"Much research on urban development is supply-led - generated by the interests of donors and researchers in the North rather than the needs of poor households in the growing cities of the South, Communicating for Development focuses attention on the most fundamental of questions about development: h
...
ow can the lessons of good practice and innovation and the results of research benefit the poor? The book offers in-depth discussion about how the communication process works - or doesn't work. It questions and challenges: who are the stakeholders; what are the best vehicles for transferring knowledge; why are local networks and intermediaries so important; what can hinder the communication process; and how may these gaps and barriers be overcome? Moreover, the book challenges traditional participatory methods of relating to the needs of poor urban communities and proposes instead the application of new communication and knowledge management methods currently used in business management." (Publisher description)
more
"The bloody conflicts of the past decade have focused international attention on the strategic role of the media in promoting war and perpetuating chaos. Written against this backdrop, Forging Peace brings together case studies and legal analysis of the steps that the United Nations, NATO, and other
...
organizations have taken to build pluralist and independent media in the wake of massive human rights violations. It examines current thinking on the legality of unilateral humanitarian intervention, and analyzes in graphic detail the pioneering use of information intervention techniques in conflict zones, ranging from full-scale bombardment and confiscation of transmitters to the establishment of new laws and regulatory regimes. With its focus on the role of media in preventing human rights violations, Forging Peace will influence policy and debate for years to come." (Publisher description)
more
"This book examines how media have brought about or paced dramatic political events in Southeast Asia over the last two decades. It highlights a situation where media dynamics are no longer a simple formula of state control versus media resistance. The state can propel its own media-liberalizing pro
...
gramme; civil society can be an enemy of press freedom; market forces and cultural mindsets are sometimes more potent agents of change than state-appointed media custodians. Practitioners, scholars and activists have come together in this volume to provide a diversity of narratives on subjects as varied as powerful politicians and marginalized transsexuals." (Publisher description)
more
"Harnessed to its full potential, basic e-mail and Internet facilities can serve as a powerful tool in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. In South-East Asia, UNAIDS has coordinated an infoDev project, a global grant programme funded and managed by the World Bank to promote innovative projects on the use of
...
information technologies with a special emphasis on the needs of the poor in developing countries." (Back cover)
more
"This is a book about an inter-continental community theatre project. It is an attempt to gain a better understanding of this increasingly popular cultural practice that operates on the cutting edge between performing arts and sociocultural intervention. The main emphasis in this book, and in the ac
...
companying video, has been placed on the diverse mechanics and inspirations of community theatre as an artistic process that always evolves under very particular local sociocultural conditions. Through written word and moving image, this package thus documents, contextualizes, and theorizes the methods that were used to create six community performances in distinct locations around the world in the course of 1997. Both in the video and in the book I have opted to tell these six tales as relatively independent narratives. I recommend watching the appropriate video segments before reading each book chapter, which provides the background about (community) theatre in each particular region, the facilitators, the organizations they work in, the evolution of their method, and a more technically oriented case study of the distinctive approach they used to create one specific community theatre performance in 1997." (Introduction, page 1)
more
"In Indonesia press freedom is still just a few years old. When president Suharto fell in May 1998 the democratisation process begun. Hundreds of new newspapers and magazines were established, but many of them had difficulties to survive for economic reasons. The well-established daily newspapers an
...
d magazines seem to be the ones who will survive. One of the newly established magazines is Pantau. The name means to monitor in English and the purpose of this monthly media magazine is to elevate the standard of journalism in Indonesia and to institutionalise media freedom. Its target group is journalists, public relation officials and advertising executives. The whole magazine is written in the local language Bahasa Indonesia. During August to October 2001 I was in Jakarta to do a Minor Field Study about Pantau and media’s role in the democratisation process of Indonesia. Together with Maria Nilson I interviewed the journalists of Pantau and the readers of the magazine. I focused on the content, while she focused on the layout of the magazine. The aim of my study is to understand the role of the media in a democratisation process, drawing conclusions from the experience of Pantau. Can Pantau start a debate which indirectly strengthens democracy and press freedom? Does it reach the target group and is this the right group which can be influential in the democratisation process?" (Abstract)
more
"Child pornography and the sexual abuse of children through misuse of the media and the internet are complex yet closely related issues. Not only do they necessitate complex solutions, they also demand a social response from all sectors of society. This volume records the response of these various s
...
ectors and shows how individuals and organizations can cooperate effectively. It describes the major work being carried out in some African countries, in Albania, Brazil, Guatemala, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, and shows the efforts being made to share information and build networks. A reference section provides the site locations of organizations that have made significant advances in protecting children online. In addition, this book offers an action plan to encourage cooperation with others in the fields in a coherent and coordinated manner." (UNESCO website 11/2007)
more
"Connecting with communities is a map for journalists wishing to expand their coverage, add depth to their news perspective, and begin to write the kind of stories that could help transform communities into self-determining ones. The sourcebook also presents some pretty good arguments, through six c
...
ases, why public journalism deserves to be undertaken and how it has been helping journalists reconnect with their communities." (Back cover)
more