Al Jazeera: Tuning into the conversation

Qatar is an ambitious country and at the heart of those ambitions are media and communications. A new media course for the Thomson Foundation led by Dan Mason was designed to help participants find their digital voice.

In Qatar, the average home has at least three mobile phones, two computers, and one smartphone... people like to stay in touch.

Social media is growing fast. Around 35 per cent of the population is on Facebook - that's more than most other countries worldwide (the global average is 14 per cent). Internet penetration itself is 86 per cent and still rising (compared with a Middle East average around 40 per cent, and global average of 34 per cent).

High Ambitions The population may be small (under two million, with expats outnumbering Qatari nationals by about eight to one), but it's a country with one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world and even higher ambitions. Take sport, for example. Posters and flags promoting major international tournaments are everywhere and the country is already in top gear for the 2022 World Cup.

And at the heart of those ambitions lies media and communications. In Qatar, like elsewhere, the power to publish is no longer just in the hands of traditional media. Thanks to the internet and social media, it's in the hands of everyone.

Standing out For journalists, the question is how to tune in to the conversation and stand out from the crowd. For commercial, cultural and civil organisations, the question is how to connect directly, and more effectively, with their communities than ever before.

The New Media course at Al Jazeera Media Training & Development Centre in Doha, led by Thomson Foundation trainer Dan Mason, aimed to find the answers.

The course provided an ideal launch pad by bringing together participants from the energy sector, social media marketing and Qatar Islamic Cultural Centre, plus a government media analyst and producer from Al Jazeera.

The interactive five-day workshop helped the group explore some of the dramatic changes taking place in today's media, while learning new digital skills.

Topics ranged from collaborative working, visual storytelling, audio and audio slideshows, blogging and website skills, monitoring, maps and data, online search and verification ... and, of course, social media.

Exhilarating' Dan Mason said: This workshop provided an exhilarating learning environment, with a group of enthusiastic, talented professionals eager to develop new skills, as well as share their experiences with others.

Qatar is making headlines around the world. And it's clear that all sectors are now seeing the value in developing their new media skills.

Al Jazeera, with its excellent facilities and global reputation, and the Thomson Foundation are perfectly positioned to meet that demand.

LINK:	http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/news-and-features/2013/05/15/al-jazee...
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