Sharing news and information in an engaging and trusted way is the lifeblood of any community. A living language needs people who are confident and enthusiastic about creating and consuming news, using the most popular and effective channels in that language. This is the driving force behind training programme, Digidol ar Daith (Digital on Tour). The aim is to teach skills, build confidence and develop networks of people, throughout Wales, who create and share more news in Welsh within their communities, using digital and social media.
Glo Man, community newspaper (Image credit gloman.blogpost.co.uk)
The tradition of community news in Welsh-speaking Wales is a strong one. Place has always been a very important element in Welsh identity and this was the basis for the development of the papurau bro. Started in the 1970s there are now over 50 of these monthly printed newspapers. Run by volunteers, they record the lives of their communities and are sold locally in shops, by subscription and through clubs, chapels and churches.
The ubiquity of digital and social media has, of course, changed the way that most people – especially young people – share news. With all its opportunities for creating and sharing great content with more people more of the time, the fact that these digital channels are powered and organised in English is an issue for Welsh speaking communities. Well over half a million people in Wales speak Welsh. But Welsh is one of a number of European languages considered by researchers to be in danger of digital extinction because most digital infrastructure in Wales (as elsewhere) is in English.
In it’s Welsh language strategy the Welsh Government recognised the need to enable and encourage communities to use their language in all aspects of everyday life. The easy and routine use of digital and social media is key. The Centre for Community Journalism (C4CJ), which supports the development of a thriving community news sector, saw an opportunity to build on the continuing thirst for local news and on strong social and organisational Welsh language networks to develop skills and confidence.
The Digidol ar Daith project, supported by the Welsh Government, started by researching and gathering the disparate tools available to help create and publish news in Welsh. Led by Emma Meese from C4CJ, screencasts on how to find and use these as well as other journalism essentials were created and shared. We also started a conversation via Twitter, email and good old-fashioned chats and pass-it-ons to create interest and awareness of the potential and let people know there would be training on the way. Within a few weeks we had a database of about 600, lots of positive reaction and very few unsubscribing.
A recent graduate from the School of Welsh was taken on to build relationships. He was instrumental in setting up events at 12 different venues across Wales (coming up in February and March 2015) many of them belonging to partners who will be receiving training to create and publish news. And we partnered with Golwg 360, the Welsh language national digital news service. Emma and Dylan Iorwerth of Golwg, one of our most respected journalists, will be on the road from Llangefni to Cardiff. As well as teaching skills, we hope to build confidence and enthusiasm. Ultimately, the aim is to see more and better news created and shared online in Welsh and to do it that a very Welsh way – community by community.
