"This white paper summarizes the outcomes of the initial phase of the Digital Infrastructure Investment Initiative (DIII), launched in 2024 by the ITU in collaboration with the International and Regional Development Finance community, and in coordi
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nation with the G20 Brazil Presidency. The initiative also benefitted from the advice and feedback of over 40 organizations who comprised the DIII Working Group.
The aims of the DIII in its initial stage are:
i) Understand the digital infrastructure investment gap and opportunity: Despite the increase in internet usage in recent years, 35% of the global population does not use the internet at sufficient speeds. This percentage increases to 54% in low and lower-middle-income countries, primarily due to the absence of necessary infrastructure. Developing this infrastructure is estimated to require at least USD 1.6 trillion, according to high-level calculations by the DIII.
ii) Develop a framework that describes the key areas that need to be addressed to increase investment and measure a country’s digital infrastructure investment readiness: By exploring the factors affecting investments, the DIII has identified five archetypal challenges that hinder investments in digital infrastructure. These challenges are demand fragmentation, significant gaps in core infrastructure, unclear digital agendas and policies, execution risks, and country risks. The presence and significance of these challenges depend on the context.
iii) Identify innovative financing mechanisms and instruments that international organizations and private or public plurilateral/multilateral financing institutions can implement to accelerate reaching the target of universal and meaningful connectivity by 2030: Closing the digital infrastructure investment gap will necessitate the identification and deployment of innovative financing mechanisms and instruments. Through a series of discussions, the DIII has identified a range of initiatives, including platforms for pooled digital investments and technical forums designed to enhance coordination and share best practices. Detailed in the report, these initiatives aim to enable stakeholders to improve coordination and collaboratively finance infrastructure projects.
With this document, the initiative aims to inspire multistakeholder solutions through innovative financing of digital infrastructure, moving toward the goal of providing universal, meaningful connectivity to the 2.6 billion unconnected individuals across the world by 2030." (Executive summary)
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"For analysing populist and dis- and minformation-driven campaigning, three sub-groupings of South African Twitter deserve particular attention. A) A community of radical populists made of black consciousness voices emphasising the struggle against 'white
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monopoly capital,' using this phrase as a disinformation strategy initially run by Bell Pottinger back in 2017, which had the effect of polarising white and black South Africans. This community was the audience the EFF and RET audience appealed to. B) A community galvanised around the #PutSouthAfricansFirst hashtag and movement and its über-nationalism and xenophobia - disdain for primarily African foreign nationals. Influencers used this hashtag to demonise foreign nationals for crime, unemployment, homelessness and other disinformation. Political parties such as ATM and ActionSA used the same hashtag to campaign for votes under the guise of calling for the integrity of South Africa's borders and jobs. Their nationalist calls continued to form a crucial part of these parties' messaging, even as they benefited from the negative sentiment generated towards foreigners by the more strident anonymous accounts. C) A community of minority ideologies and groups predominantly made up of South Africa's white body politic polarised from the rest of South African Twitter influenced by overlapping harmful iterations of Libertarianism and Conservatism. Conspiracy theorists, Covid-19 denialists, anti-institution, anti-vaxxers reside within this community with imported overt MAGA-style Trumpian Alt-Right. The DA, Cape Party, ACDP appealed to this community. An analysis of tweets generated in the lead up to the election showed that one in four tweets were generated by the EFF community, underscoring the extent to which that party dominated the platform. However, it also highlights the disconnect between Twitter and the 'real world'. The EFF was only the third-largest party with roughly 10% votes." (Lessons learned and conclusion, page 99)
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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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"The first handbook on global media ethics; provides a valuable resource for teaching media ethics in a global era; addresses all major approaches to global media ethics; contains contributions by leading, internationally recognized authors in the field of media ethics." (Publisher description)
"Ecocriticism and environmental communication studies have for many years co-existed as parallel disciplines, occasionally crossing paths but typically operating in separate academic spheres. These fields are now rapidly converging, and this handbook aims to reinforce the common concerns and methodo
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logies of the sibling disciplines. The Routledge Handbook of Ecocriticism and Environmental Communication charts the history of the relationship between ecocriticism and environmental communication studies, while also highlighting key new paradigms in information studies, diverse examples of practical applications of environmental communication and textual analysis, and the patterns and challenges of environmental communication in non-Western societies. Contributors to this book include literary, film and religious studies scholars, communication studies specialists, environmental historians, practicing journalists, art critics, linguists, ethnographers, sociologists, literary theorists, and others, but all focus their discussions on key issues in textual representations of human-nature relationships and on the challenges and possibilities of environmental communication. The handbook is designed to map existing trends in both ecocriticism and environmental communication and to predict future directions." (Publisher description)
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"There are a multitude of UN legal instruments which pertain to the rights of freedom of expression and information, and this book is the first to comprehensively map them and their function. It details the chequered history of both rights within the UN system and evaluates the suitability of the sy
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stem for overcoming contemporary challenges and threats to the rights. Leading scholars address key issues, such as how the rights to freedom of expression and information can come into conflict with other human rights and with public policy goals, such as counter-terrorism. The book's institutional focus comprises five international treaties, UNESCO and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression." (Publisher description)
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"This book examines the crucial role the media played in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, bringing together local reporters and commentators from Rwanda, Western journalists, and media theorists. Part One (eight articles) describes and analyzes "Hate Media in Rwanda", mainly, but not exclusively, focusing
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on Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM). Part Two (thirteen articles) presents a critique of international media coverage of the genocide, including not only the United States and Western Europe, but also Kenya and Nigeria. Part three (five articles) covers the deliberations by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the role of the media in the genocide, identifying various missed opportunities. Part Four, "After the Genocide and the Way Forward" (six articles), goes beyond the Rwanda experiences, tackling issues like the use and abuse of media in vulnerable societies. The authors outline how censorship and propaganda can be avoided, argue for a new responsibility in media reporting, and give recommendations for media intervention in the prevention of genocidal violence." (CAMECO Update 1-2008)
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"Cet ouvrage innovateur et unique cristallise l'état actuel de la réflexion sur le témoignage de foi chrétienne dans les médias. Les conférenciers provenant d'universités, de médias et de diverses sphères religieuses et professionnelles, donnent à l'ouvrage une dimension interreligieuse et
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multiculturelle très riche. Être témoin de foi chrétienne, qu'est-ce à dire ? Le livre explicite d'abord le témoignage tel que vécu par les chrétiens de la primitive Église et par les croyants et croyantes d'aujourd'hui. Puis, l'ouvrage tente de discerner la relation proprement dite entre le témoignage de foi chrétienne et les médias : qui sera témoin ? de quoi ? où ? quand ? comment ? à cause de quoi ? en vue de quoi ? et avec quelles conséquences pour les religions ? Somme toute, y a-t-il compatibilité ou incompatibilité entre médias et foi ? Certains intervenants remettent en cause des aspects de cette présence, d'autre l'acceptent conditionnellement, bon nombre y croient fermement, et même jusqu'à prôner le côté révolutionnaire de médias religieux parallèles dans le contexte mercantile actuel. Voilà un matériau de réflexion complètement neuf, qui ouvre des perspectives inédites sur la présence de la foi chrétienne en pleine culture médiatique du XXIe siècle." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"Sharing the Front Line and the Back Hills" points to a crisis facing international institutions and the media who seek to alleviate and report human suffering throughout the world. The goals of the editor are to tell the story of thousands of individuals dedicated to helping others; and to integrat
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e issues of protection and care into all levels of planning, implementing and evaluating international intervention and action. The book identifies approaches that have proven useful and explores and suggests future directions." (Publisher description)
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"The growing connections between media, culture and religion are increasingly evident in contemporary society, but until now have rarely been theoretically linked. The contributors to this volume effectively combine these areas into a coherent whole. The issues they examine include: the decline of r
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eligious institutions during the late twentieth century; the increasing autonomy and individualized practice of religion; and the surge of media and media-based icons that are often imbued with religious qualities, and the ensuing effect on cultural practices." (Publisher description)
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"Detailed description of the audio-visual media used in Malaysia — Description of the Malayan Film Unit and the educational radio programmes of the Malayan School Broadcast System." (Jean-Marie Van Bol, Abdelfattah Fakhfakh: The use of mass media in the developing countries. Brussels: CIDESA, 1971
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Nr. 2462, topic code 310.321.1)
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