Book Feature: Communication Theories in a Multicultural World

For the theory driven in our field, Communication Theories in a Multicultural World (Peter Lang, 2014), edited by Clifford Christians and Kaarle Nordenstreng, aims to loosen the Western grip in this area a bit.  The inspiration for the book came out of the textbook project of the International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR), which goes all the way back to 1982.

Robert White,(in the book's opening overview, locates theory in the public sphere: "This conception of the public sphere prizes a communicative relation of care, concern, and nurture, especially of the less powerful and marginalized...It is a public sphere of multicultural dialogue in which all open themselves to the challenging claims of communication justice posed by different cultures with a readiness to adapt to the justice of these challenges. The contributors here tend to think of the public not as one large communicative arena, but as a multiplicity of public spheres emerging from new movements, the defense of local communities, continually redistributing the power of a feudalistic or imperial past, strong advocacy communication that seeks to make identities explicit, fostering cultural creativity. The conception of the public is characterized by awareness of the continual harmful tendencies toward concentration of communication power, especially in the realm of the material political-economic order, but also an openness to movements to challenge ideologies and encourage dissent in the face of false unity in the name of harmony,"

Table of Contents: Kaarle Nordenstreng: Preface: Toward a Better World – Robert A. White: Keeping the Public Sphere(s) Public – Brenda Dervin/Peter Shields: Talking Communicatively About Mass Communication in Communication Theories: Beyond Multiplicity, Toward Communicating – Denis McQuail: Social Scientific Theory of Communication Encounters Normativity: A Personal Memoir – Janet Wasko: Understanding the Critical Political Economy of the Media – Peter Golding/Karen Williamson: Power, Inequality, and Citizenship: The Enduring Importance of the Political Economy of Communications – Roger Bromley: Cultural Studies: Dialogue, Continuity, and Change – Michael Real/David Black: A Mutually Radicalizing Relationship: Communication Theory and Cultural Studies in the United States – Jesús Martin-Barbero: Thinking Communication in Latin America – Joseph Oládèjo Fáníran: Toward a Theory of African Communication – Keval J. Kumar: Theorizing About Communication in India: Sadharanikaran, Rasa, and Other Traditions in Rhetoric and Aesthetics – Thomas Tufte: Voice, Citizenship, and Civic Action: Challenges to Participatory Communication – Stewart M. Hoover: Media, Culture, and the Imagination of Religion – Pradip N. Thomas: Theorizing Development, Communication, and Social Change – Cees J. Hamelink: Human Rights and Communication: Reflections on a Challenging Relationship – Ruth Teer-Tomaselli/Keyan G. Tomaselli: Struggle, Vatican II, and Development Communication Practice – Paul A. Soukup, SJ: Media Ecology – Theodore L. Glasser/Isabel Awad: Journalism, Multiculturalism, and the Struggle for Solidarity – Clifford G. Christians: Media Ethics in Transnational, Gender Inclusive, and Multicultural Terms.

The book is available at Annenberg Reference HM1211.C6496.

Blogging About Bitly

That's right, this post is about Bitly Enterprise, a company that advises about half of the Fortune 500 and over 75% of the world's largest media companies on how to get the most out of social media. Luckily for the resource environment there is the bitly Blog that sometimes does these great data posts.  The latest points to  breakdown of traffic from social networks by country  where nifty interactive world map illustrates how the proportion of a country's traffic from the social network you select (out of 16 so far, including Weibo, vk, etc.) compares to the proportion for the world as a whole. On a lighter note, last month prior to the Oscars, the bitly science team decided to mine their data for best picture and nominee popularity in social media.  There is also the Bitly Enterprise Blog that is more focused on social media news, including a Bitly Brief each week of important stories around the web. Mind you, these blogs are mainly for marketers, but they know and we know that includes the broader rubric, "content sellers," which pretty much speaks to us all.

Measuring the Information Society 2012

In last Thursday's fascinating CGCS lecture, Digital Innovation for International Development, Martin Hilbert referred to the International Telecommunication Union Report, Measuring the Information Society 2012 which presents two authoritative benchmarking tools to monitor information society developments worldwide. From the report launch:

The first of these is the ICT Development Index, the IDI, which combines 11 different indicators into one single measure to track progress made in ICT access, use and skills.

The IDI measures the level of ICT developments in 155 economies worldwide, presents country rankings, and compares progress made between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011.

The second is the ICT Price Basket, the IPB, which combines fixed-telephone, mobile-cellular and fixed-broadband Internet tariffs for 165 economies into one measure, and ranks countries based on the 2011 tariffs, and in relation to income levels. It also compares tariffs over the four-year period from 2008 to 2011.

The report also features new data and analysis on revenue and investment in the ICT sector.

This 213-page report is required reading for anyone interested in the global information society--especially in terms of equality/disparity issues.  

Mapping Twitter Around the World

The Oxford Internet Institute has recently published a study called A Geography of Twitter which examines Twitter traffic around the world.  Not surprisingly the United States is first in Twitter usage, followed by Brazil, Indonesia and the UK. The study's results are displayed graphically which we've come to expect from the Institute (see more of their data visualizations)--though I have to say visual displays carry their own confusions. Is the longer, thinner rectangle of the UK smaller, larger or the same size as the fatter but shorter rectangle of Indonesia? Too close to call to my eye. 

Writes the authors of the study, Mark Graham and Monica Stephens:

By mapping the distribution of tweets in the world it becomes apparent that Twitter is allowing for broader participation than is possible in most other platforms and media. In other words, it might be allowing for a 'democratisation' of information production and sharing because of its low barriers to entry and adaptability to mobile devices. Similarly barriers to the dissemination of information, such as censorship, are also visible through the small proportion of tweets originating in China (home to the largest population of internet users in the world).

Central European Journal of Communication

The Annenberg Library now subscribes to the Central European Journal of Communication, the official Journal of the Polish Communication Association. The first issue (2008) was the "result of the International Media and Communication Conference 'Comparing Media Systems: West Meets East' (Wrocław, Kliczków Castle, 23-25 April, 2007)" from which ten articles were selected for the maiden issue. The second issue (2009), focused on the "Impact of European Integration and EU Entry on the Media and Media Policy in 'New Europe.'" "Political Campaign Communication in Different Media Systems"(2010), is the subject of the most recent issue which the library should be receiving any day now.

Note this journal is not available electronically. That will probably change at some point but for now it's a paper only title. It's also currently not indexed in Communication Abstracts or Communication and Mass Media Complete so you'll have to go out of your way a little to keep track of it (check ASC shelves or website for information on current and forthcoming issues).

Introducing The Communication Initiative Network

The Communication Initiative Network (The CI) is an portal for the exchange of information between "the people and organizations engaged in or supporting communication as a fundamental strategy for economic and social development and change...This process is supported by web-based resources of summarized information and several electronic publications, as well as online research, review, and discussion platforms providing insight into communication for development experiences.

Currently, The CI Network process includes: The Communication Initiative: Global - in English, with a worldwide overview and focus; La Iniciativa de Comunicacion: Latin America - in Spanish, with a worldwide overview and focus on the Latin American experience and context; and, Soul Beat Africa - in English, with a focus on the African experience and context."

The site also includes a Policy Blogs section and Development Networks for such topics as Journalism in Crisis, Haiti, Communication and Climate Change, Polio Communication Consultation Group, and HIV/AIDS Strategy.

The Drum Beat, a weekly electronic magazine features new summarized information from the site.

The ASC community should be proud to know that The Annenberg School has become an associative member of "The CI." Here's hoping more academic institutions join us. Anyone interested in global communication, development communication or health communication beyond our shores should find something useful at this site.

Consumers International

Consumers International has been around since 1960 and describes itself as serving "as the only independent and authoritative global voice for consumers." It's useful for a more worldly perspective on consumer issues and has lots of media-related reports and projects on such topics as irresponsible drug promotion, junk food marketing, the mobile phone industry and communication about climate change as it relates to consumerism.

Check out these reports and briefings:
Left Wanting More: Food company Policies on Marketing to Children (March 2009)
New Media, same Old Tricks: A Survey of the Marketing of Food to Children on Food Company Websites (March 2009)
Drugs, doctors and Dinners: How Drug Companies Influence Health in the Developing World (October 2007)
Research Briefing: Promotion of Prescription Drugs in the Developing World (2009)

International Journal of Communication Tackles Media Reform

Media reform is the focus of a special symposium recently published in International Journal of Communication, Volume 3 (2009). Our own Annenberg doctoral candidates Dan Berger and C. Riley Snorton contribute individual articles as well as the section's Introduction.

From the Introduction:

"This section — among the first in-depth scholarly examination of media reform—brings together scholars and activist-intellectuals (in and outside of the academy) to examine the media reform struggle. We organized this special section to investigate the ideas and actions of this political project. We wanted, in particular, to examine its origin narrative at a time when the movement appears to be gaining even greater traction as issues like “net neutrality,” low-frequency radio, and other questions of media access are pervasive in popular, scholarly, and activist spheres." They were "intentionally eclectic in soliciting a wide range of voices, which speak to issues of media, democracy, representation, and political engagement." Contributors are prominent figures in the world of media reform and the field of communication: John L. Jackson Jr. (University of Pennsylvania), "Media Reform, 2008's Presidential Election, and the Sportification of Politics"; Robert W. McChesney (University of
Illinois at Champaign-Urbana), "Understanding the Media Reform Movement"; Makani Themba-Nixon (The Praxis Project), "Mainstreams and Margins: A Critical Look at the Media Reform 'Story'"; and Peter Dahlgren (Lund University, Sweden), "Realistic Politics, Uncomfortable Knowledge: Living Creatively with Dissonance."

And be sure to also check out "From Fermentation to Maturity? Reflections on Media and Communication Studies. An Interview with Todd Gitlin, Jostein Gripsrud & Michael Schudson" by Helle Sjøvaag and Hallvard Moe.

Abstract:
"25 years after the Journal of Communication published a special issue entitled 'Ferment in the Field' [published right here at the Annenberg School], Professors Todd Gitlin, Michael Schudson and Jostein Gripsrud reflect on the state of the field of media and communications research. They discuss the conflict between critical and administrative research, the role of the intellectual in today’s society, and the quality of current research on new media."

Edited by Larry Gross and Manuel Castells (both, USC Annenberg School for Communication), IJoC is an open-access, multi-media journal that, "while centered in communication," features contributions "from the many disciplines and approaches that meet at the crossroads that is communication study." It takes the "International" part of its title seriously; beginning only its third year/volume of publication, contributors to the journal represent twenty-five countries from around the world.

Book feature: Global Journalism Research: Theories, Methods, Findings, Future

Drawing on a rich range of research from around the world--Asia, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, and North and South America--Global Journalism Research: Theories, Methods, Findings, Future (Blackwell, 2008), charts the major theoretical and methodological perspectives contributing to the globally interconnected field of journalism. Edited by Martin Loffelholz and David Weaver, who outline the history of journalism research in their introduction, the volume is girded by leading figures working in the field today (including our own Raymond Williams Professor of Communication, Barbie Zelizer) and should serve as an essential touchstone for students venturing into this important area of research.

Part I: Introduction to Journalism Research
1. Questioning National, Cultural and Disciplinary Boundaries: A Call for Global Journalism Research: David Weaver (Indiana University, Bloomington) and Martin Löffelholz (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany)
Part II: Theories of Journalism Research
2. Heterogeneous - Multi-dimensional - Competing: Theoretical Approaches on Journalism - an Overview: Martin Löffelholz (Ilmenau University of Technology)
3. Journalism in a Globalizing World Society: A Societal Approach to Journalism Research: Manfred Rühl (University of Bamberg)
4. Journalism as a Human Right: The Cultural Approach to Journalism: John Hartley (Queensland University of Technology)
5. The Structure of News Production: The Organizational Approach to Journalism Research: Klaus-Dieter Altmeppen (Ilmenau University of Technology)
6. Factors Behind Journalists' Professional Behavior: A Psychological Approach to Journalism Research: Wolfgang Donsbach (Dresden University, Germany)
7. Jounalism as a Symbolic Practice - The Gender Approach in Journalism Research: Gertrude J. Robinson (McGill University, Montreal)
Part III: Methodology and Methods of Journalism Research
8. Comparing Journalism across Cultural Boundaries: State-of-the-art, Strategies, Problems, and Solutions: Thomas Hanitzsch (University of Zürich)
9. Methods of Journalism Research - Survey: David Weaver (Indiana University)
10. Methods of Journalism Research - Content Analysis: Christian Kolmer (Media Tenor Institute, Bonn)
11. Methods of Journalism Research: Observation: Thorsten Quandt (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany)
Part IV: Selected Paradigms and Findings of Journalism Research
12. Journalism Research in the United States: Paradigm Shift in Times of Globalization: Jane B. Singer (University of Iowa)
13. Journalism Research in Germany: Evolution and Central Research Interests: Siegfried Weischenberg (Hamburg University, Germany) and Maja Malik (University of Münster, Germany)
14. Journalism Research in the UK: From Isolated Efforts to an Established Discipline: Karin Wahl-Jorgensen and Bob Franklin
15. South African Journalism Research: Challenging Paradigmatic Schisms and Finding a Foothold in an Era of Globalization: Arnold S. de Beer (Stellenbosch University, South Africa)
16. Journalism Research in Greater China: Its Communities, Approaches, and Themes: Joseph Man Chan (University of Hong Kong), Ven-hwei Lo (National Chengchi University, Taiwan), and Zhongdang Pan (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
17. Journalism Research in Mexico: Historical Development and Research Interests in the Latin American Context: María Elena Hernández Ramírez (University of Guadalajara) and Andreas Schwarz (Ilmenau University of Technology)
Part V: The Future of Journalism Research
18. Re-Considering "Journalism" for Journalism Research: Ari Heinonen (University of Tampere, Finland) and Heikki Luostarinen (University of Tampere, Finland)
19. Theorizing a Globalized Journalism: Stephen D. Reese (University of Texas at Austin)
20. Going Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries in the Future of Journalism Research: Barbie Zelizer (University of Pennsylvania)
21. Journalism Education in an Era of Globalization: Mark Deuze (Indiana University)
Part VI: Conclusions
22. Journalism Research: Summing Up and Looking Ahead: Martin Löffelholz (Ilmenau University of Technology, Germany) and David Weaver (Indiana University)

Panel discussion on television flow at MIT

A panel discussion on international television program flows in March of this year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was recorded as part of the Communications Forum Series of the Comparative Media Studies Program. The event, Global Television, can be accessed in audio or podcast.

Abstract:
A salient feature of contemporary TV has been the appearance of programs that appeal more widely across national boundaries than many earlier television shows. Examples include a range of reality shows such as Big Brother or Survivor as well as fiction series such as Ugly Betty, which undergo relatively small facelifts before being introduced to new audiences. And many American programs -- e.g., Lost, Desperate Housewives -- travel abroad with no alterations, as country-specific promotion and distribution strategies adjust them to their new national contexts. In this forum, three distinguished media scholars will discuss the origins and significance of the international distribution of television formats and programs.

MODERATOR:
David Thorburn, MIT Professor of Literature, MacVicar Faculty Fellow, Director, MIT Communications Forum
PANELISTS: William C. Uricchio, Co-Director, Comparative Media Studies Program and Professor of Comparative Media Studies, MIT
Roberta Pearson, Professor of Film Studies, School of American & Canadian Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham
Eggo Müller, Visiting Professor, Department of Screen Arts and Cultures, University of Michigan

Global Civil Society 2007/8

The annual Global Civil Society Yearbooks are indispensable guides to civic participation and action around the world. This year's Yearbook focuses on Communicative Power and Democracy, investigating the relationship between communication, democracy and media.

Monroe Price serves as one of the editors of the volume as well as the author of Chapter 3: Civil Society and the Global Market for Loyalties. And Vincent Price leads off with Chapter 1: Democracy, Global Publics and World Opinion.

What I love about these Yearbooks are the cool Indicator Suites that comprise a third of their contents--graphic illustrations on globalization, population migration, social and economic rights, comparative laws, the environment, global values and attitudes, press and political freedom and, saving the best for last, Suite 3: Media and Communication (global comparisons of telephone mainlines, cellular lines, PCs per 1000, internet usage and penetration, WiFi service, top website genres, internet languages, and blog usage and penetration.)

The Global Civil Society Yearbook is a collaboration between LSE's Centre for the Study of Global Governance, UCLA's Center for Civil Society and for 2007/8, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Highlighting two reference books

Feminist Interventions in International Communication: Minding the Gap, edited by Katharine Sarikakis and Leslie Regan Shade (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008). Table of Contents: Revisiting international communication / Katharine Sarikakis and Leslie Regan Shade -- Feminist issues and the global media system / Margaret Gallagher -- Public/private / Gillian Youngs -- Women, participation, and democracy in the information society / Ursula Huws -- The expediency of women / Alison Beale -- Gender-sensitive communication policies for women's development / Kiran Prasad -- The spectral politics of mobile communication technologies / Barbara Crow and Kim Sawchuk -- The global structures and cultures of pornography / Katharine Sarikakis and Zeenia Shaukut -- Mediations of domination / Yasmin Jiwani -- From religious fundamentalism to pornography? the female body as text in Arabic song videos / Salam Al-Mahadin -- Female faces in the millennium development goals / Nancy Van Leuven ... [et al.] -- Deadly synergies / Patricia A. Made -- Online news / Jayne Rodgers -- Convergences / Vincent Mosco, Catherine McKercher, and Andrew Stevens -- Women, information work, and the corporatization of development / Lisa McLaughlin -- Empire and sweatshop girlhoods / Leslie Regan Shade and Nikki Porter -- Feminist print cultures in the digital era / Simone Murray -- Communication and women in Eastern Europe / Valentina Marinescu -- Godzone? NZ's classification of explicit material in an era of global fundamentalism / Mary Griffiths -- Grounding gender evaluation methodology (GEM) for telecenters / Claire Buré. Available from ASC Reserve.

Research Methods in Information, by Alison Jane Pickard (Facet Publishing, 2007). This methods handbook claims to be the first of its kind to "focus entirely on research needs of the information and communications community." The publisher is overstating the later claim since handbooks on communication research are common but I like having a research methods book around that focuses on information studies, including internet research. Available in ASC reference.

New Venture in Scholarly Publishing: International Journal of Communication

IJoC

Launching Fall 2006

A NEW VENTURE IN COMMUNICATION SCHOLARLY PUBLICATION

International Journal of Communication

Editors Manuel Castells and Larry Gross

Published by

The Annenberg Center for Communication University of Southern California

This e-journal is:

• Free

• Online only

• Multimedia

• Interdisciplinary

• Adhering to the highest standards of peer review

• Engaging established and emerging scholars from around the world

The International Journal of Communication welcomes contributions that come from and speak to the many disciplines and approaches, meeting at the crossroads that is communication study.

Submit articles or subscribe to journal email updates now at: ijoc.annenberg.edu

EDITORIAL BOARD (in formation)

Editors:

Manuel Castells, USC Annenberg

Larry Gross, USC Annenberg

Associate Editors:

Jennings Bryant, U. of Alabama

Susan Douglas, U. of Michigan

Oscar Gandy, Annenberg/U. of Pennsylvania

Kathleen Jamieson, Annenberg/U. of Pennsylvania

Robin Mansell, London School of Economics

Alexander Piscitelli, U. of Buenos Aires

Marshall Scott Poole, Texas A&M

N. Bhaskara Rao, Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi

Ellen Seiter, USC Cinema-Television

Book Review Editors: (more to come)

Gustavo Cardoso, U. of Lisbon

Josh Kun, USC Annenberg

Jack Linchuan Qiu, Chinese U. of Hong Kong

Advisory Editors:

Sandra Ball-Rokeach, USC Annenberg

Svetlana Balmayeva, Liberal Arts U. of Yekaterinburg

Howard S. Becker, San Francisco

Pablo Boczkowski, Northwestern U.

William Dutton, Oxford U.

Richard Dyer, U. of Warwick

Dilip Gaonkar, Northwestern U.

Trudy Govier, U. of Lethbridge

Larry Grossberg, U. of North Carolina

James Hamilton, Duke U.

Steve Jones, U. of Illinois-Chicago

Elihu Katz, Annenberg/U. of Pennsylvania

Douglas Kellner, UCLA

Marwan Kraidy, American U.Robert

McChesney, U. of Illinois, Champaign, Urbana

Toby Miller, UC Riverside

William Mitchell, MIT

Peter Monge, USC Annenberg

Thomas Nakayama, Arizona State U.

Horace Newcomb, U. of Georgia

Dana Polan, NYU

Adam Powell, USC Engineering

Monroe Price, Annenberg/U. of Pennsylvania

Michael Renov, USC Cinema-Television

Michael Schudson, UC San Diego

John Thompson, Cambridge U.

Ingrid Volkmer, U. of Otago

Simon Wilkie, USC Communication Law and Policy

Barbie Zelizer, Annenberg/U. of Pennsylvania

Yuezhi Zhao, Simon Fraser U.