"This paper considers the potential of community based information and communication technology (ICT) centres to support and promote the democratic voice. It does so through presenting comparative research findings from eight ICT centres in South Asia. The research uses a methodology that combines e
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thnographic approaches with action research. Here I look at the notion of ‘democratic voice’ in a loosely defined sense, referring to the ability of ‘ordinary’ people to access media and other information and communication technologies, and to create their own local content. As such it describes to some extent the processes of ‘metamorphosis’ involved in ‘citizen’s media’ participants becoming, through these activities, ‘active citizens’ (Rodriguez 2004). At a point in time when alternative media studies are recognising a new relevance and development communication research facing a crisis in direction, this paper considers research findings emerging from and utilised in community based ICT initiatives across South Asia. Looking at the research in a comparative framework, lessons can be learned about the relevance of community media for supporting democratic voice, and the processes that are most likely to achieve this." (Abstract)
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"The communication dimension of Interreligious Dialogue has never been especially addressed and studied. Because of this the FABC Office of Social Communication organized the fifth Bishops' Institute for Social Communication (BISCOM V) in Bali, Indonesia from November 22 to 27, 2005 under the theme,
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Interreligious Dialogue As Communication. The theme was approached in four steps: First, we had an overview about Interreligious Dialogue from the Vatican and FABC perspective. This was followed in a second step by Interreligious Dialogue experiences from different Asian countries. Third, was a discussion of the use of modern means of communication for Interreligious Dialogue. And the fourth was an attempt to understand social communication in different Asian religions. The understanding of social communication follows the approach of Vatican II's Inter Mirifica, where this expression is proposed since the concern of the Church goes beyond mass media, audiovisual means, media of diffusion or other similar expressions. This understanding pertains to the communication of and in human society which includes all means and ways of communicating between people. Such an understanding is essential also for Interreligious Dialogue which very often happens between individuals and persons or smaller groups of people in many different ways - verbal and non-verbal, in action and in silence, through drama and dance." (Publisher description)
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"[...] It is too early to assess the full impact of media development efforts undertaken since February 2002, given the short timeframe and the absence of reliable audience surveys. Nevertheless, OTI and Internews deserve credit for adopting an innovative, cost-effective approach to media assistance
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that helped open up civic life in towns and villages across the country, while planting the seeds for Afghanistan’s first commercial radio market. Emphasizing sustainability and quality programming, USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and Internews appear to have avoided pitfalls that have plagued projects in other postconflict settings. Internews carefully chose aid recipients, stipulated that the aid would be phased out, and organized training courses relating to core editorial and management skills. The main pillar of the assistance effort has been a loose network of community radio stations where journalists and business managers receive training, equipment, and a relatively modest level of funding. The network was launched February 2003 with a $327,897 grant from OTI. A subsequent grant was awarded to expand the network, which, by November 2004, had 25 community stations with a potential audience of 7.47 million Afghans, or 36 percent of the population. It is hoped that plans to add an AM component to the network will not prove too ambitious or burdensome for the stations. The community radio stations may sound amateurish at times, but they have helped raise community issues for public debate for the first time and held local authorities accountable. Other stations have provided an unprecedented arena for discussion of social concerns and formerly taboo women’s issues, including forced marriage and domestic violence." (Executive summary, pages ix-x)
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"Wireless is the hottest technology and media sector in the world today—and Asia is at the centre of the action. This volume captures the flavour and implications of these fast-paced developments by providing a comprehensive, detailed and insightful look at the wireless scenario in the Asia-Pacifi
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c. It charts the growth of the wireless ecosystem across the region, highlights the valuable lessons learned by the pioneers, and contextualises these themes with developments in other parts of the world including the US and Europe. With contributions from numerous experts in the region, the book includes 16 thematic chapters, 10 book reviews, and profiles of 10 countries—Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal and Bangladesh." (Publisher description)
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"This paper will examine American efforts to create a vibrant free press in Iraq and Afghanistan. A $200 million project in Iraq was the largest attempt ever by the United States, or any country, to help create independent media in another nation. Run by the Pentagon, it was a near total failure in
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its first year, with Iraqi journalists, American trainers and U.S. government officials assailing it as wasteful, amateurish and counterproductiv. A far smaller, $15 million State Department effort in Afghanistan, by comparison, appears to have been more effective. In both countries, many local journalists have performed well, particularly when given proper resources and training. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as around the world, murder and violence is now the single largest threat to the creation of an independent news media. Government officials, criminals and terrorists are increasingly using assault and murder to silence the media. Supporting, respecting and, most of all, securing local journalists may be the most critical way the United States can foster the creation of a vibrant free press in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Abstract)
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"Each of the eleven chapters in Quoting God pairs an academic and a journalist. First, the scholar holds forth, followed by a "View from the News Desk." Together, they represent many and diverse voices. Badaracco's book shows the relationship between media culture and spiritual culture, recognizing
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how news and religious values influence political life, and how science, modernity, and disbelief come together to suggest social fragmentation or consolidation. Through the media, audiences learn, often with passion, what they believe, what they resist religiously, how to respect other religious ideas, and how to construct their own religious identity in a world of both mediated and actual communities. The book's conceptual and theoretical frame addresses emerging religions as well as traditional faiths. The first four chapters focus on the legal and constitutional frames informing national identity and the ideological climates of newsrooms where journalists "construct the mediated religious public square" (Page 14). The next four chapters discuss cross-cultural reporting in which a reporter navigates between two (or more) cultures in the required roles of being fair and balanced. The next three chapters explore faith and reason, science and religion, and the complexity of religious issues. The volume concludes with Gustav Niebuhr, formerly with the New York Times and now a member of the academy at Syracuse University, summing up the care and commitment of the journalist who covers religion in American life." (https://www.h-net.org/reviews)
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"During the last decade, development partners around the globe have gained rich experience and knowledge about the application of ICT for poverty reduction and its value for reaching the Millennium Development Goals and the goals of Poverty Reduction Strategies. But scaling up the results of success
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ful projects into programmes and policies that lead directly to poverty reduction on a country-wide scale is still a challenge. Lessons learned from experience so far can be summarised around the following themes: Prioritising poverty reduction; creating an enabling ICT policy environment; appropriate technology choices; local content development and the role of the media; mobilisation of financial resources and the role of microcredit." (Page 3)
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