I had lunch earlier this week with
the country manager for Google in Senegal, Tidjane Deme. He’s an incredibly impressive guy who
not only understands Senegal but also deeply understands Google philosophy and
approach. We talked about many
fascinating things, but one stuck out enough to merit a posting: the importance
of radio for strengthening democratic institutions in developing
countries. Tidjane told me his
favorite thing to hear is “Let’s do it again in Wolof.”
What he was referring to is radio
broadcasts that relay information first in French, and then in Wolof, the local
language. Radio may not sound as
sexy as mobile or broadband Internet, but the fact of the matter is if you want
to reach a dispersed rural population that is largely illiterate, radio is the
way to go. The proliferation of
community radio stations in Senegal has meant that significant percentages of
the population now have access to information about the government and other
important local news. And of
course, an independent media that fosters an informed populace is a vital
component in a democratic society.
The challenge with radio is that
unlike print or online media, it leaves little record for posterity. It is rarely recorded and even if it
were, voice content is difficult to index and search over. Regardless, if one is to develop a
strategy to use technology to disseminate information in the developing world,
radio must not be overlooked.
