"This book showcases the online activism of women's groups around the world in the post-#MeToo era, and presents an overview of the diversity of its current expressions. The focus of this book extends beyond campaigns against rape culture to include women's struggles on other political and environme
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ntal issues, such as the campaign against the radical right-wing in Austria. Moreover, the book's chapters highlight the genuine complexity of the efforts of women activists who are not only challenging the patriarchal order within male-controlled digital platforms but are also challenging the hegemonic voices within the women's movements. The book's case studies attest to the proliferation of digital campaigns aimed not only against discrimination of women but against discrimination based on their color, age, ethnicity, and nationality. The internet helps them to voice their agenda and strive for social change as well as to create both connective and collective identities." (Publisher description)
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"Covid Conspiracy Theories in Global Perspective examines how conspiracy theories and related forms of misinformation and disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic have circulated widely around the world. Covid conspiracy theories have attracted considerable attention from researchers, journalists,
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and politicians, not least because conspiracy beliefs have the potential to negatively affect adherence to public health measures. While most of this focus has been on the United States and Western Europe, this collection provides a unique global perspective on the emergence and development of conspiracy theories through a series of case studies. The chapters have been commissioned by recognized experts on area studies and conspiracy theories. The chapters present case studies on how Covid conspiracism has played out (some focused on a single country, others on regions), using a range of methods from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, politics, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Collectively, the authors reveal that, although there are many narratives that have spread virally, they have been adapted for different uses and take on different meanings in local contexts." (Publisher description)
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"This Handbook presents a transnational and interdisciplinary study of refugee narratives, broadly defined. Interrogating who can be considered a refugee and what constitutes a narrative, the thirty-eight chapters included in this collection encompass a range of forcibly displaced subjects, a mix of
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geographical and historical contexts, and a variety of storytelling modalities. Analyzing novels, poetry, memoirs, comics, films, photography, music, social media, data, graffiti, letters, reports, eco-design, video games, archival remnants, and ethnography, the individual chapters counter dominant representations of refugees as voiceless victims. Addressing key characteristics and thematics of refugee narratives, this Handbook examines how refugee cultural productions are shaped by and in turn shape socio-political landscapes." (Publisher description)
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"Overall, our study found that many journalists and media workers from minority backgrounds were experiencing online harassment and abuse from members of the public, and that often, this behaviour was considered ‘part of the job’ in the modern, digital environment. While we found some employers
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were making good efforts to assist their employees from diverse backgrounds, too often issues such as industry complacency and in-built (systemic, institutional) racism and discrimination were impacting on organisations’ ability to properly protect diverse media workers. Our data also demonstrates that, sometimes, journalists from diverse backgrounds were operating in what they considered to be hostile work environments. Further, we found that while many were aware of both informal and formal reporting mechanisms, they found most comfort and support from friends, family and other diverse co-workers rather than from any of the supports that existed. The research suggests that while some were familiar with formal reporting mechanisms, many were not; and many also had little faith in the ability of formal mechanisms to achieve change. There was a strong sense that people from diverse backgrounds did not want to be identified as the ‘difficult’ person in their organisation and that acceptance, adaptation and sometimes silence were used as ways to navigate the environment, rather than formal complaints mechanisms." (Executive summary, pages 4-5)
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"Australia and New Zealand have reputations as countries prone to catastrophic and frequent natural and man-made disasters. Therefore, it is no surprise that antipodean academics want trauma-informed education for their journalism students. This study presents the Australian-New Zealand results of a
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2021 survey exploring educators’ attitudes toward embedding trauma literacy into journalism curriculum. It mirrors a survey from the UK-based Journalism Education and Trauma Research Group. The Australian-New Zealand results confirm that educators want more training to effectively embed trauma-informed reporting into their curricula. The discussion notes the availability of local, research-based teaching materials, and identifies barriers to implementation." (Abstract)
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"Across markets, only around a fifth of respondents (22%) now say they prefer to start their news journeys with a website or app – that’s down 10 percentage points since 2018. Publishers in a few smaller Northern European markets have managed to buck this trend, but younger groups everywhere are
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showing a weaker connection with news brands’ own websites and apps than previous cohorts – preferring to access news via side-door routes such as social media, search, or mobile aggregators.
• Facebook remains one of the most-used social networks overall, but its influence on journalism is declining as it shifts its focus away from news. It also faces new challenges from established networks such as YouTube and vibrant youth-focused networks such as TikTok. The Chinese-owned social network reaches 44% of 18–24s across markets and 20% for news. It is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America.
• When it comes to news, audiences say they pay more attention to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than journalists in networks like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. This contrasts sharply with Facebook and Twitter, where news media and journalists are still central to the conversation.
• Much of the public is sceptical of the algorithms used to select what they see via search engines, social media, and other platforms. Less than a third (30%) say that having stories selected for me on the basis of previous consumption is a good way to get news, 6 percentage points lower than when we last asked the question in 2016. Despite this, on average, users still slightly prefer news selected this way to that chosen by editors or journalists (27%), suggesting that worries about algorithms are part of a wider concern about news and how it is selected.
• Despite hopes that the internet could widen democratic debate, we find fewer people are now participating in online news than in the recent past. Aggregated across markets, only around a fifth (22%) are now active participators, with around half (47%) not participating in news at all. In the UK and United States, the proportion of active participators has fallen by more than 10 percentage points since 2016. Across countries we find that this group tends to be male, better educated, and more partisan in their political vie ws.
• Trust in the news has fallen, across markets, by a further 2 percentage points in the last year, reversing in many countries the gains made at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. On average, four in ten of our total sample (40%) say they trust most news most of the time. Finland remains the country with the highest levels of overall trust (69%), while Greece (19%) has the lowest after a year characterised by heated arguments about press freedom and the independence of the media." (Summary, page 10)
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"Combining an innovative mix of traditional chapters, autoethnography, case studies, and dialogue within an intercultural framework, the handbook focuses on the future of media education and provides a deeper understanding of the challenges and affordances of media education as we move forward. Topi
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cs range from fighting disinformation, how vulnerable communities coped with disadvantages using media, transforming educational TV or YouTube to reach larger audiences, supporting students’ wellbeing through various online strategies, examining early childhood, parents, and media mentoring using digital tools, reflecting on educators’ intersectionality on video platforms, youth-produced media to fight injustice, teaching remotely and providing low-tech solutions to address the digital divide, search for solutions collaboratively using social media, and many more." (Publisher description)
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"Bringing together 15 journalism scholars from around the world, this book explores and offers solutions to the common issues and inadequacies of reporting on sexual violence in the media. Presenting a range of conceptual, methodological, and empirical chapters, the book tackles issues related to, o
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r missing, from journalism in three parts: Part I acknowledges and surveys the role journalism plays in shining a light on social injustices and critiques research deficits in reporting on sexual violence; Part II employs cutting-edge research linked to an intersectional lens to amplify the voices that have been silenced in the media coverage; Part III explores how advocacy, campaign, and solutions journalism offers frameworks for ethical reporting on the shadow epidemic of sexual violence during these COVID-normal times." (Publisher description)
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"This exploratory study uses the Design Thinking framework and starts by mapping elements related to church growth from different works of literature and local successful churches’ experiences. Using this list of elements, a survey was designed to provide an overview of the existing internal resou
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rces (including the availability of time, talents, etc.) and willingness for change within Mountainside Lutheran Church. Using this mapping, a list of projects was then proposed to enable Mountainside Lutheran Church to implement with the aim of producing future growth. These findings were also presented to the Parish Council, and Elders group using the Design Thinking framework. Several ministry focus areas were found including: 1. The youth group ministry as the focus to change the church’s worship experience. 2. The need to reactivate cell groups and welcoming team to enhance support to families, couples and newcomers. 3. A focus on online ministry to strengthen spiritual support to members and outreach to new generations and different ethnic groups. 4. The development of new creative community services, including childcare and other language classes. 5. The organisation of more fellowship events for friendship among new immigrants. From here it is suggested that actions should be formulated with the help of the Congregation Life Committee of the church. With the implementation of Design Thinking and the development of continual Design Thinking skills within the church, it is expected that reviews and improvement will help these projects." (Abstract)
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"In 2019, 51 people were killed in terror attacks at two mosques in Christchurch, a city on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand with a population of around 400,000 people. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history and the first terror attack of its kind on home soil
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, attracting extensive international media attention. Given the city’s relative isolation, early coverage was by local media and included local journalism students who had responded to a developing event. This study explores the first-hand experiences of these undergraduate broadcast journalism students who, just a few weeks into a new academic year, covered the news story for national and international media. Using mini focus groups, this descriptive study sheds light on how students with little to no trauma training coped with reporting on such an extreme and unprecedented event and the crucial role soft skills played in guiding their actions." (Abstract)
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"Using a multimodal discourse analysis approach, this dynamic collection examines various discourses, modes and media in circulation during the early stages of the pandemic, and how these have impacted our daily lives in terms of the various meanings they express. Examples include how national and i
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nternational news organisations communicate important information about the virus and the crisis, the public’s reactions to such communications, the resultant (counter- )discourses as manifested in social media posts and memes, as well as the impact social distancing policies and mobility restrictions have had on people’s communication and interaction practices. The book offers a synoptic view of how the pandemic was communicated, represented and (re- )contextualised across different spheres, and ultimately hopes to help account for the significant changes we are continuing to witness in our everyday lives as the pandemic unfolds." (Publisher description)
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"This edited collection investigates the use of sound and audio production in community engaged participatory arts practice and research. The popularity of podcast and audio drama, combined with the accessibility and portability of affordable field recording and home studio equipment, makes audio a
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compelling mode of participatory creative practice. This book maps existing projects occurring globally through a series of case study chapters that exemplify community engaged creative audio practice. The studies focus on audio and sound-based arts practices that are undertaken by artists and arts-led researchers in collaboration with (and from within) communities and groups. These practices include - Applied audio drama, community-engaged podcasting, sound and verbatim theatre, participatory sound art, community-led acoustic ecology, sound and media walks, digital storytelling, oral history and reminiscence, and radio drama in health and community development. The contributors interrogate the practical, political, and aesthetic potentialities of using sound and audio in community engaged arts practice, as well as its tensions and possibilities as an arts-led participatory research methodology." (Publisher description)
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"The Routledge Handbook of Collective Intelligence for Democracy and Governance explores the concepts, methodologies, and implications of collective intelligence for democratic governance, in the first comprehensive survey of this field. Illustrated by a collection of inspiring case studies and edit
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ed by three pioneers in collective intelligence, this handbook serves as a unique primer on the science of collective intelligence applied to public challenges and will inspire public actors, academics, students, and activists across the world to apply collective intelligence in policymaking and administration to explore its potential, both to foster policy innovations and reinvent democracy." (Publisher description)
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