"Central Asian post-independence media and communication industries, professional practices, education, persisting and evolving values, and traditions remain critically understudied with a notable scarcity of research and scholarly publications on the complex and increasingly changing communicative
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ecology landscape of this region. Mapping the Media and Communication Landscape of Central Asia: An Anthology of Emerging and Contemporary Issues addresses this gap in literature by exploring, analyzing, and shedding light to the field, practice, research and critical inquiry of media and mass communication in four countries in Central Asia—Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. This book includes local authors as well as new and emerging researchers from this region to contextualize the issues explored and provide a supportive dialogue between different points of view." (Publisher description)
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"The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development is a major resource for stakeholders interested in understanding the role of communication in achieving the UN'S Sustainable Development Goals. Bringing together theoretical and applied contributions from scholars in E
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urope, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and North America, the handbook argues that communication is a key factor in achieving the global goals and suggests a review of the SDGs to consider its importance. Reflecting on the impact of COVID-19, it highlights the need for effective communication infrastructure and critically assesses the 2030 agenda and timeline. Including individual SDG and country case studies as well as integrated analysis, the chapters seek to enrich understanding of communication for development and propose crucial policy interventions." (Publisher description)
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"In communication for social change, a catalyst can play an important role in creating dialogue within the community, leading to collective actions and providing solutions for common problems. In urban communities of developing countries, this role is more essential because of the complexities of ur
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ban social issues and often the absence of traditional community structures. This research evaluated the LIN model of participatory community development in Ho Chi Minh City and demonstrates how urban NPOs have altered their self-perception from being ‘charity organizations’ to be a part of the community development process in HCMC as a result of LIN’s work. However, LIN’s catalyst model faces some challenges, particularly in applying Western concepts of community development and tenets of participatory social change in the Vietnamese context. As a result, a revised catalyst model of urban community development in Vietnam is suggested with three additional elements: leadership strategy for catalyst and NPOs, context understanding (local context and stakeholders’ characteristics) and impact evaluation framework based on the local context." (Abstract)
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"This paper provides a conceptual framework for an islands’ communication ecology (CE) approach and an overview of the key findings of exploratory ethnographic research that aimed at mapping the CE of the Amami islands. The communicative ecology approach refers to the various forms, resources, act
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ivities, channels and flows of communication and information unique to an island or group of islands, to the island context and identity and a milieu of island agents. This research contributes towards an in-depth understanding of these Islands’ communicative environment; identifies key island mediated communicative networks and practices; explores the role of media in localized information flows unique to the islands; and attempts to explore how small island experiences can help contextualize the theoretical approach of communicative ecology." (Abstract)
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"Young people are among the most affected and vulnerable groups in the HIV epidemic. Targeting young people in prevention strategies requires inclusive and participatory approaches. This paper discusses a film production project that involved youths in a remote rural community in the Highlands of Pa
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pua New Guinea. It explores some of the processes and impacts of integrating a visual methods community action project in a local community context while targeting young people in an effort to engage them in a reflective dialogue on HIV and AIDS." (Abstract)
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"This article draws upon the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS) State of Media and Communication Report to examine the implications of a changing media landscape for journalism practice in the Pacific region. The report contributes to an understanding of the diverse media and communications en
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vironments in the Pacific Islands (PI) region and captures aspects of the variations both in media, and in context, across and within the 14 Pacific Islands countries. This article highlights the need for synergies in the Pacific Islands to strengthen legislation, capacity-building initiatives and content production in a fast-changing digital environment." (Abstract)
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"Emerging literature highlights that in the Pacific, the use of participatory video (PV) is a new trend in research and community action. It can be employed as a tool to empower communities to have agency over their media outputs, meaning that they have full control of the content creation, producti
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on and distribution processes. But to date there is still a dearth of studies that fully explore its potential use in different contexts, especially within diasporic networks. To address this gap, a pilot project was undertaken where PV methodologies were tested in collaboration with a diasporic Pacific community group based in West Auckland, New Zealand. This report feeds back on the overall process of developing the pilot project." (Abstract)
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"This article argues that an indigenous approach to communication research allows us to re-think academic approaches of engaging in and evaluating participatory communication research. It takes as its case study the Komuniti Tok Piksa project undertaken in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The proj
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ect explores ways in which visual methods when paired with a community action approach embedded within an indigenous framework can be used to facilitate social change through meaningful participation. It involves communities to narrate their experiences in regard to HIV and AIDS and assists them in designing and recording their own messages. Local researchers are trained in using visual tools to facilitate this engagement with the communities." (Abstract)
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"According to ITU statistics, around 60 percent of Pacific Islanders had access to a mobile in 2012, compared to just 10 percent in 2006. In many Pacific countries mobile phones are, therefore, emerging as a key element of the local communication systems, and are being be built into disaster managem
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ent and communication plans. For these plans to be effective, however, we argue that access to, and affordability of, technologies represent only one dimension of what needs to be considered in effective disaster communication plans. They also need to consider appropriate technologies, local communicative ecologies, systems for the ownership and maintenance of infrastructures, and local knowledge and belief systems. With a focus on mobile and other telecommunications technologies, this paper provides an overview of disaster communication systems and infrastructures, practices and challenges in the region." (Abstract)
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"The research for this report was developed and undertaken between June 2012 and April 2013 across 14 Pacific Island nations: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, Niue, Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon I
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slands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The report provides a regional overview of the PACMAS key components (Media Policy, Media Systems, Media Capacity Building and Media Content) as they emerged through 212 interviews focused upon the six PACMAS strategic areas. It also provides basic background information, an overview of the media and communications landscape and discusses in detail media and communications technicians; emergency broadcast systems, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs), media associations, climate change and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). For this reason, observations on the four PACMAS components should be understood to represent changes in the media and communication environment based upon an investigation focused on the PACMAS strategic activities." (www.pacmas.org)
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"The findings of this research have indicated that Radio Madang [the public service broadcaster in Madang province] is an appropriate medium for disseminating information and messages on development issues to people in rural areas of Madang province. With an audience of about 200,000 throughout the
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province, Radio Madang has the potential to help shape the future of this province throught the different development programmes it produces. However, in recent years, the government has not been fully utilizing this medium due to various reasons listed below." (Conclusions & recommendations, page 155)
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"The findings from this stuy indicate that the Papua New Guinea (PNG) press is not helping to highlight and address the issue of family violence, which is a social hindrance to development in PNG. This is supported by arguments of lack of prominence given to family violence stories, unreliable sourc
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ing, negative representation of women as victims, especially of rape, and lack of investigative journalims which is essential to address family violence and its root causes." (Conclusions, page 81)
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"A 'typical' Papua New Guinean journalist is more likely to be female (very marginally), single, under the age of 29, with about five years experience, a Tok Pisin [indigenous language] speaker but working on English-language media and to have a university diploma or degree in journalism from either
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the University of Papua New Guinea or Divine World University [...] The Papua New Guinea journalist probably entered the media to communicate knowledge to the community, expose abuses of power and corruption, and varied and exciting work (order of preference). He or she may be unsatisfied or uncertain with his or her career, but expects to stay in journalism in five years' time. The journalist may go into public relations, but is less likely to do so than in Fiji. He or she probably believes the professional role is to be the watchdog of democracy, an educator and defender of the truth (order of preference)." (Concluding comments, page 215)
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"This research looks at the distribution of balanced and accurate information about one of China's biggest investments in the South Pacific region, the Ramu Nickel Project. Are the local people in the project impact areas of Kurumbukare and Basamuk well informed and do they have a voice that is fair
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ly represented in the media? How does the overall project appear to be represented by the media and received by the people? [...] In this chapter, I focus on the role of the media in this project, including the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), particularly the local NBC radio Madang, FM 100 of Kalang Advertising and the two national newspapers Post Courier and The National. Because of the isolation of the area, the research looked at how the reporters source their information, whether it is first hand or second hand, and the challenges that they face in obtaining information." (Page 125)
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