"This study presents preliminary findings of the mounting efforts to develop systematic evaluation frameworks for ICT for Development programs. The evidence from these findings shows that there is increasing interest for understanding the impacts that ICT initiatives are having in realizing socioeco
...
nomic change. Efforts from diverse organizations -- academia, foundations, international research institutes, development organizations and practitioners in the field -- are generating valuable information that piece by piece will better inform not only future investments in the field, but most importantly, how these investments are making a difference in the lives of poor and underserved communities. This study presents preliminary findings of different approaches used to evaluate programs in the following areas: 1) E-government; 2) E-education; and 3) ICT and Civil Society. An additional set of evaluation frameworks for Telecenters, E-health, Gender, Poverty Reduction and Small and Medium Enterprises are included in the Annexes for reference." (Abstract)
more
"This book proposes a framework for comparative analysis of the relation between the media and the political system. Building on a survey of media institutions in eighteen West European and North American democracies, Hallin and Mancini identify the principal dimensions of variation in media systems
...
and the political variables that have shaped their evolution. They go on to identify three major models of media system development, the Polarized Pluralist, Democratic Corporatist, and Liberal models; to explain why the media have played a different role in politics in each of these systems; and to explore the forces of change that are currently transforming them. It provides a key theoretical statement about the relation between media and political systems, a key statement about the methodology of comparative analysis in political communication, and a clear overviewof the variety ofmedia institutions that have developed in theWest, understood within their political and historical context." (Publisher description)
more
"In many ways, this book is a simple and straightforward product of social science research. A conceptual expectation was created through the integration and extension of existing theory and research findings. The responsiveness argument presented in chapter 2 lead to the expectation that aid bureau
...
cracies will try to roughly match the levels of aid they offer with their perception of the domestic political importance of the recipient. It was argued that the news media provide a simple, clear and easily accessible indicator of that importance and, as a result, it was expected that aid bureaucracies will respond to the content of the news media by matching development aid allocations with levels of coverage. From that conceptual foundation, a comparative battery of tests were conducted to evaluate the empirical implications of that expectation, and to address at least a few of the obvious potential objections or critiques. In analysis after analysis, the predicted relationship was found: aid levels and media coverage are clearly correlated." (Page 137)
more
"Alongside other measures such as funding of public broadcasting services, regulation of relations between broadcasters and producers and the implementation of tax incentive schemes, direct funding is one of the most traditional and important ways in which public authorities support the film and aud
...
iovisual industry. Virtually all European States, as well as territorial communities, regions, some municipalities, the European institutions (Council of Europe, European Community) and various intergovernmental organisations have set up direct aid mechanisms that provide around EUR 1,3 billion of funding for the industry each year. The European Audiovisual Observatory's KORDA database, an important source of information for this report, lists more than 170 support bodies and around 600 different aid programmes. Backed up with facts and figures, this study illustrates the enormous diversity of these mechanisms: diversity in terms of legal foundations, the tasks fulfilled by national support bodies, funding, methods of intervention and, in particular, the sums involved. Despite this variety, which results from the history and political and administrative structure of each European state, the support bodies are keen to find common conceptual ground for their policies, based on the notion that film and audiovisual creativity cannot be governed solely by the rules of the market and that funding is justified by the need for cultural diversity. The European Commission does not question this principle, although it does have to ensure that funding does not disrupt the correct functioning of the common market. The report describes how this whole issue has evolved since 1963 up to the recent European Commission Communication of 16 March 2004. The report covers recent events up to spring 2004: reform of Eurimages, new laws in Germany, Italy, Hungary, draft laws in Poland and Portugal, etc. Finally, Olivier Debande, an expert at the European Investment Bank, analyses the role of private investors and intervention by the banking sector in three countries using distinct models (USA, United Kingdom, France)." (Back cover)
more
"This comparative study questions whether the transformation of state television into public service television was successful in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania. It analyzes the context in which public service televisions operate, as well as their professional identity and
...
mission in the dual broadcasting markets. The study also evaluates the editorial independence of public service television in the region, and puts forward policy proposals to improve its performance." (Abstract)
more
"Drawing on first-hand research in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand—and employing comparative examples that include Burma, Malaysia and the Philippines—Duncan McCargo examines the various influences of the media as agents of stability, restraint and change. He also analyses pressures on
...
the media from a range of state, non-state and market forces, and sets out to problematize simplistic readings of issues such as media freedom, ownership, partisanship, profitability, regulation and the public interest." (Publisher description)
more
"This cross-country study compiles data and calculates ICT Development Indices for the following: connectivity (physical infrastructure for ICTs, in penetration rates of Internet hosts, PCs, telephone mainlines and mobile phones per capita); wider access to ICTs (literacy, GDP per capita and cost of
...
local calls, as well as actual number of Internet users); usage of ICTs (incoming and outgoing telecom traffic, as an alternative to Internet data traffic flows in the absence of publicly available statistics on these); and policy environment (a wider policy framework conducive to the adoption and absorption of ICTs, which can be evaluated in terms of the presence of a domestic Internet exchange, as well as competition in the local loop, domestic long-distance and ISP markets). This study analyses country and regional rankings based on these index measurements, and reviews results over time to identify interesting trends. It also seeks to evaluate the extent and evolution of the digital divide, using basic measures of hardware equipment and numbers of Internet users in each country, to determine how the digital divide is evolving over time." (Preface)
more