Seminar Schedule 10th December
Social Movement Media vs. Media for Development vs. Knowledge-Sharing
John Downing, Southern Illinois University
John Downing will explore the relation between media, communication and social change. In his presentation Professor Downing will explore the subject from three perspectives: firstly, that social movement media typically place political clashes front and center. Secondly, the frame ‘development media’ which very often presumes a fundamentally benign political order disfigured by crushing economic and health care needs. What we mean by ‘political’ also factors into this arena, not least in gender terms. (What is in view here is not politics in the sense of partisan party politics, except where that is one of the obstacles to constructive social change.) Finally, the ‘knowledge-sharing’ frame often seems totally obsessed with ‘facts’ and ‘information’. Are these three frames incompatible? In framing community media projects, local, national and transnational, should their respective adherents try to learn from each other?
John Downing is Founding Director of the Global Media Research Centre and emeritus Professor of International Communication, College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, Southern Illinois University. He is also vice-president of the International Association of Media and Communication Scholars (IAMCR). From August-December 2010 John Downing is visiting professor at Aarhus University, Denmark. John Downing’s research fields include global media, international communication, alternative media and social movements; racism, ethnicity and media. John Downing’s most influential book is “Radical Media” from 1984, revised and published in a new edition in 2001. Prof. Downing recently completed editing of an encyclopedia on social movements and the media.
“Visualizing Sustainability” (Medea Talk # 15)
Arlene Birt
ARLENE BIRT is a visual storyteller, artist and information designer. Through her work, Arlene frames every-day actions within the context of the big picture in order to communicate consumers’ roles in social and ecological sustainability. On Friday December 10th, she will give a talk on the theme “Visualizing Sustainability”.
Arlene will present two projects that she’s done as artist-in-residence at MEDEA and a behind-the-scenes view on her work on how to visualize ‘background stories’. One project is a visual mapping of the sustainability-oriented systems at work within the Västra Hamnen area through a collaboration with Unsworn Industries to show this information using the parascope technology they’ve developed. Another project visually communicates the benefits of bicycling – in terms of CO2 saved, money saved and calories burned.
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