| JOHANNESBURG--We
have now reached dusk on the first Friday of the
World Summit, a time when delegates and mediapersons
alike wind down after the day's deliberations,
perhaps venturing into the bars and restaurants
nearby to sample what the locals consume on the
weekends.
Did
I include mediapersons in that category as well?
Perhaps I should provide the following disclaimer:
mediapersons will join delegates for a beer at
the local pub just as soon as they can get a hold
of a computer that works at the press center, so
that they can first file their stories.
This summit is in its fifth day and has already
had enough technical blunders to make the Titanic
look like the smoothest-running cruise liner
in history. That may be overstretching the
analogy, but I will say that it has not been
easy getting stories into the computer.
For example, on Thursday, a whole lot of us
reporters were furiously typing away our stories
in the Sandton Convention Center (SCC) media
room, straining to reach the six o' clock deadline
so dreaded by journalists worldwide. As I reach
the four-hundredth word of my story, the screen
suddenly zaps to black. I look at the screen,
first in a state of horror and panic, and then
slowly, with utter contempt. I do a quick scan
of my neighbor's computer and notice that his,
too is a morose black color, indicating that
he, too may have lost some of the contents
of his hard day's work.
"Although I know that I should always
save my work -- and I do -- this is the fourth
time today that the power has just randomly
gone out in the middle of my story," said
Moses Magadza of the Manica Post, a Zimbabwean
news daily. "I might as well just hand-write
it and give it to my editor."
The problems do not stop there. There are
about 500 computers in the SCC media room,
an amount that should suffice the large gaggle
of reporters descending into its arena from
all parts of the globe. Unfortunately, a large
fraction of those computers are for informational
use only. In other words, one cannot use them
for any other purpose except to find out about
the Summit's daily proceedings. There are no
keyboards with these computers, only a mouse
with which to guide one's curiosity. On average,
only a smattering of reporters actually utilizes
this service. Most of them, like good investigative
journalists, would rather go out and ask people
questions about the summit rather than navigate
their way through murky Internet territory.
This would not be a problem were it not for
the fact that every day, there are at least
ten journalists waiting in line for every row
of typer-friendly computers. Wouldn't life
be a lot easier if we could just accessorize
some of the informational computers with keyboards
so that reporters were not pressed to find
other means to write their stories?
For the most part, this Summit has managed
to cater to the needs of the more than 2,000
mediapersons currently present. If we need
interviews, we manage to get them through reliable
sources. If we need press releases, there is
enough literature at designated stations to
satisfy us. If we need headsets to translate
what the Danish environment minister is saying
to the Japanese energy official, we are able
to get access.
But let me be the first to say that computers
are becoming the archenemy of most journalists
here. Every day, when we finally sit down to
one of them, we come ready to engage in a battle
of perseverance, with the computer winning
on too many occasions. These days, I find a
handy weapon in disks, which have managed to
save my work (and life, consequently), allowing
me to grab that quick drink with my fellow
peers after a long day's struggle with the
summit's technological demons.
| 
