Anthea McGibbon

Collaborators and Potential Partners are being sought to help launch Jamlinker No. 01 in Sligoville – Jamaica’s first free village.

Over a single generation, we have witnessed the Web and digital media redefining nearly every aspect of modern culture, transforming the way we work, learn and connect; in ways that we are only beginning to understand.

DETAILS: Jamlinker No. 01 – A Multipurpose Broadcast Hub for Sligoville

(from Jamlink)
Jamlinker No. 01, a multi-purpose broadcast hub for Sligoville, represents the first in a series of planned “Jamlinkers” for other rural communities across Jamaica. It is a pilot project that demonstrates the applicable uses of culture and technology in fostering community entrepreneurship. It is a community building initiative that includes the Jamaican Diaspora. It is a local tele-center which delivers information and technology services to residents; and keeps the global Jamaican community connected, engaged and informed so all may have an opportunity to assist where-ever possible.

A Jamlinker is a 20-foot shipping container retrofitted with full range of capabilities to narrowcast multi-media content such as live audio and video; will facilitate workshops and community events, and act as a local production studio for a neighborhood newsletter.

The goals of the project are as following:

•To promote social enterprise in Sligoville.
•To establish greater levels of self-sufficiency and empowerment in Sligoville.
•To create connections between Sligoville residents, intra-island communities and globally.
•To focus the creative energy of teens, enabling them to harness the local, unique source of cultural content.
•To establish Sligoville as a model for other rural communities across Jamaica.
•To create and produce appropriate cultural and educational material for publication on Jamlink.com.

The principal facilitators for this project are Jamlink.com and Vonergy Inc., a registered 501(c) (3) Charitable Organization established to promote cohesiveness among Jamaicans worldwide and is primarily focused on creating educational, economic and personal opportunities for low–income and technology-impoverished communities throughout Jamaica.

With coordinated efforts from the following:

•Andrew Holness, Minister of Education
•Natalie Neita-Headly, Member of Parliament for East Central St Catherine
•Peter Townsend, Chairman of the National Democratic Movement
•Deedan Codrington, Area Community Development Officer
•Gloria Brown, Project Director, Land Administration and Management Programme
•Beverley Drummond, Principal of the Sligoville All Age School
•Cawley Bolt, Vice President, Jamaica Baptist Union
•Mervin Jarman, Founder of the Container Project and iStreet Lab
•Mark Hardial, Technical Project Manager, Convergent Communications
•Desmond Green, Developer of the RFL Methodology and Skill Set
•Richard “RastaRich” Brown, Founder, OneLoveCincinnati.org
•Catherine Howell, Representative for the Leonard P. Howell Foundation

Throughout the past 5 years, Jamlink.com has relied solely on the generosity of members and friends to fund other projects; however we are employing a more innovative strategy towards financing the current initiative. Our approach seeks to establish a private and public partnership among the more than 2.8 million Jamaicans living overseas. It leverages Jamlink.com as a clearing house for offering Jamaican-centric products and service; and allocates a percentage of all derived revenues to the project. Jamaicans in the Diaspora have an estimated purchasing power of U.S. $40 million.

To date, Jamlink.com shares a sphere of influence with over 100,000 fellow Jamaicans worldwide and monthly website traffic of approximately 3 million hits.

Recently, we launched ‘virtual yard’- a unique broadcast and advertorial component aimed at inspiring a more meaningful inter-connectedness among all Jamaicans. It is a digital representation of the map of Jamaica and a digital showcase for our resourcefulness, our collective expertise and experience; and a reliable reference point for Jamaican networking, partnership and collaboration. ‘virtual yard’ will also serve as an advertising and fundraising campaign for Jamlinker No. 01.

Additionally, Jamlink.com established the “Jamaica Matters Fund” program (JMF) – an ongoing campaign, and collaboration with local partners, international organizations, Jamlink.com and its non-profit arm, Vonergy Inc., The Jamaica Matters Fund program will exist in perpetuity for financing our expanded deployment plans across Jamaica and for assisting with other small-scale entrepreneurial activities throughout the island.

We anticipate that an asset-based approach to community building coupled with socio-culturally constructive community technology, will cause an increase in community social capital (Mattesich & Monsey, 1997; Putnam, 1995) and will facilitate the activation of community cultural capital (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Lamont & Lareau, 1988; Zweigenhaft, 1993), as a result of residents’ involvement as active agents of change and active producers of community content.

Please contact us to find out how you may become involved with the project. Make contact

free village, Jamlinker