mediadev library

Lauren Kogen

International Journal of Press/Politics, volume 29, issue 4 (2024), pp. 1090-1108

"The terms ‘indices’ and ‘indicators’ may immediately cause eyelids to droop. How, then, might they serve to impassion publics and, ultimately, promote social change? This paper examines the extent to which indices and indicators can be considered communication tools for social movements and ... more

External Link (11)

Google Scholar (10)

WorldCat (10)

Communicating for Social Change: A Model of Communicative Power

Lauren Kogen

International Communication Gazette, volume 84, issue 7-8 (2022), pp. 591-612

"There are two fundamental concerns about global communication for social change (CSC) research and practice that guide the present study. The first is whether CSC researchers are collecting evidence regarding whether interventions work, the second is whether the sub-field is building theory about h ... more

External Link (11)

Google Scholar (11)

WorldCat (11)

Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change
Top Insights

Jan Servaes (ed.)

Singapore: Springer (2020), 2 vols.

"The book contains 85 chapters written by persons who have been on those frontlines of communication and development [...] A variety of case studies appear in the book. For example, Kriss Barker and Fatou Jah – in a chapter titled “Entertainment-Education in Radio: Three Case Studies from Africa ... ” – explore in detail projects in Nigeria, Burundi and Burkina Faso that used a communication intervention approach advanced by the Population Media Center. Other chapters in the Handbook take the reader to Spain, Kenya, South Africa, Kazakhstan, and beyond. Song Shi examines “ICTs and Modernization in China,” revealing that assumptions and theories of the modernization paradigm have significantly influenced the policies and projects on ICT4D in contemporary China. And, Song Shi writes, discussion on the potential of other approaches in ICT4D in China has also emerged among scholars. Hina Ayaz discusses the “Multiplicity Approach in Participatory Communication” in Pakistan – wherein the country adopted the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – only to run into negative perceptions and banning of polio vaccinations. However, a shift to a more successful approach, grounded in UNICEF’s social mobilization and communityinvolvement communication strategy, brought significant success. While many of the Handbook case studies incorporate participation as a significant development factor, they also address a wide range of social and political issues including, for example, civic engagement, sexual harassment, empowerment, and community voices. In addition to an abundance of case studies from around the world, the Handbook delves into various research methods that are being used to understand and design communication for development and social change interventions [...] Handbook editor Jan Servaes' own chapter (with Rico Lie), “Key Concepts, Disciplines, and Fields in Communication for Development and Social Change ” identifies five clusters of concepts and practices that are evident in the field today and which determine the activities and approaches in communication for sustainable development and social change interventions: The clusters are (1) a normative cluster of concepts; (2) a cluster of concepts that sets an important context for communication activities for development; (3) a cluster of strategic and methodological concepts; (4) a cluster of concepts that relate to methods, techniques, and tools; and (5) a cluster of concepts that addresses the practices of advocacy, (participatory) monitoring and evaluation, and impact assessment. The authors extend their discussion into three subdivisions: (1) health communication, (2) agricultural extension and rural communication, and (3) environmental communication (including climate change communication). This leads the reader into issues related to (1) right to communicate; (2) education and learning; (3) innovation, science, and technology; (4) natural resource management; (5) food security; (6) poverty reduction; (7) peace and conflict; (8) children and youth, women, and senior citizens; and (9) tourism. Some of the forerunners of development communication have not been forgotten. In “Daniel Lerner and the Origins of Development Communication”, Hemant Shah links Lerner’s 1958 book Passing of Traditional Society to today’s modernization and faith in technology to solve social problems. Also contributing to the foundation of this field is Paulo Freire who contributed much to idea that participation should be a vital part of the development dialogue. Ana Fernández-Aballí Altamirano’s chapter on "The Importance of Paulo Freire to Communication for Development and Social Change" highlights his main work Pedagogy of the Oppressed as a "before-and-after" in the fields of education, research, and communication, initially in Latin America and later in both North and South. Particularly in the case of development communication and communication for social change, the author stresses, Freire’s work had a definitive impact ..." (Review by Royal Donald Colle, Journal of Development Communication, vol. 30 (2), page 92-94) more

External Link (13)

Google Scholar (13)

WorldCat (10)

Evaluations and Impact Assessments in Communication for Development

Lauren Kogen

In: Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change

Jan Servaes (ed.)

Singapore: Springer (2019), 17 pp.

"Within the development field, project evaluations and impact assessments are essential. Donors are increasingly requiring rigorous evaluations in order to (1) ensure that aid dollars are spent on projects that are having positive impacts and not being wasted on projects that are ineffective and (2) ... more

Google Scholar (8)

WorldCat (9)

Marketplace of Ideas or Little Shop of Horrors? Comparing US News Coverage of Local and Distant Suffering

Lauren Kogen

In: Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), pp. 393-412

"While we might blame news audiences for their short-lived engagement with foreign crises, their reactions are far less surprising when we look carefully at what news stories truly communicate to readers. As illustrated above, the subtle lessons the news media teach audiences about foreign crises wo ... more

External Link (12)

Google Scholar (10)

WorldCat (12)

Small Group Discussion to Promote Reflection and Social Change: A Case Study of a Half the Sky Intervention in India

Lauren Kogen

Community Development Journal, volume 54, issue 4 (2019), pp. 695-712

"An important sub-discipline within the field of Communication and Social Change addresses how meaningful participation can be practically implemented. This article presents the case of an intervention developed by the NGO ‘Half the Sky Movement’ and reflects upon how participation took shape wi ... more

Google Scholar (9)

WorldCat (8)

Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond
Top Insights

Allan Thompson (ed.)

Waterloo, Ontario: Centre for International Governance Innovation (2019), x, 637 pp.

"The book includes an extensive section on the echoes of Rwanda, which looks at the cases of Darfur, the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and South Sudan, while the impact of social media as a new actor is examined through chapters on social media use by the Islamic State and in Syria and in other ... more

External Link (13)

Google Scholar (11)

WorldCat (10)

Communication in International Development: Doing Good or Looking Good?
Top Insights

Florencia Enghel, Jessica Noske-Turner (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2018), xiv, 182 pp.

"International development stakeholders harness communication with two broad purposes: to do good, via communication for development and media assistance, and to communicate do-gooding, via public relations and information. This book unpacks various ways in which different efforts to do good are com ... more

External Link (12)

Google Scholar (9)

WorldCat (9)

How Media Portrayals of Suffering Influence Willingness to Help: The Role of Solvability Frames

Lauren Kogen, Susanna Dilliplane

Journal of Media Psychology, volume 31 (2017), pp. 92-102

"When we hear stories of distant humanitarian crises, we often feel sympathy for victims, but may stop short of taking action to help. Past research indicates that media portrayals of distant suffering can promote helping behavior by eliciting sympathy, while those that prompt a more rational respon ... more

External Link (12)

The Use of IVR to Support Monitoring and Evaluation of Media Interventions: A Case Study of the VOTO System in Rwanda

Lauren Kogen, Briar Smith

Philadelphia, PA: Annenberg School for Communication, Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) (2016), 21 pp.

"This report described a pilot study using the VOTO Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform to 1) distribute content and 2) collect quantitative and qualitative monitoring and evaluation data regarding a media program in Rwanda. In addition to showing that the VOTO system worked well as a distribu ... more

External Link (9)

Google Scholar (8)

WorldCat (7)

Not Up for Debate: U.S. News Coverage of Hunger in Africa

Lauren Kogen

International Communication Gazette, volume 77, issue 1 (2015), pp. 3-23

"This article explores how the U.S. news media construct the topic of hunger in Africa for U.S. audiences. Specifically, the article addresses how newspapers define and delimit the relationship between U.S. citizens and foreign sufferers. Through a framing analysis and critical discourse analysis of ... more

Download (0)

In Search of Local Knowledge on ICTs in Africa

Iginio Gagliardone, Ashnah Kalemera, Lauren Kogen, Nalwoga, Lilian, Nicole Stremlau, Wakabi Wairagala

Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, volume 4, issue 1 (35) (2015), pp. 1-15

"This article explores whether, and to what extent, local knowledge features in research on the role of ICTs in statebuilding and peacebuilding in Africa, with a particular focus on neighboring Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. We question whether the claims of the transformative power of ICTs are backe ... more

Download (0)

Assessing Impact, Evaluating Adaptability: A Decade of Radio La Benevolencija in Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC

Lauren Kogen

Annenberg School for Communication, Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS);Altai Consulting (2014), 38 pp.

"RLB’s interventions in Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC have achieved significant knowledge, attitude, and behavior changes. Among the most notable of these: With respect to gains in knowledge, members of RLB’s audience have gained better understandings of the cycle of violence and methods used by ... more

Download (0)

Testing a Media Intervention in Kenya: Vioja Mahakamani, Dangerous Speech, and the Benesch Guidelines

Lauren Kogen

Philadelphia, PA: Annenberg School for Communication, Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) (2013), 29 pp.

"Susan Benesch, human rights scholar, genocide prevention fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, has, over the last several years, developed an analytical framework for identifying ‘dangerous speech’ ... more

Download (0)

Evaluating Media & Communication in Development: Does Evidence Matter?

Lauren Kogen, Amelia Arsenault, Iginio Gagliardone, Alison Buttenheim, Ken Winneg

Annenberg School for Communication, Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) (2012), 97 pp.

"BBC Media Action has made strengthening the evidence base of reports, data sets, and analysis about the role of media and communication in democratic development a priority. Yet, the extent to which different donor organizations, foundations, think tanks, practitioners, and academics utilize resear ... more

External Link (8)

Communication for Peacebuilding Priority Grant Program: Learning Group Report

Lauren Kogen, Nina Sheth

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2012), 16 pp.

"This report summarizes the findings of the learning group that was formed by the three grantees of USIP’s 2011 Communication for Peacebuilding priority grant program: Radio La Benevolencija in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Internews Network in the Central African Republic; and The World Polic ... more

Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change Top Insights

Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond Top Insights

Communication in International Development: Doing Good or Looking Good? Top Insights

Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change
Top Insights

Media and Mass Atrocity: The Rwanda Genocide and Beyond
Top Insights

Communication in International Development: Doing Good or Looking Good?
Top Insights