"This paper aims to be 'an analytical tool designed to help stakeholders assess the state of the media and measure the impact of media development programmes' (page 7). It has been prepared to define indicators of media development in line with the priority areas of the International Programme for t
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he Development of Communications (IPDC). It suggests five major categories of indicators, and each category is broken down into a number of component issues and sources of verification. The five categories are: a system of regulation and control conductive to freedom of expression; plurality and diversity of media; media as a platform for democratic discourse; professional capacity building and supportive institutions; and infrastructural capacity." (CAMECO Update 2-2008)
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"The media has a crucial role to play in any HIV and AIDS program and is a central actor in disseminating accurate information as well as shaping community attitudes towards those most affected. Over the past two years, the media has played an active role in “destigmatizing” the virus and helpin
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g to reduce discrimination against those affected. To prevent a resurgence in HIV infection, the media’s partnership with government ministries and agencies now needs to be strengthened. We must ensure that recent lessons are not forgotten, especially among the hundreds of thousands of young people entering the workforce each year." (Foreword)
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"IPDC’s support for community radio in Nepal has been a strategic, defining factor in the growth of the community media sector. The Programme has regularly supported small, distinct projects that have catalyzed the growth of the sector at different times by promoting replicable models, establishin
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g precedents and benchmarks, and building the capacity of key organizational players. Between 1993 and 1997, IPDC played a key role in the establishment of the country’s first independent broadcaster, Radio Sagarmatha. In 1999, the Programme was instrumental in setting up Nepal’s first rural radio licensee, Community Radio Madanpokhara. In 2002, IPDC provided critical support to Radio Lumbini, the region’s fi rst cooperative broadcaster, and Radio Swargadwari, a station in the heart of the country’s armed conflict. In 2006, IPDC supported the Nepal Association of Community Radio Broadcasters in a broad, sector-wide initiative. Community radio has gone from one license in 1997 to nearly 90 at the end of 2007." (Page 3)
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"This book is meant to present the basics of freedom of information or right to information, defined as the universal right to access information held by public bodies. It presents in an easy-to-understand and non-technical fashion the basic principles of freedom of information, such as maximum disc
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losure, obligation to publish, promotion of open government, limited scope of exceptions and the process to facilitate access. In this new edition, the introduction, the comparative chapter, and the section on international standards and trends, have been totally revised. The country chapters provide an in-depth-analysis to the right of access in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, India, Jamaica, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Uganda, United Kigdom and the USA. According to the author "since the last edition five years ago, we can now say that every region of the world has adopted right to information laws." (CAMECO Update 2-2008)
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"Amidst the fast-changing broadcast media landscape, the present book examined many “balancing acts” which stake-holders both in government and private sector have to undertake to establish and maintain an effective and credible broadcast regulation mechanism. For example, it requires a balancin
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g act to determine which aspects of broadcasting can be regulated to protect citizens rights but at the same time not to provide an opportunity for “powers that be” to curtail freedom. One needs to strike a balance between the independence of the regulator and the government’s own purpose to pursue public policy objectives; and as determining where the balance lies between the potentially conflicting rights of the broadcaster, society, and the individual. Another important contribution of this book is the discussion on new or emerging issues which may create some confusion in the regulatory system, such as jurisdiction issues for cable and telecommunication as carriers of broadcast programmes, issues on spectrum management; issues on broadcasting-related intellectual property rights and the role of the government in the digital switchover. Of special interest to UNESCO is the discussion on licensing community radio stations. UNESCO has always encouraged for allocating frequencies for community radios which serve the needs of marginalized groups. Policymakers, particularly legislators on the lookout for a model regulatory framework and mechanism will find the appended law outline most useful and adaptable because of its comprehensiveness despite its outline format. Meanwhile, a substantial section provides country experiences in terms of model regulatory objects." (Foreword)
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"El trabajo se propone investigar qué es la Sociedad de la Información y qué son las Sociedades del Conocimiento, quiénes han sido los actores y temas en debate y cuál podría ser la ruta crítica que permita analizar si es posible pensar en nuestros días qué otra comunicación es posible." (
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Presentación y resumen ejecutivo)
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"The objectives of this field survey are as follows: to attempt a critical study of the readership of people from different social strata of five specific localities of Kolkata Metropolitan City; to attempt a study of the influence and to measure the encroachment of different media on people’s rea
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ding habit; to attempt an assessment of the probable causes behind the difference in pattern of the reading habits of people in different localities of Kolkata Metropolitan City; to attempt an assessment of the role played by Public Libraries in promoting reading habits; to attempt a mapping of the Information Literacy Competency Level of people living in urban, Industrial and Semi-Urban areas of Kolkata Metropolitan City." (Objectives, page 15)
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"This publication has its genesis in the recommendations and proceedings of UNESCO-supported th international conferences and workshops including the 4 International Conference of Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL2001, Bangalore); the International Co
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nferences on Digital Libraries (ICDL2004 & ICDL2006, New Delhi); and the International Workshop on Greenstone Digital Library software (2006, Kozhikode), where many information professionals of this sub-region demonstrated their Digital Library and Open Access Initiatives. It discusses successful activities in the South Asia subregion bringing closer to the worldwide audience, the subject of access to scholarly literature and documentary heritage. This may thus be considered an authoritative source-book on Open Access Development in this sub-region." (Foreword)
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"In order to promote and bolster linguistic and cultural diversity in cyberspace, the most underprivileged languages need help to gain access to it. If it is possible to do this with a small, oral, unwritten, endangered language, there is all the more reason why this should be possible with all poor
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ly endowed languages which are in somewhat better circumstances. The first stage consists in undertaking the necessary studies in order to develop the linguistic resources that are indispensable: a list of phonemes, an alphabet, a spelling system, a grammar, a dictionary and a collection of texts. The second stage involves work on computerization of the language in order to identify or develop compatible IT resources: a character set in at least one font, a virtual keyboard and corpus processing programmes, which may also be used to fine-tool linguistic analysis of the language and enhance its linguistic resources. The third stage consists in developing and adapting cultural resources so that they may be shared in cyberspace. This means recording and digitizing as many text, sound and graphic records as possible and making them ready for posting on websites. It is also necessary to design the various ingredients of a website, such as menus, navigation bars, titles and other texts for human-machine communication. In some cases, it will be necessary to localize programmes in order to develop the language as a working tool and endow it with supplementary IT resources. Finally, it is useful to learn to develop websites in the poorly endowed language, possibly in tandem with a more widely used language. All tools necessary for such training and tools for creating forums and localizing freeware may be found on the Internet. Once it has a website, a forum, a mailing list, IP telephony, music, still photographs and video, the lesser-used language can now be well ensconced in cyberspace, but to survive there, a community capable of using it intensively must be developed. Assistance to local associations in developing such communities will contribute to the promotion and enhancement of the diversity of languages and cultures in cyberspace." (Conclusion, page 45-46)
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"This paper provides a conceptual framework for the identification of indicators of information literacy (IL) and proposes a pathway for cost effective and timely development. The paper includes a definition of IL; a model that links information literacy with other adult competencies including Infor
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mation and Communication Technology (ICT) skills; and a description of IL standards in education. Issues of IL equality and the implications of cultural diversity are identified." (Executive summary)
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"On the average, the radio sector dominated the print media by ensuring that news and information were thoroughly balanced in a 2-1 ratio. In some instances listed in the report, most of the covered news items from both the print and broadcast media violated Article 12 and 23 of the Press Union of L
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iberia Code of Conduct “Journalists should not publish or broadcast any report or write-up affecting he reputation of an individual or an organization without a chance to reply. That is unfair and should be avoided”. Most of those accused during public hearings were not contacted for reaction, while some of the accused voluntarily reacted but their responses to the allegations received little prominence compared to when the story was first told. Journalists in very rare instances utilized information regarding the mandate, structure, functions and general legal framework of the Commission in providing context to testimony, emerging developments and stories. There were very minimum follow-ups, and where they were made, ‘big names’ were the subject. A repeated example in this research is the story regarding the involvement of a famed musician and current Executive Mansion Aide, Sundaygar Dearboy extensively followed-up by the media. For Newspapers, the New Democrat should be congratulated for devoting the most space and conducting follow-ups on a number of their reports and the quality of their newspaper. However, the paper should strive to clearly delineate its news from its opinion pages. In covering the Charles Taylor Trial and TRC, it is hard to tell when a story is news or opinion. News stories are often linked to feature pages and do sometimes take the form of opinions, with a visible slant seen in some of its coverage." (Summary of findings, page 5)
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