King Commissions –South Africa

Research, Corporate and Media Communications

Judith King
Telephone: (27) 31 261 6096
Cell (27) 73 809 0986
Email: kingcommissions@webstorm.co.za

Links:
• Biosketch
• Publications
• Reading, Writing, Design, Marketing and Training Services
• Research, writing and editing assignments, including
• Editor and publication manager of a book of best practice case-stories
• Media marketing services (2008/9)
Publication management and design direction
• Creative writing
• Articles published in mainstream and specialist media
• Authorship, copywriting, editing, photography
• General
• Presentations

An Introduction to King Commissions

King Commissions offer the following services:

• Writing, editing, proofreading, design direction, general content management and materials
development for academic, corporate, media and advocacy publications.
• Strategic research, concepts, production and evaluation services for marketing communications and
social responsibility planning.
• Multi‐format resource and forum innovation.
• Content specialist for website development.
• Media monitoring, analysis and liaison.
• Conceptual development and writing of proposals.
• Rapportage, documentation and transcription.
• Facilitation and training in business communications, creative writing techniques for fiction and non‐
fiction publications, expressive writing for therapeutic interventions, HIV and AIDS awareness, gender
issues, public health and marketing ethics, and media practice for social justice.
• Corporate Social Responsibility strategies and programme co‐ordination.
• Specialist background in HIV/AIDS, public health and health communications, vulnerable youth,
gender equity, rights‐based approaches, applied ethics and advocacy.
• Book reviews and opinion columns.

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JUDITH KING: Biosketch
Judith has a BA in Psychology and English (UCT, 1982), a BA (Honours) in English Literature (UCT,
1984), an MA in Comparative and Applied Ethics (UKZN, 2005), and a second MA in English Studies
[Creative Writing] (UKZN, 2010, cum laude).

Judith with Professor Michael Cawood Green, Reader in

Creative Writing at Northumbria University, UK, and winner of
the English Academy’s 2009 Olive Schreiner Prize for Prose (for
his novel For the Sake of Silence, published by Umuzi).

With over 25 years’ experience in corporate, academic, small‐business and community‐based

communications, she is also trained in Pre‐/Post‐HIV Test Counselling, Monitoring and Evaluation
and professional communications skills. While Editor of Unilever South Africa’s group publications in
the early 1990s, Judith co‐led CSR initiatives, volunteered as a part‐time English teacher for local
township learners, and lectured in business communications for adult literacy programmes.

After six years as Media, Communications and Advocacy consultant for HIVAN, (the Centre for
HIV/AIDS Networking at the University of KwaZulu‐Natal), she joined the University’s Health
Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) in 2007, where she led marketing and
organisational brand development through strategic, multi‐format communications outputs,
relationship management and resource innovation. In mid‐2008 she established King Commissions,
her own consultancy, serving a number of academic, civil society and international development
clients.

Judith has authored an illustrated book for service provision to vulnerable children, written and
edited innumerable research‐based reports and media commentaries, co‐authored a chapter in a
forthcoming book on Public Health Ethics in South Africa, and edited a book of case stories on HIV
technical support published by the UNAIDS‐funded Technical Support Facilities of Eastern and
Southern Africa.

Her research focus in the field of gender and HIV prevention is on AIDS‐conscious marketing and
public health ethics, which she presented in Durban at an international African Association for
Rhetoric Conference in July 2009, and which was published in the peer‐reviewed AAR Journal in
2010. She co‐authored, with globally renowned Professors Anna Coutsoudis and Hoosen Coovadia,
an article on branding breastmilk for child survival, which was published in The Lancet in August
2009.

In tandem, Judith is developing a PhD proposal for Creative Writing focusing on trauma fiction
theory and life‐writing, specifically gendered narratives, motherhood and mental disorder, and the
epigenetics of trauma in literature. She is also offers training in life‐story writing techniques as
therapeutic reminiscence.

Judith is a board member of OneVoice South Africa, an NGO working on creative involvement of
youth in HIV and TB prevention http://www.onevoice.org.za/

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PUBLICATIONS LIST
Academic / Technical works

• King, J. “Axed – Risky Rhetoric in Unilever Brand Marketing”. In Ige, S. (Ed.) African Journal of
Rhetoric “Rhetoric in the Time of AIDS – African Perspectives”. Volume 2: 178‐208, 2010.
(ISSN 1998‐2054). http://www.afrhet.org.za/

• (Forthcoming – Book Chapter) King, J and Nixon, S. Ubuntu,

HIV/AIDS and the King II Report: A Public Health Ethics
Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. (Lisa Forman
and Jillian Cohen, [eds.], to be published by University of
Toronto Press – final title unconfirmed).

• A Man On A Galloping Horse (a fictional memoir ‐

manuscript and reflective dissertation). The core piece was
completed cum laude as non‐degree content for the
Creative Writing Honours Module in the University of
KwaZulu‐Natal’s English Studies Programme from August to
November 2008. The larger book was completed in 2009
under supervision by Professor Michael Green and Kobus
Moolman as an MA in Creative Writing; the degree was
awarded cum laude.

• King, J. (Ed.), 2009. True Tales: Lessons from HIV Technical Support in Eastern and Southern
Africa. UNAIDS Technical Support Facilities, Eastern and Southern Africa. Johannesburg,
South Africa.
ISBN: 978‐0‐620‐45694‐4

• Coutsoudis, A, Coovadia, H and King, J. “The Breastmilk Brand: Promotion of child survival in
the face of formula‐milk marketing”. The Lancet, Volume 374, Issue 9687, Pages 423 ‐ 425, 1
August 2009. doi:10.1016/S0140‐6736(09)60661‐9;

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2809%2960661-9/fulltext

• The Ethics of Abortion: A Learning Journal. Unpublished paper for Master of Arts in
Comparative and Applied Ethics, University of KwaZulu‐Natal, June 2004.

• Journal of Ethical Dilemmas: Facing HIV/AIDS with wisdom and compassion. Unpublished
paper (with distinction) for Master of Arts in Comparative and Applied Ethics, University of
KwaZulu‐Natal, April 2004.

• An Afro‐European Communitarian Ethic as a Model for a Private Sector Response to

HIV/AIDS, with special reference to the King II Report on Corporate Governance in South
Africa.

• Thesis for MA in Comparative and Applied Ethics, supervised by Prof Martin Prozesky, UKZN,
Pietermaritzburg, awarded 2005. (Forthcoming as self‐published book)

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 • Man in Nature and the Nature of Man: An examination of selected work by Ernest
Hemingway. Unpublished dissertation for Bachelor of Arts Honours degree (English Lit.),
supervised by Prof Ian Glenn, University of Cape Town, 1984.

Reading, Writing, Design, Marketing and Training Services

• 2010 Media analysis:

Monthly column on media coverage of the SA government’s HIV Counselling and Testing
Campaign (HCT) for the HIV‐911 website: http://www.hiv911.org.za/national-hct-campaign-
rollout-media-wrapup-2010 [also linked to Twitter and Facebook discussion board]

Research, writing and editing assignments, including:

• a five‐year Cohort Profile for the MTCT‐Plus Programme at Cato Manor Clinic in Durban,
KZN, commissioned by Prof Anna Coutsoudis of the Dept of Paediatrics and Child Health at
UKZN, and
• a draft for a scientific article on global donors and public health ethics for Professor
Stephanie Nixon of the University of York in Toronto, Canada.

• Writeshop training 2009 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [May] and Johannesburg, South Africa
[September]) – advancing skills in creative non‐fiction for technical writers.

Editor and publication manager of a book of best practice case-stories –

• True Tales: Lessons from HIV Technical Support in Eastern and Southern Africa, published by
UNAIDS TSF‐SA and TSF‐EA. ISBN 978‐0‐620‐45694‐4

Media marketing services (2008/9) :

• HEARD (M&G and SAfm ) “Otherwise”on Research Associate Lisa Dancaster’s work‐family
research);

• Publicity for The Lancet article I co‐authored with Prof Anna Coutsoudis (UKZN) and Prof Jerry
Coovadia (RHRU) on branding breastmilk – Mail & Guardian, SAfm “Otherwise”, Daily News, and a
public forum in Durban hosted by WCRP/HIVAN.

Publication management and design direction: commissioning of skilled consultants, trafficking

drafts and proofs of manuscripts with artwork to finalisation for print

• Review of Manuscript # 02‐01‐408 “Representations of HIV/AIDS Management in SA

Newspapers” for the African Journal of AIDS Research (AJAR) – February 2008, published in
AJAR 7(2), pp.195‐208 accessible here. http://www.nisc.co.za/abstracts?id=1&absid=220/

• Review/copy‐editing of “The Impact of ART Scale‐up on Health Systems

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 • (De‐)Strengthening in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Justice and Justification” by
Stephanie Nixon and Nina Veenstra, for publication in Law and Medicine theme issue on
Access to Healthcare, 2007.

• Editing of Master’s and Doctoral proposals and theses across a range of disciplines, including
Law, Architecture, Religious Studies and Development Studies.

• Reader for Prof Martin Prozesky’s book Conscience: Ethical Intelligence for Global Well‐
Being (2007, UKZN Press).

• Research resource support for Dr David Spencer (for a book chapter entitled “The Religious
Response to the Southern African AIDS Epidemic”, for the South African HIV Clinicians’
Society).

• Illustrations for a published collection of poems entitled Poetry for Peace, edited by Nise
Malanga and Shaun de Waal (1994) ISBN: 0‐620‐18508‐2

(See on‐line citation at “The Hungry Soul” http://w3.ime.net/~bmhc/soulcon.htm)

Creative writing

• Narratology (researched and composed story‐sketch with characters, setting and plot, and
scripted) Shoes of Light: an archetypal journey‐quest for a PC‐game/world called
“Singazenzela” and its ancillary products and platforms. The story and product portfolio
addresses the multiple service‐provision and access needs of South African orphans and
vulnerable children. Sponsored by the Foundation for Professional Development, the CSIR
RSA, and MetaLab UK, the first part of Shoes of Light was published in 2007 by HIVAN,
University of KwaZulu‐Natal, as an illustrated children’s book with a series of four editions
planned.

• Glynis Clacherty (glynis@clacherty.co.za), author, script‐writer and a renowned expert in

“edutainment” and participatory training of children and youth, tested the story with two
focus groups in January 2007, and commented as follows:

Kgethi [Dlamini] and I have been testing stories and characters for a long time for Soul
Buddyz and Takalani Sesame and we think this material really is some of the best we have
tested. It is very easy to see when testing something what children think ‐ the children's
response to this story and the characters and content was very positive ‐ they were engaged
and involved when it was read to them and they responded with emotion. They also found
the issues it dealt with relevant. They loved the magical elements too.

• A Man On A Galloping Horse (fictional memoir ‐ book manuscript and reflective

dissertation).
The core piece was completed cum laude as non‐degree content for the Creative Writing
Honours Module in the University of KwaZulu‐Natal’s English Studies Programme from
August to November 2008. The larger book was completed in 2009 under supervision by
Professor Michael Green and Kobus Moolman as an MA in Creative Writing; the degree was

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 awarded in February 2010, with the mark pending adjudication for a distinction.

On-line publications

• An Open Letter to SAfm: The letter of the law, or the spirit of the ancestors? Irresponsible
advertising in South Africa” http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=13351&ThisURL=&URLName=
http://www.healthdev.org/eforums/cms/index.asp
http://www.hivan.org.za/Resources/advocacy_alert.asp

• Survivors don’t use rubbish bags: Self‐belief at Sinethemba Shelter.

Winning national entrant for the global AI “16 Shelters for 16 Days” Stop Violence Against
Women Campaign ‐ written on behalf of Amnesty International, Durban Chapter, South
Africa. AI Action Circular ACT 77/014/2006, September 2006.

Unpublished Occasional Paper

“Social Marketing and HIV/AIDS in the Age of Information ‐ The HIVAN Print‐Media Archive as a
management, audit and intelligence tool”. Prepared for HIVAN Occasional Paper Series publication,
and presented at the HIVAN Internal Forum, Durban, March 2004.

Articles published in mainstream and specialist media

“Aiding the AIDS Fight” ‐ article on HIVAN’s first Peer Educator Training Session at UKZN. Daily News,
23 October 2001, p. 8.

“HIV compelling people to work in a new creative union” – response to protracted reader debate on
pharmaceutical vs. natural treatment of HIV and AIDS. Independent on Saturday, 26 January 2002,
Opinion Page.

“Struggles and Tests – Zackie Achmat’s experience of living with HIV”. Biosphere, June 2002.

“HIVAN and the Behaviour Change Programme – Community Symposium”. Izindaba (Community
Law and Rural Development Centre) p. 7, June 2002

“A Dialogue with Mama Dube” – article on Mrs Busisiwe Dube, a home‐based caregiver from
Okhahlamba District, KZN. Biosphere, World Summit Edition. August 2002

“Learning through action – University students’ input into HIV interventions”. Medical Research
Council of SA (MRC) AIDS Bulletin, Vol 11, No 4, December 2002

“Bonding and Bridging for Social Transformation ‐ An interview with Professor Cathy Campbell”.
HIVAN and London School of Economics websites, May 2003.

“HIV/AIDS: Towards a Strategy for Commonwealth Universities”. Association of Commonwealth

Universities (ACU) Review of 2002. January 2003, p. 31.

“HIV/AIDS Testing and Training – Goodman Madondo shows the way” – article on community
training in Richmond/Byrne Valley. Ilovu News (issued with The Witness), March 2004, p.3.

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“HIVAN – NGO Profile” ‐ full‐page overview of HIVAN networking and research projects. Informer
(NAPWA Newsletter) Vol. 2 No 7, August 2004, p.15.

“Toolkit for Care‐givers” – profile on Quality Living with HIV, a manual authored by Dr Stephanie
Thomas and Prof. Anna Coutsoudis, with editing and launch text by Judith King. UKZN website:
November 2004 http://www.ukzn.ac.za/news/caregivers2.asp?navid=3 and in UKZN InTouch Alumni
Magazine, December 2004, p. 40.

“Babiza’s Story – The Reality of HIV/AIDS from a Child’s Point of View”

Launch profile. UNESCO website: http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-

URL_ID=1396&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
or http://www.hivan.org.za/resources/booklets.asp 1 December 2004

“HIVAN – Networking For Change” – NGO Profile. Informer Volume 2, Edition 7, p.15

“Teen Moms a Growing Concern” by Juggie Naran; Sunday Tribune Herald: The Issue Page, 25 March
2007 (Comment quoted in full)

Authorship, copywriting, editing, photography and proof-reading (general resources: samples available on
request)

Unilever News – Full editorship of the in‐house newspaper of Unilever South Africa (1991 – 1995).
Co‐editor of Unilever SA’s Annual and Social Reports

Sondela / Come Closer ‐ Community Newsletter. Full editorship of three Volumes, each comprising
four editions, in Zulu and English. Also accessible via:
http://www.hivan.org.za/campussupport/sondelajuly2005/index.asp

HIVAN Annual Reports 2003, 2004 Editing and design co‐ordination.

Thomas, S. and Coutsoudis, A. 2004. Quality Living with HIV: A Toolkit for Care‐providers.
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of KwaZulu‐Natal. ISBN 1‐86840‐542.
(Proofing and marketing)

Mikula, M. (ed.). 2004. Maggie Mikula – From Clay: A Retrospective. Durban, South Africa. ISBN 0‐
620‐32596‐8. (Proofing and marketing).

HIVAN Cultural Arts Project (ed.). HI, Virus. 2006. Durban, South Africa. (Proofing and lay‐out
supervision)

HIVAN (ed.). Shoes of Light. 2007. Durban, South Africa. (researched and composed this original
story and characters for a storybook/PC‐game script to provide knowledge and service referrals to
vulnerable children in South Africa.)

HEARD All About It: Full editorship of the Newsletter of the Health Economics HIV/AIDS Research
Division, U‐KZN. Volumes 16, 17 and 18 (April, June and September 2007).
http://www.heard.org.za/aboutheard/aboutheardNewsletter.htm

HEARD 2007 Annual Report: Editor and Design Director

HIVAN Website Editorials: (www.hivan.org.za)

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“Beyond Youth Day” – June 2002

“Women and HIV/AIDS – Empowerment through Equity” ‐ August 2002

“Writing and speaking mindfully in the age of HIV/AIDS” – October 2002

"’Pushing the surge of moral energy’ towards a more caring society” ‐ February 2003

“Reinventing the Red Ribbon” – November 2003

“2004 – A Year of Healing” – February 2004

“All creatures great and small – HIV/AIDS and Sustainable Development” – September 2005

Forum Rapportage: (see HIVAN website – http://www.hivan.org.za/

GENERAL

“Priorities for HIV/AIDS Programmes in Africa”: Preparatory Brainstorming for meeting of African
leaders in Kenya. Chaired by Prof Jerry Coovadia, UND, October 2001.

“Adherence: The Achilles’ Heel of Anti‐retroviral Therapy – A Paradigm for Integration of Biology and
Behaviour”. Invited Presentation by Prof Gerald Friedland of Yale University’s School of Medicine;
hosted by HIVAN, UND. October 2001.

“Coherence and Synthesis will strengthen HIV/AIDS Research” – UND Research Summit, June 2002
http://www.hivan.org.za/arttemp.asp?id=1352&netid=298&search=nursing =

“Care of the Caregiver‐ Some Practical Measures” – final session of a national workshop on HIV/AIDS
Management and Care, hosted by the University of Natal's School of Nursing, July 2002.
http://www.hivan.org.za/arttemp.asp?id=1770&netid=476&search=nursing =

“HIV/AIDS and the Challenges of Communication” ‐ Seminar hosted by University of Natal’s Gender
Studies and CCMS, featuring Prof Thomas Tufte of the University of Copenhagen’s Department of
Media Studies, October 2002

“Women’s Empowerment ‐ Africa’s AIDS Vaccine?” presented by Samantha Willan (HEARD, UND) ‐
Gender Studies Seminar Series, October 2002

“Scientific Symposium on Global Health” hosted by UKZN’s Doris Duke Medical Research Institute at
the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, July 2003

“By all accounts … Rapportage of a multi‐disciplinary forum of child and youth research, with a focus
on HIV/AIDS” ‐ Two‐day Research Forum hosted by HIVAN, Durban, November 2004

“’Listen darling’ – An Afternoon with Paul Farmer”; HIVAN Discussion Forum, McCord Hospital,
Durban. March 2005 (published in MRC AIDS Bulletin)

“Empowerment for a gentler world: Charlene Smith’s antidote to sexual violence” – write‐up of
Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture, UKZN, Durban, March 2005

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HIVAN/ECI HIV/AIDS JOURNAL CLUB: an open forum for biomedical and social/behavioural scientists,
to afford young researchers the opportunity of presenting in a dynamic manner and as a means of
stimulating vigorous debate, by outlining essential theory, methods and findings of journal articles
and highlighting the significance of the research. Twenty summaries of fora from February 2002 to
March 2004, posted on the HIVAN website = http://www.hivan.org.za/

MRC–HIVAN KZN AIDS FORUM: an open forum co‐ordinated by the SA Medical Research Council
with four annual sessions hosted in association with HIVAN to facilitate networking, share new
research findings and provide a platform for perspectives from the ground on HIV/AIDS and its
biomedical and social impact. Eighteen summaries authored for the HIVAN‐hosted MRC mini‐site.
http://www.hivan.org.za/resources/rapportage.asp

WCRP‐HIVAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND HIV/AIDS RESEARCHERS’ FORUM SERIES – working with the
Interfaith AIDS Forum of the World Conference on Religion and Peace to create space for
engagement in debate and discussion, shared learning, clarifying of myths and misconceptions, and
prioritisation of areas for future research and intervention within their communities. Launched in
January 2003, the Series has grown to include full‐day Capacity‐building Workshops and
“Contentious Issues” seminars, and a sustained programme of three day long youth‐focus
workshops entitled “Learning together for the Future”. Twenty‐eight articles posted to the HIVAN
website.
http://www.hivan.org.za/resources/rapportage.asp

HEARD/OSSREA ‐ Research Seminar: “The HIV/AIDS Challenge in Africa”; Durban, October 2005.
ttp://www.heard.org.za/useful-documents

HEARD/UKZN Geography Division of the School of Environmental Sciences ‐ “Red Ribbons and Green
Issues: Exploring HIV/AIDS as an Environmental Concern” – coverage of a seminar by Dr Sue Erskine.
Durban, February 2006.
http://www.hivan.org.za/arttemp.asp?id=4552

ASRSC/HST (African Regional Sexuality Resource Centre and Health Systems Trust) UNDERSTANDING
HUMAN SEXUALITY SEMINAR SERIES – full rapportage, photo‐documentation and discussant role for
the 2nd session, co‐hosted in September 2006 by the University of KwaZulu‐Natal in Durban, and for
the 3rd session in November 2006, co‐hosted by the Public Interest and Gender Law Department of
Webber Wentzel Bowens in Gauteng.

New Thinking: HIV Research with Youth – full report on two seminars held at UKZN by HEARD’s
Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow from York University, Toronto, Dr Sarah Flicker. Durban, March
2007.

Presentations

Frizelle, K. and King, J. 2001. Integrating HIV/AIDS into the Psychology curriculum. Video interview
presented at the closing session of the Association of Commonwealth Universities Conference
HIV/AIDS: Towards a Strategy for Commonwealth Universities. Lusaka, Zambia, 7‐10 November.

King, J. Social Challenges to Science: a presentation on “MRC Scientists and the Media: Attitudes to
and experiences of reporting their findings to the public” – L. Gething’s M.Phil Dissertation published
in MRC News Vol 33, No 5 – October 2002. UKZN Bio‐Ethics Reference Group, Durban, 27 November
2002.

King, J. “Social Marketing and HIV/AIDS in the Age of Information ‐ The HIVAN Print‐Media Archive as

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a management, audit and intelligence tool”. HIVAN Internal Research Forum, UKZN, Durban. 4
March 2004.

King, J. HIV/AIDS as a Catalyst for Authentic Business Ethics “Morals, the Market and Our Future –
The Case for Responsible Advertising”– Guest Lecture to Integrated Business Studies students and
staff, University of KwaZulu‐Natal Faculty of Management Studies. 24 April 2006.

King, J. HIV/AIDS as a Catalyst for Authentic Business Ethics “Morals, the Market and Our Future –
The Case for Responsible Advertising”. World Conference for Religion and Peace (WCRP) /HIVAN
Faith‐leaders and HIV/AIDS Researchers’ Forum. 23 November 2006

King, J. An Axe to Grind: The case for responsible marketing in the era of HIV/AIDS. Guest lecture to
Integrated Business Studies, UKZN Faculty of Management Studies, 7 May 2007.

King, J. HEARD Communications, Marketing and Advocacy Programme. Presentation to HEARD

Research Assistants’ Training Workshop, 5 September 2007.

King, J. Axed: Why Companies Need AIDS‐Conscious Marketing Messages. Abstract accepted for
presentation at the 2nd Wits Business School’s “HIV/AIDS in the Workplace” Research Symposium
on Prevention and Next Steps in Responding to HIV/AIDS in the Workplace and Beyond, Track #5:
(Other/Emerging – Sexuality and Reproductive Health in the Workplace and Beyond). University of
the Witwatersrand, Gauteng, South Africa, 29‐30 May 2008.

King, J. Axed: Why Companies Need AIDS‐Conscious Marketing Messages. African Association for
Rhetoric’s Conference on African Rhetoric in the Time of AIDS, University of KwaZulu‐Natal, Durban,
South Africa, 1 July 2009.

Updated: June 2010

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