[ecrea] Book announcement: New Technologies in Developing Societies: From Theory to Practice

*/New book by Levi Obijiofor/*

*/
New Technologies in Developing Societies: From Theory to Practice/*//


A new book entitled, */New Technologies in Developing Societies: From
Theory to Practice/*, written by Dr Levi Obijiofor, a Senior Lecturer in
Journalism at the School of Communication and Arts, The University of
Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, has been released by Palgrave Macmillan
(UK).

*/New Technologies in Developing Societies: From Theory to
Practice/*seeks to expose and critically engage with current gaps in
communication for social change theory and practice. Dr Obijiofor
explains that, “This book is unique in various ways. It departs from
existing texts on development communication that focus essentially on
theories of development. It draws on existing theoretical assumptions
about technology and development to demonstrate pragmatically what
people in developing countries are doing with technologies to improve
their socioeconomic conditions. The relationship between theory and
practice that is largely missing in existing texts is given special but
critical attention.”


The book places a strong focus on practice. It is broad in scope,
looking at case studies from Africa and other developing countries
ranging from public health interventions working to combat HIV/AIDS to
exploring the difficulties that ethnographic researchers face when
studying online worlds. Topics that are discussed in the book include
*New Technologies and the Socioeconomic Development of Africa*; *Public
Service Broadcasting for Economic Growth and Language Development*;
*Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights in a New Age*;
*The African Public Sphere in the Electronic Era*; *Changing
Technologies and the Changing Role of Citizens*; *Tradition Versus
Modernity in HIV/AIDS Prevention*; *Ethnographic Research in ‘Offline’
and Online Worlds*, as well as *Mobile Phones: Transforming Public
Communication in Africa*.


Below are three reviews of the book by scholars in the USA, Australia,
and South Africa.


In his review of the book, Professor Cornelius B. Pratt of Temple
University (USA) wrote: "“/This comprehensive, go-to book will be
invaluable to field specialists and in upper-division and graduate
courses in (international) communication. It focuses on developing
societies' communication landscape from a 21st-century perspective:
technology as a transformative force in every facet of those societies.
It blends theories, models, and practices as it presents
straightforwardly balanced contexts in which we can better
understand—and appreciate—the use of communication technologies in
developing countries. The downsides of their use are also clearly
presented/."

Similarly, Professor Greg Hearn, Director of Commercial Research in the
Creative Industries Faculty of the Queensland University of Technology
(Brisbane, Australia) wrote: "/The book strikes a right balance between
critical perspectives and optimism based on the rapid development of
technology, services and innovation in Africa. Arguing that practice
teaches us as much as theory, the book covers a wide range of topics
from broadcasting to ehealth, and entertainment to education. The book
is especially strong on its discussion of the public sphere,
citizenship, and socio-economic development. This is a book that will be
of great interest to researchers, policy makers and practitioners/."



Professor Francis Nyamnjoh of the University of Cape Town (South Africa)
and author of */Africa's Media: Democracy and the Politics of
Belonging/* wrote: "/This is a refreshingly well-substantiated
endorsement of the practical implications for socio-economic, cultural
and political development of the new media revolution in progress across
Africa. It is a grounded study on the importance of information and
communication technologies for human agency and resilience against the
overwhelming structures of reproduction of global and local inequalities/."

----------------------------------------------

Dr Folker Hanusch

Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow

Journalism, Media & Communication

Creative Industries Faculty

Queensland University of Technology

Victoria Park Road

Kelvin Grove, Qld 4059

Australia

Phone: +61 7 3138 0157

Mobile: +61 401 685 324

Email: (folker.hanusch /at/ qut.edu.au) <mailto:(folker.hanusch /at/ qut.edu.au)>

Web: www.folkerhanusch.com <http://www.folkerhanusch.com/>

---------------
ECREA-Mailing list
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier and ECREA.
--
To subscribe, post or unsubscribe, please visit
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
--
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Chauss�de Waterloo 1151, 1180 Uccle, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
---------------