As access to the Internet grows in South Africa, so too does the range of creative activity by a new generation of active online citizens. Internet publishing in the form of blogging and citizen journalism, online publishing of photographic, video and music publishing are all part of a wide range of democratic speech that we as a young nation are trying to encourage and nurture.

There are some moments in the history and culture of South Africa that are part of our shared heritage – such as Nelson Mandela’s speech when he was released from prison in 1990 or Thabo Mbeki’s ‘I am an African’ speech. For the first time in history we have the means to make those moments available to more than just the professional journalists, filmmakers and researchers who were traditionally authorized to re-publish them.

OpenSA! is a pilot project dedicated to the growing number of young South Africans who are finding their voice online. The project was started in order to nurture this creativity by making it easier for young creators to find and share media about our heritage safely and legally.

Gregor Rohrig appears to be one of the first to contribute to OpenSA!. This is a great move for us as Gregor’s photography is some of the best that I’ve seen of South Africa and its people.

One of the main concepts around this project is the public domain. To find out a bit more info about public domain, what it is and what it means check out the blog post on iHeritage.co.za.

For additional information, please contact Heather Ford
Phone: 011 327 3155 or 082 872 7374

Email: heather@africancommons.org

The African Commons Project is a non-profit organization based in Johannesburg with the goal of mobilizing communities through active participation in collaborative technology (www.africancommons.org).Similar Posts:

• Interview: Heather Ford CC (Creatively unCommon)
• Things you wouldn’t think you’d miss: shared heritage no matter your background
• South African music heritage – a brief look
• In memory of Miriam Makeba
• Prime Circle in photos

Charlotte_ZA from on Flickr just added the following stunning photographs to the SA Rocks group on Flickr.

Charlotte_ZA has some absolute phenomenal photographs of bands on her flickr profile page so head over and have a look. Similar Posts:

• SA Rocks Flickr group 18 months later
• Just South Africa photography competition
• The Fairest Cape – a first for Andre and SA Rocks
• LoadTheShow – great SA music site
• aKING Against All Odds – Out Now!

Goldblatt and Lategan will be awarded honorary fellowships for their “significant individual achievements and contributions to the art and science of photography.”

About Goldblatt:

Born in Randfontein in 1930, Goldblatt has been documenting the changing political landscape of South Africa for more than five decades. His retrospective exhibition, David Goldblatt 51 Years, has been seen in New York, Barcelona, Rotterdam, Lisbon, Oxford, Brussels, Munich and Johannesburg.

He has won the most prestigious photography prize in the world, The Hasselblad Photography Award. He is the only South African artist to win this prize, and received it at an award ceremony on the 25th November 2006 in Goteberg, Sweden.
About Lategan:

South African born Barry Lategan came to England to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, during which time he was called to national service in Germany, where his interest in photography developed.

He opened a studio in London in 1965, where he took the first photographs of Twiggy, before moving to New York to live and work between 1977 and 1990.

Lategan’s photographs have been published worldwide in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire and Life.

Info sourced from sainfo, lensmodern and Goodman-Gallery

Source: SouthAfrica.info
The all-in-one official guide
and web portal to South Africa. Similar Posts:

• Just South Africa photography competition
• IpicAfrica – I do
• SA Rocks Flickr group 18 months later
• Jo’burg Photomarathon
• PhotographySA results are out