ConvergeCMS: a cross-platform workflow management & publishing system for African newsrooms

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1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

Convert the Kenyan-built ConvergeCMS and workflow system for newsrooms into a pan-African cloud-supported platform to help streamline and professionalise African newsrooms.

2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]

There are many CMS platforms like WordPress and Drupal Gardens, plus many proprietary editorial content production systems - but no free open source solutions designed for African newsrooms to manage editorial workflow.

3. Describe the real world challenge that you are trying to solve for African media [50 words]

Editorial production is about checks and balances. Material needs to be edited, fact-checked, lawyered, and then packaged for multiple media outlets / platforms as quickly and efficiently as possible. Most African newsrooms cannot, however, afford the very expensive Northern proprietary software solutions available. ConvergeCMS offers an already tested and proven plug&play solution.

4. How and why will your solution work? [100 words]

ConvergeCMS already works. It is used as the primary production system for Kenya’s 3rd largest media group. ConvergeCMS is scalable beyond Kenya because it offers a proven solution to a challenge facing media everywhere: finding a cost-effective but robust and flexible content production system that seamlessly provides cross-media publication. ConvergeCMS will offer newsrooms a server-based management system, that is dynamically updated and maintained via the Cloud. To help build traction, and grow a community of users, ConvergeCMS will use portion of the ANIC grant to setup and support the platform in influential newsrooms in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

5. Who is working on it? [100 words]

The founder and chief architect of Converge, Allan Lykke Christensen, will lead the project. He will be assisted by full-time software engineer Raymond Wanyoike, supported by two additional developers and an additional designer based in Kenya. The development team will offer real-time online support for the pilot partners in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

6. What part of the project have you already built? [100 words]

Over the past six years Converge Editorial has been developed as a self-hosting solution. For the past 2 years it has been used in production environment in Kenya. The production-ready application includes workflows and routing of content, content editing and review, search engine and archiving, consumption of external newswires (e.g. Reuters, AFP, and web feeds), archiving of media items, planning of editorial content, and dissemination of content to different platforms (e.g. Joomla, Drupal and mobile apps).

7. How would you sustain the project after the funding expires? [50 words]

Funding for the project is based on the development required to bring the already production-ready system on-line with cloud-support. The project will be able to fund itself through annual support and maintenance costs paid by subscribed newsrooms.  

Requested amount from ANIC: $50,000
Expected amount of time required to complete project: Six months
Total Project Cost: $150,000

Name: Allan Lykke Christensen
Twitter: @bigallan
Organization: Interactive Media Management
Country: Denmark / Kenya