New Thinking in Communication for Social Change

Recently released Special Issue of Nordicom Review syndicates innovative perspectives on theory and practice in the field of communication for social change, shedding light on its development from various perspectives.

“Many of us working in this area have recognized that some of the more interesting theoretical developments in this area have occurred either on the margins of communication for social change theory or wholly outside of it,” writes editor Dr Pradip Ninan Thomas about the incentive for this publication.

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Communication Efforts in the Nepal Earthquake: Golden 72 Hours

The devastating earthquake in Nepal has become a check on the speed of relief  and effective communication efforts. This natural disaster could have been anticipated,  yet took authorities and aid agencies by surprise.

The earthquake of 7.8 magnitude is the most destructive one in 80 years of the relative lull in the country since 1934. Moreover, it is also believed to be one of the worst in the world, according to India Express timeline.

An immediate response from the Reported.ly creating the Google Earth Tour gives a perception of the scale of the disaster. Yet as argued by the Earthquake-report.com, it shows only 3% of the devastated zone. A death toll of more than 3.600 people may significantly rise due to lack of contact with the remote mountainous villages, where the damage is supposed to be higher than in Kathmandu.

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Weekend’s Food for Thought

We wrap up the week with a few selected news from the field of technology, communication and development. Read the program of IAMCR 2015; get useful fundraising tools for your NGO; learn how to deal with the latest changes in Facebook’s policy and more in this week’s post.

Facebook: “liking” doesn’t matter?

Facebook has made it harder for organizations to leverage engagement. Now comments weight way less than they used to. So, for digital media strategists it is indeed a significant shift: now the button “Share” on your website is more important than ever for an outreach whereas a mere “like” can’t take your organization far.

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Critical Perspectives on ICT in Kenya

“In Kenyan urban centers it is common to see many people walking around with their phone visible in their hands,” writes Jessica Gustafsson in her study of the means of communication in and around the Kenyan city of Eldoret. With such insights from the field Ørecomm begins a series of the fieldwork reports from researchers.

Jessica Gustafsson is the post-doctoral researcher in the Nordic-Kenyan research project Critical Perspectives on New Media and Processes of Social Change in the Global South. After having earlier completed her PhD about community radios in the slum areas of Nairobi, she joined a research on the usage of media in the rural, semi-urban and urban areas in the Rift Valley, Kenya. In the fall of 2014 she conducted a major household study amongst 800 households and presented a working report at Malmø University in November 2014.

One of Jessica’s observations is the gender inequality in media usage. According to her findings in the areas in and around Eldoret, ”the more advanced and expensive the technology is the greater the gap between women and men seems to be.” Furthermore, when studying online debates, Jessica comes to conclusion that “religious issues are the only issues that seem to be more popular among women than men, as family issues, interestingly enough, are more discussed by men online.”

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African Media in a Global Age

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of Cape Town (UCT)  offer the 3rd LSE-UCT July School on 29 June-10 July 2015. This innovative two-week programme provides students, graduates and professionals from across the globe an opportunity to study important social sciences issues relevant to Africa today. The programme is taught by faculty from the University of Cape Town and LSE, two of the world’s leading institutions for teaching and research.

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Technology for Negotiation: Volunteers Needed

Negotiation in organizations will significantly change with a brand new app  idea developed by top learning designers in Denmark. And they give our community of communication for development a chance to be the first to test it and contribute with a feedback.

2015 – New Endeavors, New Ideas, a New Website

We have a great reason to celebrate – and it is not only arrival of spring, but also bringing our website back to life. It has been down for a while due to hacker attacks, which we tried hard to overcome. Now, when starting something anew after a lengthy break, we highly encourage you to support us in this endeavor by commenting, sharing and proposing topics you would like to hear more about. (more…)

Voice & Matter: Meet our Speakers

We are continuously posting information about the speakers of Voice & Matter on the conference website. Learn more about who they are here.

We can now confirm that almost 30 speakers have been accepted to present papers during the conference. More information about the speakers will be posted on the conference website during the summer.

We are happy to announce that Andrea Cornwall will be the opening keynote of Voice & Matter. She is Professor of Anthropology and Development in the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, and specializes in the anthropology of democracy, citizen participation, participatory research, gender and sexuality.

Latest confirmations also include Linje Manyozo, who will be one of the speakers of the panel “ICT4D and Citizen Engagement.” Linje is a Lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has taught development communication in South Africa and Malawi, where in 2005, he successfully introduced Africa’s first ever undergraduate degree programme in development communication.

For further up-dates, check the programme at www.voiceandmatter.net.

New Issue of Glocal Times

Glocal Times is a web magazine published by Malmö University’s Master in Communication for Development, co-edited by Ørecomm participants Oscar Hemer, Florencia Enghel and Rebecca Bengtsson. A new issue of Glocal Times, Issue No. 20, was released last month.

“Amidst what may be described as a flurry of activity, Issue No. 20 of Glocal Times once again engages with communication for development from a threefold perspective: as a field of study, as professional practice and as an institutional project,” says Florencia Enghel when she presents the new issue.

Read her introduction to the new number below, or visit www.glocaltimes.se for the full issue.

“Nine months have passed since the publication of Issue No. 19 of Glocal Times, and in the meantime there has been plenty of activity within the field. (more…)

Voice & Matter: Programme Released!

We are really happy about this year’s diverse programme, offering a mixture of academic content, practitioner-oriented debate, film-screenings and workshops. We hope that you will find it interesting as well!

New speakers and events are continuously being added. The latest confirmations include Sheela Patel (IN) from SPARC and Slum Dwellers International, and Baroness Lola Young (UK), Independent Member of the House of Lords and known for her commitment to the Arts, Culture and Social Justice.

We are also very happy to announce that we will be screening The Stuart Hall Project (2013) by John Akomfrah, a documentary about the influential work of cultural theorist Stuart Hall.

The programme also includes a special video appearance by anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, who was interviewed by Ronald Stade for the Friday panel “Voice: The Return of the Politics of Hope”.

Registration is open here! Seats are limited, so don’t wait too long to sign up. Registration closes August 31 2014.

Visit www.voiceandmatter.net for the full programme and further information.