When communicators use media and communication to address problems of development, we seek to assess whether those interventions are grounded in current development challenges and in patterns of media use. Additional challenges emerge, however, from patterns in media use between those used by development communication professionals and those that are accessible to communities. Electronic media, such as radio and television, or digital media platforms, including computer-based and mobile technologies, are available in urbanized areas of the global south, but are not accessible to all communities. Our study group has engaged three rural communities located in the mountainous province of Loja, Ecuador for over a decade through development communication efforts. Since these communities experience low access to electronic and digital media, our study group and the communities had to re-think what ‘media’ means in these communities. Drawing on our experiences of co-creating graffiti walls, songs and plays, we argue that development communicators must be open to channels of media that are neither electronic nor digital, but are accessible to communities in which we work.

当传播者使用媒体和传播来解决发展问题时，我们试图评估这些干预措施是否基于当前的发展挑战和媒体使用方式。但是，开发传播专业人员使用的媒体使用模式与社区可访问的媒体使用模式之间还存在其他挑战。电子媒体（例如广播和电视）或数字媒体平台（包括基于计算机和移动技术的数字媒体）在全球南部的城市化地区可用，但并非所有社区都可以使用。经过十多年的发展，我们的研究小组与厄瓜多尔洛哈省山区的三个农村社区进行了接触。由于这些社区的电子和数字媒体访问率较低，我们的研究小组和社区必须重新考虑“媒体”在这些社区中的含义。借鉴我们共同创作涂鸦墙，歌曲和戏剧的经验，我们认为，发展传播者必须开放非电子或数字媒体渠道，但我们工作的社区可以访问这些媒体。