2006/3
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Increasing the capacity of poor and marginalised people to use communication in order to improve their lives is recognised by many NGOs as vital to a more just future for all. South and North, information and knowledge are essential for people to respond adequately and successfully to the opportunities of political, social, economic and cultural change. But to be useful, knowledge and information has to be available, accessible, and communicated effectively among people. This issue brings together a spectrum of thought on theory, practice and policy in the area of communication for development and empowerment.
Michael Traber
Knowledge is more than information. It includes understanding and interpreting information as the basis for decisions that directly affect people’s welfare. True knowledge demands access to information about issues that impact on people’s lives and their ability to contribute to policy-making. Understanding the context in which knowledge moves – especially that of public communication – is vital to processes of social development, so that anything that diminishes genuine public communication must be challenged. The following article, prophetic in its time, discusses some of the obstacles to a clear vision of what needs to be done.
Katarina Soukup
When the time came a few years ago to find an Inuktitut term for the word ‘Internet”, Nunavut’s former Official Languages Commissioner, Eva Aariak, chose ikiaqqivik, or ‘travelling through layers’ (Minogue, 2005). The word comes from the concept describing what a shaman does when asked to find out about living or deceased relatives or where animals have disappeared to: travel across time and space to find answers.
Eric Loo
With freedom comes great responsibility, says a famous movie script. Not so with the Cambodian press. The many publications owned by as many factions are unrestrained in slandering their adversaries. Everyone’s fair media prey – except for the King. Unbridled reporting with no clear ethical guidelines often sees public decency being violated, which has caused near zero public faith in the media.
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