"This paper systematically reviews empirical research published from 2002 to July 2015 investigating journalists’ occupational stressors, coping strategies, and the impacts of these variables on the health and well-being of such professionals, whether on their daily work or as special envoys to cr
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itical scenarios. A meta-analytic approach was displayed to analyse the association between exposure to traumatic events during work and journalists’ symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty eight articles met the inclusion criteria and revealed that very few studies distinguish (and none compare) the distress of journalists in their daily work from the distress of reporting major disasters, not a single study addressed positive emotional responses and only one research study focused on an in-depth analysis of the most commonly used coping strategies by journalists. The impacts of occupational stress among these professionals were sorely negative (e.g., burnout, PTSD), and no study was found to address the design and assessment of preventive interventions for these impacts on the health and well-being of journalists. Thirteen studies were included in a random-effects model meta-analysis and a small to moderate effect size (r = 0.272) between exposure to traumatic events during assignments and PTSD was found. The article closes with directions for future studies." (Abstract)
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"The literature emphasizes the importance of accounting for specific needs when it comes to media assistance in conflict-ridden contexts. The reviewed recommendations boil down to establishing communication between different actors (such as oppositional players or media and public professionals) and
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to institutionalising this communication in the form of round-tables, press conferences, or other modi vivendi of dealing with one another in a democratic way. Two aspects are salient throughout the reviewed areas “journalism training”, “capacity building for civil society actors”, and “capacity building for political leaders”: The need for multi-stakeholder dialogue and an emphasis on creating awareness of the general value of communication. Differences across the reviewed areas seem rooted in the amount of practical experience gained so far with the respective group of beneficiaries. Future research is well-advised to adapt its focus accordingly. Examining “best practices” is especially relevant when it comes to journalism training. An understanding of support offered to activists can be gained by identifying specific challenges to civil society organisations." (Executive summary)
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"This paper provides a critical overview of the literature on media and conflict by focusing on the ways in which contemporary media frame different types of political conflict. It reveals a fractured field. There is an extensive literature on how media report on wars, on election campaigns and popu
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lar protest and social movements in western democracies, as well as some research on media coverage of violent conflicts in non-democratic regimes and democratising states, but there are only limited attempts to draw parallels between the media coverage of different kinds of conflicts and little cross-fertilisation of findings from the disparate literatures." (Executive summary)
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"This resource guide assesses the broad role of information and communication in disaster situations and complex emergencies. It highlights a number of distinct communication phases or cycles associated with emergency or crisis communication, as well as defining the broad range and diversity of init
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iatives associated with communication in such situations. The guide defines a number of frameworks for use in rapidly assessing a situation, the resultant information needs and the contextual constraints. It also defines a number of important principles associated with effective crisis communication and provides links to ‘best-practice’ resources that offer additional detail." (Conclusion, page 57)
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"Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their
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communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones.
Though most communication research examines on individual and group usage of smartphones, a few people outside of the more technical journals and books have sketched—at least in overview form—the key factors for smartphone success, what Goggin and Hjorth (2014b) identify as infrastructure, economics, and policy. Apart from the manufacture of the handsets, smartphones require an infrastructure of telecommunications operators, with systems across the world divided between national telecommunication services and competing privately owned companies (Curwen & Whalley, 2014; Feijóo, 2014). Secondly, smartphones depend upon both formal and informal economies, from the manufacture and sale of the phones themselves to the production and sale of the apps to the revenues supporting particular app services (music sales, data storage, on-demand services, and so on) (Lobato & Thomas, 2014). Goldsmith (2014) adds a bit of detail, describing an app ecosystem: “Each ecosystem consists of a core company, which creates and maintains a platform and an app marketplace, plus small and large companies that produce apps and/or mobile devices for that platform” (p. 171). Finally, both manufacturers and operators must negotiate agreed-on technical specifications for voice and data transmission, specifications that governments must approve both locally and perhaps in cross-border treaty agreements (Middleton, 2014). These factors lead to a more complex view of smartphones: not only do they function as communication devices and embodiments of technical negotiations, but they also take on identities as symbols of economic and cultural systems, as “moral objects” (whose value justifies their purchase price), as fashion accessories, and as lifestyle supports (Koskinen, 2012, p. 225)." (Introduction, pages 3-4)
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"This rapid review identifies recent literature on the role of social media plays in conflict management in post-Conflict and fragile contexts. Conflict management refers to policies relating to national reconciliation; peace-building; stronger state-Citizen relations; and social cohesion and inclus
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ion. In most of the literature, social media was grouped in with new media and information communication technologies (ICTs). The evidence base for this area is weak despite much enthusiasm over the potential impact social media could have. Very little analysis of the impact of social media on conflict has been carried out." (Page 1)
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"We are very happy to publish the second edition of The World through Picture Books, enriched with sixteen new annotated lists. This new edition proves even more the very enthusiastic, skilled participation of librarians and the great success of this international programme. The programme deals with
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something we children’s librarians must never lose sight of, even if we are so busy with new technologies, budget restrictions, everyday work…: read children’s books and choose the best ones for our readers. And what does “best” mean? One thing it surely means is very good books from the readers’ own country and from as many other countries as possible… This is why, inspired by Kazuko Yoda’s request to our Committee for advice on the” top ten” picture books in Committee members’ countries, we launched “The World through Picture Books” programme in 2011. Librarians from fifty-two countries (or parts of countries) have made their choices which we publish here, with book presentations in the thirty-seven languages of publication, together with the English translation. Papers on picture books in several countries were presented at IFLA conferences in Helsinki, Singapore and Lyon and are on-line. Thanks to publishers’ generosity, two sets of touring book exhibitions were made, that have been shown in Finland, Japan, Korea, Italy, France, Reunion Island and Serbia. These collections are based in the National Libraries of France and Japan and are available to be booked by any country wishing to exhibit them." (Foreword)
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"[...] Specifically, we argue that development programs with an eye on instrumental outcomes are well-served by the cultivation of an understanding of broader digital practices—of people’s increasingly digital lives. This work explores not only what devices people use, but also how they get onli
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ne and what they do once there. These representations of digital practices must be fluid and current, given the rapidly changing landscape of Internet connectivity and digital services, and must identify opportunities for new inclusive business models and behavioral interventions. Therefore, this report contributes to the evidence base for development practice and for theory in several ways.
Chapter One offers a sketch of Caribou Digital’s three-part overarching approach to understanding emerging digital practices in context, with an eye specifically on bridging the gaps between development and daily life, and between the micro-level perspective of individual users and the macro-level forces impacting the landscape of digital resources available to them. Chapter Two details results from extensive interviews with experts in the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) that help place the current M4D wave in the context of more durable past and future factors. In Chapter Three, our reports on new primary research with users in Uganda, Ghana, and Kenya yield a broader and up-to-the-minute story of how mobile technologies are currently the center of users’ digital lives. Chapter Four concludes the report with a synthesis of these two streams, suggesting that our portrayal of users’ “Digital Days” can provide a user-centric lens to understand how technologies and practices are intertwined, how they vary between contexts, and how they might enable and structure development interventions." (Executive summary)
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"This study is a descriptive literature review. The purpose of this literature review is to describe factors which associate behavior and behavior change in the communities and to describe communication and communication methods which have been used in behavior change communication programs in devel
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oping countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of the study is to provide information about health behavior communication in community and used methods which can be utilized in behavior change campaign in developing countries.
The study followed the process of descriptive literature review. After the identification of the research question, data were collected from the scientific databases, Academic Search Premier and ProQuest, and manually from the other sources between February and August 2015. 39 researches were accepted to this review, most of them were published in 2009 or after and conducted by the quantitative method. Data were analyzed by the descriptive synthesis. The synthesis produced seven main themes which contained factors related behavior and behavior change and communication.
Communal and personal issues, culture, education and knowledge, economy and access to goods are related to behavior and behavior change as well as way of communication. The above mentioned issues, both individual and community are interwoven to each other and therefore behavior change need to be seen in wider context. Community’s influence on behavior is stronger in comparison with the individual’s own capability to behavior change and therefore the involvement of the community from the beginning is a key issue for the success of behavior change campaigns. Various media channels can be used to deliver the message of behavior change and combination of many communication methods such as mass media and personal communication predicts better outcome." (Abstract)
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"This article reviews the state of research on citizen journalism over the past decade. The key areas covered include the ways traditional journalism has responded to this phenomenon from its early criticisms and later clumsy embrace of citizen content; the promises and perils of hyper-local citizen
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journalism; the intersections of social media tools and individual citizen content creators such as those on blogs and Twitter; citizen journalism in the hands of activists; and the conditions for citizen reporting in authoritarian contexts. The article ends with recommendations for future research." (Abstract)
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"This literature review focuses on the value of investing in building the communication capacity of broadcasters in the ASEAN region, for the purpose of strengthening civic resilience and sustainability of socioeconomic development in the context of environmental disasters. Both are drivers for pove
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rty alleviation. It serves as an orienting piece to the ABC ID in-country program activities that have been conducted in the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was used as a resource to brief the program team before they conducted their field trips to apprise them of the situation in each of the countries. The review adopts a regional perspective on disaster risk reduction and emergency broadcasting with examples of disaster communication in localised environments." (Page 2)
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"Young People Combating Hate Speech Online is a project of the Council of Europe’s youth sector running between 2012 and 2015. The project aims to combat racism and discrimination in their online expression of hate speech by equipping young people and youth organisations with the competences neces
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sary to recognize and act against such human rights violations. Central to the project is a European youth media campaign which will be designed and implemented with the agency of young people and youth organisations. As a preparation for the project, the Council of Europe’s Youth Department commissioned three “mapping” studies about the realities of hate speech and young people and projects and campaigns about it. These studies are published here as a resource for the activists, youth leaders, researchers, partners and decision makers associated to the project and the online campaign. They are truly a starting points: more research is needed, both on the legal and policy implications of hate speech online as on its impact and relation with young people." (Back cover)
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