"The Agenda 2030 strives for a transformative approach that requires a broad shift in values, norms, beliefs, attitudes and practices towards more sustainable societies. In this debate on sustainable development, environmental communication and learning processes are driving forces for success. Crit
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eria and options for decisions regarding sustainable practices are a result of public discourse and transparently communicated and learned alternatives. Therefore, environmental education and communication (EEC) plays a key role in the achievement of the SDGs, particularly Goal 4 Education, Goal 11 Cities, Goal 13 Climate Change, and Goal 15 Ecosystems. In this context, the communication and learning objectives are as ambitious as the SDGs. Loss of biodiversity, degradation of ecosystems, or climate change challenges cannot be understood without assessing the complex interactions between ecological, social and economic factors." (Page 6)
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"In this sweeping and ambitious intellectual history, Daniel Veidlinger traces the affinity between Buddhist ideas and communications media back to the efflorescence of Buddhism in the Axial Age of the mid-first millennium BCE. He uses both communications theory and the idea of convergent evolution
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to show how Buddhism arose in the largely urban milieu of Axial Age northeastern India and spread rapidly along the transportation and trading nodes of the Silk Road, where it appealed to merchants and traders from a variety of backgrounds. Throughout, he compares early phases of Buddhism with contemporary developments in which rapid changes in patterns of social interaction were also experienced and brought about by large-scale urbanization and growth in communication and transportation. In both cases, such changes supported the expansive consciousness needed to allow Buddhism to germinate. Veidlinger argues that Buddhist ideas tend to fare well in certain media environments; through a careful analysis of communications used in these contexts, he finds persuasive parallels with modern advances in communications technology that amplify the conditions and effects found along ancient trade routes. From Indra’s Net to Internet incorporates historical research as well as data collected using computer-based analysis of user-generated web content to demonstrate that robust communication networks, which allow for relatively easy contact among a variety of people, support a de-centered understanding of the self, greater compassion for others, an appreciation of interdependence, a universal outlook, and a reduction in emphasis on the efficacy of ritual—all of which lie at the heart of the Buddha’s teachings." (Publisher description)
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"The 43 country reports included in this year’s Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) capture the different experiences and approaches in setting up community networks across the globe. They show that key ideas, such as participatory governance systems, community ownership and skills transfe
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r, as well as the “do-it-yourself” spirit that drives community networks in many different contexts, are characteristics that lend them a shared purpose and approach. The country reports are framed by eight thematic reports that deal with critical issues such as the regulatory framework necessary to support community networks, sustainability, local content, feminist infrastructure and community networks, and the importance of being aware of “community stories” and the power structures embedded in those stories." (Back cover)
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"This compendium of 15 SBCC cases presents results and learning from the Communication for Development (C4D) cross-sectoral interventions from 15 states of India – all implemented during the country programme 2013- 2017. Additionally, a national level C4D Results Report ‘Resonating Change’ has
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also been compiled." (Summary note, page 6)
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"Die kommunikationswissenschaftliche Öffentlichkeitsforschung hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren verstärkt mit transnationalisierten Formen von Öffentlichkeit beschäftigt. Allerdings gehen nur wenige empirische Arbeiten über die (mögliche) Entstehung einer europäischen Öffentlichkeit hinaus.
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Daher analysieren wir anhand der medienöffentlichen Debatten in 15 Ländern über die Klimapolitik – ein Thema, das oft als möglicher Kristallisationspunkt für die Entstehung transnationaler oder gar „globaler“ Öffentlichkeiten dargestellt wird – inwieweit die Akteursensembles in der Berichterstattung von Qualitätstageszeitungen, Regional- und Boulevardzeitungen transnationalisiert sind und welche Reichweite eine etwaige Transnationalisierung aufweist. Die Analyse zeigt eine beträchtliche Transnationalisierung, die teils über eine Europäisierung hinausgeht. Allerdings ist die Berichterstattung je nach Untersuchungsdimension unterschiedlich transnationalisiert: Transnationalisierte Bezüge zeigen sich eher in „schwacher“ als in „starker“ Form: Ausländische oder supranationale Akteure werden häufiger in der Berichterstattung erwähnt, als dass sie selbst zu Wort kommen. Zudem ist die horizontale Transnationalisierung stärker ausgeprägt als die vertikale: Bezüge auf Akteure aus anderen Ländern finden sich häufiger als Bezüge auf supranationale politische Organisationen. Die Analyse zeigt zudem Länder- und Medienunterschiede, die grosso modo die Befunde der Forschung zu Klimawandel-Kommunikation und europäischer Öffentlichkeit bestätigen: In wirtschaftlich von Klimaschutzmaßnahmen betroffenen Ländern ist die Berichterstattung stärker national geprägt. In Qualitätstageszeitungen ist die Berichterstattung stärker transnationalisiert als in Boulevard- und Regionalmedien." (Zusammenfassung)
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"The article is an overview of the growing concerns about escalating violence against journalists in India and a matching lack of interest in Indian academy to understand the various implications of such violence both pedagogically and sociologically. The fact that about six journalists were killed
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in a span of two to three months September-November 2017 speaks volume about the magnitude of the problem in Indiathe world's largest democracy that has the largest volume of media presence. By far, the safety and security of journalists was never part of a serious debate among Indian media houses or Indian journalism education except by way of expressing a symbolic condolence whenever a journalist was killed in action. Although Indian academy has displayed abject ignorance of this important component of journalists' training despite the UNESCO proposing a model curriculum for safety of journalists at University level in 2007, the media industry which runs its own media schools in India to train its recruits is never concerned about the safety and security of the journalists. Using the methodology adopted by the Freedom House in its report on Freedom of Press (2016) for determining the varied ways in which the pressure was laid on the objective flow of information, the present study throws light on several dimensions involved in evolving a pedagogy for the safety and security of journalists' from sociological perspectives." (Abstract)
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"Based on an in-depth case study of “Khabar Lahariya” – a community newspaper located in Central India, this research paper analyses its decade-and-a-half journey and examines the metamorphosis it has undergone over the years. The paper borrows from Tanja Bosch’s (2010) synthesis of Gilles D
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eleuze and Felix Guattari’s notion of “rhizomes” to analyze community media, and also from Chris Atton’s (2002) “Model of Alternative and Radical Media,” which he developed through an amalgamation of existing definitions and theoretical sketches on community media. Drawing on the characteristics of “heterogeneity,” “multiplicity” and “asignifying rupture” of rhizomes, the paper explains how Khabar Lahariya grew from a study tool for the neo-literate women of an NGO’s literacy intervention to an independent “media agency” having linkages with diverse media outlets. Atton’s model allows us to comprehend the “intersections” and “overlapping” of dimensions in Khabar Lahariya’s content, form, production, distribution channels, social relations, roles and responsibilities that generate “hybridity” in its products and processes. The authors conclude by flagging some of the consequences of this rhizomatic growth and multi-dimensionality of structure and processes of Khabar Lahariya that may signify a debatable compromise of a few of the non-negotiable principles that characterize community media." (Abstract)
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"Beim Stichwort „mündliches Erzählen“ denkt man hierzulande vor allem an „Märchen“, kurze und wundersame Erzählungen der Landbevölkerung vergangener Zeiten. Tatsächlich aber kannten alle Kulturen raffinierte Erzählkünste, die häufig auch Schriftliteratur und Theater inspirierten. Au
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s historischen Berichten über Erzähler und ihre Auftritte, ethnologischen Forschungen und nicht zuletzt durch zahlreiche Erzählungen der verschiedenen Kulturen entsteht eine ebenso informative wie vergnügliche Kulturgeschichte des mündlichen Erzählens. Die bezeichnenden Formen und Funktionen der vielfältigen Erzähltraditionen ergeben ein schillerndes Bild der Kommunikationsform „Erzählen“: die Interaktion zwischen Erzähler und Hörern in den Dörfern Afrikas etwa, die Improvisationstechnik der Epenerzähler Mittelasiens oder die Unterschiede zwischen männlichem und weiblichem Erzählen im islamischen Orient. Öffentliches Erzählen diente stets auch der Verständigung über Werte und Einstellungen. Die modernen Massenmedien können den interagierenden Erzähler nicht ersetzen, was verständlich macht, warum dieses „Urmedium“ neuerdings auch in der „Mediengesellschaft“ wieder eine überraschende Faszination ausübt." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Based on detailed onsite observation of documentary production, circulation practices and the analysis of film texts, this book identifies independence as a 'tactical practice', contesting the normative definitions and functions assigned to culture, cultural production and producers in a neoliberal
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economic system." (Publisher description)
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"Ist unabhängiges Dokumentarfilmschaffen im Kaschmirkonflikt möglich? Über den Fokus auf Mobilität zeigt Max Kramer neue theoretische und methodische Zugänge zur Erforschung von filmischen Praktiken in Konfliktregionen auf. Er argumentiert, dass die Herstellung von Zeugenschaft zunehmend auf ve
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rschiedene Momente von Mobilität bezogen ist.Die vorgeschlagene Forschungsperspektive nimmt nicht nur auf die umkämpften Repräsentationen und Narrationen von Konfliktregionen Bezug, sondern ebenso auf affektive und ästhetische Momente dokumentarfilmischer Praktiken." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This paper explores the interconnections of Hindutva fascist repertoires in India and quasi-orientalist discourses. History and common sense are re-written through audiovisual communications to appeal to one section of a dangerously split Indian public and a neoliberal-touristic sensibility elsewhe
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re. Enlightenment rhetorics of progress, democracy and technological development are apparently embodied by WhatsApp groups, electronic voting machines and laws to protect cows. Voting—as a marker of democratic citizenship—becomes a masquerade protecting a resurgent far right Hindutva (Hindu fascist) regime under the aegis of Narendra Modi and the BJP. Caste Hinduism’s association of cows with deities, and the proscription on meat-eating in certain versions of religious practice, are used as pretexts for unimaginable violence against Muslims, Christians, Dalits, and working class/lower caste Hindus. Violence against those who dissent is rationalised as patriotic. Hindutva’s banal and spectacular audiovisual discourse overwhelms public communication. Its consequences are a form of vigilante citizenship that is marked on the bodies of dead victims and of vigilante publics ready to be mobilised either in ethno-cultural violence or its defence and disavowal. Meanwhile, attracted to India as an enormous market, Western governments and corporations have colluded with the Hindutva regime’s self-promotion as a bastion of development." (Abstract)
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"This article examines trade relations in alternative food networks as a space where communication practices can prove empowering for rural communities. Drawing on a theory of diverse economies, the article offers an alternative view of the global market, highlighting the social relations that under
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pin market transactions. These relations are then explored through a case study of a farming community in South India and their interactions with private enterprises in North America and Europe. The findings demonstrate how a dialogical communication process between the two groups can contribute to farmers’ well-being beyond economic growth, creating opportunities for more permanent social change." (Abstract)
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"India’s book market is overall the sixth largest in the world and the second largest among English language book markets, and it is expected to reach INR739 billion by the year 2020. More than 70 per cent publishers in India have digitised their content to produce e-book versions. E-readers as we
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ll as smartphones allow consumers access to digital content. Further, books have emerged as an instrumental category for e-commerce business, accounting for 15 per cent of the overall e-commerce trade, closely following electronics (34 per cent), and apparel and accessories (30 per cent)." (Page 2)
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"In this special edition of GISWatch, Unshackling Expression, APC brings together analysis on the criminalisation of online expression from six Asian states: Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand. While the report mostly focuses on criminalisation, curbs placed on expression usin
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g laws, regulations and policies are also discussed in parts. These countries were chosen for closer study based on preliminary assessment. These six states have several socio-political characteristics that are similar and varied. They have largely similar legal systems, since India, Malaysia, Myanmar and Pakistan are former British colonies and follow the commonwealth system. These countries were also chosen keeping in mind sub-regional balance and to bring to the table a diverse experience with laws and violations. All these states, amongst many others, criminalise online expression for a variety of reasons, which they set out in their constitutions and legislations. In these country reports, the authors identify and analyse the reasons for which online expression is criminalised, from defamation to sedition, hate speech to blasphemy, national security to contempt of court." (Page 5)
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