"This book discusses how digital inequalities today may lead to other types of inequalities in the Global South. Contributions to this collection move past discussing an access problem - a binary division between 'haves and have-nots' - to analyse complex inequalities in the internet use, benefits,
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and opportunities of people in the Global South region. Using specific case studies, this book underlines how communities in the Global South are now attempting to participate in the information age despite high costs, a lack of infrastructure, and more barriers to entry. Contributions discuss the recent changes in the Global South. These changes include greater technological availability, the spread of digital literacy programs and computer courses, and the overall growth in engagement of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and languages in digital environments." (Publisher description)
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"This report and the associated workbook seeks to contribute to the discourse in three ways. First, we hope to open an extensible documentation and overview of practices, experiences, and resources on the legitimisation of, and resistance to, state-backed internet shutdowns across the world. Second,
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we seek to enable and advance a collective understanding of emerging legal and jurisprudential frameworks being used to legitimise and resist internet shutdowns. Free and open access to such data would help human rights lawyers and civil society advocates to locate relevant jurisprudence and accordingly tailor strategies." (About this report, page 6)
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"This book develops a nuanced decolonial critique that calls for the decolonization of media and communication studies in Africa and the Global South. Last Moyo argues that the academic project in African Media Studies and other non-Western regions continues to be shaped by Western modernity's histo
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ries of imperialism, colonialism, and the ideologies of Eurocentrism and neoliberalism. While Africa and the Global South dismantled the physical empire of colonialism after independence, the metaphysical empire of epistemic and academic colonialism is still intact and entrenched in the postcolonial university's academic programmes like media and communication studies. To address these problems, Moyo argues for the development of a Southern theory that is not only premised on the decolonization imperative, but also informed by the cultures, geographies, and histories of the Global South. The author recasts media studies within a radical cultural and epistemic turn that locates future projects of theory building within a decolonial multiculturalism that is informed by trans-cultural and trans-epistemic dialogue between Southern and Northern epistemologies." (Publisher description)
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"Lange Zeit gab es wenig Kritik an dem, was die großen Digitalkonzerne mit den Daten ihrer Kunden machten. Doch die Diskussion um »Manipulations-Kapitalismus « und »Datenökonomie«, um zwei Begriffe zu nennen, die in der Diskussion über Vor- und Nachteile sozialer Medien oft zu hören sind, ni
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mmt zunehmend Fahrt auf – nicht zuletzt im Blick auf politische Wahlkämpfe. Vielfältige Einblicke in diesen Problemkomplex ermöglicht die Themen-DVD Afrika_Digital.2 – Start-ups und Künstler-Träume. Sie greift darüber hinaus Fragen der Menschenrechte im Verlauf der Produktions- und Gebrauchszyklen von Mobiltelefonen auf – und ist damit auch als Fortsetzung der Kompilations-DVD Digital – mobil – und Fair? zu verstehen. Und nicht zuletzt gilt es hier auch, den anderen, weitgehend positiv grundierten Blick auf Afrika hervorzuheben. Dies betrifft sowohl die hierzulande wenig bekannte Start-up-Szene, als auch die beiden ästhetisch innovativen Kurzfilme Algo-Rhythm und Zombies, die Bestandteil dieser DVD sind und bereits mehrfach mit Preisen ausgezeichnet wurden. In der dokumentarischen Kurzfilmreihe 10 von 199 kleinen Helden nehmen uns vier Mädchen und sechs Jungen mit auf ihren Weg zur Schule. Die Kinder sind mit dem Boot, zu Fuß oder über schwankende Hängebrücken unterwegs, während sie uns an ihren Gedanken über ihren Platz in der Welt teilhaben lassen. Der dreiteilige Dokumentarfilm The Food Challenge – Wie die Ernährung sichern beschreibt, analysiert und problematisiert die Geschäftspraktiken der großen Internationalen Chemiekonzerne in Kenia, die dort weiterhin Agrarpestizide vermarkten, die wegen ihrer Schädlichkeit in Europa und den USA oft schon lange verboten sind.
Gleich drei Filme thematisieren unterschiedliche Facetten des Themas Migration. Der niederländische Jugendfilm Rafaël erzählt eine dramatische Liebesgeschichte vor dem Hintergrund des Arabischen Frühlings und der Bootsflüchtlinge auf der Mittelmeerroute. Auf das organisierte Durcheinander europäischer Migrationspolitik blicken wir dabei aus der Perspektive einer jungen Europäerin, die selbst existentiell davon betroffen ist. Der Dokumentarfilm Die neuen Kinder von Golzow begleitet im Mikrokosmos dieser kleinen, legendär gewordenen Ortschaft die Aufnahme einer syrischen Flüchtlingsfamilie und ihre Bemühungen, sich zu integrieren. Yves’ Versprechen erzählt die mehrjährige Migrationsgeschichte eines jungen Kameruners, deren Vielschichtigkeit gerade auch deshalb spannend ist, weil sie die Perspektive der zuhause gebliebenen Familie und Freunde klug mit einzubinden weiß." (Editorial, Seite 1)
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"Weltweit nutzen 3,3 Milliarden Menschen ein Smartphone, Tendenz weiter steigend. In nahezu allen Ländern des Südens ist die Verbreitung besonders groß. Nicht immer handelt es sich dabei um teure Topmodelle, aber gerade wegen ihrer Erschwinglichkeit sind allein in afrikanischen Ländern 700 Milli
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onen internetfähige Smartphones und nicht-internetfähige Mobile Phones im Gebrauch. Selbst in Ländern wie Somalia, wo Infrastrukturen gleich welcher Art kaum existent sind, funktioniert eines recht zuverlässig: das Mobilfunknetz. In einer High-Tech-Fabrik in Ruanda laufen seit neuestem täglich zehntausend »MaraPhones« genannte Smartphones vom Band.
Die durch Smartphones und Mobile Phones entstehenden Möglichkeiten werden überall auf der Welt ausgiebig genutzt. Tiefgreifende gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Veränderungen sind die Folge. Familiäre Beziehungen werden neu gestaltet und klassische Modelle sozialer Interaktion wie »Freundschaft« neu definiert. Praktisch jeder Wirtschaftssektor ist gründlich von den Handys auf den Kopf gestellt worden. Auch in der kleinbäuerlichen Landwirtschaft in Ostafrika gehören Smartphones längst zum Alltag. Ohne dem Kulturpessimismus zu frönen: Es liegt auf der Hand, dass all diese Entwicklungen nicht nur Chancen, sondern auch große Gefahren bergen. Mit keiner anderen systemrelevanten Technologie lassen sich Manipulation und Überwachung von Individuen besser bewerkstelligen als via Smartphone. Die mit erpresserischen Methoden exekutierte Datensammelwut der großen Konzerne hat durchaus eine Entsprechung in der Überwachung durch autoritäre Regime. Dagegen klingen frühere Dystopien à la »Big Brother is watching you« harmlos.
Im Bereich des Politischen wird besonders deutlich, wie groß die partizipatorischen Potenziale einer Demokratie von unten via Social Media sind, aber auch, wie schnell diese in Regression, Manipulation und Repression münden. Der Arabische Frühling galt zu Recht als »Facebook-Revolution«, das hierarchische Sender-Empfänger-Prinzip war partiell aufgehoben. Was aber vor staatlicher Verfolgung nicht nur nicht schützte, sondern sie oft überhaupt erst ermöglichte. Perfektioniert wird politische Kontrolle via Smartphone einmal mehr von der KP der Volksrepublik China. Sie hält ihre 90 Millionen Parteimitglieder via App auf Kurs – und wehe, jemand liest zu wenig Beiträge und sammelt nicht genügend »Lernpunkte«! Beim Smartphone ist es eben wie beim Beton: Es kommt drauf an, was man draus macht." (Editorial, Seite D2)
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"The innovative research in Video Games and the Global South focuses on a range of topics including art games and serious games from the global south, postcolonialism and cultural representation, player communities, software modification (modding), intercultural communication online, racism and sexi
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sm in game culture, the global growth of eSports, social media use in relation to gaming and the use of games to connect users and communities across the globe. Some fifteen years ago, Uruguayan theorist and game developer Gonzalo Frasca spoke of the possibility of creating “video games of the oppressed,” using the medium as a tool for education, socio-political awareness and consciousness-raising. In short, Frasca advocated for the appropriation of the means of game production by actors in the global south, and the repurposing of these technologies in ways that would benefit the region’s inhabitants. A decade and a half later, we can see that many gamers and game developers from across the global south have taken up this challenge, contributing to game cultures and creating games that respond to the obstacles and affordances of their particular geographical, socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts. Video Games and the Global South brings together perspectives from a range of disciplines, critical methodologies and theoretical approaches. Together, the 20 contributing essays advance the critical methodology for analyzing the relationship between games and culture, as well as historically contextualized insight into the cultural impact of video games and the development of games and game cultures across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, Oceania and Asia." (Publisher description)
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"This handbook critically explores diverse ways of defining 'the South' and of conceptualising and engaging with 'South-South relations.' Through 30 state-of-the-art reviews of key academic and policy debates, the handbook evaluates past, present and future opportunities and challenges of South-Sout
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h cooperation, and lays out research agendas for the next 5-10 years. The book covers key models of cooperation (including internationalism, Pan-Arabism and Pan-Africanism), diverse modes of South-South connection, exchange and support (including South-South aid, transnational activism, and migration), and responses to displacement, violence and conflict (including Southern-led humanitarianism, peace-building and conflict resolution). In so doing, the handbook reflects on decolonial, postcolonial and anticolonial theories and methodologies, exploring urgent questions regarding the nature and implications of conducting research in and about the global South, and of applying a 'Southern lens' to a wide range of encounters, processes and dynamics across the global South and global North alike." (Publisher description)
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"This first edition of the Digital Economy Report – previously known as the Information Economy Report - examines the scope for value creation and capture in the digital economy by developing countries. It gives special attention to opportunities for these countries to take advantage of the data-d
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riven economy as producers and innovators – but also to the constraints they face – notably with regard to digital data and digital platforms. Digital advances have already led to the creation of enormous wealth in record time, but this is highly concentrated in a small number of countries, companies and individuals. Meanwhile, digitalization has also given rise to fundamental challenges for policymakers in countries at all levels of development. The Report presents recent trends and discusses key policies for value creation and capture in the digital economy, notably with regards to entrepreneurship, data, trade, competition, taxation, intellectual property and employment." (Publisher description)
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"Based primarily on a systematic review of the relevant literature between 2000 and 2017, this article reflects on the state of journalism about science in developing countries, with a focus on its issues, challenges and implications for their developmental processes and causes. Five major themes em
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erge from our analysis: (a) heavy dependence on foreign sources, especially the media of the Global North; (b) the low status of domestic science news in newsrooms; (c) uncritical science reporting that easily lends itself to influences of non-science vested interests; (d) tight grip of politics on science journalism; and (e) ineffective relationships between science and journalism. We will demonstrate that, while some of these problems exist in the North, they can have far more severe consequences on the progress of the South, where news plays an almost exclusive role in informing and engaging laypeople with science and its socio-cultural, economic and political implications." (Abstract)
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"A year after a new wave of data protection regulations such as the European Union’s GDPR have come into effect, the websites of media outlets continue collecting great volumes of personal information—but often unintentionally, and typically for other parties. That so many media institutions hav
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e failed to safeguard this asset—to both protect the privacy and safety of their readers and to be in a better negotiating position with advertisers—suggests that education, capacity building, and direct support of independent news outlets is needed to improve their analytics activities and ensure that they safeguard reader privacy. Indeed, the findings in this report reveal that the current level of preparedness among smaller media companies in the Global South to protect their readers from being identified and to protect the commercial value of their analytics data is low. Experts consulted for this report said that this is unfortunate as many of the most common data analytic practices that independent media outlets engage in and benefit from do not require the use of personal information at all. While it will take additional effort by website operators, safeguarding the privacy rights of visitors may be good for business. This, in turn, could help improve the commercial viability of independent media." (Conclusion)
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"The Next Billion Users reveals that many assumptions about internet use in developing countries are wrong. After immersing herself in factory towns, slums, townships, and favelas, Payal Arora assesses real patterns of internet usage in India, China, South Africa, Brazil, and the Middle East. She fi
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nds Himalayan teens growing closer by sharing a single computer with common passwords and profiles. In China's gaming factories, the line between work and leisure disappears. In Riyadh, a group of young women organize a YouTube fashion show. Why do citizens of states with strict surveillance policies appear to care so little about their digital privacy? Why do Brazilians eschew geo-tagging on social media? What drives young Indians to friend "foreign" strangers on Facebook and give "missed calls" to people? The Next Billion Users answers these questions and many more. Through extensive fieldwork, Arora demonstrates that the global poor are far from virtuous utilitarians who mainly go online to study, find jobs, and obtain health information. She reveals habits of use bound to intrigue everyone from casual internet users to developers of global digital platforms to organizations seeking to reach the next billion internet users." (Publisher description)
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"The cases discussed in this chapter have demonstrated how disinformation and rhetoric that is spread through social media in the developing world often meets the Benesch criteria for dangerous speech. It comes from influential sources, which can include family and friends who share it. It plays on
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audience fears by persuading them that members of their group are being attacked by a rival group. It sometimes dehumanizes other groups and issues direct calls for violence against them. It happens where there are longstanding ethnic tensions and grievances. And where the media landscape is weak or suppressed, social media becomes a primary source of information, making it an especially influential means of transmission. There are several characteristics shared by developing countries, particularly those with a recent history of conflict and/or government repression, that make them more vulnerable to dangerous speech spread by social media. This includes low media or digital literacy, a lack of available alternative media and the prevalence of untraceable messaging platforms such as WhatsApp." (Conclusion)
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"Based on his extensive experience in international librarianship, Peter Johan Lor, South Africa's first National Librarian and a former Secretary General of the IFLA, has written the first comprehensive and systematic overview of international and comparative librarianship. His book provides a conc
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eptual framework and methodological guidelines for the field and covers the full range of international relations among libraries and information services, concluding with a discussion of international librarianship in domestic professional practice and career opportunities." (Publisher description)
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"Este artículo analiza el papel que tienen los Programas de Asistencia y Cooperación Internacional en el desarrollo y formación del marco conceptual del periodismo actual y sus prácticas en el Sur Global. En particular, este analiza cómo los esfuerzos internacionales de asistencia para el desar
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rollo han sido cruciales en el fomento de determinados modelos de periodismo, al tiempo que argumenta que estas acciones explican la actual convergencia internacional en torno a los valores fundamentales de las prácticas periodísticas, sus aspiraciones profesionales normativas y las culturas noticiosas. Al plantear esta disyuntiva, se sugiere que el periodismo no debe interpretarse necesariamente como un “acontecimiento” histórico, sino que debe considerarse como parte de un largo proceso dirigido a la construcción de un ideario de nación. De este modo, se invita al lector a examinar determinados valores noticiosos –tales como la objetividad y el equilibrio en la noticia- como parte de las estrategias históricas nacionales dirigidas a establecer y mantener el estatus hegemónico de Occidente en un mundo cada vez más globalizado. El artículo señala que los esfuerzos de ayuda internacional para fomentar el desarrollo de los medios de comunicación son claves a la hora de explicar la difusión de modelos específicos de educación y práctica periodística." (Resumo)
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"This piece explores the role of Foreign Aid in developing the current framework in which journalism operates in the Global South. It looks at how international development efforts have been crucial in fostering particular models of journalism while arguing that this explains the current internation
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al convergence around journalistic values, normative claims and news cultures. In so doing, the piece suggests that raise of professional journalism should not be interpreted necessarily as a historical ‘occurrence’ but rather be also considered as part of a larger enterprise to construct a sense of nationhood. In opening these questions, it invites the reader to understand news values such as objectivity, balance and fairness within national historical efforts seeking hegemonic status in an increasingly globalised world. It suggests that international aid efforts to foster media development are key in explaining the spread of particular models of journalism education and practice." (Abstract)
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"Through case studies and examples of ICTS for agriculture (ICT4Ag) initiatives from across Asia, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, the first chapter looks at how ICT4Ag actually works to drive economic development across developing economies. Further, the chapter reviews the ICT applications, i
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nfrastructure and resources built, as well as the policies and frameworks put in place by international bodies, governments and practitioners to ensure that ICT4Ag becomes viable for investment [...] The second chapter outlines the need for viable business models – with profit as the end goal – to entice private sector players to become involved in the provision of ICT4Ag services, and to ensure sustainability of the sector. Suitable areas for potential investment, such as food traceability, reducing post-harvest losses, and remote sensing for precision agriculture are explored [...] By drawing on case studies and interviews with practitioners from the field, and by outlining the nature of the challenges facing ICT4Ag, the third chapter explains the constraints to widespread adoption. The chapter also explores how the challenges identified can inform investment opportunities, as well as policy recommendations, in order to unleash the full potential of ICTs in development programmes [...] The fourth chapter explains the theory behind cross-sectoral partnerships (CSPs) as entities with the expertise and vision to successfully deliver ICT4Ag solutions, and provides examples of CSPs already in practice, along with lessons learned. The chapter also provides a three-step framework for ICT4Ag investment, which includes the implementation of ICTs into payment systems, marketing, agriculture extension and supply chain management by CSPs." (Executive summary)
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"In development agendas regarding children in low-income communities, both older and emerging media are typically ignored or assumed to have beneficial powers that will redress social and gender inequality. This article builds on a recent rapid evidence review on adolescents’ digital media use and
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development interventions in low- and middle-income countries to examine the contexts of children and adolescents’ access to, and uses of, information and communication technology (ICT). Noting that only a handful of studies heed the significance of social class and gender as major axes of inequality for adolescents, the article scrutinises the gap between the rhetoric of ICT-based empowerment and the realities of ICT-based practice. It calls for a radical rethinking of childhood and development in light of the actual experiences, struggles, and contexts." (Abstract)
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"This chapter examines how the Aide aux cinemas du monde fund and the Produire au Sud workshop aim at strengthening France’s central position in the co-production of world cinemas. The Aide aux cinemas du monde provides funding to French co-producers of films from all over the world, while the Pro
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duire au Sud workshop, linked to the Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes, works towards developing cooperation between European film professionals and emerging film-makers from the South. Drawing on an analysis of film policy documents and data, field observation and recent film festival studies, this chapter describes how both initiatives support co-production, in parallel to developing and exporting professional practices and discourses that shape the co-production culture developed in France since the 1980s." (Abstract)
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"This thesis explores how and why global Theatre for Development (TfD) partnerships fail to enable greater equity and interconnectedness between Northern and Southern actors. Building global partnerships is at the core of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, Northern developm
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ent actors dominate these relationships. To establish why this is the case, the thesis brings together literature on global development, postcolonialism and TfD to demonstrate the current limitations on establishing equitable partnerships. The thesis draws on primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with UK and Kenyan TfD actors, autoethnographic reflections on TfD practice and participant observation.
The study focuses on three key issues that shape partnerships: funding, knowledge and expertise and temporal and spatial dimensions. First, funding for projects is primarily provided by Northern development actors, framing the terms of partnerships and dictating their form, extent and limits. Second, the knowledge and expertise employed in shaping TfD projects is often seen as lying disproportionately with Northern partners, who are thought to bring ‘global’ perspectives to such work. Conversely, partners in the South are seen as possessing ‘local’ knowledge which is deployed primarily to help facilitate and legitimate the interventions of external practitioners. Third, spatial and temporal aspects further impact on partnerships: UK actors are perceived as more mobile and dynamic than their Southern partners, with access to international networks. Southern partners are routinely represented as embedded, statically, in their immediate local contexts. Furthermore, short-term timescales prevent TfD actors from providing the commitment that building more equitable, interconnected partnerships requires.
A key finding is that both Northern and Southern actors create and reinforce these ongoing problems in partnerships. However, they are also able to resist and challenge the unequal terms of their relationships. The thesis demonstrates how networks are emerging with the potential for developing more equitable relationships. It reveals the agency of Southern actors to adapt externally funded projects to meet with their own motivations and contexts. The study concludes by suggesting that future TfD partnerships must recognise and facilitate the participative agency of all involved." (Abstract)
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