"The world is facing an unprecedented climate and environmental emergency. Scientists have identified human activity as primarily responsible for the climate crisis, which together with rampant environmental pollution, and the unbridled activities of the extractive and agricultural industries, pose
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a direct threat to the sustainability of life on this planet. This edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) seeks to understand the constructive role that technology can play in confronting the crises. It disrupts the normative understanding of technology being an easy panacea to the planet’s environmental challenges and suggests that a nuanced and contextual use of technology is necessary for real sustainability to be achieved. A series of thematic reports frame different aspects of the relationship between digital technology and environmental sustainability from a human rights and social justice perspective, while 46 country and regional reports explore the diverse frontiers where technology meets the needs of both the environment and communities and where technology itself becomes a challenge to a sustainable future." (Back cover)
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"O escopo desta pesquisa abarcou algumas narrativas digitais do catolicismo no Facebook, buscando compreender a construção do imaginário da religião Católica na visibilidade mediática, a partir do contexto da pós-modernidade, pelos meios digitais. O corpus da pesquisa é composto por análise
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s de fanpages ligadas ao catolicismo no período de 2016 a 2020, com destaque para as mudanças ocorridas na Igreja Católica causadas pela pandemia de Covid-19 no mundo. A problemática central da pesquisa assenta-se nas seguintes perguntas: Em que medida e sob quais procedimentos de comunicação, mediados pelas tecnologias, há mudanças no imaginário e no comportamento da religião Católica em razão de sua inserção na cibercultura? Há deslocamento de espaço no acesso aos bens da fé do catolicismo? O diálogo estabelecido nas redes e/ou o consumo dos bens da fé sinalizam um novo cenário da Igreja? A hipótese inicial concentra-se na ideia de que as redes sociais estão formando um complexo esquema de transmutações rápidas no catolicismo, do local das manifestações de fé para o glocal das experiências de fé. Devido à natureza híbrida do objeto de análise, o referencial conceitual utiliza como alicerces a teoria do glocal e da visibilidade mediática desenvolvida por Eugênio Trivinho, sob inspiração na sociodromologia fenomenológica, e a teoria das narrativas digitais de Paul Ricoeur e Janet Murray. Para a compreensão das redes, a análise apoiou-se em Manuel Castells; e das redes sociais, em Raquel Recuero. Além disso, foram utilizadas as obras de teóricos como David Harvey e Fredric Jameson, no que tange à teoria e à crítica da modernidade e pós-modernidade; e de Cornelius Castoriadis, Maffesoli e Juremir Machado Silva, para tratar da teoria do imaginário. Para a compreensão do fenômeno religioso e da religião mediática, a análise recorreu às contribuições de Mircea Eliade, Peter Berger, Pierre Bourdieu e Luís Mauro de Sá Martino. Para a compreensão de consumo religioso, apoiou-se em Dom Slater, Nestor Canclini e Luiz Peres-Neto. Os conceitos de narrativas digitais, redes sociais, catolicismo, sagrado, cibercultura, cyberspace, dromocracia, glocal, hibridação, compressão do espaço-tempo foram necessários para o entendimento das manifestações narrativas do catolicismo nas redes sociais. Os resultados da investigação apontam para dados novos, entre os quais de que há uma nova configuração da religião Católica mediada pelas redes sociais, com contornos renovados nos ambientes interativos, em que o “controle” religioso muda o locus da cátedra para o fiel, que dita a mensagem a ser consumida." (Resumo)
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"This book provides empirical accounts to understand the situatedness of open data along the following themes: 1) open data practices; 2) the local implementation of global trends; and 3) open data ecosystems. Many chapters in this volume simultaneously address several of these themes. The thematic
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grouping of chapters is an attempt to foreground salient questions for open data research. In addition, the book covers country-specific, localised applications of open data with a few chapters explicitly focusing on how open government data initiatives unfold within different socio-political contexts. The geographical scope of the contributions spans four continents, providing insights on open data practices in Europe (Kosovo, Belgium, United Kingdom), Africa (Nigeria, Tanzania), Asia (Indonesia, the Philippines), and Latin America (Paraguay, Brazil)." (Introduction, page viii)
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"[...] la presente investigación tiene como objeto cuatro naciones de América Latina: Argentina, Brasil, Costa Rica y Panamá. Se analiza de qué manera cada uno de los países seleccionados caracteriza al discurso de odio y cómo lo enfrenta. Este abordaje se realizó desde una perspectiva legal
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y social. La primera tuvo como fin determinar cuál es la concepción de discurso de odio que posee el ordenamiento jurídico de la región. La segunda buscó reflejar el modo en que grupos habitualmente afectados por expresiones en la red viven dichos ataques y cómo los conciben a la luz de lo establecido por el ordenamiento jurídico." (Resumen ejecutivo)
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"Despite lack of funding and institutional support, not since the mid-twentieth century have comics in the region been so dynamic, so diverse and so engaged with pressing social and cultural issues. Comics are being used as essential tools in debates about, for example, digital cultures, gender iden
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tities and political disenfranchisement. Rather than analysing the current boom in comics by focusing just on the printed text, however, this book looks at diverse manifestations of comics ‘beyond the page’. Contributors explore digital comics and social media networks; comics as graffiti and stencil art in public spaces; comics as a tool for teaching architecture or processing social trauma; and the consumption and publishing of comics as forms of shaping national, social and political identities. Bringing together authors from across Latin America and beyond, and covering examples from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, the book sets out a panoramic vision of Latin American comics, whether in terms of scholarly contribution, geographical diversity or interdisciplinary methodologies." (Publisher description)
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"1. Women with disabilities have among the lowest rates of mobile and smartphone ownership. In most countries, ownership gaps are widest between men without disabilities and women with disabilities. Even in countries where the mobile gender gap is small or nonexistent, there is still a disability ga
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p in mobile ownership.
2. Persons with disabilities perceive mobile as less beneficial than non-disabled persons, and, specifically, women with disabilities perceive benefits the least.
3. Women with disabilities report various barriers to mobile ownership. In Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Uganda, relevance, literacy and skills, and safety and security were among the most commonly reported barriers.
4. In most countries, regardless of gender, persons with disabilities are less aware of mobile internet than those without disabilities. While awareness of mobile internet is lower for women than men, it is even lower for persons with disabilities, except in India. Women with disabilities have the lowest level of awareness.
5. Persons with disabilities tend to have lower levels of internet use than non-disabled persons. Women with disabilities are the least likely to use mobile internet, particularly in India where women are least likely to use mobile internet regardless of disability and the most commonly mentioned barrier to mobile internet is the cost of buying a phone and data." (Key findings)
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"With over 30,000 confirmed cases, Brazil is currently the country most affected by COVID-19 in Latin America, and ranked 12th worldwide. Despite all evidence, a strong rhetoric undermining risks associated to COVID-19 has been endorsed at the highest levels of the Brazilian government, making Presi
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dent Jair Bolsonaro the leader of the “coronavirus-denial movement” (Friedman, 2020). To support this strategy, different forms of misinformation and disinformation2 have been leveraged to lead a dangerous crusade against scientific and evidence-based recommendations." (Abstract)
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"Este artigo visa analisar a cobertura dos meios de comunicação brasileiros nas eleições presidenciais realizadas no país a partir da redemocratização, começando com a de 1989 e finalizando com a de 2018. O estudo tomou como base teórica reflexões sobre desinformação, manipulação, fake
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news e democracia, sob a ótica de autores como Serrano (2008; 2010), Abramo (2003), Ramonet (2007), Luhmann (2005), Mello (2020), Bucci (2019), Bobbio (2006) e Casara (2018). A pesquisa mostra que historicamente a mídia tenta interferir no resultado das eleições, recorrendo a estratégias de manipulação e deturpação dos fatos, o que enfraquece o sistema democrático." (Abstract)
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"This book offers a systematic study of media education in Latin America. As spending on technological infrastructure in the region increases exponentially for educational purposes, and with national curriculums beginning to implement media related skills, this book makes a timely contribution to ne
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w debates surrounding the significance of media literacy as a citizen’s right. Taking both a topical and country-based approach, authors from across Latin America present a comprehensive perspective of the region and address issues such as the political and social contexts in which media education is based, the current state of educational policies with respect to media, organizations and experiences that promote media education." (Publisher description)
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"The bulk of this report is based on data collected by a survey of more than 80,000 people in 40 markets and reflects media usage in January/February just before the coronavirus hit many of these countries. But the key trends that we document here, including changes in how people access news, low tr
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ust, and rising concern about misinformation have been a backdrop against which journalists, editors, politicians, and public health officials have been battling to reach ordinary people with key messages over the last few months.We know that this crisis has substantially increased the amount and frequency of news consumption as well as influenced attitudes to the news media, at least temporarily. We’ve captured this in a second set of polling data collected in April when the crisis was at its peak in some countries. This has helped us to see the impact of the crisis in terms of sources of news and also reminded us of the critical role that the news media play at times of national crisis, including documenting that people who rely on news media are better informed about the virus than those who do not. While many media companies have been enjoying record audience figures, news fatigue is also setting in, and the short-term and long-term economic impact of the crisis is likely to be profound – advertising budgets are slashed and a recession looms, threatening news media, some of whom are struggling with adapting to a changing world. Against this background, this year’s report also focuses on the shift towards paying for online news in many countries across the world, with detailed analysis of progress in three countries (the UK, USA, and Norway). This year, our report carries important data about the extent to which people value and trust local news, perhaps the sector most vulnerable to the economic shocks that will inevitably follow the health crisis itself. And we also explore the way people access news about climate change as well as attitudes to media coverage for the first time." (Foreword)
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"O livro Mediações educomunicativas e interculturais entre Brasil e Moçambique apresenta pesquisas que dialogam com a perspectiva da educomunicação, da mediação tecnológica na educação formal e informal (comunitária), das tecnologias assistivas, da comunicação educativa e da arte comuni
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tária. O principal objetivo foi promover o estudo, a análise, o uso crítico e o desenvolvimento inovador de dispositivos midiáticos e tecnológicos abertos e pluralistas, seguindo o paradigma educomunicativo de formação de multiplicadores, que compreendam a importância dos mesmos para o processo de ensino colaborativo, intercultural e inclusivo, em ambientes formais e informais de aprendizagem. Ao explorar o estudo das potencialidades colaborativas e de convergência dos dispositivos midiáticos e tecnológicos na produção de narrativas multimídias e digitais, relacionando questões interculturais locais e globais, buscou também fomentar trocas de experiências educomunicativas no ensino, na extensão e na pesquisa em rede, de forma a garantir a transversalidade entre a cultura brasileira e a moçambicana. A organização do livro contempla quatro temáticas principais: perspectivas teóricas, éticas e interculturais; educomunicação inclusiva e tecnologias assistivas; práticas comunitárias em arte e comunicação; e mediação tecnológica na educação." (https://www.editorafi.org)
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"In The Charismatic Gymnasium Maria José de Abreu examines how Charismatic Catholicism in contemporary Brazil produces a new form of total power through a concatenation of the breathing body, theology, and electronic mass media. De Abreu documents a vast religious respiratory program of revival pop
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ularly branded as “the aerobics of Jesus.” Pneuma—the Greek term for air, breath, and spirit—is central to this aerobic program, whose goal is to labor on the athletic elasticity of spirit. Tracing the rhetoric, gestures, and spaces that together constitute this new theological community, de Abreu exposes the articulating forces among evangelical Christianity, neoliberal logics, and the rise of right-wing politics. By calling attention to how an ethics of pauperism vitally intersects with the neoliberal ethos of flexibility, de Abreu shows how paradoxes do not hinder but expand the Charismatic gymnasium. The result, de Abreu demonstrates, is the production of a fluid form of totalitarianism and Christianity in Brazil and beyond." (Back cover)
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