"What does it mean to decolonise academia in Africa? Is this important project limited to the humanities? Is it a project for the future? Are there forerunners at African universities today? The contributors to this volume show different trajectori
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es for anthropology as a discipline and for decolonising academia across the continent and beyond. They offer a variety of perspectives, especially regarding collaboration between African and German scholars in the areas of research, teaching and institutional development: While some are hopeful and take inspiration from earlier experiences of disciplinary and methodological developments in academic decolonisation and international collaborations, others remain critical and call for more radical attempts at decolonisation." (Publisher description)
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"Established in 1957, the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) has facilitated international exchanges and research collaborations among academics, journalists, and other practitioners, addressing media and communication problems and influencing theory and practice
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through research and participation in global, regional, national, and local debate. The chapters focus on prominent areas of research that have attracted the interest of scholars; political struggles of a membership engaged in research across East and West, global North and global South divides; selected country and regional contributions to the association; and reflections on significant scholarly and institution-building contributions to the association by George Gerbner, James Halloran Stuart Hall, Herbert I. Schiller, and Dallas W. Smythe. Readers will find a history of an academic professional organisation and insights into the controversies, conflicts, failings, and achievements of IAMCR members who developed the field of media and communication research and journalism practice." (Publisher description)
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"What is transdisciplinarity - and what are its methods? How does a living lab work? What is the purpose of citizen science, student-organized teaching and cooperative education? This handbook unpacks key terms and concepts to describe the range of
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transdisciplinary learning in the context of academic education. Transdisciplinary learning turns out to be a comprehensive innovation process in response to the major global challenges such as climate change, urbanization or migration. A reference work for students, lecturers, scientists, and anyone wanting to understand the profound changes in higher education." (Publisher description)
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"This book is the result of a conference that could not take place. It is a collection of 26 texts that address and discuss the latest developments in international hate speech research from
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a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. This includes case studies from Brazil, Lebanon, Poland, Nigeria, and India, theoretical introductions to the concepts of hate speech, dangerous speech, incivility, toxicity, extreme speech, and dark participation, as well as reflections on methodological challenges such as scraping, annotation, datafication, implicity, explainability, and machine learning. As such, it provides a much-needed forum for cross-national and cross-disciplinary conversations in what is currently a very vibrant field of research." (Back cover)
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"It seems that it is not easy for media companies to be more diverse. But it is important. A few companies are trying to appear more diverse in public but there is still much to be done. In the United States, Europe or Germany, minority groups are
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underrepresented throughout. Here are some of our key findings: There is a significant lack of studies on diversity in the media industries besides studies on gender diversity; the distribution of money in the media industry is biased; the media indsutry is lacking bipoc and women; white males are defining the media industries; there needs to be diversity in management before there can be diversity in content." (Key findings, page 37-41)
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"The role of algorithms for producing and curating content as well as potential outcomes of these mechanisms is one of the most debated issues in existing communication research. “Communicating algorithms” affect processes of political, social and interpersonal communication.
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A broad variety of communication fields is thus currently touched on by algorithms, ranging from news exposure, public opinion forming, information retrieval, and political communication processes among others. However, a scientific sound and objective consideration of algorithms as actors in digital (mass) communication is still scarce. The special issue “Algorithms and Communication” addresses this research gap. It presents theoretical as well as empirical results in important fields of communication science, such as media literacy, news aggregation or robotics. With this, it aims to shed light on the black-box of algorithms as “hidden actors” in communication processes." (Abstract)
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"This publication is a collection of a variety of outlooks, recommendations, and input from the participants of the 2020 workshop [for fellows of the CrossCulture Programme (CCP) of the Institut f
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ür Auslandsbeziehungen] and others. On the subject of digital access, CCP alumnus Camilo Olea speaks about the digital divide in Mexico and how his organisation is providing access to indigenous rural communities. The German NGO Superrr demands an open digital infrastructure and more open-source software for a more inclusive digital sphere. Ali (name changed), a Bangladeshi journalist and CCP alumnus, gives an overview of the current state of free speech in Bangladesh. CCP alumna Hend Kheiralla from Sudan shares her view on the role of social media during the Sudanese Revolution and the impact of the internet shutdown. Having experienced severe discrimination online herself, a CCP alumna from Jordan talks about her experiences and the impact of attacks as well as strategies for dealing with them. Love Storm, a German NGO that focuses on countering hatred online, suggests specific measures we can start using directly to create a safe and inclusive online space for everyone." (Editorial, page 3)
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"Open educational resources (OER) are an important emerging genre of teaching and learning materials with the potential for providing significant learning support on a global scale. OER have the capacity to enhance the availability of quality readi
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ng and learning materials to audiences who are not currently accessing traditional print materials. However, the particular supply and demand features of OER give rise to questions about how they could best reach some of the least-resourced target audiences. This report aims to investigate these questions, particularly as they relate to the potential use of OER for helping to meet basic education needs in low-resource environments of Africa. The report draws primarily on three types of data: a review of written sources on OER in Africa, interviews of eight OER supply organizations, and interviews of thirteen teachers, headmasters and leaders of small NGOs in four countries of Africa. This data indicates that, while there is an abundance of OER available, the demand side is much less robust for a range of reasons. Based on analysis and discussion of the data, the report makes several recommendations for enhancing OER use among the target audiences." (Abstract)
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"Religion, Media, and Marginality in Modern Africa is one of the first volumes to put new media and old media into significant conversation with one another, and also offers a rare comparison between Christianity and Islam in Africa. The contributo
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rs find many previously unacknowledged correspondences among different media and between the two faiths. In the process they challenge the technological determinism-the notion that certain types of media generate particular forms of religious expression-that haunts many studies. In evaluating how media usage and religious commitment intersect in the social, cultural, and political landscapes of modern Africa, this collection will contribute to the development of new paradigms for media and religious studies." (Publisher description)
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"This collection covers the major trends of the media environment of the post-Communist world and their recent development, with special focus on Russia and the post-Soviet space. The term ‘media environment’ covers not just traditional print and electronic media, but new media as well, and rang
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es from the political to entertainment and various artistic spheres. What role do market forces play in the process of media democratization, and how do state structures regulate, suppress, or use capitalism toward their own gain? What degree of informational pluralism has been achieved in the newly independent republics? What are the prospects for transparency and the participation of civil society in Russian and Eurasian media? To what degree do trends in post-Communist media reflect global trends? Is there a worldwide convergence with regard to both media formats and political messaging? Western observers usually pay their keenest attention to the role of media in Russia and Eurasia during national elections. While this is a valid focus, the present volume [...] aims at understanding the deeper overall ‘media philosophies’ that characterize post-Soviet media systems and environments, and the type of identity formation that they are promoting." (Publisher description)
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"The overall aim of the workshop was to promote discussion among the archives on their respective practices, to reflect on the practice of interviewing with the involved historians and, last but not least, to find ways to make better use of the interviews available in the archives [...] The first pa
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rt of this reader contains the self-portrayals of the archives involved in the network and presentations of their contemporary witness projects, while the second part features reports from the historians on their practice, including reflections on their approaches. The appendix contains detailed overviews of the archived interviews of contemporary witnesses. Together with the texts, they are intended to give an impression of the interesting interviews that can already be found in the Ecology Archives and to arouse curiosity about their scientific use." (Editorial, page 4)
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"Global Media Giants takes an in-depth look at how media corporate power works globally, regionally, and nationally, investigating the ways in which the largest and most powerful media corporations in the world wield power. Case studies examine not only some of the largest media corporations (News C
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orp, Microsoft) in terms of revenues, but also media corporations that hold considerable power within national, regional, or geolinguistic contexts (Televisa, Bertelsmann, Sony). Each chapter approaches a different corporation through the lens of economy, politics, and culture, giving students and scholars a thoughtful and data-driven guide with which to interrogate contemporary media industry power." (Publisher description)
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"Africa’s Media Image in the 21st Century is the first book in over twenty years to examine the international media’s coverage of sub-Saharan Africa. It brings together leading researchers and prominent journalists to explore representation of the continent, and the production of that image, esp
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ecially by international news media. The book highlights factors that have transformed the global media system, changing whose perspectives are told and the forms of media that empower new voices. Case studies consider questions such as: how has new media changed whose views are represented? Does Chinese or diaspora media offer alternative perspectives for viewing the continent? How do foreign correspondents interact with their audiences in a social media age? What is the contemporary role of charity groups and PR firms in shaping news content? They also examine how recent high profile events and issues been covered by the international media, from the Ebola crisis, and Boko Haram to debates surrounding the "Africa Rising" narrative and neo-imperialism. The book makes a substantial contribution by moving the academic discussion beyond the traditional critiques of journalistic stereotyping, Afro-pessimism, and ‘darkest Africa’ news coverage. It explores the news outlets, international power dynamics, and technologies that shape and reshape the contemporary image of Africa and Africans in journalism and global culture." (Publisher description)
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"This toolkit aims to help global mental health researchers communicate their findings to their stakeholders. The principles in this toolkit can be applied to all stakeholders, including policy-makers, and to key messages about your project’s implementation and policy influence activities. This to
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olkit will help you to know: 1. How to package your key messages to make them remembered and acted upon by your stakeholders; 2. How to plan your communications methods and activities to achieve your project and policy objectives; 3. How to produce communications products, including impact statements, blogs, infographics and policy briefs, to communicate your key messages to your stakeholders." (Overview)
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"Press freedom is a key component of the general level of democracy in a country. Most often, changes in the state of media freedom have happened in tandem with changes in broader freedoms, theref
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ore making it a sensitive indicator of the overall health of a democracy. In some cases, its deterioration might even warn us about bigger forces at work and point to an emerging or consolidating regime that is moving in the direction of restricting both political rights and civil liberties. Overall data on the global trends in the past five years–as shown in the global average overall and subcategory scores in the Freedom in the World report–reinforces this assertion." (Conclusion)
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"This chapter documents the experience of the Communication for Change (C-Change) project in developing and rolling out a holistic and comprehensive socioecological approach to social and behavior change communication (SBCC) within the context of
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a donor-funded program with short term goals. C-Change's SBCC framework uses a socioecological model for change. This model views social and behavior change as a product of multiple, overlapping levels of influence as well as political and environmental factors. The “health belief model” helps to find out why audience's perceptions are not in favor of change in the search for tipping points for change. The chapter describes three characteristics of SBCC. The key models and concepts of the C-Change's SBCC framework are incorporated into at least 75 government programs in Africa. The advocacy and social mobilization strategies of SBCC are aimed at ensuring sustainability through host government “buy-in” and support." (Summary)
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"Advocates for media freedom have consistently argued that corruption goes down when journalists operating in a free media environment are able to expose the excesses of governmental leaders. An evolving body of research finds evidence to support t
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his assertion. Measurement of corruption is a complicated undertaking, and it has received little attention in this literature. This paper focuses on perceptual measures of corruption based on public opinion surveys. It attempts to replicate the finding of a negative relationship between media freedom and corruption using multiple measures of media freedom. The findings challenge the general argument that media freedom unambiguously is associated with lower levels of corruption." (Abstract)
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