"This book presents the perspectives of some of the main players, both academics and professionals, in communication for sustainable development and social change so as to provide valuable lessons for future generations of change agents. It places emphasis on both the theoretical foundation and prac
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tical applications and ethical concerns in communication for development and social change. Most of the available historical accounts in development communications make a distinction between the modernization paradigm, the dependency paradigm and the multiplicity or participatory paradigm. These historical accounts have been dominated by framing developments within these paradigms, as the logical offspring of the Western drive to develop the world after colonization and the Second World War. The subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in the late eighties, together with the rise of the U.S. as the only remaining 'superpower,' the emergence of the European Union and China, the gradual coming to the fore of regional powers, such as the BRICS countries, and the recent meltdown of the world financial system has rendered disastrous consequences for people everywhere. (Publisher description)
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"Drawing on the pioneering works of Daniel Lerner, Everett Rogers, and Wilbur Schramm as well as his own personal experiences in the field, Emile G. Mc
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Anany builds a new, historically cognizant paradigm for the future that supplements technology with social entrepreneurship. McAnany summarizes the history of the field of communication for development and social change from Truman's Marshall Plan for the Third World to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. Part history and part policy analysis, Saving the World argues that the communication field can renew its role in development by recognizing large aid-giving institutions have a difficult time promoting genuine transformation." (Publisher description)
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"We can draw several conclusions from this review about both theory and practice in the context of this decade of the Millennium Development Goals. First, the field of C4D remains alive and thriving on the ground, but it has not gained or maintained the center of attention in the larger communicatio
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n field for some years in its mainstream journals. Much of the work to collect data and even to summarize those data has shifted to those organizations that promote practice or who collect information online. Websites of these organization may serve as better sources for data and writing about C4D than academic books or journals. It is not that there are not a number of academic institutions pursuing theory and policy studies concerning C4D (the Communication Initiative lists a large number globally), but other specialties like health, education, agronomy, policy studies, etc. have sometimes absorbed these pursuits; on the other hand communication studies have renamed their fields even though they pursue some of the same issues as before. Also, we should encourage a renewal of a more direct pursuit of C4D studies within the communication field, especially as this derives from universities close to a set of local issues (the University of the Philippines at Los Baños has provided an example of application and theory in the rural context for many decades). Second, I placed this review in the context of the Millennium Development Goals because these goals manifest the global expression of conscience for all countries. If C4D will again play a practical role in the process of solving the urgent problems of poverty, health, children, women, and the inequities that underlie these issues, then academics need to help create the theories and policies that can help eradicate the problems in both the short and long term (2015 for the MDGs). I premise this belief on the fact that people in every society live in an increasingly connected world where communication is an important reality and the study of communication is critical. This study of communication needs to look at the most urgent problems facing societies and ask how communication can help in their solution. The MDGs have defined the problems and C4D has an important role in these global challenges." (Conclusion, pages 14-15)
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"Economic incentives and the participation of communities can both be powerful drivers of successful innovation and expansion. This article explores a sample of “best cases” applying innovative technologies to solve urgent problems and looks into how the communication of innovative ideas for dev
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elopment could be fostered in order to make solutions available to those who need and might use them." (Abstract)
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"This book brings together experts in economics, sociology, anthropology, the humanities, and communications to explore what effects the North American Free Trade Agreement will have on the flow of cultural products among Mexico, the United States, and Canada. After an overview of free trade and the
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cultural industries, the book covers the following topics: dominance and resistance, cultural trade and identity in relation to Mexico and to French Canada, and intellectual property rights. Based on present trends, the contributors predict that there will be a steadily increasing flow of cultural products from the United States to its neighbors. This book grew out of a 1994 conference that brought together leaders of the cultural industries, policy makers, and scholars. It represents state-of-the-art thinking about the global influence of U.S. cultural industries." (Publisher description)
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"Several decades ago communication research about the Third World centered largely around the diffusion-of-innovation theory which measured elements of social structure but drew no policy implications from its findings. This anthology brings together research with a new perspective involving the rur
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al poor, and reexamining communication's role in terms of equity (who benefits from information) and productivity (what impact information has on agriculture productivity, health, and income, as well as knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of rural people). Studies are grouped in three parts: "Information in Rural Development: General Social Issues," with articles by McAnany and Larry Shore; "Information within Structural Constraints: Three Case Studies" which includes the Ivory Coast by Frans Lenglet, Guatemala by Jeremiah O'Sullivan, and Brazil and Guatemala by Eduardo Contreras. and "Information and Education in Rural Development: Economic Analysis" by Jacqueline Ashby, Steven Klees, Douglas Pachico and Stuart Wells." (Eleanor Blum, Frances G. Wilhoit: Mass media bibliography. 3rd ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 Nr. 275)
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"In spite of disappointing experiments there is a growing range of examples of systems which exploit educational technologies, including many in the developing world. Some may have been introduced for reasons of fashionable interest — some have certainly been introduced as acts of faith, as commun
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ication is a field which attracts very devoted adherents. But experience on the ground has revealed a large number of media possibilities, embracing a variety of educational needs and objectives.
Much of the text is devoted to four short case studies, covering the use of radio for extended learning in the Dominican Republic; qualitative improvement of mathematics teaching in Nicaragua; community action involving radio in Tanzania; and the experimental use of satellite broadcasting in India. Explicit in the booklet's title is the use of communication media for low-income countries, with a critical eye to cost considerations. But it is interesting, and not at all surprising, to see that the focus of the studies, in all cases but that of India, is upon radio rather than television, as a lower-cost broadcasting alternative. More than anything, this reflects a situation in which technological choice is made more directly than hitherto in relation to overall educational planning and financing, paying special attention to criteria of cost-effectiveness, even though these are more flexibly interpreted than in the past. The focus of the booklet is therefore upon the potential of educational technologies as correlated with specific educational policy objectives: in extending educational opportunity; improving the quality of teaching and learning; developing rural areas; and — still a fluid sphere — the increase of participation. What is emphasized, above all, is the need for careful planning and analysis in association with educational specialists from many fields, to envolve media systems and applications which are coherent and which do not exceed the financial possiblities of the country." (Preface, page 9)
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