"The Egyptian revolution was characterized by the instrumental use of social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and text messaging by protesters, to bring about political change and democratic transformation. This article focuses on how these new types of media acted as effective tools fo
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r promoting civic engagement, through supporting the capabilities of the democratic activists by allowing forums for free speech and political networking opportunities; providing a virtual space for assembly; and supporting the capability of the protestors to plan, organize, and execute peaceful protests. Additionally, it explores how these new media avenues enabled an effective form of citizen journalism, through providing forums for ordinary citizens to document the protests; to spread the word about ongoing activities; to provide evidence of governmental brutality; and to disseminate their own words and images to each other, and, most importantly, to the outside world through both regional and transnational media." (Introduction)
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"Our association is already five years old. During those five years we’ve managed to achieve a lot. Above all, we’ve built a structure which allows us to develop futher. In addition, we’ve managed to transfer our mission and common goals onto concrete actions and programs. For five years we’
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ve been organizing workshops on journalism and media training, seminars, debates and conferences. We educate multipliers from all over Europe. At the same time we learn a lot from them. We produce films and reports which have not only the dimension of training, but also allow us to communicate information about the thoughts and problems of the contemporary generation of youth [...] We are excited that our partner network is diverse and very rich. This gives us the conviction that we can cooperate even more and create joint projects. For the past two years we’ve been working on tools and procedures that will help us in this cooperation. Today we want to pass these tools on to you and encourage their use." (Introduction, page 4)
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"The report analyzes data on Twitter and Facebook users in all 22 Arab countries, in addition to Iran, Israel and Turkey, highlighting the role they played in the civil movements that swept the region during that period. This is part of a larger research initiative focusing on social engagement thro
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ugh ICT for better policy in Arab states, which explores the use of social networking services in governance, social inclusion and entrepreneurship promotion. The initiative also studies the potential of social networking applications for increasing collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation, both between and among government entities, citizens and the private sector." (Overview, page 1)
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"This case study demonstrates Panos’s integrated approach to communication for development: combining first person testimony, relationship-building, inclusive dialogue and working with the mainstream media so that the voices of people most affected by development issues contribute to national-leve
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l understanding and decision-making. It examines the long battle by the fishing and farming communities on the shores of Pakistan’s Manchar Lake to achieve national recognition and action on the pollution caused by a government-led land drainage project that has steadily been destroying their livelihoods and health. Panos London and Panos South Asia, local and national civil society organisations (CSOs), the community of Manchar, and local and national media worked together on a range of communication activities and outputs culminating in a People’s Assembly in 2007. The different activities, and the strength of the media coverage they generated, drew provincial and national government officials into dialogue, resulting in a number of positive outcomes for the people of Manchar Lake." (Introduction)
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"During 2010 Kyrgyzstan experienced two periods of conflict that took the country to the brink of civil war: the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April and the ethnic violence in the south of the country in June. The use of blogs and social network sites as well as mobile and multimedia p
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latforms during the upheaval has led some observers to link developments in Kyrgyzstan to other recent cases of social protest where new media has been prominent. However, these events offer no simple answer to the current social media debate. The complex and shifting role of new media as a factor in the events in Kyrgyzstan illustrates that the two conflicts were different in important ways and that new media was used differently in each. While new media made significant contributions to these events, it did not drive them and its importance has to be seen alongside the more conventional mobilization techniques and the role of traditional international media—which was often the source of social media reporting." (Abstract)
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"Pese al clima –por momentos agobiante– de polarización, en Cuba ha emergido una variedad de blogs y de blogueros que buscan sobreponerse a las dificultades políticas y materiales. Más allá de los adjetivos con que cada «bando» busca descalificar a los otros, en los últimos años la exten
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sión de la blogósfera cubana ha sido capaz, no obstante, de construir algunos puentes y espacios que buscan salir de los «monólogos» tanto oficialistas como opositores. Todo ello en un contexto en el que tanto para el gobierno cubano como para el de Estados Unidos la web forma parte de una batalla política de mayores dimensiones." (Resumen)
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"This report documents seven innovative ICT practices – five from India and two from Bangladesh – with the aim of advancing access to information for enhanced transparency and accountability in governance and the improvement of democratic practices and public service delivery." (Page 11)
"Key Findings: About 17 million people in the Arab region are using Facebook, available in Arabic, with 5 million in Egypt alone, and demand is expected to grow on micro-blogging sites. Twitter announced it will launch its Arabic interface in 2011; Arab governments are developing, at varying rates,
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the telecommunications infrastructure for greater Internet connectivity through broadband, mobile Internet, and fiber optic cable to the home for increased Internet speeds and capacities to meet future demands of digital economies and youth, who comprise about half of the regional population; Along with technical capacities come increasing efforts to monitor, filter, and block websites, and harass, arrest, and incarcerate activists or citizens for their online writings. Sites of NGOs and others critical of government have withstood cyber-attacks on content and e-mail accounts; Even when Internet users are not breaching traditional red lines, authorities in the region call upon emergency laws, cyber crimes laws, anti-terrorism laws, ISPs’ terms and conditions, and press and publications laws that provide justification for the arrest, fines, and incarceration of individuals for certain online writing or related activities." (Summary)
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"The starting point of PPTRP has been that real and lasting transparency and accountability are best built from the ground up piece by piece and by ordinary people taking their responsibilities as citizens seriously. It is one of the reasons we subtitled the project and website “Pera Natin ‘to!
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(It’s Our Money!). We wanted to help build public ownership in the issue. Our concern was – and remains still today – that changes introduced at the top by one administration – can so easily be taken away by another unless that change is deeply rooted in the ground and in its people. So we believed- and still believe – that real sustainable change in governance comes only from active and continual participation of citizens. It needs action and engagement at both the national and local level. It needs groups, sectors and communities finding new ways of coming and working together to develop new ideas and build new constituencies and avenues for change. It needs to involve and energise all those hundreds of thousands of honest and professional civil servants across the country who for way too long have quietly despaired going to work each day given the failure of leadership in their own departments and agencies.
All this required and still requires a combined response that uses new thinking and approaches. It required first and foremost the start of a public literacy campaign around public finances since citizens cannot ever hope to adequately monitor or engage in things that they don’t understand. So it was that we built our project equally around information, education, training, capacity building, networking, advocacy and campaigns. So it was that we worked with people’s organizations, civil society groups, media and ordinary members of the public at one and the same time. We figured that everybody had a role to play in building and securing transparency and accountability – and so everybody should get involved.
We started work on a website full of the basics – (www.transparencyreporting.net) accessible and easy to understand information about all aspects of public finance. We assumed little – partly because we knew little ourselves and were learning on the job as we went. We wrote, commissioned and edited material designed to give readers a sense of understanding about how public finances, systems and cycles worked and what kind of issues and problems there were. We tried to identify how and where money was raised and how it was allocated and spent and why and by whom. Invariably it comes down to money. If you can follow the money, you can find the problems and perhaps even help suggest some solutions.
We developed training modules too – modules aimed equally at journalists and activists and ordinary members of the public. And we toured around the Philippines going north and as far south as Tawi-Tawi where we were told few groups ever venture. We encouraged people to report allegations of corruption – but equally we sought out instances of where government was working well and deserved highlighting. It is easy to be negative – but far better to be critically constructive. We received many more allegations than we could investigate – in large part because sources were scared even to follow up and meet with us in confidence. Protection for whistle-blowers remains very much a pressing issue today that needs sorting ...
While all projects must by necessity always remain above the political fray, we were naturally delighted that as things turned out, the new incoming administration made improving transparency and accountability a primary goal. When an initiative finds itself working in support of government policy, it is always easier. So we were delighted to see the issue of political abuse of public projects taken up as were the appointment of some leading proponents of open government to key positions in the administration. We were very fortunate also for the chance to work closely with officials in several key departments and on various initiatives linked to the national budget.
[...] Perhaps one key achievement we might be remembered for, alongside the website which will remain as hopefully a useful resource for those wanting to learn more about public sector finances -- is having set up four local citizen watchdog groups that demonstrate how easy and important it is for ordinary people to get involved and play their part. We hope more groups can follow their lead. People power needs to be much more than a slogan and become a way of life." (Introduction, page 16-19)
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"La publicación recoge la opinión institucional del equipo del ERIC y Radio Progreso acerca de diversos temas de actualidad que son cruciales para la sociedad hondureña. Lo hacen, como siempre, acompañando las luchas de resistencias de los sectores empobrecidos de acuerdo a su opción por la jus
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ticia." (http://centroderecursos.alboan.org)
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"This book is an anthology of work by critical media scholars, media makers, and activists who are committed to advancing social justice. Topics addressed include but are not limited to international media activist projects such as the Right to Communication movement and its corollaries; the importa
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nce of listening and enacting policies that advance democratic media; regional and local media justice projects; explorations of the challenges the era of participatory media pose to public media; youth and minority media projects and activism; ethical dilemmas posed by attempts to democratize access to media tools; the continued marginalization of feminist perspectives in international policy venues; software freedom and intellectual property rights; video activism in both historical and contemporary contexts; internet strategies for defending dissenting voices; and five accounts by prominent scholar/activists of their lifelong struggles for media justice." (Publisher description)
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"This one-volume encyclopedia features around 250 essays on the varied experiences of social movement media over the planet in the 20th and 21st centuries [...] The guiding principles have been to ensure that experiences from the global South are given voice; that women are properly represented amon
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g contributors; that the wide spectrum of communication formats is included; that further reading is provided where relevant; and that some examples are provided of repressive social movement media, not exclusively progressive ones. Thematic essays address selected issues such as human rights media, indigenous peoples' media, and environmentalist media, and on key concepts widely used in the field such as alternative media, citizens' media, and community media. The encyclopedia engages with all communication media: broadcasting, print, cinema, the Internet, popular song, street theatre, graffiti, and dance." (Sage website)
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"Mit „Soziale Bewegungen und Social Media“ liegt das erste Handbuch zum Einsatz von Social Media vor, das sich nicht dem wirtschaftlichen Nutzen und der kommerziellen Verwertung widmet, sondern das für Arbeitnehmer_innen und Betriebsrät_innen, Bürgerinitiativen, NGO und Gewerkschaften geschri
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eben ist. Im Fokus stehen kooperatives gesellschaftliches Engagement, Informations- und Kampagnenarbeit im Sinne autonomer Gegenöffentlichkeit sowie (transnationale) Vernetzung und Zusammenarbeit. Das Buch vereint die Anregungen einiger aufsehenerregender Fallbeispiele mit nützlichen Anleitungen. Es bietet einen umfassenden Überblick und stellt ein praktisches Nachschlagewerk für politischen Aktivismus dar." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The manual has been designed as a resource for teachers or educators interested in using visual images to promote interactive discussion and critical thinking amongst young people about racism and discrimination. The resource can be used within diverse educational settings and is most appropriate f
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or use with young people above the age of twelve. Each poster is accompanied by key learning points as well as several interesting facts or pieces of information which are intended to be used to provoke further discussion. Related human rights touched upon by each poster are also provided from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Wherever possible we have included a short interactive activity that can be carried out with students or a series of suggested questions to ask, in order to introduce the topic of each poster." (Introduction)
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