"Inspired by Raymond Williams's 1976 classic 'Keywords', the timely collection Digital Keywords gathers pointed, provocative short essays on more than two dozen keywords by leading and rising digital media scholars from the areas of anthropology, digital humanities, history, political science, philo
...
sophy, religious studies, rhetoric, science and technology studies, and sociology. Digital Keywords examines and critiques the rich lexicon animating the emerging field of digital studies. This collection broadens our understanding of how we talk about the modern world, particularly of the vocabulary at work in information technologies. Contributors scrutinize each keyword independently: for example, the recent pairing of digital and analog is separated, while classic terms such as community, culture, event, memory, and democracy are treated in light of their historical and intellectual importance. Metaphors of the cloud in cloud computing and the mirror in data mirroring combine with recent and radical uses of terms such as information, sharing, gaming, algorithm, and internet to reveal previously hidden insights into contemporary life. Bookended by a critical introduction and a list of over two hundred other digital keywords, these essays provide concise, compelling arguments about our current mediated condition." (Publisher description)
more
"This two-part volume contains a comprehensive collection of original studies by well-known scholars focusing on the Bible’s wide-ranging reception in world cinema. It is organized into sections examining the rich cinematic afterlives of selected characters from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament;
...
considering issues of biblical reception across a wide array of film genres, ranging from noir to anime; featuring directors, from Lee Chang-dong to the Coen brothers, whose body of work reveals an enduring fascination with biblical texts and motifs; and offering topical essays on cinema’s treatment of selected biblical themes (e.g., lament, apocalyptic), particular interpretive lenses (e.g., feminist interpretation, queer theory), and windows into biblical reception in a variety of world cinemas (e.g., Indian, Israeli, and Third Cinema)." (Publisher description)
more
"Recent years have seen numerous attempts by community broadcasters around the world to reinvent their practices in an effort to remain relevant and financially sustainable in the digital age. One proposed initiative is to have community programming distributed via satellite, either in the form of a
...
single channel or as a subscription service for local stations to find programming. Combining two case studies and multiple research methods, this article investigates the potential impact of satellite distribution on community broadcasting in Canada and East Africa. We observe that it is often not the community media organizations themselves that are pushing for satellite delivery, but, rather, outside actors such as media corporations and non-governmental organizations. As a result, we argue that a more spirited discussion within the community media sector is warranted to better understand the implications of this technological shift in delivery mechanisms." (Abstract)
more
"This collection of essays and interviews offers perspectives on traumatic experience from the social and public side of the equation. Like other books in the Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies Series, it is concerned with redressing the balance of public memory through a focus on what has been negle
...
cted or excluded, but traumatic memory poses special problems in this regard. Andrew Hoskins and John Sutton, the series editors, suggest that the question of how we remember has become central to historical enquiry, but the question itself is fraught with complexity. Generational change and new technologies of memory are reshaping the ways in which memory works, and the influence of trauma narratives is a factor in this. They pose another question: ‘What is “memory” under such conditions?’ Here, we focus on the distance between traumatic narratives in the public domain, and the experience of traumatic recall in the mind of a person who has been directly affected by extreme events." (Introduction, page 1)
more
"The three case studies depict a range of repressive efforts that are calibrated to achieve particular ends. Sometimes, the authorities choose to co-opt independent voices. In other instances, the regime may create new government-backed versions of media initiatives or civic organizations which mimi
...
c the form but not the substance of their authentic counterparts. Some techniques emphasize regulatory controls, while others utilize economic or financial pressure. All three regimes rely on broadly worded laws to punish critics and encourage self-censorship. State-run media remain dominant sources of information for most of the population in each country, and are used by the authorities as a weapon to tarnish and subvert the work of civil society activists and independent journalists." (Introduction, page 8)
more
"We asked writers and researchers to examine the quality of coverage and to highlight reporting problems as well as good work. The conclusions from many different parts of the world are remarkably similar: journalism under pressure from a weakening media economy; political bias and opportunism that
...
drives the news agenda; the dangers of hate-speech, stereotyping and social exclusion of refugees and migrants. But at the same time there have been inspiring examples of careful, sensitive and ethical journalism that have shown empathy for the victims. In most countries the story has been dominated by two themes – numbers and emotions. Most of the time coverage is politically led with media often following an agenda dominated by loose language and talk of invasion and swarms. At other moments the story has been laced with humanity, empathy and a focus on the suffering of those involved." (Introduction, page 5-6)
more
"The Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation provides tools for managers and evaluators to address questions about the performance of public and nonprofit programs. Neatly integrating authoritative, high-level information with practicality and readability, this guide gives you the tools and process
...
es you need to analyze your program's operations and outcomes more accurately. This new fourth edition has been thoroughly updated and revised, with new coverage of the latest evaluation methods, including: culturally responsive evaluation; adopting designs and tools to evaluate multi-service community change programs; using role playing to collect data; using cognitive interviewing to pre-test surveys; coding qualitative data. You'll discover robust analysis methods that produce a more accurate picture of program results, and learn how to trace causality back to the source to see how much of the outcome can be directly attributed to the program. Written by award-winning experts at the top of the field, this book also contains contributions from the leading evaluation authorities among academics and practitioners to provide the most comprehensive, up-to-date reference on the topic. Valid and reliable data constitute the bedrock of accurate analysis, and since funding relies more heavily on program analysis than ever before, you cannot afford to rely on weak or outdated methods. This book gives you expert insight and leading edge tools that help you paint a more accurate picture of your program's processes and results, including: obtaining valid, reliable, and credible performance data; engaging and working with stakeholders to design valuable evaluations and performance monitoring systems; assessing program outcomes and tracing desired outcomes to program activities; providing robust analyses of both quantitative and qualitative data" (Publisher description)
more
"Internet Studies has been one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding interdisciplinary fields to emerge over the last decade. The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies has been designed to provide a resource in this area, bringing together scholarly perspectives on how the Internet has been studie
...
d and how the research agenda should be pursued in the future. The book aims to focus on Internet Studies as an emerging field, each chapter seeking to provide a synthesis and critical assessment of the research in a particular area. Topics covered include social perspectives on the technology of the Internet; the Internet's role in everyday life and work; implications for communication, power, and influence; and the governance and regulation of the Internet. The book aims not only to help to strengthen research on the key questions, but also to shape research, policy, and practice across many disciplines that are finding the Internet and its political, economic, cultural, and other societal implications increasingly central to their own key areas of inquiry." (Publisher description)
more
"Examines the impact and reach not only of well-known bloggers such as Cuba’s Yoani Sánchez but also the independent Saudi journalist Ahmed Al Omran, who started writing the Saudi Jeans blog as a pharmacy student to improve his English skills and combat stereotypes about his country; Atiaf Alwazi
...
r, the Yemeni activist and researcher who writes the “Women from Yemen” blog; Kajsa Hallberg Adu, a young Swedish political scientist who has become a leader of the blogosphere in her adopted country of Ghana, and Iris Cecilia Gonzales, a Filipina reporter whose desire to put a human face on economic stories helped her gain an international platform for her blogs about inequality." (Introduction)
more
"This paper draws on interviews with digital security trainers and coordinators of digital security trainings of trainers (ToT)s whose end-goal is the support of human rights defenders, civil society, activists, and local media worldwide [...] Among its main findings, this paper notes the following
...
four gaps: a lack of sustained support for digital security trainers after they receive training at ToT events and return to their own training efforts; a lack of standardized frameworks for determining the effectiveness of digital security ToTs, a lack of standardized frameworks for trainers to conduct digital security training events around the world, pedagogical approaches drawing on extensive research and developments in the field of adult education are not significantly utilized in ToTs." (Executive summary)
more
"Digital Religion offers a critical and systematic survey of the study of religion and new media. It covers religious engagement with a wide range of new media forms and highlights examples of new media engagement in all five of the major world religions. From cell phones and video games to blogs an
...
d Second Life, the book provides a detailed review of major topics; includes a series of case studies to illustrate and elucidate the thematic explorations; considers the theoretical, ethical and theological issues raised." (Publisher description)
more
"A concise edition of the highly acclaimed Oxford Companion to the Book, this book features the 51 articles from the Companion plus 3 brand new chapters in one affordable volume. The 54 chapters introduce readers to the fascinating world of book history. Including 21 thematic studies on topics such
...
as writing systems, the ancient and the medieval book, and the economics of print, as well as 33 regional and national histories of 'the book', offering a truly global survey of the book around the world, the Oxford History of the Book is the most comprehensive work of its kind. The three new articles, specially commissioned for this spin-off, cover censorship, copyright and intellectual property, and book history in the Caribbean and Bermuda." (Publisher description)
more
"After years of marginalization by academics in the Western world, Indian cinemas have moved from the periphery to the center of world cinema in a comparatively short space of time. Bringing together contributions from leading scholars in the field, this Handbook looks at the complex reasons for thi
...
s remarkable journey. Combining an historical and thematic approach, the Handbook discusses how Indian cinemas need to be understood in their historical unfolding as well as their complex relationships to social, economic, cultural, political, ideological, aesthetic, technical and institutional discourses. The thematic section provides an up-to-date critical narrative on diverse topics such as audience, censorship, film distribution, film industry, diaspora, sexuality, film music and nationalism. The Handbook provides a comprehensive and cutting-edge survey of Indian cinemas, discussing Popular, Parallel/New Wave and Regional cinemas as well as the spectacular rise of Bollywood." (Publisher description)
more
"Featuring specially commissioned chapters from experts in the field of media and communications law, this book provides an authoritative survey of media law from a comparative perspective. The handbook does not simply offer a synopsis of the state of affairs in media law jurisprudence, rather it pr
...
ovides a better understanding of the forces that generate media rules, norms, and standards against the background of major transformations in the way information is mediated as a result of democratization, economic development, cultural change, globalization and technological innovation." (Publisher description)
more
"This technical report seeks to understand the impact of improved access to information technology on farmers’ agricultural production and marketing practices in sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on Niger. Related research suggests in that access to mobile telephony can reduce communicatio
...
n and search costs, thereby increasing rural households’ access to price and labor market information. Reducing information asymmetries should, in theory, allow households to better respond to shocks. We find that increased access to a mobile phone via an adult education program increases the diversity of crops planted, particularly marginal cash crops grown by women. This also increases the likelihood that these cash crops are grown, but does not increase the farm-gate price received." (Abstract)
more
"Each chapter explains and then demonstrates a critical method or approach, which students can then apply to interrogate and critique the meanings and forms of comic books, graphic novels, and other sequential art. Contributors introduce a wide range of critical perspectives on comics, including fan
...
dom, genre, intertextuality, adaptation, gender, narrative, formalism, visual culture, and much more." (Publisher description)
more
"With a rise in terrorist activity spreading fear through highly publicized attacks, Pakistan’s media landscape has increasingly been used as a battleground between those seeking to promote violent conflict and others seeking to manage or deter it. Pakistan’s media community has not yet develope
...
d an adequate or widely accepted strategy for responding to this context of persistent extremism and conflict. The rapid rise of extremist radio stations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces has paralleled an increase in terrorist attacks, facilitated by affordable access to FM radio, loose government regulation of broadcast media and militant control of pockets in KPK and FATA. Negative media attitudes toward the Pakistan-U.S. relationship often reflect national political differences and market incentives for sensationalist coverage. These attitudes can be transformed through changes in the diplomatic relationship between the countries based on open communication rather than institutional media reform." (Abstract)
more
"This report provides the results of an evaluation of a CRS adult education program and a mobile phone-based adult education pilot program in Niger. The study found that students in the villages where the pilot project was carried out used mobile phones more frequently and in more “active” ways,
...
particularly by making calls and writing texts, which require more advanced letter and number recognition than for simply receiving calls. Students also had higher math scores after the program was over." (www.crs.org)
more