/*MedieKultur. Journal of media and communication research*/
*Thematic focus: Media, Empowerment and Democracy in the Global South*
Editors: Poul Erik Nielsen (guest editor, Aarhus University), Norbert
Wildermuth (Roskilde University)
*Submission deadline: SEPTEMBER 1, 2011*
Publication date: Spring 2012
With the advent of web 2.0 and with the spread of mobile phones on a
global base, conditions for and processes of citizen participation,
public debate and social critique are changing. Information and
Communication Technologies' potential role in articulating citizen
actions has been discussed in reference to recent events, such as the
oppositional demonstrations in Tibet, Burma and Iran. However, while
the use of social media and mobile phones in these events has received
global attention, their de facto scope for democratic empowerment is
contested and in need of further exploration.
Other attempts to tap into the communicative potential of digital
network media for the purpose of civic engagement, political
deliberation and mobilisation for social change are furthered by
web-based applications, such as Ushahidi, which played a prominent
role during the 2008 post-election crisis in Kenya in crowdsourcing
crisis information. Avaaz.org <http://Avaaz.org>, a global campaign
and petition network with more than 6 million members from over
one-hundred countries, is another prominent example of the
transformative power of e-mobilisation, which exemplifies the
global-local nexus at the heart of e-participation and -mobilisation
strategies.
These "new" developments, exciting as they are, run not only the
danger of being interpreted in overtly optimistic and techno-centric
terms, but also of diverting attention from the continued relevance of
other mass, community and citizen media in contributing to
communicative efforts for democratisation, empowerment and social
change. The planned issue of MedieKultur therefore invites papers that
discuss the present role of both Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) and other media in an admittedly altered media
environment. Communicative efforts to further democratic development
and the empowerment of disenfranchised and marginalised populations
demand scholarly attention to the lessons learned by "conventional"
media development and ICT-based initiatives.
We thus invite papers with a thematic and theoretical focus on civil
society based forms of communication for democratic deliberation and
empowerment, in the broadest sense. Case studies and attempts to
develop theoretical conceptualisations should explore relationships
between media and communication developments, civil society, citizens'
engagement and governance processes. Papers with a focus on such
issues in the context of the Global South are of specific interest.
www.mediekultur.dk <http://www.mediekultur.dk>
Ditte Laursen Forsker i medier, ph.d. / Media researcher, Ph.D.
STATSBIBLIOTEKET / STATE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Universitetsparken Dk - 8000 Aarhus C
Tlf. / Phone +45 89462060 CVR / SE / VAT No. DK 10100682 - EAN
5798000791084
http://statsbiblioteket.dk
http://www.dittelaursen.dk
