What is a computer programmer from Moscow doing at Deutsche Welle’s headquarters in Bonn? Well, Ksenia Koteleva helped decide which topic would be featured in the last episode of the future now series and picked up the grand prize: a trip for two to Germany. She and her sister Elizaveta came to DW this week and also took a tour of the CAESAR research center down the street.

Ksenia studied mathematics and spends at least some of her free-time online. She “finds lots of interesting stuff” at www.dw-world.de and DW’s future now multimedia project was something that really caught her eye. It highlights researchers looking for answers to some of our generation’s most burning issues in the areas of health, communication, mobility and the environment.

To get more people involved in the series, DW developed a contest that would let people from around the world vote for a project that was yet to be made. From the three alternatives, Ksenia (like the majority of DW users) voted for “Computers of the future” and thereby won the grand prize.

Ksenia has already spent some time in Germany. She attended school for six months here and also vacationed here with her brother. But she had never been to Bonn. “But I like Bonn. It’s not a big city, but it’s pretty and the people here are very nice.”

In the latest issue of Content Asia, editors spoke to seven of the world’s leading clips and archive companies about challenges in Asia, Asia-related content, demand, trends and the adjustments they’ve had to make for a new connected environment. Among these experts, was DW’s Stefan Bliemsrieder.

What does he see as the biggest challenge in selling archive/news clips into Asia?

“Two challenges: presentation and content. Asian consumers like to watch online clips that are relevant to them and in their language. DW has started providing local language versions (e.g. Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia) to address this audience need in selected territories. The key challenge remains in the cost of localizing our content.”

Check out the full “Short & Sweet” interview.

Deutsche Welle (DW) and Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday, June 1 in Berlin, outlining intensified cooperation in the future on Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic radio programming. Director General Erik Bettermann signed for Germany’s international broadcaster alongside Director General Jan Hoek from The Netherlands.

Bettermann said that this agreement symbolizes a “historical moment”. Bettermann added that it is important to both broadcasters – especially with regards to the historical experiences in both countries – to work in the heart of Europe to solidify their shared values such as freedom of the press, human rights and democracy around the world.

Hoek pointed out that free access to information is an especially important good.  DW and RNW will be focusing their cooperation on Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic programming. The two will exchange links to each other’s websites and use cross promotion in their programming. New forms of cooperation should also be developed in the future. The cooperation should also be expanded to distribution. The goal is to reach each of the target audiences better.

 

DW is once again contributing to the Young Media Summit, this year taking place from Tuesday, May 24 to Thursday May 26 in Cairo. The Young Media Summit is organized by Deutsche Welle’s DW Akademie in cooperation with the German Information Center Cairo. The conferences are being funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The Young Media Summit will feature 18 German and Arabic bloggers who will meet to discuss “new media and reform in the Arab World”, leading up to a podium discussion at Cairo University on Thursday.

In addition, DW will also be producing a talkshow during the conference, which will be broadcast throughout the Arab World on May 27.

If you want to find out more, just check out the Young Media Summit website.

 

Deutsche Welle (DW) will increase its focus on television, online and mobile services and decrease its shortwave broadcasts in a process starting this summer. Starting July 1, 2011, DW  will be making major changes in how and when its radio programming is broadcast in Asia and Europe, as well as German radio programming as a whole.

The measures will ensure the further development of Germany’s international broadcaster to a truly multimedia organization. DW will focus on modern modules that can be integrated into partner’s FM line-ups as well as being offered as stand-alone, on-demand services for the Internet and mobile devices. DW will thereby increase the cooperation with its partners throughout the world. With the exception of Africa and parts of Asia, linear shortwave broadcasts will be discontinued due to limited usage. The resources that have been saved will be reinvested in projects for the future – especially in the development of television services with regional languages and content, as well as an increase in online and mobile services.

DW will aim to use its available resources to offer two TV channels per region. This will give viewers the opportunity to choose between a channel with predominantly German programming and a channel with a focus on one of the regional languages – English, Spanish or Arabic.

Read the official press release here.