We're proud to announce this month the publication of Huma Yusuf's remarkable paper on the use of media during the Pakistan Emergency of 2007/2008: http://preview.tinyurl.com/aa33ka.
To help address the knowledge gap about new media and democracy in the developing world, this research paper examines how digital technologies--such as cellphones and live internet streams--and new media platforms--including blogs, YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook--were used to promote democracy, coordinate action, and disseminate citizen journalism during the Pakistan Emergency.
This research finds that the Pakistani media landscape is multifaceted, comprising a combined--or alternating--use of different mainstream media sources, digital technologies, and new media platforms, depending on availability and security.
Huma Yusuf is a reporter in Pakistan for the Christian Science Monitor and other news organizations. She specializes in writing about social trends as represented in media and media and society issues, in addition to addressing subjects such as low-income housing, "honor" killings, gang wars and the state's ineffective prosecution of rape cases. Her writing garnered the UNESCO/Pakistan Press Foundation "Gender in Journalism 2005" Award and the European Commission's 2006 Natali Lorenzo Prize for Human Rights Journalism.
We welcome and encourage you to share your comments about the paper at our website, civic.mit.edu.
Andrew Whitacre Communications Manager Comparative Media Studies & Center for Future Civic Media Massachusetts Institute of Technology (617) 324-0490 awhit@mit.edu
About C4FCM
The Center for Future Civic Media (C4FCM) develops new tools and strategies for fostering civic engagement and strengthening social bonds in local communities. The Center takes technologies that have proven so powerful for virtual communities, and re-envisions and re-engineers them to enhance civic participation at a local level, providing new ways for local residents to organize and share information for the purpose of democratic deliberation, neighborhood collaboration, and political action.
There's a crackle and spark in the air here in Cambridge...maybe it's all the great work happening at the Center for Future Civic Media? Besides the Center's new website (civic.mit.edu)--now filled with more than a dozen community projects--we have lots of news from Center researchers and affiliates...
Landman Report Card
Our Co-Director and Principle Invesitagor Chris Csikszentmihályi launched the Landman Report Card, the first in a suite of applications designed to help communities affected by extractive industries to recognize, report, and act on their interests. LRC allows landowners to document, discuss, and rate their experiences with landmen, the professional negotiators who work for oil and gas companies. Chris' team, including graduate student Sara Wylie, is currently deploying the application in communities in several states in the US.
City of Boston
The Center is helping to lead the Media Lab's partnership with the City of Boston to explore how communication technology can be better used to support all Boston residents. Of particular focus are health issues among Boston's immigrant and transnational communities.
New Book by Jack Driscoll
Center Advisor and former Editor of the Boston Globe Jack Driscoll in November published Couch Potatoes Sprout: The Rise of Online Journalism.
Andrew Whitacre
Communications Manager
Comparative Media Studies & Center for Future Civic Media
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(617) 324-0490 awhit@mit.edu
About C4FCM
The Center for Future Civic Media (C4FCM) develops new tools and strategies for fostering civic engagement and strengthening social bonds in local communities. The Center takes technologies that have proven so powerful for virtual communities, and re-envisions and re-engineers them to enhance civic participation at a local level, providing new ways for local residents to organize and share information for the purpose of democratic deliberation, neighborhood collaboration, and political action.
