With an annual budget of $100-$200, journalists in Ukraine have a problem with their computing equipment. Each journalist needs a mobile phone and, if they want to work away from the office PC, a laptop. Financial restrictions mean that little attention is given to licensing, security and privacy or quality. Privacy and security risks are huge but some journalists have no perception of this at all. Fortunately it doesn’t take much to improve the level of online literacy with some basic training and organisations like the Deutsche Welle Akademie are able to provide it. I joined DW in Ukraine for two weeks in November to give some training and I learned that the new range of low-cost, lightweight Windows laptops are going to help these journalists a lot, despite Chromebooks being better for privacy and security in some situations.
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