The aim of this book is to shed new light on this theoretically and practically significant issue, and questions the role of technology and culture in social change. It challenges us to reconsider and rethink the impact of new information and communication technologies on civil society, participatory democracy and digital citizenship in theoretical and methodological contributions, through the analysis of specific cases in Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Colombia, Kenya, Netherlands and the United States. Access to information and communication technologies is a necessity, and the...

This book explores the communication processes of the Transition Movement, a community-led global social movement, as it was adapted in a local context. First it analyzes how the movement's grand narratives of responding to "climate change" and creating greater "resiliency" were communicated into local community-based stories, responses, and actions in the Transition Town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Second, it seeks to understand the multilayered communication processes that facilitate these actions toward sustainable social change. Transition Amherst developed and/or supported projects that...

This collection examines the forces and factors affecting rhetoric, writing, and communication expectations in the nations of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The entries in this collection focus on four interconnected topics or contexts influencing rhetorical expectations and writing practices in these countries. The four contexts are (1) the dynamics of the educational settings in which students learn about the relationships between rhetoric and writing; (2) the professional environments in which students will apply their knowledge of rhetoric and writing upon completing their...

In this volume an international array of scholars provides case studies from various countries of social inequalities and how they shape media narratives and experiences. The topics include how social inequalities relate to gender and empowerment, poverty and the media, and discriminatory access to media technologies.

The representation of Islam is unquestionably a critical test for comparing journalistic reporting across countries and cultures. The Islamic religion has weight in international reporting (defining what we termed "foreign Islam"), but it is also the religion of numerically important minority groups residing in Europe ("national Islam"). The first part of the book is "setting the scene." Three chapters provide insights in dominant patterns of the representation of Islam as detected by various authors and studies involved with Islam representation in Europe. Part two, the core section of the...

This study provides an interdisciplinary examination of media portrayals of ethnic and religious minorities in Germany. Using years of combined quantitative and qualitative research, the author compares parliamentary discourse with that of the mainstream media and analyzes the politicized uses of collective identities.

This study examines Chile's 1988 Franja Electoral, the month-long nationally televised political program that gave space to both sides ahead of the country's national plebiscite. The author argues that the "mediatization" of Chilean politics through this practice enabled the peaceful transition of power from Pinochet's military dictatorship.

In this volume an international array of scholars provides case studies from various countries of social inequalities and how they shape media narratives and experiences. The topics include how social inequalities relate to gender and empowerment, poverty and the media, and discriminatory access to media technologies.

This collection examines the risks and social opportunities created by the growth of information and communication technologies. In particular, the contributors analyze how digital inclusion is affected by the social and cultural contexts of access around the world.