Ghana's move to digital migration is...smart TV!!

Ghana's move to digital migration is...smart TV!!

What is Accra Pictures by Day and Night?

Accra is the capital of the small, West African country of Ghana, which achieved its independence in 1957 from its colonial master, the United Kingdom. It celebrated 50 years in 2007, and is projecting itself fast and furiously as "gateway to West Africa".

It's an exciting city, with its unique problems, but with it close to the Atlantic ocean, and many beaches, who can resist coming here?




April 2006-April 2011:

5 years of bringing readers insights into life in Ghana! Thank you!



Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority, TEMA

Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority, TEMA

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Ordering Food in Accra was Never this much Fun!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Five Years of Providing Vignettes of Accra Life to You!

This blog was born on 25 April, 2006. It's very first post was profoundly minimalist. You can read it here.Featured Top Blogger BadgeIn that respect, I consider April to be its birth month--and appropriately so, as 26 April is my own birthday. To say that there is some existentialist connection with this blog would probably not be far from the truth.

At the time I created it, I knew nothing of the citydailyphoto blogs, mooted by Frenchman Eric Tenin, who created Paris Daily Photo.

Back in 2006, there were few indigenous bloggers blogging about their home country--let alone indigenous bloggers blogging about their city, so inevitably, I became a kind of pioneer in that genre. My entries have waxed and waned. There have been times I have had blogger's block, but I always returned, trying to ensure that I portray not necessarily the best parts of Accra--but the parts that made the whole experience real. 

To be honest, I am surprised that in less than a month, this blog has been nominated for two awards. First, the tripbase; now this "Go Overseas Top Blog", which you can find here: http://www.gooverseas.com/ghana-blogs. 

In this category, I came 6th of out 10 blogs. The criteria for the selection is listed below :

GO! Overseas editorial staff evaluates blogs with the following criteria:

  • New content is posted at a minimum of once a week.
  • A writing style which is both clear and interesting.
  • A website which is constructed in a manner that provides a user-friendly interface and is maintained regularly.
  • A target audience which goes beyond providing friends and family with updates. Our editorial staff is looking for content which appeals to a wider audience.
  • Content that is relatively error free and grammatically correct.
  • A blog site which engages users on the website and is responsive to regular contact.

Back in 2007, academic Rebekah Hurt wrote what was in essence a biography of me through my blogs, which she mysteriously pulled down. Before she did, though, I had managed to copy her work, which I reproduced on my website here: http://www.ekbensah.net/pb/wp_fccca1c0/wp_fccca1c0.html. I copy below what she wrote about Accra Daily Photo at the time it was using a pink interface:


Accra by Day & Night is designed in pink tones and is headed by an elaborate banner where different photos rotate within a fixed screen, overlain by moving star characters and blue spots which contain occasional captions. Beneath this very advanced blog feature is the following short description, “Accra is the capital of the small, West African country of Ghana, which achieved its independence in 1957 from its colonial master, the United Kingdom. It celebrates 50 years in 2007, and is projecting itself fast and furiously as ‘gateway to West Africa’. It’s an exciting city, with its unique problems, but with it close to the Atlantic ocean, and many beaches, who can resist not [sic] coming here? Come along...” Along with this header, there is another unique and advanced inclusion of a background song that can be turned on and off with the click of a speaker icon and that, when on, plays on repeat the theme-appropriate song, “Ocean Sized Love” by Leigh Nash[2]. At the top of the page there is a link to the Ghana at 50 website, and then down the right hand margin of the page appears Bensah’s profile, a selection of his favorite videos with embedded media, followed by an extensive list of links to other city photoblogs across the world, a Zooomclouds cluster box which highlights the words most frequently appearing in the blog, and a list of previous posts. The governing order of this blog is that Bensah posts a new photo or photos from daily scenes around Ghana (primarily Accra and Legon) with short captions, comments, and observations...

Suffice-to-say, I am very humbled by the accolades. If anything, it has given me more vim to continue this blog. As I am human, there will be times when there will be hiatus, but I hope to continue offering aspects of Accra life in the quintessential ways in which I have delivered them.

Thank you to all those who have commented and helped encourage me to get this far. Five years is no mean feat! Thank you!!

4 comments:

Ghana_Hall_of_Shame said...

Congrats EKBjr!!!

By the way, whats up with the AU? How come other organizations are taking charge in Libya & The Ivory Coast? I expected that the AU would be the one fixing problems within Africa.

E K Bensah Jr said...

Mike! Great hearing from you! Been a while!;-)) I see ur missing Michael, eh? Already, in July, will be two years since he passed on--wow!!

To the AU: Libya is about interests. Will post in some ten minutes what could really be the real reason behind the attack on Libya. You can find it on my AU blog: http://african-union-citizen.blogspot.com. Hint: by seizing Qaddafi's substantial amount of money, which he was going to dedicate towards the hosting of an African Investment Bank, the West has managed to delay the establishment of that institution! The West was denied of joining the bank!!

My three weeks in Addis last month proved to me that the AU is getting bick on CPMR--conflict prevention management resolution field. Believe me, the AU might be cash-strapped, but the establishment of the Peace and Security Council in May 2004 confers on it the ability and capacity to manage and resolve conflicts in Africa in a way that is BINDING to all AU member states. Either way, the AU will not die now; they WILL have to find money for it...

Good to read you here!;-))

Chrissy Brand said...

Congratulations on 5 years. I have only been blogging here one month so far and would love to last as long as you have ;-)

Chrissy

http://mancunianwave.blogspot.com/

E K Bensah Jr said...

thx, Chrissy! it's 29 Aug 2011, and I am only seeing your post now;-(

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