INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

IMCK's latest training in social media comes to an end today. 15 participants from all over Iraq - Anbar, Babylon, Karballa, Kirkuk, Wasit, Mosul, and Baghdad traveled to Sulaymaniya to learn how to use the internet and social media for serious journalism.   Security is a big feature of the workshop - how to use facebook and twitter safely and professionally to gather news and to broadcast news.  The training is supported by Hivos, the Dutch humanist international development organisation.   Participants came from print and online media, civilian journalists civil society organisations.  Mustafa Al-Ani co-ordinated the training and the two trainers - Bahar Jassim and Mustafa Saad both trained by IMCK supported by Hivos, led the three day workshops. The partipants presented  IMCK with a plaque of appreciation. IMCK Director Julia Shaw closed the workshop and presented the certificates.

IMCK senior trainer Khidher Domle started the second part of IMCK's ToT on Social Media for Journalists in Erbil. On November 14, 2012 he started a two day training with four of the participants to teach them how to convey their knowledge to others. Together with international trainer Marco Visser he will make these four participants ready to co-train in workshops IMCK's is going to organise in the rest of Iraq in 2013. The project is funded by the Dutch NGO Hivos. More pictures on Facebook.

How do journalists use social media to do their job? That is the main subject of a series of workshop IMCK will organize in Iraq in 2013 and 2014. To be able to do so, first the trainers for the project had to be trained. International trainer Marco Visser and local trainer Sardasht Aziz on November 11, 2012 started the first of two ToT's (training of trainer's) on Social Media for Journalists. In Erbil they teach six participants from all over Iraq how to use social media as a source and as a tool to get your information out. A second workshop will take place later this month in Sulaymania. The best trainers that come out of these two ToT's will be teaching in 2013 and 2014 on the subject for IMCK. The project is funded by the Dutch NGO Hivos. Photo's of the workshop are on Facebook .

July 15, IMCK started its second week in the training of Kurdish female graduates in the basics of civil and professional journalism. Fifteen participants attend the second week that focuses on how to use Internet and social media in a professional way. Also attention to the use of infographics will be given. Khaled Suleiman and Internet-expert Sardasht Aziz are the trainers during this workshop. Last week the participants got an introduction to the basics of journalism and what news is. Media in Iraqi Kurdistan need more female journalists. They are needed to make the media more interesting for the big target group of women that are hardly reached now. Even though women make up the majority of all Iraqi's, they are hardly to be seen in the media. The training will last for six weeks with a focus on different subjects. The training started with a week on news and basic journalism, and will be followed by a week on print-journalism, two weeks for TV-journalism, a week t...

IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz started the last of a series of workshops on Social Media for Journalists. On May 29, 2012, he started a 3 day workshop for journalists from Soran and surroundings, in the Conference and Occasions Hall in Soran. In total 17 journalists participated. The workshops is the final one in a series of seven organised by IMCK in cooperation with Irex all over Iraqi Kurdistan. See our Facebook for more pictures.

Kirkuki journalists started on May 22, 2012 on a 3 day workshop to learn how to use social media in their profession. IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz will be training them at the Xandan hall in Kirkuk, co-trainer is Julie Adnan. This is the sixth workshop in a project of IMCK and Irex. The last one of this series is planned for end of May in Soran.

Journalists in Kalar on May 17, 2012 started a 3-day workshop on the use of Social Media for journalists. IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz will teach them (among others) in three days how they can use different social media and internet to find news and information, and to communicate with colleagues. The workshop is part of a series that IMCK is organizing all over Iraqi Kurdistan with the support of Irex.

International trainer Dan Mason started on May 14, 2012 a three day training on Social Media for Journalists. He stands in for Marco Visser, who fell ill. Mason has trained on many subjects all over the world, and came to  Iraq for the second time this year. Fourteen participants joined the training at the training hall of the IMCK, which is one of a series conducted with support of Irex. More pictures on Facebook .

IMCK trainer Sardasht Aziz started a three day workshop on Social Media for Journalists in Rania, on May 13, 2012. In total twenty participants joined him at the Library in Rania. The workshop is part of a series of workshops on the subject that IMCK is organising with the support of Irex.

On 6 May 2012, IMCK started with a training on social media for journalists in Iraq. Social media are conquering the Middle East - and also Iraq . After the start of the demonstrations of 2011 many young people started using Facebook. Journalists are also an active group on the social network website. Still Iraqi journalists use social media mostly privately, exchanging opinions, Youtube links and pictures. Yet the power of social media for journalists lies in extending ones network, gathering news and sources, and simply be more connected to the world. The professional use of social media has not yet found ground in Iraq. Twitter for example, popular elsewhere in the world and in many ways regarded a useful for journalists, has hardly entered the Iraqi (journalists) scene yet. Therefore IMCK wants to train Iraqi journalists to become more Internet savvy. The journalists will learn how to work with sources that are available online, become more modern in their way to find stories ...

Social media have become an important part of communications on different levels. That is the reason IMCK-trainer Sardasht Aziz started a 3 day training for the Popular and Vocational Organisations board of KDP, on February 21, 2012 in the training hall of the Safeer Hotel in Erbil. Participants are involved in communicating between KDP organisations like the students union, the youth and the women union, and their members. They will learn that Facebook, Twitter and different Google services can also be used for this communication. Time will also be used to inform the participants about safety on the internet, as hacking is a big problem in Iraqi Kurdistan. See Facebook for more pictures