"Inspired by innovations that emerged from the Kothmale Community Radio and Internet project, Sri Lanka, in 1999 and 2000, UNESCO has since established some fifty CMCs in a wide range of contexts in some twenty countries on three continents. In addition to new facilities and increased local capacity
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in communities around the world, pilot CMCs have involved a wide variety of partnerships, across all levels, and have led to an expanding number of creative and dynamic new initiatives and solutions in key areas, from content creation to financial and social sustainability. Significantly, the first phase of the CMC programme has also led to national ‘scale-up’ projects now underway in Mali, Mozambique and Senegal. This volume not only shares the context and experiences of UNESCO-supported CMCs, but is also intended to facilitate direct, practical cooperation between international and national agencies with CMCs at the ground level by providing a directory of local CMC services and contact information." (Foreword)
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"Section 1 focuses on campaign strategies. Mats Abrahamsson, a former Greenpeace campaign coordinator and founder of the Swedish consultancy Selene, shows you: how to develop a strategic framework for campaigning that helps campaigners choose the activities that can best meet their objectives and av
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oid rushing into activities that misuse time and resources (Section 1.1); how to conduct a “power analysis” that identifies the powers at play and how they interact in order to deploy limited resources where they can have the greatest impact (Section 1.2); how a Greenpeace campaign convinced Coca-Cola to stop using ozone-destroying chemicals in all its refrigeration equipment (Section 1.3). Section Two shows an example of an IFEX member – the Media Institute of Southern Africa – that has realised the need to build on, and go beyond, the issuing of alerts by developing a strategic vision for defending freedom of expression (chapter 7). Section Three provides 10 campaign tools that IFEX members can use to compliment the issuing of alerts. These tools can be used separately or in combination with each other as part of a campaign. Each tool comprises: a toolbox of tips, ideas and questions to consider; a best practice case study of an IFEX member or other organisation that has successfully used the campaign tool; a list of resources for further information." (Page 7)
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"This publication has been produced in order to improve the chances of success of Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) in two ways: 1. To show policymakers how strategic communication can help them to achieve some of their objectives in formulating and executing effective Poverty Reduction Strategies
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; 2. To give the technocrats and officials actively engaged in the execution of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) guidance on best practice as well as lessons from a community of practice spread around the world." (Executive Summary)
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"Konfliktakteure setzen weltweit das Internet in zunehmendem Maße strategisch ein. Lokal ausgetragene Konflikte erhalten so eine neue Dimension: Die veränderte Medialisierung führt zu ihrer Ausdehnung in den globalen Cyberspace. Auf der Grundlage ethnographischer Forschungen zu den Online-Aktivit
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äten christlicher wie muslimischer Akteure im Molukkenkonflikt (1999-2002) untersucht die Studie Prozesse der Identitätskonstruktion und Gemeinschaftsbildung im Internet. Die Autorin leistet damit einen innovativen Beitrag zur Konflikt- und Internetforschung und ebnet methodisch den Weg für eine neue Cyberethnologie." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The role of information and knowledge in development is contentious - whilst information is central to development, practitioners struggle to define a causal link between it and development outcomes. The authors conclude that information-sharing of itself does not necessarily lead to such outcomes,
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unless the processes are in place to support its transformation into knowledge. Based on the principle of technology challenging poverty, this paper summarises the findings from a two-year research project conducted by the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) and Cranfield University into the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) for development. In developing countries most people have little experience of ICTs, little time or money, low levels of literacy, and highly contextualised knowledge and language requirements (representing a challenge known as 'the first mile'). The paper springs from an analysis of the literature, and a case study based on practical experience of a project in Peru. It offers recommendations for practitioners, and suggestions for further research. Changes in the ICT industry such as "convergence" and the reduction of costs lead to hopes that "technology-leapfrogging" will help to bridge the "digital divide". The Peruvian case (a Rural-Urban Information System) project links local information centres (infocentres) in the region to information providers such as government bodies and NGOs working in the region. Project success depends on attention to process, and the authors recommend two key principles: communities need to first specify the development outcomes they want; and projects need to adopt an iterative project cycle. This comprises researching and planning, implementation, evaluation, and learning and sharing, to ensure practitioners repeatedly re-evaluate assumptions, learn from experiences, and involve the community at each stage." (Oxfam Review 10/06)
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"Une presse indépendante est essentielle pour un développement économique équitable : elle contribue à donner la parole aux personnes pauvres et privées de droit. Des médias autonomes participent également à l’édification de bases solides pour une société libre et transparente. Les aut
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eurs, parmi lesquels figurent quelques Prix Nobel, comme Joseph Stiglitz, ancien économiste en chef de la Banque Mondiale et le célèbre Gabriel García Márquez, étudient le rôle des médias comme garde-fous des secteurs publics et privés et la politique en matière de liberté de la presse. Ils jugent également les effets nuisibles que peut causer un journalisme irresponsable et contraire à l’éthique. Un ouvrage de réflexion pour les étudiants, les professeurs et les chercheurs en communication et pour ceux qui s'intéressent au pouvoir et à l'impact des médias." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"Only a handful of the estimated 150 FM radio stations in Mali could properly be called ‘community’ stations, with administrative structures to ensure representative listener participation in decision-making. However, due to regulations and scarce funding sources, virtually all stations depend o
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n their audiences for direct financial support in return for mediated listener-to-listener communications. This article, based on over a year and a half of fieldwork in the southern Malian city of Koutiala, outlines the system of social and technical interdependence that links stations and their listeners in Mali. FM radio depends fundamentally on systems of transportation, and, to a lesser degree, other communication technologies like telephones. Social interdependence is emphasized in the speech of announcers, through an insistence on Islam as a common religion and fictive joking relationships. Referencing the operational structures of the stations in the city, including one community station, I show that a socio-technical system has developed in which local FM blurs standard understandings of ‘community’ media." (Abstract)
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