By accident, I ran into Colin Daniels at an industry event last week, a fascinating South African-based professor from Rhodes University.
Over here to learn about the latest technology and social media developments, he was blogging away in the last row when I asked him (and everyone around him) for outbound SMTP info since, once again, I couldn’t get Outlook to work on the road.
Sometimes it does, sometime it doesn’t. It’s like dealing with a temperamental baby with A.D.D. – always unpredictable. While he looked up port numbers for me, I recognized his accent, having lived in South Africa and having been married to one for awhile.
At a time when I’ve been longing to do anything at all out of the country (think about how American-centric you can become by default if you don’t explore foreign waters from time-to-time: its inevitable), he hits me with an upcoming event called Highway Africa. He says “come on down for it.”
Arrrrrgh, don’t tempt me like that Monsieur Daniels. Even though the event itself is the largest gathering of African journalists in the world (and clearly I don’t qualify), my brain and heart lit up as I started thinking of how incredible the discussions would be…..
Having spent a chunk of time traveling and living in Africa and feeling far too removed for far too long, I tried to imagine my old life (backpack and exploration living) today. A little hard to run a business that way and yet……..
His New Media Lab’s focus is to educate and train journalism students and the media industry, advance knowledge through research and dissemination of that research, innovate and experiment with technology and engage with industry and relevant interest groups. Now it makes sense why he was here.
Highway Africa will be held in Grahamstown in September and is celebrating its tenth year. They’ll be discussing issues related to Internet governance, ICT policy and media for democracy. While not on the cards this year, maybe next.
Tag: Highway Africa
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
