I was very pleased to hear of this new initiative. But find it impossible to figure out what it is trying to do. Yes there were a few, mostly very old articles, but when I went into Ghana Health - nothing, something requesting me to add text. Same in Zimbabwe Politics. Seems like a way to get already exploited African women journalists to give text free which will no doubt be plagiarised by other media. You're kidding right? Or I am misunderstanding this. And if I am, why are there no explanations? However, I was really ticked off by the arrogance of the webmaster saying that if we really wanted we could read a "whole page of uninteresting questions" or something to that effect. How dare HE. Who makes the decisions as to what is boring or interesting anyhow. Some British male living far from Africa? If a person has taken the time to write, I think it singularly arrogant to trash their letters into a section called a whole pg of uninteresting questions. A newspaper of news about African women is critical, but what is critical too, given the dearth of decent computer equipment in most locales, is a site that is easy to navigate - this is not, and no arrogance. Charlene Smith, Johannesburg, South Africa

-- charlene smith (clsmith@global.co.za), February 25, 2002

Answers

Hi, Thanks for your comments.

The is no 'whole page of uninteresting questions' because your question is the first to be added to the discussion forum. When lots of questions have been added, the software will automatically archive those questions that have received the least attention from visitors. There is nothing arrogant about it - it is just a discussion forum - with built-in management features.

The Website is still in development - so there are section that have not been developed yet. If you are interested in participating please contact Lesley Riddoch (Lesley.riddoch@bbc.co.uk).

-- Jim Byrne (j.byrne@gcal.ac.uk), February 25, 2002.