"Mass and community media can unthinkingly reinforce stigmatisation and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. Beyond the important question of language and image, there are those of care, respect, support, and human dignity. As one writer in this issue comments, "HIV and AIDS is no
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t about 'us' and 'them'. It is about speaking out for community, inclusion, sufficiency, tolerance and justice." (https://waccglobal.org, December 14, 2011)
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"InterMedia conducted in-depth interviews with 15 senior Ghanaian policy actors, comprising mostly senior politicians and bureaucrats, as well as a few influential figures outside government. The interviews focused on how the policy actors gather, assess, share and disseminate information critical t
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o development policy work. The aim was to understand how external stakeholders, particularly members of the international development community, can most effectively engage and assist these policymakers. The policy actors showed substantial overlap in information source preferences and media use habits, as well as in the ways they share information with fellow policy actors. They highlighted several actions that development organizations could take to improve the policy information environment. They also described many challenges in communicating with the public about development issues, as well as offering some creative solutions." (Report summary, page 7)
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"The data highlight statistically significant variations in information access, use and preferences among key demographic segments - notably, between rural and urban respondents, men and women, people with varying levels of education and those living in different regions of the country - all of whic
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h are analyzed in this report. Furthermore, the survey shows that detailed baseline research on media use, ICT use, and communication habits and preferences can be applied directly to development work, which is illustrated in the report by a few hypothetical case studies." (Report summary, page 4)
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"The 52-page report summarised here is the result of the three-year partnership between UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and the Communication for Social Change Consortium in piloting the C4E approach in five least-developed countries: Mozambique, Madagascar, Ghana, Lao PDR, and Nepal. The report present
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s key learning from the information and communication needs assessments conducted in these five countries, funded by a grant from the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF). The implementation of the C4E approach consisted of: (i) information and communication assessments to identify the information and communication needs and identify gaps in meeting those needs; (ii) review of the media context based on the existing research at the national level; (iii) programme interventions informed by the findings of the assessment to ensure economically poor and marginalised groups' participation in decision-making processes. Experiences and lessons from testing the C4E approach in Madagascar and Mozambique in 2007-2008 enabled further refining of the C4E approach and informed the information and communication assessments carried out in Ghana, Lao PDR, and Nepal. As a result, the concept of C4E also widened: from an initial conception as part of UNDP's Access to Information work primarily geared to meeting the information and communication needs of the people through specific media strategies - to an approach that promotes inclusive participation, empowerment of economically poor and marginalised people, and accountability of the state to its citizens. These aspects of C4E, thus, make it an integral part of broader democratic governance and development work." (Summary at the "Communication Initiative" website)
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"Copyright laws and policies cover many controversial issues that are linked to different disciplines, in science, culture, technology, economics, law and other fields. The concepts and issues in the field are also approached from different perspectives and with different political and economic agen
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das, sometimes in a misleading context, and often in an imprecise manner. For this reason, policymaking in the area of copyright, particularly in developing countries, has at best been guesswork and at worst uninformed. At the international level, debates and rule-making on copyright, as with other IP, are punctuated with propaganda, anecdotes and dogma. This is what Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and others have called ‘faith-based’ policymaking. Evidence to justify particular policies or laws is rare. Evidence of the real world impact of specific copyright or, for that matter, other IP laws or policies, is almost unheard of. The ACA2K project is unique because the work summarised in this book provides evidence both for policymaking and of the impacts of copyright in the real world. But this book, and the work of the ACA2K project, is not pioneering only because of the illuminating findings in all the eight study countries. It is pioneering also because of the replicable research methodology developed, and the interdisciplinary collaboration in an area that is usually seen as a preserve of lawyers. The project is also of immense importance because of its focus on education and learning materials in Africa, where copyright is always associated with the positive aspects of promoting African music and culture. This research tells us that while copyright laws and policies might have positive effects in one sector, the same is not necessarily universally true. Other project outcomes, such as building networked research capacity on the areas of IP, knowledge governance and development, and the exploratory work on examining the gender aspects of copyright and access, are also ground-breaking." (Foreword)
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"Around the developing world, political leaders face a dilemma: the very information and communication technologies that boost economic fortunes also undermine power structures. Globally, one in ten internet users is a Muslim living in a populous Muslim community. In these countries, young people ar
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e developing their political identities—including a transnational Muslim identity—online. In countries where political parties are illegal, the internet is the only infrastructure for democratic discourse. In others, digital technologies such as mobile phones and the internet have given key actors an information infrastructure that is independent of the state. And in countries with large Muslim communities, mobile phones and the internet are helping civil society build systems of political communication independent of the state and beyond easy manipulation by cultural or religious elites. This book looks at the role that communications technologies play in advancing democratic transitions in Muslim countries. As such, its central question is whether technology holds the potential to substantially enhance democracy. Certainly, no democratic transition has occurred solely because of the internet. But, as the book argues, no democratic transition can occur today without the internet. According to this book, the major (and perhaps only meaningful) forum for civic debate in most Muslim countries today is online. Activists both within diasporic communities and within authoritarian states—including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan—are the drivers of this debate, which centers around issues such as the interpretation of Islamic texts, gender roles, and security issues. Drawing upon material from interviews with telecommunications policy makers and activists in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Tajikistan, and Tanzania and a comparative study of seventy-four countries with large Muslim populations, this book demonstrates that these forums have been the means to organize activist movements that have lead to successful democratic insurgencies." (Publisher description)
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"Many Ghanaians do not understand the science of climate change, although they have noticed changes in the weather and seasons. They tell of rising temperatures, extended periods of drought and increasing variability in seasonal rainfall. Most people, however, do not connect these with global climat
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e change. Changes in climate are not noticed by Ghanaians in isolation from broader environmental changes. People in Ghana are keenly aware of environmental degradation and natural resource depletion. They make little distinction between environmental degradation and climate change. Drought and crop failure are causing frustration and despair. Farmers and pastoralists do not have a sense of how they would cope if the problems became worse. other issues that people are worried about include bush burning, deforestation, flooding, pollution and poor sanitation. opinion leaders are particularly concerned for rural communities and the urban poor. There is a strong tendency for Ghanaians to hold themselves individually and collectively responsible for local changes in the weather. They believe that their own activities, such as cutting down trees and burning the bush, have directly brought about these changes. There is little awareness that climatic problems – now or in the future – are likely to have causes that extend beyond Ghana." (Executive summary)
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"The media in much of sub-Saharan Africa is severely constrained by several factors: lack of resources, government pressure, the influence of media ownership and the declining quality of secondary education and professional journalism education. In many countries, newspapers are unable to perform th
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e role of watchdog or effectively educate the public in part because of the difficulties faced by the journalists in their employ. Into the breach has stepped a plethora of foreign organizations which provide journalism training. Some of these are non-governmental organizations with a development agenda that seek to promote education about their causes. Others are the training arms of professional media groups (Thomson Reuters, BBC Trust) or are organizations that work on journalism education (the Berlin-based International Institute for Journalism and the International Center for Journalism in Washington, DC). This study—which includes content analysis and interviews with journalists who have received journalism training—considers these training efforts to see how effective they have been. The paper argues that given the challenges faced by the African media, donor-driven training programs will have only a limited effect on the larger media climate." (Abstract)
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"With contributions from an international team of well-known experts, media activists, and promising young scholars, this comprehensive volume examines community-based media from theoretical, empirical, and practical perspectives. More than 30 original essays provide an incisive and timely analysis
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of the relationships between media and society, technology and culture, and communication and community. Key Features: provides vivid examples of community and alternative media initiatives from around the world; explores a wide range of media institutions, forms, and practices—community radio, participatory video, street newspapers, Independent Media Centers, and community informatics; offers cutting-edge analysis of community and alternative media with original essays from new, emerging, and established voices in the field; takes a multidimensional approach to community media studies by highlighting the social, economic, cultural, and political significance of alternative, independent, and community-oriented media organizations; enters the ongoing debates regarding the theory and practice of community media in a comprehensive and engaging fashion." (Publisher description)
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"The main purpose of this review of the published academic literature on Nigerian and Ghanaian video films is to foster self-awareness in this new field of study. This literature has been produced on three continents and out of many academic disciplines; in consequence, scholars tend to make few ref
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erences to others working in the field, debates have been rare, and there has been a great deal of repetition. African Cinema studies, as it had already been constituted, has been slow to recognize and adapt to the video revolution, and film studies in African universities has suffered from the decline of those institutions. Anthropologists have done much of the groundbreaking work in describing the video phenomenon, though Nigerians from a variety of disciplines have also made valuable contributions. Theoretical analyses, cultural interpretations, reception studies, and detailed, extended readings of particular films are all on the agenda for the future."
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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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"This publication offers a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to media education, considering it from three inter-related dimensions: its national, regional and global contexts; its value to citizens and civic participation; and the crucial role of collaboration among governments, civil soc
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iety and the private sector in the process. There are chapters on media education within the framework of educational systems in India, Hong Kong, South Korea, Canada, Ghana and Egypt as well as on civil society media education actors in Spain or Finland. In a cross-cultural perspective, other contributions analyse issues like the curricular contribution to media education, the conceptual convergence between information and communication sciences." (CAMECO Update 3-2009)
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"The book was written mainly to inform rural development professionals, practitioners and decision-makers in a variety of organisations – from NGOs and farmer associations to government departments and research and educational institutions – about the diverse uses of video in development. Specif
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ically, it seeks to give decision-makers greater insight into the subject in order to support decisions on the strategic use of video in development. As such, it draws extensively on practical experiences to illustrate the potential of this powerful communication tool for development." (Introduction, page 1)
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