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Is it Possible to Generate Development Starting from Communication?
Get PDFCommunication, both intra-sector and among sectors, can generate dialogues and reciprocity and render development a public matter, i.e. a matter that pertains to all, including the media sector. However, it is still the case that we are faced with scattered social forces, unclear about their role in promoting inclusive, equitable and plural development. Those forces sometimes lack in democratic convictions or in significant social bonds among similarly minded groups. This article condenses years of reflection on our work at the Association of Social Communicators “Calandria”, a Peruvian civil society institution created in 1983 as the point of departure to argue that citizens should be the protagonists of development in a relationship with other key players, from government, the business community and organized civil society
The Civil Society Organization Media Manager as Critical Communicator
Get PDFSubstantial improvement in civil society organizations’ [CSOs] management of communication and media endeavors requires a shift from business and marketing models to a development communication perspective. Acting beyond the platform driven model of the current conception of the media manager, the critical communicator will be guided by a rights-oriented, civil society-driven social change vision; critique of the corporatization and marketization of CSOs; lateral, holistic management strategies in facilitating the efforts of the communication – media team; use of multiple media including new media technologies, in particular Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, in order to advance audience-user participation in knowledge production and dissemination [participatory informatics]; and media campaigns that seek to maximize the CSO’s contributions to the advancement of justice, equality, democratization and civic engagement in governance and public policy debates
Is the Development Industry Taking Care of Business? - Why We Need Accountability in Communication for Social Justice
Get PDFThe development industry works to promote strategic programs for the public good, yet the trend toward privatization may be shifting accountability toward the values of profitable corporations at the expense of improving human lives. Instead, a communication for social justice orientation reminds us of the importance of equality and human rights. Accountability in advocacy requires thoughtful reflection on establishing appropriate goals and assessment strategies that are resonant with a social justice rather than a corporate framework
In this issue (September 2011)
Get PDFIt’s hectic times for the web magazine. Activity is incessant, and the stakes are high. We are preparing to move to the Open Journal Systems (OJS), a journal management and publishing system that we believe will allow us to improve the quality and reach of Glocal Times. And we have a special issue in the works in collaboration with Nordicom Review, to be published in 2012. While we move forward with what’s to come, we are proud to present Issue # 16, fully devoted to contributions authored by recent graduates of Malmö University’s Master’s course in Communication for Development. The articles in this issue speak to the rich diversity of concerns, interests and points of view that has become a characteristic strength of the course. In “Mobile phones in Tanzania: tools for social change?”, Adela Rodrigo calls our attention to the differential accessibility to mobile telephony among youth in Tanzania and discusses the need to pay attention to the social, economic and political context in which so-called technologies for change are deployed. In “The field diary as a bridge between theory and practice”, Rosalind Yarde shares with us a selection of notes from her field diary as a source for self-reflexivity in research, and reminds us of the importance of paying close attention to subtleties when communicating with others. In “Using social media for conservation fundraising in Kenya: the case of Wildlife Direct”, Elizabeth Mwambui looks into the positive features and concrete obstacles that characterize efforts by non-profits to raise funds for wildlife conservation, suggesting ways to strengthen pros and overcome cons. In “The International Tribunal on Climate Justice: cultural meanings and social change”, Carys Hughes explores the potential of civil society initiatives promoting an alternative legal space to foster new ways of understanding and responding to matters that affect us collectively. In “Using participatory photography to stimulate critical thinking: a collaborative project work in Australia and Tanzania”, Cassandra Doyle and Karen Marie Thulstrup address the importance of collaboration among practitioners/researchers as the basis for comparative studies. Last but not least, in “Looking for agency in film for change” Søren Sønderstrup departs from his field experience to consider how the future of participatory media-making should look like in light of the technical possibilities currently available. We hope that you will find these contributions from graduates of the Master’s course in Communication for Development inspiring. Your comments are most welcome [email protected]
Mobile phones in Tanzania: tools for social change?
Get PDFAs you drive into Dar Es Salaam from the international airport, the number of billboards advertising mobile phones and mobile phone contracts is overwhelming. Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 148 out of 168 on the 2010 UN Human Development Index (UN Human Development Report, 2010).However, it is clear that the mobile phone industry in the country is booming. Mobile phone companies such as Tigi, Zain, Zantel and Vodacom are fighting over the Tanzanian consumers. By offering affordable handsets and cheaper rates, those companies are making mobile phones accessible and affordable to many Tanzanians, for whom the technology represents their only and in most cases first experience of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT). According to a study carried out by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and Vodafone (Waverman et al, 2005), 97 per cent of people in Tanzania could access a mobile phone in 2005, while only 28 per cent said they could access a landline
Locating agency in film for change
Get PDFBased on ethnographic field observations and a thesis completed at the Master program in Communication for Development at Malmö University (Sweden), this article suggests that mediatization in the age of Web 2.0 functions at the base of communication even for disadvantaged people in circumstances where Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are physically absent. Many-to-many communication and growing access for people to control representations of themselves in global media condition both the formats and the ideologies of communication practices, in a way that may be viewed as the social nature of technological design
The new spectre –Mediatization by OSCAR HEMER
Get PDFWhen trying to assess our contemporary predicament, the once controversial G-word may be about to be replaced by another elusive concept: Mediatization. The second or third phase of the digital revolution, with its explosion of so-called social media, has made it adamantly clear to us how all sectors of culture and society are saturated with, and increasingly influenced by, mediated communication. Not only politics and the public sphere, but our private lives and everyday experiences are today inseparably entangled with the media. This is not a “new” phenomenon. It can be traced back all the way to Aristotle’s Poetics, or at least to Marshall McLuhan’s media theory and catchy but obscure conception of the medium as the message… But whereas mediatization used to be largely confined to the global North, or the so-called developed world, and hence not a concern for the traditional field of Communication for Development, it is now truly a global phenomenon, as demonstrated by the ongoing so-called Arabic Spring. Today’s media environments, in which “old” and “new” media converge in ever changing forms, are both radically transforming the arenas of public opinion and agency – redefining the very concept of a public sphere – and yielding new forms of expression that transgress former genre and media boundaries. The popular political mobilization in the Arab world was largely enhanced by social media, and even if labels such as the Twitter or Facebook revolution are rightfully refuted, the ongoing spring, which in some places may have turned to summer, and in others to autumn, is a clear-cut example of the rising communication power. But so are the recent riots in London, by young men in hoods, seemingly without other purpose than the hell of it, and in any case spurring diametrically different reactions in the Western media. Lately, we have also seen another manifestation of what might be called the dark side of mediatization: The concoction of anonymous hate-speech, racism and xenophobia on certain websites that fuels aggressive right-wing fundamentalism all over Europe, and instigated a Norwegian self-appointed Crusader to commit mass murder on politically active teenagers. Agency in the Mediatized World is the over-arching theme of the first Ørecomm Festival, to take place on both sides of the Öresund strait (in Malmö, Sweden, and Copenhagen and Roskilde, Denmark) over five full days between September 9 and 13. The Festival will bring together Master and PhD students from four universities in the region physically (and virtually from all over the world) as a manifestation of the quite impressive body of knowledge that ComDev students have accumulated over the last decade. In the spirit of the Ørecomm Festival, this issue of Glocal Times is dedicated entirely to articles by recent graduates from the Malmö ComDev Master. Meanwhile, the webmag is on the verge of becoming an Open Journal and changing both appearance and functionality, with a special double issue in collaboration with Nordicom Review in the making. Stay tuned for more on that.
The International Tribunal on Climate Justice: cultural meanings and social change
Get PDFThere is currently no international legal mechanism for sanctioning countries and corporations that are polluting the environment and contributing to climate change. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the only comprehensive international agreement designed to address climate change. However, it contains no mechanism for trying or sanctioning countries that fail to comply with the commitments they make. Many developed countries have violated key obligations under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, including a failure to mitigate green house gas emissions (UNFCCC, 2010)
Using participatory photography to stimulate critical thinking: collaborative action-research in Australia and Tanzania
Get PDFDo you see what I see? and At Risk? are the titles of the two Master’s in Communication for Development theses that resulted from two independent participatory photography projects with the same methodology in order to allow a comparison of the results
The field diary as a bridge between theory and practice
Get PDFFifty per cent of Tanzania’s population is under the age of 18 years but they are rarely given a voice in society. All too often they are marginalised and disregarded, particularly in the context of social and economic development. While government, civil society and non-governmental organisations may advocate for empowerment, community engagement and social change, actually translating these aspirations into something tangible remains elusive. My Master’s thesis in Communication for Development (Malmö University, Sweden) explored these ideas and how they might be promoted through a participatory media and communication framework