projects; and
- How to validate news on social media.
Participants introduced themselves and the various projects they embarking on as well as their expectations for the meetup. Some of the participants that attended the meetup was Jeanne Clark (@JeanneC_IO [7]) the Communications Director of the US Embassy in Ghana. She tweeted:
Great to be at @iSpaceGh [8] again for #GVMeetup [9] to learn more about @globalvoices [10]
— Jeanne Clark (@JeanneC_IO) November 15, 2014 [11]
The hotest topic for discussion after the introduction of what Global Voices does and how to get involved was “how to validate news on social media?” Participants shared various views on how to authenticate news produced by citizen journalist using new media:
Sentiment analysis is key in validating news on social media says a participant! #GVMeetUp [12] #Ghana [13] #Contributor [14] pic.twitter.com/sDD7xBASuF [15] — Cecil A.K Dadzie (@ghanabakwamena) November 15, 2014 [16]
Cecil Dadzie (@ghanabakwamena [17]) tweeted Jeanne Clark's (@JeanneC_IO [7]) experience:
.@JeanneC_IO [7] shares an experience… There was false information on @USEmbassyGhana [18] stopping VISA processing which was untrue! #GVMeetUp [12]
— Cecil A.K Dadzie (@ghanabakwamena) November 15, 2014 [19]
The meetup ended with a networking session and interactions among participants.