"On 4th July 2014, Internews launched Boom Box Talk Talk (BBTT) in the Malakal, UN Mission Protection of Civilian (PoC) site, to provide people affected by the conflict with life saving and life enhancing information. BBTT is a professionally produced audio Humanitarian Information Service (HIS). In
...
order to reflect the voices of the community, Internews recruited and trained community correspondents who themselves had been affected and displaced from their homes. The service is designed as a platform for people to discuss issues, share ideas, and ask questions of each other and humanitarian agencies operating in the PoC [...] This baseline survey was conducted in August just as the project was starting. It aims to inform Internews on the nature and content for BBTT, and assess people’s need for, and access to, information in a context where radio and other communication channels are highly limited." (Page 1)
more
"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fourth consecutive year, with a growing number of countries introducing online censorship and monitoring practices that are simultaneously more aggressive and more sophisticated in their targeting of individual users. In a departure from the pa
...
st, when most governments preferred a behind-the-scenes approach to internet control, countries are rapidly adopting new laws that legitimize existing repression and effectively criminalize online dissent." (Page 1)
more
"This chapter examines the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) theology as the implicit background to Robert White's studies on development communication. We will then examine White's influence on the Center for Communication, Media and Society's graduate program in development communication." (Page
...
241)
more
"There is a growing concern about the decline and possible extinction of the Igbo language. The Igbo are primarily located in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. This study analysed four interviews on Igbo Radio, an Igbo Internet radio station, to ascertain how Internet radio is being utilized in dis
...
cussing the decline of the Igbo language. Drawing on ethnolinguistic vitality theory, this qualitative study triangulates four selected interviews on Igbo Radio, the website, and personal observations for the analysis. Three salient themes emerged: (1) decline and challenges of the Igbo language, (2) second-generation immigrants and the Igbo language, and (3) sustaining the Igbo language. The findings suggest that Igbo parents appear to have less vitality; as a result, they tend not to teach their children Igbo." (Abstract)
more
"This report demonstrates how providing information to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in South Sudan can dramatically increase their health, safety and well-being and make a positive impact on their lives in the midst of an ongoing conflict [...] Boda Boda Talk Talk (BBTT) was the first Humanit
...
arian Information Service program to be developed by Internews in response to the conflict. It utilizes staff and community correspondents hired from within the Tong Ping site in order to deliver vital information in such areas as: how to obtain food, water, shelter, and non-food items; receiving medical assistance and other forms of help including referral services, registration/legal assistance and special services for women, girls, the disabled, and the elderly; available educational opportunities; family reunification procedures; health promotion and disease prevention; and information related to protection and security [...] In February, 2014, Internews worked with Forcier Consulting to conduct a baseline survey of 612 respondents from the Tong Ping site to identify information needs, sources, and preferences to help guide their intervention strategies, and in April 2014 Internews again teamed up with Forcier Consulting in order to conduct a second wave of data collection and assess the impact of BBTT while working towards a deeper understanding of general information needs at the Tong Ping site [...] The results were extremely encouraging as community members in overwhelming numbers stated that they were listening frequently, and that they found the program both relevant and trustworthy. Nearly all (95.8%) survey respondents had heard of BBTT and of these almost two thirds (62.1%) listened to the program frequently." (Executive summary)
more
"This article is interested in the extent to which various social actors in the Durban network society, such as civil society, corporations and the state, shape public information and perception in their own interests regarding environmental discourse. Empirical evidence presents viewpoints from key
...
social actors and a local case study. The article compares the urban regional and case study analyses, and highlights the complex relationship between various social actors and the numerous avenues used to shape public information and perception. While corporations causing pollution mainly serve as barriers to civil society using the media effectively to highlight environmental injustices (e.g. through corporate media sponsorships, media intimidation), this is further complicated by limitations within civil society and media outlets to influence media discourse (e.g. limited financial/human resources, individualized leadership, media remuneration issues). Alongside these limitations, and the power of government and corporations, the influence of media discourse and perceptions regarding industrial risks are also dependent upon successful horizontal and vertical networking between civil society actors." (Abstract)
more
"In February, 2014, Internews worked with Forcier Consulting to conduct a baseline survey of 612 respondents from the Tong Ping site to identify information needs, sources, and preferences to help guide their intervention strategies, and in April 2014 Internews again teamed up with Forcier Consultin
...
g in order to conduct a second wave of data collection and assess the impact of [the humanitarian information service audio program] 'Boda Boda Talk Talk' (BBTT) while working towards a deeper understanding of general information needs at the Tong Ping site. A total of 402 respondents participated in the April 2014 information needs assessment. The results were extremely encouraging as community members in overwhelming numbers stated that they were listening frequently, and that they found the program both relevant and trustworthy. Nearly all (95.8%) survey respondents had heard of BBTT and of these almost two thirds (62.1%) listened to the program frequently."
more
"The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), a church of Brazilian origin, has been enormously successful in establishing branches and attracting followers in post-apartheid South Africa. Unlike other Pentecostal Charismatic churches (PCCs), the UCKG insists that relationships with God be dev
...
oid of ‘emotions’, that socialisation between members be kept to a minimum and that charity and fellowship are ‘useless’ in materialising God’s blessings. Instead, the UCKG urges members to sacrifice large sums of money to God for delivering wealth, health, social harmony and happiness. While outsiders condemn these rituals as empty or manipulative, this book shows that they are locally meaningful, demand sincerity to work, have limits and are informed by local ideas about human bodies, agency and ontological balance. As an ethnography of people rather than of institutions, this book offers fresh insights into the mass PCC movement that has swept across Africa since the early 1990s." (Publisher description)
more
"This Global Information Society Watch tracks the state of communications surveillance in 57 countries across the world – countries as diverse as Hungary, India, Argentina, The Gambia, Lebanon and the United Kingdom. Each country report approaches the issue from a different perspective. Some analy
...
se legal frameworks that allow surveillance, others the role of businesses in collecting data (including marketing data on children), the potential of biometrics to violate rights, or the privacy challenges when implementing a centralised universal health system. The perspectives from long-time internet activists on surveillance are also recorded. Using the 13 International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance as a starting point, eight thematic reports frame the key issues at stake. These include discussions on what we mean by digital surveillance, the implications for a human rights agenda on surveillance, the “Five Eyes” inter-government surveillance network led by the US, cyber security, and the role of intermediaries." (GIS website)
more
"There is a conspicuous importance of having newspapers that publish in the indigenous African languages for the indigenous population in a democratic dispensation. The indigenous African languages are key components of their respective cultures. The survival of the language is, in some way, depende
...
nt on the print media (newspapers) (Salawu, 2004:8). In addition, the indigenous language newspapers have cardinal roles of promoting previously marginalised languages, preserving indigenous cultures and upholding democracy. Nevertheless, these newspapers are struggling to sustain themselves in the print media industry. It is, therefore, critically important to examine the factors that adversely affect the sustainability of these newspapers." (Abstract)
more
"Community radio is often theorized as being (1) independent from political and economic influence and (2) a platform for the meaningful engagement of marginalized populations traditionally excluded by its private and commercial cousins. Contrasting this theoretical model against the reality of prac
...
tice, this study argues that the theorized benefits of community radio are unlikely to be realized given the reality of donor, rather than community, funding structures. Voices from 64 in-depth interviews reveal a community radio environment in East Africa that is significantly influenced by the interests – both political and economic – of external donors. Rather than engendering meaningful participation in media-making, this study also demonstrates that donor funding has caused some communities to assume recipient roles in the communication process." (Journalism)
more
"The project aimed at enhancing the capacity of community radio stations to operate as agents of change for the rural poor and marginalised people [...] The project worked with a sample of 15 community radio stations – five per country – in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. In implementing the RPCD
...
project, Panos Southern Africa used the Radio Listening Club (RLC) approach, which is a unique and proven methodology that empowers the often marginalised and neglected communities to participate in the development of community radio content." (Summary)
more
"The majority of Somalis (65.6%) access news at least once per day. More than one in four Somalis (27.9%) share news daily or most days. Radio is the most popular means for obtaining news in Somalia, with more than four in five (83.9%) reporting they get news via radio at least once per week. More t
...
han seven in 10 Somalis (72.4%) say they personally own a mobile phone." (Page 1)
more
"Proposing the novel concept of the "literary NGO," this study combines interviews with contemporary East African writers with an analysis of their professional activities and the cultural funding sector to make an original contribution to African literary criticism and cultural studies." (Publisher
...
description)
more
"As academia, development experts and policy-makers have continued to search for the right mix of technology, methodology, easy-to-use and understandable scientific elements and infrastructure that would suit the nation’s peculiar circumstances towards meeting her developmental needs. This situati
...
on, no doubt, calls for adaptation of social media’s unique opportunities and adjustment of its weaknesses to aptly blend with the forces of innovation and ability of cultural and behavioural changes. Concerted efforts are required of the Nigerian government and its agencies in awakening the consciousness of the citizenry to integrate social media culture into the mainstream of Nigerian culture so as to produce positive changes that are evidences of sustainability." (Abstract)
more