"One of the more important ventures in the world of media and development over the past decade has been The Guardian newspaper’s ‘Katine’ project in Uganda. The newspaper, with funding from its readers and Barclays Bank, put more than 2.5 million pounds into a Ugandan sub-county over the cours
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e of 4 years. The project was profiled on a dedicated Guardian microsite, with regular updates in the printed edition of the newspaper. In this article, I look at the relationship that developed between journalists and the non-governmental organisation and show that the experience was both disorienting and reorienting for the development project that was being implemented. The scrutiny of the project that appeared on the microsite disoriented the non-governmental organisation, making its work the subject of public criticism. The particular issues explored by journalists also reoriented what the non-governmental organisation did on the ground. I also point to the ways the relationship grew more settled as the project moved along, suggesting the amount of work that sometimes goes into what is often characterised as the relatively uncritical relationship between journalists and non-governmental organisations." (Abstract)
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"Comprising 39 chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into six general themes: Gendered identities; Visualizing gender; The politics of gender; Gendered contexts and strategies; Gendered violence and communication; Gendered advocacy in action These sections examine
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central issues, debates, and problems including: the ethics and politics of gender as identity, impacts of media and technology, legal and legislative battlegrounds over gender inequality and LGBTQ+ human rights, changing institutional contexts, and recent research into communication and gendered violence. The final section links academic research on communication and gender to activism and advocacy beyond the academy." (Publisher description)
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"Web 2.0 for development (Web2forDev) is a way of employing web services to intentionally improve information-sharing and collaborative production of content for development. It is about how development actors can relate and connect to other stakeholders, produce and publish their own material, deci
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de on levels of access to information and redistribute pieces of content released by others. This publication, a result of the Web2forDev conference at the FAO headquarters in Rome in 2007, shares learning and reflections from practice and considers the ways forward for using Web 2forDev. Eight case studies are presented and discussed. For instance, one interesting experience is the Kenyan website 'Ushahidi' (meaning 'witness' in Kiswahili) as an example of 'crowdsourcing' crisis information: people who witness acts of violence report the incidents they have seen, the incidents are placed on a map-based view on the website for others to see and in most cases are verified by local groups working on the ground. At the post-election violence in Kenya in early January 2008, local radio stations used Ushahidi as an information source. It is also expected to serve in other countries as a tool from early conflict warning to tracking a crisis situation as it evolves. A practical section called "tips for trainers" provides descriptions and links to further information ("where to get started") on blogging, twitter, wikis, social networking, RSS feeds, tagging and social bookmarking. In addition, various articles discuss lessons learnt and challenges identified." (CAMECO Update 4-2009)
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