INTERNET FOR JOURNALISTS WORKSHOP

I’m Getrude Ntulo, Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Library and Information Studies, Tumaini University Dar es salaam College Tanzania. I’m currently teaching different courses like Introduction to Computer, Information Sources, Sectorial Information Needs, Information Services to Children and other courses
I have conducted several Information literacy programmes at Tumaini University Dar Es Salaam College and other constituent colleges like Lushoto and Makumira University College.


The growth of Communication and Information Technology in the world has lead into information overflow where by people are surrounded by oceans of information yet they can’t make full use of it. They need to be trained on information searching so that they can make a full use of information from the internet.

As a trainer on information literacy, particularly searching information from the internet and using the World Wide Web as a source of information, the course on internet for Journalist will enable me to gain more skills and knowledge on the subject matter.

I’m expecting that from this workshop I will gain more experience, new knowledge and new techniques on using the internet as a source of information, a source of communication and a tool for information dissemination.

The workshop will be conducted for three days from 3rd -6th August 2009. Today was the first day of the workshop. It was very interesting though it was just an introduction. I was introduced to different websites where I can access the internet usage statistics; I was amazed by the findings from the statistics. These findings stimulated me to conduct a research on Internet usage statistics in Tanzania.
Another interesting topic which needs a closer follow up was on remote access. I was curious to know how I can access my computer at home while I’m at my working place or I’m on safari to a remote area like my home town Sumbawanga.

I also learned about mails. I was familiar with web mails only, but today I have been introduced to other mail services which are not web based.

I’m anciently waiting for the next topic which will be on blogs because I was interested on creating a blog for my class but I didn’t know where to start, so this workshop came in the right time.
I’m planning to create a blog for librarians in the country, particularly academic librarians so that they can have a communication forum for exchanging views, ideas and sharing experiences on their profession.