"This report has looked at six successful intellectual property (IP) reform campaigns from around the world, and examined the strategies, messages and goals of the campaigners who fought them. Although each example has its own lessons to share, broad trends have emerged. Several of the most striking
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campaign successes employed the internet as a mobilising force. A template for such action emerges from examining these campaigns in concert. Almost without exception, campaigners worked in coalition with other stakeholders. These coalitions varied both in style and in substance, and examining those differences is instructive. The campaigns were fought on intellectual and emotional ground which was often some distance from the mechanism of intellectual property law itself. This observation should encourage campaigners to think about the merits and pitfalls of different messaging approaches. Finally, the observation that very few of the case studies emerge from countries in the developing world prompts the report to examine why this might be so, and to challenge campaigners to examine the value of a more global perspective. It’s fair to say that the issues that motivate IP reform activists go beyond the public messages their campaigns focussed upon. The upcoming campaign against the substantive issues contained in the plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement offers campaigners an opportunity to find and voice these concerns, concerns that have motivated them thus far to undertake the significant an impressive policy interventions in the global intellectual property space that have been detailed in this report. The time has come to for a mobilising critique against the flawed orthodoxy of tough, unwieldy global intellectual property regimes." (Conclusion, page 47)
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"Citizens’ Voice and Accountability (CV&A) work has emerged as a priority in the international development agenda from the 1990s onwards. In their CV&A work, donors recognise the importance of context: it shapes relation to that context. However, context awareness has not proven sufficient to enab
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le donors to grapple with key challenges posed by the interaction between formal and informal institutions, the prevalence of the latter over the former in many instances, and underlying power relations and dynamics. Some examples of positive impact of CV&A interventions have emerged from the interventions analysed for this study. This is mostly at the level of positive citizen awareness, empowering certain marginalised groups, and encouraging state officials. However, within the sample analysed, such impact/effects have remained limited and isolated, and have so far proven difficult to scale up. A critical factor leading to the observed limited nature of results is related to the fact that donor expectations as to what such work can achieve are too high, and are based on misguided assumptions around the nature of voice and accountability, and the linkages between the two. There is a tension between the long-term processes of transforming state-society relations and donors’ needs/desires to produce quick results. Scaling up sustainability are also issues not currently sufficiently addressed within intervention design and implementation." (Executive summary, page v)
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"Mobile phones are portable, they are personal, and they as the most pervasive tool for communication between people today. They are intuitively and inherently social, expressive devices. Professional journalists, everyday citizens, and organized groups are capitalizing on the power of mobile techno
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logy to produce and consume media. As articulated by Sameer Padania of the NGO Witness, we will “stop distinguishing between mobile media, new media, digital media and traditional media--and regard them all as parts of the same landscape.” Instead, it behooves us to promote greater collaboration, invest in tools to maximize the strategic leveraging of the devices and networks, and influence policy in a way that creates an enabling environment for a more informed and participatory society." (Conclusion, page 28)
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"This searching examination explores how the internet is threatening the rule of particularly repressive governments - including China, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Addressing internet censorship, citizen journalism, and the growing popularity of blogging as a means for change, this in-dept
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h analysis provides unique insight into these cultures as well as the latest media technologies." (Publisher description)
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"Las radios comunitarias en el área rural, se vuelven comunitarias sobre todo en tiempos de conflictos, al decir que la gente llega, participa, no cobran nada de la entrevista. Algunas de estas personas, se convierten en especie de reporteros populares, cuando llaman y se reportan. Sin que la radio
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, envíe sus periodistas, tienen una especie de reporteros en su misma comunidad, no son empleados de la radio, son los propios comunarios que opinan, llaman una y otra vez, diciendo que esto está pasando. Sin duda, como Ondas del Titikaka y la radio San Gabriel, históricamente se constituyeron en el centro de comunicación popular, en los conflictos sociales protagonizando como instrumento de articulación entre las comunidades movilizadas en los conflictos sociales del 2000 – 2003 de los bloqueo de caminos. El papel de las radios comunitarias, ha logrado socializar y politizar públicamente la información difundida, convirtiéndose en un punto de conexión que permite interactuar con la población movilizada, coadyuvando y convirtiéndose en valuarte de las movilizaciones. El papel de la radio es el centro articulador, al estar asociados discursivamente sobre los destinos que efectuarían al conjunto de las comunidades, cuando precisamente se alude críticamente sobre el sentido de las políticas públicas para la sociedad.
[...] San Gabriel, se constituye en un espacio de amplificación de la noticia radial, que ha generado la movilización colectiva de los movimientos sociales, convirtiéndose en un canal de información, de esta manera en parte integrante de la estructura social, durante los conflictos sociales 2000 – 2003. Se ha demostrado que la labor de Radio San Gabriel, ha sido muy importante para las comunidades rurales, en los procesos de conflictos sociales y bloqueo de caminos (véase Cap. IV). El conjunto de la población del altiplano sigue con mucha atención la programación de ésta emisora, para estar informado de las noticias de las comunidades, provinciales y nacional. Del número de reporteros populares capacitados por San Gabriel, un promedio de 4 respondieron enviando noticias del bloqueo de caminos del 2000 y 2003, éstos viven en la zona movilizada. Y los otros, viven fuera del área del conflicto. Los reporteros populares de San Gabriel, son hombres y mujeres, militantemente comprometidos con su comunidad, trabajan sin recibir ningún pago económico, recupera la devolución de los gastos erogados en el envió del despacho, reciben algunos casetes y pilas para su grabadora, una credencial de la emisora por tiempo definido de un año, que les acredita a cumplir su función de prensa popular en el área rural." (Conclusiones, páginas 131-132)
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"La finalidad de este material es orientar a las y los líderes sociales para que aumente y se califique su participación en los espacios de debate y toma de decisiones de su distrito. Así mismo, queremos que las organizaciones de mujeres y jóvenes aporten con agendas propias a los procesos de de
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sarrollo. De tal forma, que los gobiernos locales promuevan políticas y programas favorables a la equidad de género y el desarrollo juvenil." (Presentación)
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"This guide has been compiled from a number of sources, including industry experts on blogging, with a particular focus on civic leadership weblogging. Many of the examples are based on the experiences of a government-backed pilot into blogging in the public sector. The International Centre of Excel
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lence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE) provides resources for local authorities concerning good practice in eDemocracy, and is a continuation of the Local eDemocracy National Project funded by the UK Government. This guide provides advice for civic leaders and councils regarding good practice in relation to the subject matter." (About this guidebook)
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"La Caravana Ciudadana es una propuesta metodológica de comunicación que busca incentivar el aprendizaje y la experiencia de participación de la ciudadanía. Es un espectáculo de participación itinerante que aprovecha los espacios de encuentro y comunicación como plazas, calles, mercados, pati
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os de escuelas, para organizar un conjunto de actividades interactivas e innovadoras que los transformen en espacios de acceso a información de calidad, de promoción de la expresión y el debate públicos, de fortalecimiento de la autoestima; con la perspectiva de desarrollar opiniones y propuestas ciudadanas que se transformen en insumos para la incidencia sobre las autoridades de la localidad. La Caravana Ciudadana puede ser un recurso útil para que docentes y estudiantes movilicen la opinión de la comunidad educativa en torno a temas que consideran claves y para ello pueden usar los escenarios del interior de la escuela o tomar los espacios públicos de su localidad." (Página 1)
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"Long before the descriptor “citizen journalism” became a topic of research interest in academia, Indonesia’s Radio Elshinta (www.elshinta.com) in Jakarta had already opened its airwaves for listeners, most with no formal journalism training, to call in their stories. This paper contextualises
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Elshinta’s experience with Asia’s top online citizen media portal Ohmynews (english.ohmynews.com) in South Korea to identify their common and divergent characteristics. The case study is complemented by interviews with journalists from Elshinta and Ohmynews. The study concludes that despite relatively unreliable access to Internet facilities in Indonesia, the main catalysts for Elshinta’s engagement with its listeners are (a) the predominantly oral culture in Indonesia; (b) low literacy, thus their reliance on radio as the primary source of information and entertainment; and (d) the popularity of mobile phones for formal and informal communication. Indonesian television and newspapers, however, have been slow in catching up with people-initiated journalism because of (a) fear of losing its reputation and credibility, and thus its commercial base; and (b) conflict between unedited reports by untrained reporters with the professional practice standards and the Press Law. Other obstacles to people-initiated journalism in television and newspapers are the slow uptake of amateur handycam images by TV stations, poor Internet access, lack of writing skills and lack of interactivity in existing online news sites." (Abstract)
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"This guidebook examines the interrelationship of media and conflicts and was conducted for broadcasters, especially presenters, who work in regions where there are violent conflicts. It aims to give examples and tools for talkshows which contribute to peace, and is structured in three greater parts
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: 1. Explanations of 'conflict' and of the different kinds of violence (ie, physical, cultural and structural) 2. Definitions and examples for talkshows and the different formats commonly used (face to face, roundtable, phone-in) 3. Notes on issues and practices, discussing questions like: how to talk about taboo subjects, how to deal with hate speech, accusation, censorship or even extremely sensitive issues like genocide, and how to seek the common ground of conflicting parties? Moreover, the manual contains a planning checklist and suggestions for conflict mapping in order to gain a better understanding of the conflict, and it shows the differences between peace and conflict-oriented talkshows." (commbox)
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"This book presents the studies that were conducted as part of the project entitled Media For Citizens, which is concerned with media pluralism and citizens' communication rights. The project is an effort to enhance the ability of citizens, and minority groups in particular, to actively [...] partic
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ipate in media society." (Page 8)
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"Ce guide s’adresse principalement à toute personne qui participe à la réalisation d’un talk-show radiophonique dans une région ou un pays connaissant un conflit. Il se concentre principalement sur les conflits violents entre individus, groupes ou pays, ou qui sont susceptibles de le devenir
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. Certains professionnels de la radio seront peut-être familiers avec certains des concepts abordés, mais nous espérons que le guide contient un bon nombre de nouvelles idées efficaces. Chacun aimerait vivre dans une société pacifique, où la haine et la violence n’auraient pas droit de citer. La question fondamentale est de savoir comment la faire exister. Ce guide comprend une série d’exemples et d’outils pouvant stimuler des discussions de groupe consacrées à la manière dont les talk-shows peuvent contribuer à la paix. Chaque chapitre commence par un court résumé reprenant les principales idées et concepts développés. Le guide rassemble les éléments suivants: base théorique et ensemble de techniques d’analyse des conflits; instruments (illustrés par quelques exemples) à l’intention des professionnels de la radio désireux de réaliser des talk-shows pour construire la paix; définition et description des différents formats pouvant être utilisés dans un talk-show (avec leurs forces et leurs faiblesses)." (Comment utiliser ce guide, page 4)
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"In this book, Chris Atton offers a fresh introduction to alternative media: one which is not limited to 'radical' media, but can also account for newer cultural forms such as zines, fanzines, and personal websites. Alternative Media examines how and why people produce and use alternative media - to
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make meaning, to interpret, and to change the world in which they live; encompasses a wide range of alternative media and draws on examples from both the United States and United Kingdom; locates contemporary alternative media in their cultural, historical and political contexts." (Publisher description)
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