"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
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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)
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"The overall objective of this study was to provide a starting point for the involvement of development assistance in the promotion of ICTs for development. In the form of country studies we first tried to give insights into the ICT sectors along with stakeholders’ and other ICT-related activities
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in the selected countries (Peru, Vietnam, Lao P.D.R, Uganda and Tanzania). Based on this assessment, strengths and weaknesses were named and starting points for potential German involvement identified. The following section should point at some general lessons learnt from all countries and, with due caution, sum up the activities and discussions on the German donors’ side, as they emerged in the countries themselves or in discussions while this study was conducted." (Synopsis, page 67)
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"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
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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)
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"This exploratory study analyses the functions and implications of participatory video projects in rural development settings. The term ‘participatory video’ refers to a bundle of innovative usages of video technology which enjoy growing popularity in many corners of the world. After the first t
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rials in the late 1960s participatory video has developed into several different directions and there is no consensus of what the term actually stands for. In the current literature participatory video is closely associated to the burgeoning field of participatory approaches such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), even though its application goes beyond the idea of participatory research and learning in many instances. There is by no means a consistent, established way of using the tool; experience and knowledge about what good practice is differ from person to person and in the literature. This study therefore categorises the varying approaches into a typology based on a review of the relatively scarce literature on the subject. Through a conceptual distinction of different project goals, three basic kinds of participatory video are identified, i. e. therapy-, activism- and empowerment-type video. The central part of the study consists of three case studies, from Mexico, Tanzania, and Vietnam respectively. In each of these the functions and implications of participatory video use are identified. A particular focus is put on the second case study, the ‘Fisherfolks’ Project’, as the relatively biggest amount of background information has been available. A number of theories and concepts are tested on this case in order to deepen the understanding of the potentials and limitations of participatory video." (Abstract)
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"This short book describes an Oxfam video team's experience of using video as a participatory development tool in a rural community in Vietnam. The author describes the process in detail, including the day-to-day details of the team's stay in Ky Nam village, with team members, villagers and the comm
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une and district authorities' reactions. This is a critical reflection on the issues raised, how villagers' expectations were heigthened by the work but not always fulfilled, and how the nature of 'participation' is more complex than first appears. The book makes a powerful claim for the usefulness of this medium. It will be interesting reading not only for development workers with an interest in video work, but for anyone committed to participatory approaches to development." (Media development, nr. 2/1999 pages 79-80)
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"The 'Uncensored War' gives a richly detailed account of what Americans read and watched about Vietnam. Hallin draws on the complete body of the New York Times coverage from 1961 to 1965, a sample of hundreds of television reports from 1965-73, including television coverage filmed by the Defense Dep
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artment in the early years of the war, and interviews with many of the journalists who reported it, to give a powerful critique of the conventional wisdom, both conservative and liberal, about the media and Vietnam. Far from being a consistent adversary of government policy in Vietnam, Hallin shows, the media were closely tied to official perspectives throughout the war, though divisions in the government itself and contradictions in its public relations policies caused every administration, at certain times, to lose its ability to "manage" the news effectively. As for television, it neither showed the "literal horror of war," nor did it play a leading role in the collapse of support: it presented a highly idealized picture of the war in the early years, and shifted toward a more critical view only after public unhappiness and elite divisions over the war were well advanced." (Publisher description)
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