"Training programs of NGOs can help low-income youth effectively adopt ICTs. There is no doubt that acquiring ICT skills in demand in the current market can help these young people find jobs. They face obstacles such as a poor education, lack of ICT skills and the necessary social capital to identif
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y the most attractive ICT positions for their professional development. They also lack support networks for finding jobs or starting businesses. Training in ICT offers socially and economically excluded groups the chance to enter the knowledge-based economy. We wanted to explore whether individuals enrolled in the selected NGO training programs had taken advantage of these opportunities. To this end, we conducted a comparative study among countries to determine whether youth (primarily) ICT training courses had an effect on beneficiaries’ labor participation, in terms of job searches, employment obtained, establishment of a business or improvements to an existing business. For this study, training beneficiaries and NGO staff members were interviewed and surveyed to learn about their perceptions regarding the usefulness of ICT training for employability. We also analyzed how the organizational tools of the NGOs have supported beneficiaries in finding jobs, setting up businesses, or increasing employment opportunities." (Introduction, page 9)
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"The religious presence on TV programs has been increasing in Brazil, where churches, especially the neopentecostals, have been using the mass communication ways, especially the television, to advertise their messages and attract new followers. This project studies the usage of television by religio
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ns neopentecostals groups and intends to understand how this schedule is perceived by the young people. A research was conducted with young members of Brazilian churches Igreja Apostólica Renascer em Cristo, Bola de Neve Church, Igreja Internacional da Graça de Deus, and Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus and an analysis will be done as well of the TV shows “Clip Gospel Show”, “Bola TV”, “Show da Fé”, and “Fala Que Eu Te Escuto”, produced respectively by those religious groups." (Abstract)
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"Los enfoques de agenda setting, de network society y de public sphere constituyen el marco teórico básico para el abordaje metodológico y posterior desarrollo de “El Observador de Medios de Comunicación en América Latina” que presentamos. El Observador analiza la agenda de los principales
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medios de comunicación masiva, determinando si el tratamiento de unos temas (y la exclusión de otros) favorecen a los principios e ideales del sistema democrático y contribuyen a su desarrollo." (Introducción, página 9-10)
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"Examina-se aspectos do funcionamento da midiatização do telediscurso religioso no Brasil, a partir de sua apropriação por telefiéis (católicos e evangélicos), mediante estratégias discursivas. Chama-se atenção para novas formas de relações entre atores sociais e práticas midiáticas, d
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estacando-se operações, texto e representações que estes sujeitos realizam para construir seus vínculos com o funcionamento de uma nova modalidade de fazer religião, no contexto da midiatização das práticas sociais." (Resumo)
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"What are the effects of television, and of role models portrayed in TV programs, on individual behavior? We focus on fertility choices in Brazil, a country where soap operas (novelas) portray families that are much smaller than in reality. We exploit differences in the timing of entry into differen
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t markets of Rede Globo, the network that has an effective monopoly on novelas production in this country. Using Census data for the period 1970-1991, we find that women living in areas covered by the Globo signal have significantly lower fertility. The effect is strongest for women of lower socioeconomic status and for women in the central and late phases of their fertility cycle, consistent with stopping behavior. The result is robust to placebo treatments and does not appear to be driven by selection in Globo entry. Finally, we provide suggestive evidence that novelas, and not just television, affected individual choices. First, people living in areas covered by the signal were more likely to name their children after novela characters. Second, entry of a network that relied on imported shows did not have a significant impact on fertility. Third, the impact of Globo presence was strongest for women close in age to the main novela characters." (Abstract)
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