"How do memories circulate transnationally and to what effect? How to understand the enduring role of national memories and their simultaneous reconfiguration under globalization? Challenging the methodological nationalism that has until recently dominated the study of memory and heritage, this book
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charts the rich production of memory across and beyond national borders. Arguing for the fruitfulness of a transnational as distinct from a global approach, it places the issues of circulation, articulation and the scales of remembrance at the centre of its inquiry. In the process, it sheds new light on the ways in which mediation, post-coloniality, migration and regional integration affect both the way we remember and the role of memory in contemporary societies. In this interdisciplinary collection, humanities and social science scholars examine a rich sample of cases from the nineteenth century on, stretching across the globe from Vietnam to Europe and the Middle East, to the USA and the Pacific, and involving a wide range of cultural practices from quilting to films, from photography to heritage sites and monuments. In the process, the volume develops a new theoretical framework while proposing new methodological tools and resources for studying collective remembrance beyond the nation-state." (Publisher description)
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"GISWatch 2013 shows that gains in women’s rights made online are not always certain or stable. While access to the internet for women has increased their participation in the social, economic and governance spheres, there is another side to these opportunities: online harassment, cyberstalking, a
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nd violence against women online all of which are on the increase globally." (www.giswatch.org, July 6, 2014)
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"The research for this report was developed and undertaken between June 2012 and April 2013 across 14 Pacific Island nations: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, Niue, Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon I
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slands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The report provides a regional overview of the PACMAS key components (Media Policy, Media Systems, Media Capacity Building and Media Content) as they emerged through 212 interviews focused upon the six PACMAS strategic areas. It also provides basic background information, an overview of the media and communications landscape and discusses in detail media and communications technicians; emergency broadcast systems, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs), media associations, climate change and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). For this reason, observations on the four PACMAS components should be understood to represent changes in the media and communication environment based upon an investigation focused on the PACMAS strategic activities." (www.pacmas.org)
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"This study draws together two bodies of work concerned with media pluralism, effectiveness, development and strengthening in the developing world. One is drawn from UNESCO’s global work on media assessment and impact indicators, the other from AusAID’s Pacific Media and Communications Facility
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(PMCF) Situational Analysis and Needs Assessment (SANA) of the Pacific media sector. Both highlight the role that the media sector can play in processes of development and change, in supporting more effective forms of government and realising human rights. To some extent, the vitality of the media sector itself is regarded as a proxy indicator for the presence of better governance." (Introduction)
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"This report is an outcome evaluation of the UNDP MCO Samoa’s ICT for Development (ICT4D) project operating in the Cook Islands, Niue and Samoa from 2005-8. The consultant Robert Boase of Canada evaluated the project from November 18 to December 20, 2008 with one week missions to each country and
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writing up the report back in Samoa. General findings in this project are summarized below: ICT is still relatively new in the islands and it faces formidable challenges - ICT4D is both a great challenge and an opportunity; The vulnerability of the Internet hardware in these small island states due to cyclones, power surges and power outages that can damage network hardware such as a server; The limitation of human resources both for developing and servicing the ICT systems on the supply side and for using this technology by public servants and the general public on the other hand; The cost of developing, operating and maintaining these systems on limited government budgets; The sluggishness of the Internet both in connectivity and in data transfer that frustrates more sophisticated users and consumes inordinate amounts of time; The technology has jumped out ahead of many neophytes’ ability to use it. What is needed now is a focus on building computer literacy; It is premature to talk of these projects’ contribution toward the UNDP global objective of poverty reduction. The internet is still the domain of the educated and privileged in these societies; The intended outcomes for these projects are basically irrelevant to the actual situation on the ground; The delays in UNDP quarterly advances has impeded project implementation in all three projects; Project Managers’ accountability in the three projects was lacking. Without accountability projects tend to drift off target and fall behind schedule and this is what happened with all three projects." (Executive summary)
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"'Informing Citizens: opportunities for media and communications in the Pacific' reports on the findings of a situation analysis and needs assessment (SANA) of the capacity of the media, government and civil society to produce information on good governance in 14 Pacific Island Forum countries. The
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report consists of 17 chapters in the following order: a regional overview chapter, a legislative overview chapter, a chapter on the findings of a news content analysis in the 14 countries, and 14 country chapters organised in alphabetical order, commencing with the Cook Islands. Chapter One, the Regional Overview, details the methodology for SANA, the principles which informed the research, and how the data was complied. The chapter contains an analysis of the major themes and issues that emerged in the 14 country chapters, divided into four sections: legislative environment, media sector, government sector, and civil society sector. It concludes with a list of regional strategies based on the research findings recommended by a SANA Reference Group of key stakeholders. Chapter Two, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media, analyses the constitutional guarantees for freedom of expression, freedom of the media and the right to information in the Pacific Island countries surveyed. It also analyses the degree to which public service broadcasting and media legislation guarantees separation from government in some of the countries surveyed. Section 1, Legislative Environment, in the country chapters provides further detail on the media regulatory environment in each country and complements Chapter Two. Chapter Three, Pacific News Content Analysis, summarises the findings of the news content analysis conducted in the countries surveyed. Its focus is the coverage of news on governance issues. Appendix F contains the breakdown of the regional findings and the findings for each country in alphabetical order. Chapters Four to Seventeen consist of country chapters. Each country chapter summarises the research findings for that country under the four main headings, Legislative Environment, Media Sector, Government Sector, and Civil Society Sector." (Page ix)
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"Small Islands Voice focuses on small island developing states and islands with other affiliations in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions. This initiative, started in 2002, aims to combine new information and communication technologies with print, radio, television and other media, in or
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der to promote the effective participation of the general public in sustainable island development and in the 2004 review of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Programme of Action and its follow-up. Six islands played an active role in Small Islands Voice in 2002: St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, San Andres Archipelago in the Caribbean; Seychelles in the Indian Ocean; Cook Islands and Palau in the Pacific. Activities in the islands include opinion surveys, meetings and workshops, debates, radio talk shows, interactive displays, and newsletters. Inter-regional activities include two internet-based discussion fora, one for the general public and one for youth, inter-regional conference calls, and an inter-regional workshop held in Palau in November 2002. The internet is being used to link the regions together. An internet-based forum was developed to connect the general public in the three regions in a discussion on key issues in the environment-development arena. This internet-based forum links up with local newspapers so the debate can reach a wider audience; and the potential exists to further extend the reach of this forum using community radio and television. A similar forum focusing on secondary school students is proving successful and has potential as a distance learning tool. Limited and costly internet access in small islands is a serious constraint to such initiatives; however, the islands involved are developing innovative ways of overcoming these constraints, such as negotiating special rates with internet service providers and at internet cafes." (Executive summary)
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"The compilers point out that little attention has been paid to mass communication in most Pacific islands, and their research proves them correct. There is one citation each for Easter Island and Midway Island. Hawaii has almost 2,000. This Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East
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and West bibliography contains citations to 3,332 books, periodicals, articles, documents, and pamphlets, and covers the years 1854-1975, with some entries from 1976. Topics include the press, newspapers, freedom of the press, broadcasting, news agencies, organizations, radio broadcasting, cinema, and television in the Pacific Islands. Entries are arranged alphabetically by more than 20 island groupings and broken down into specific subject areas, rumbered, and arranged chronologically within those subjects. Richstad also produced The Pacific Islands Press: A Directory (East-West Communication Institute, 1973)." (Jo A. Cates: Journalism - a guide to the reference literature. Englewood, Col.: Libraries Unlimited, 2nd ed. 1997 nr. 99)
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