Talks on Media

There has been a mix-up for the talk by the Swiss scholar on Media and Democracy. It is actually going to be held on Wednesday 20th August at noon in G1.

The other talk by the two Germans on Media and Governance is confirmed for tomorrow Tuesday 19th August at 3pm in LT2.

Sorry about that.

Christina Chan-Meetoo

Talk on Media and Governance

Two former journalists from Germany who now work for the Foundation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung will be giving a presentation on Media and Governance tomorrow Tuesday 19th August at 3 pm in Lecture Theatre 2 on campus.

All are invited to attend.

Note: There are 2 talks on the same day. The one on Media and Democracy by the Swiss scholar is at noon on Wednesday 20th.

Talk on Media and Democracy

Media and Democracy:Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Challenges
by Timotheos Frey

Date: Wednesday 29th Tuesday 19th Wednesday 20th August at noon
Venue: Room G1 (may change)

Synopsis
Media play an important role in democratic systems and in democratization processestoo. In addition to their control function of the justice, government and parliamentary action, they control a good part of public information, therefore they may be key players in agenda setting processes. In consolidated democracies, characterized by programmatic linkages between political actors and the electorate, the today’s key role of media in the political process is to establish and ensure the link between the political supply and demand side. Hence, media represent a rich source for scholars investigating in mechanisms behind the political mobilization. But how can information of programmatic positions be extracted? In my speech, I give an overview of recent theoretical and methodological approaches in the concerned field. A comparison of different widely used measurement techniques shows that results heavily depends on employed techniques.

Contents
1. A Dynamic Field of Research
(a) Introduction (b) Media Transformation in the Western Context (c) Structural Conflicts and Political Mobilization (d) Spatial Representation of Political Conflicts
2. How to Capture Programmatic Linkages
(a) The Supply and Demand Side of the Political Sphere (b) Manifesto vs. Media Data (c) Media Data: From Words to Numbers
3. From Numbers to Space
(a) Methods (b) The Political Space seen from Different Angles (c) Conclusion

Download synopsis with references

Stages à l’ODEROI

Avis aux étudiants qui recherchent actuellement un stage (plus particulièrement les étudiants de 3ème année):

L’ODEROI (Observatoire des Droits de l’Enfant de la Région de l’Océan Indien) cherche au moins 2 stagiaires (de préférence 1 fille et 1 garçon) pour collaborer avec son équipe.
Le Centre d’appui de l’ ODEROI assure actuellement la conception de 3 minutes de clip vidéo chaque jour à la MBC.

Voici, à titre indicatif, les missions des stagiaires:
- Contribuer à la conception d’une série d’émissions radio et télévision par les jeunes et pour les jeunes sur les thèmes de l’Etude sur les Adolescents;
- Assurer le suivi des travaux de post-production des émissions en cours à la MBC;
- Concevoir et réaliser une série de 6 émissions radiophoniques de 5 mins ayant pout public cible les jeunes sur un thème défini par les stagiaires avec l’ODEROI.

Consulter le site de l’ODEROI pour plus d’information à l’adresse suivante:
http://oderoi.uom.ac.mu/oderoi/

Si vous êtes intéressés, contactez Mme Mariam Gopaul en lui envoyant un courriel à l’adresse suivante: m.gopaul@uom.ac.mu

The Mediacom Studio is alive

I am pleased to announce that the Communication Studies Unit is now equipped with a multimedia studio which I have set up with (a lot of) help from Avinash (my husband who is a lecturer in the Computer Science dept). The studio has been baptised Mediacom Studio and even has a website which we have launched yesterday at www.mediacomstudio.com

The facility has been created thanks to funding from the UNESCO-IPDC which approved my project last year. Avinash has been the mastermind behind the technical setup and has spent a lot of time selecting and fine-tuning our equipment list. We had a lot of constraints such as limited availability of certain items and also the dollar exchange rate which shrunk our budget. But, we managed to have a nice setup nevertheless with:

- Apple iMacs complete with the iLife and iWork suites
- Panasonic HD camcorders with tripods and a lighting kit
- Olympus audio recorders with tie-clip microphones
- Philips LCD TV, DVD player and an Apple TV
- a gigabit local network

The idea is to provide more hands-on practical training to our Communication and Journalism students, to give them the opportunity to come up with professional products and showcase them on the website.

Christina Chan-Meetoo

Talk on Inclusion & Diversity

There will be an interesting talk on the following theme:

An Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approach to Discourses of Inclusion and Diversity

by Benita Bunjun (University of British Columbia, Canada)

Date and time: 30th April 2008 at 2pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 1 of UOM

Open to all. Students are particularly encouraged to attend.

UNESCO Toolkit on sustainable development

I have received a copy of the training toolkit for Media professionals on Education for sustainable development from the UNESCO representative in Tanzania which I am making available here for all journalists who may be interested in the issue of sustainable development.

Please feel free to disseminate to all colleagues in the news media.

Media as partners in education for sustainable development

The file is a pdf of approximately 2.7 MB

C. Chan-Meetoo

Wanna earn some money?

If you are interested and think you can take the challenge, send us an e-mail NOW!

Media Lab for the Unit

I am happy to announce that we will have an in-house media lab with audiovisual facilities which will hopefully be operational by July-August 2008. In fact, as I may have mentioned in class, I have been able to secure financial help from the UNESCO-IPDC (International Programme for the Development of Communication) last year in order to mount this project which had been in the pipeline for a number of years.

We are in the process of evaluating offers for the purchase of the necessary equipment but are currently confronted with some difficulties. So, if you know potential suppliers for audiovisual equipment, please check this post on my personal blog and provide your help.

Thanks,
Christina Chan-Meetoo

Time-tables / Announcements - Jan2008

Here are the tentative time-tables for this semester.

Provisional time-table for Year 2 Sem 2
Revised provisional time-table for Year 2 Sem 2
Room allocation
Lectures on weekdays will be held in room 2.2.
Lectures on Saturdays will be in room 1.1

Provisional time-table for Year 3 Sem 2
Revised provisional time-table for Year 3 Sem 2
Tentative time table for Year 3 Sem 2 (revised on 25th January)
Room allocation
Lectures on weekdays will be held in room 1.4 (Engineering Tower)
Lecture for the Advertising module is rescheduled for Wednesdays (1 to 4 pm)
Lectures on Saturdays:
Advanced Reporting: Room 2.5 (NAC)
Communication Strategies: Room 1.1 NAC (lecture will start on the 2nd February)

Important dates: (see http://www.uom.ac.mu/Admissions/calendar/acadcalendar2007_8.pdf for complete calendar)
21st January: Start of semester
2nd February: End of module registration
14th March: last date for application for Interruption of Studies
3rd May: Semester ends
5th May - 23rd May: Exams