"Global media coverage of climate change has grown consistently—although unevenly—over recent years. While major differences exist in how much attention is paid to climate coverage in different parts of the world, how climate is discussed has been noticeably uniform and the major thrust of the
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climate communication agenda” remains recognizably “global” in that it is driven by the more mature media markets in the North and especially by the narratives coming out of international climate institutions (e.g., the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], climate Conference of the parties [COPs] international nongovernmental organizations [NGOs], and think tanks). Building on the recent experience of the 2022 floods in Pakistan, this essay argues that with the advent of what we are calling the age of adaptation, climate reporting is likely to shift rapidly from mostly explaining why climate change is important (and generally convergent broad ideas about what might be done about it) to reporting on localized climate impacts (and often divergent preferences on how to allocate responsibility and evaluate the cost of those consequences). This will, we argue, make global media narratives on climate change not only more complex and more contentious, but also more honest." (Abstract)
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"This second volume builds on the initial groundwork laid by Ecocinema Theory and Practice by examining the ways in which ecocritical cinema studies have matured and proliferated over the last decade, opening whole new areas of study and research. Featuring fourteen new essays organized into three s
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ections around the themes of cinematic materialities, discourses, and communities, the volume explores a variety of topics within ecocinema studies from examining specific national and indigenous film contexts to discussing ecojustice, environmental production studies, film festivals, and political ecology. The breadth of the contributions exemplifies how ecocinema scholars worldwide have sought to overcome the historical legacy of binary thinking and intellectual norms and are working to champion new ecocritical, intersectional, decolonial, queer, feminist, Indigenous, vitalist, and other emergent theories and cinematic practices. The collection also demonstrates the unique ways that cinema studies scholarship is actively addressing environmental injustice and the climate crisis." (Publisher description)
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"Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective examines how conspiracy theories and related forms of misinformation and disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic have circulated widely around the world. Covid conspiracy theories have attracted considerable attention from researchers, journalists,
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and politicians, not least because conspiracy beliefs have the potential to negatively affect adherence to public health measures. While most of this focus has been on the United States and Western Europe, this collection provides a unique global perspective on the emergence and development of conspiracy theories through a series of case studies. The chapters have been commissioned by recognized experts on area studies and conspiracy theories. The chapters present case studies on how Covid conspiracism has played out (some focused on a single country, others on regions), using a range of methods from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, politics, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Collectively, the authors reveal that, although there are many narratives that have spread virally, they have been adapted for different uses and take on different meanings in local contexts." (Publisher description)
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"This report presents various economic, institutional, social and technological challenges that inhibit digital entrepreneurs in Mexico from developing solutions for climate action. As the startup market keeps growing in the country, special consideration must be given to sustainable and digital tec
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hnologies by governments, investors, accelerators and incubators, and other players in the ecosystem. Focusing on the four areas outlined has the potential to unlock environmental, social and economic impact associated with digital technologies. At the same time, a careful and thoughtful implementation is necessary to avoid negative consequences – for this, further discussion between the different stakeholders is needed." (Conclusion)
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"This is a summarised report of a study on Ugandan news media coverage of road safety, focusing on the country’s three main daily newspapers, three television stations and two online platforms. The study explored the attention and the nature of coverage these newspapers, television stations and on
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line platforms paid to road safety from 1 March 2023 to 31 November 2023. The publications studied were Bukedde (a Luganda-language daily), Daily Monitor, and New Vision (the only two English-language dailies). The television stations were NBS, NTV Uganda, and UBC while the online platforms were ChimpReports and Uganda Radio Network (URN) [...] Between March and November 2023, a combined total of 766 articles related to road safety were identified across the three media types monitored. Newspapers produced the highest volume of stories followed by television. When considering all media platforms, there’s a varied landscape with no single platform dominating the coverage. This underscores the importance of a multi-channel approach to road safety advocacy, information and other interventions." (Page 3)
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"In recent years, major natural disasters and public safety accidents have frequently occurred worldwide. In order to deal with various disasters and accidents using rapidly deployable, reliable, efficient, and stable emergency communication networks, all countries in the world are strengthening and
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improving emergency communication network construction and related technology research. Motivated by these situations, in this paper, we provide a state-of-the-art survey of the current situation and development of emergency communication networks. In this detailed investigation, our primary focus is the extensive discussion of emergency communication network technology, including satellite networks, ad hoc networks, cellular networks, and wireless private networks. Then, we explore and analyze the networks currently applied in emergency rescue, such as the 370M narrowband private network, broadband cluster network, and 5G constellation plan. We propose a broadband-narrowband integrated emergency communication network to provide an effective solution for visual dispatch of emergency rescue services. The main findings derived from the comprehensive survey on the emergency communication network are then summarized, and possible research challenges are noted. Lastly, we complete this survey by shedding new light on future directions for the emergency communication network. In the future, the emergency network will develop in the direction of intelligence, integration, popularization, and lower cost, and spaceair-ground-sea integrated networks. This survey provides a reference basis for the construction of networks to mitigate major natural disasters and public safety accidents." (Abstract)
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"This field practitioner’s guide provides step-by-step guidance for creating and using participatory video within a ComDev process. The guide is part of a modular training series, but can be used as a stand-alone resource for self-learning. It is intended for use by communication practitioners, fa
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rmer and civil society organizations, field workers, extension services, farmer field schools and innovation brokers. This guide helps to identify the purpose, content and context for using participatory video as well as the advantages of using video for development, and presents tips about how to use and share participatory video. The guide will enable users to understand how to produce and share participatory video and how to use it to promote change in rural environments by engaging and giving voice to family farmers and smallholders. It explains how to use video to promote dialogue and engagement and to share knowledge and information, using the right e-platforms, tools, methods and practices to display video content and incorporate it in development processes and initiatives. The guide also touches upon the technicalities of video production, including framing shots, devising sequences, following shooting protocols and applying editing techniques.
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"In an examination of development issues appearing in the highest circulated mainstream English daily newspaper in Bangladesh— the Daily Star (DS)— this study discursively argues that this newspaper provided much less attention and even remained silent on development issues related to education
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and agriculture that are of close concern to underprivileged people. The newspaper's silence and inconsistent coverage sidelines social needs important to voiceless people. Their coverage pattern can be likened to snapshots that have no value in solving the issues. The newspaper's coverage favours the elite but dehumanizes and ignores the circumstances of underprivileged people. While problems of development need to be debated in the mass media; the DS would rather remain silent and engage in a social exclusion process that breaches the norms of development journalism. The disinterest has impacts, not only in sidelining development issues, but also in dehumanizing and excluding the circumstances of underprivileged people." (Abstract)
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"Theatre for Development is one of the most dynamic and controversial theatre movements on the global South. Emerging in Southern Africa in the 1970s to address social and economic problems using theatrical techniques, today it is taught in theatre departments across sub-Saharan Africa and employed
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in numerous contexts from health care to agriculture. This book investigates the emergence of TfD from its beginnings to its transformation into a coherent organizational field capable of attracting significant governmental and NGO funding. Drawing on leading African scholars and practitioners the volume examines the complex transnational processes that led to the institutionalization of Theatre for Develoment." (Publisher description)
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"This study examines the role of community radio in increasing climate change awareness in Malawi. The article broadly reaffirms the importance of community radio in Africa in democratizing media access, more interestingly by using radio listening clubs in the production process and participation. T
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he study used focus group discussions, participant observation and analysis of radio programs produced by members of Chanco Community Radio listening clubs. The study found that although spaces in which communities participate are controlled by experts, community radio and radio listening clubs have emerged as spaces for marginalized voices to share knowledge, and experiences about climate change and influence change." (Abstract)
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"KI verschlingt viele Ressourcen und hat oft negative Folgen für unsere Gesellschaft und unsere Umwelt. Um KI nachhaltig und sinnvoll einzusetzen, sind wir alle gefragt: Wir sollten gemeinsam entscheiden, wozu wir KI brauchen – und wozu nicht. Ob in Zukunft KI-Systeme entwickelt werden, die uns a
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llen dienen, hängt auch von den richtigen politischen Rahmenbedingungen ab. Erste europaweit geltende Verpflichtungen, KI-Produkte nachhaltiger zu gestalten, könnten bald mit der KI-Verordnung der Europäischen Union eingeführt werden. Allerdings scheinen die nationalen Regierungen wenig Interesse daran zu haben, in der Verordnung zu verankern, dass Umweltauswirkungen von KI-Technologien gemessen werden müssen. Sie handeln damit fahrlässig und werden ihrer politischen Verantwortung nicht gerecht. Wir werden erst wissen, wie umweltschädlich diese Technologien sind, wenn umfassende Messwerte dazu vorhanden sind. Das Problem verschwindet nicht einfach, wenn wir es ignorieren. Mit aussagekräftigen Daten würden wir das Problem besser verstehen und mehr Druck auf die politischen Entscheidungsträger*innen ausüben können. Aus diesem Grund brauchen wir mehr davon. Wir sollten also einfach mit dem Messen anfangen. Dieses Magazin lädt dazu ein, mehr über konkrete Möglichkeiten nachzudenken, wie die Entwicklung und der Einsatz von KI-Technologien besser reguliert werden könnten: über mehr Transparenz bei ihrem Energie- und Wasserverbrauch, über Verbote schädlicher Anwendungen oder über stärkere Anreize, sie effizienter zu machen." (Editorial, Seite 3)
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"Risk and crisis communication (RCC) is a complex constellation of multiple actors, platforms, and voices. It involves institutional actors but also laypeople. Participation by social media users can both facilitate and obstruct effective RCC. The present study draws on in-depth interviews with Swed
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ish Facebook users, and explores motivational factors for lay participation in RCC in the context of vaccination utilizing Peter Dahlgren’s (2011) model. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, it identifies three dominant clusters of participation motivations: personal interest, information brokerage, and persuasion. Second, the results show that Facebook sociality is characterized by asynchronous communication, loops, and widespread hostility. Third, degrees of content visibility set up “zones of peace” (backstage, safe communication spaces) and “zones of fight” (frontstage, open sub-arenas where various views on vaccination are debated). Moreover, the study finds that these forms of sociality and levels of visibility can both strengthen and undermine user motivations." (Abstract)
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"The religious dimension of Chinese cinema is, it has been observed, a "triple lacuna" in contemporary scholarship: in research on religion in China, in research on Chinese cinema, and in interdisciplinary research on film and religion. From 2002 to 2012, independent filmmaker Gan Xiao'er directed t
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hree low-budget features that portrayed rural Christianity in China, a subject almost entirely absent from both Chinese mainstream media and independent films. In this article, I analyze Gan's films by locating them in their social, political, and religious contexts, by comparing them with other Chinese films, and by linking them to the tradition of Western films that portray spirituality. I observe a progression in themes and style from Gan's first feature, The Only Sons, CN 2002, to his third, Waiting for God, CN 2012. I seek to show that Gan developed a restrained directorial style in order to connect with the spirituality of Chinese peasants. Although he had to grope in the dark on many aspects, his engagement with Christian themes has greatly expanded the narrative space of Chinese cinema. "(Abstract)
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