Aidnography

One of the topics that certainly makes a mark on this year’s academic research, public engagement and publishing trends is the critical engagement with new social movements, forms of protest and so-called revolutions-and how to predict, analyze and contextualize their impact on social change. Paolo Gerbaudo’s book , but also recently published monographs by David Karpf and Zeynep Tufekci are some of the key titles on my ‘read & review’ shelf right now.  Even though all of them deserve a nuanced analysis some of the key findings point in a similar direction: ‘We’ were too quick to talk about social media revolutions. Movements need to combine online and traditional protest strategies for longer-term impact. Short-term activism and activities may not lead to medium-term sustainable, inclusive change. Building or fostering democratic, accountable systems is…complicated. And traditional social, political and economic structures are surprisingly (?) resilient as hashtags trend, d

Hi all, It's a sunny Friday afternoon in Sweden! Enjoy stimulating readings, great documentaries, a poem & the odd Tweet! Development news: UN’s new top humanitarian is a highly qualified white British man; revolutionizing mindsets at the WHO; ICC turns 15; how Liberian child soldiers fought in Iraq; refugee real estate in Kenya; are the best days for selling cheap Chinese goods in Africa over? An overview over one of our favorite questions: Does foreign aid work? Uganda & the limits of entrepreneurism; the aid industry’s LGBTIQ blind spot; is localization of aid the answer? A special section on campaigning & communicating development; social media in Africa; how to communicate as a non-profit; NGO-Nothing Going On?    Our digital lives: A poem; advice for new bloggers; review ‘Twitter & Tear Gas’.  Publications: World Bank’s Higher Education for Development evaluation; gender differences in scientific collaboration (a paper written by 5 men…); security in th

Hi all, You’ll notice the new layout; there have been a few problems with Blogger’s dynamic themes so I switched to a more traditional one. The blog loads faster and looks better on mobile devices, but is certainly not on a path for winning design awards…let’s see how I can tweak things a bit-and if you have feedback, comments and complaints you know how to reach me! Back to business:    Development news: Kenya’s florticultural industry does not look rosy; saving children who don’t want to be saved; let Thousand Currents flow! Geo data and U.S. airstrikes; the tricky discourse of ‘social accountability’; a good example of celebrity advocacy; ‘working from home’ and the duty of care; the local-expat relationship in the Philippines; digital technologies exclude marginalized people; young male MBA guy wants to ‘disrupt’ development; the heroines of Haiti’s revolution; award-winning documentary on coco farmers in Ghana; ISIS and long-term effects of indoctrinating children. Our digital

3 May marks the annual World Press Freedom Day . The Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research (Nordicom) which hosts the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Expression, Media Development and Global Policy at the University of Gothenburg launched its latest publication The Assault on Journalism-Building knowledge to protect freedom of expression edited by Ulla Carlsson and Reeta Pöyhtäri.  This substantial volume contains 34 chapters and is organized in four parts, covering key articles, broader reflections on journalist safety research and framework, empirically grounded case studies and a final highlighting key statistics around journalist (un)safety: The aim of the of this publication is to highlight and fuel journalist safety as a field of research, to encourage worldwide participation, as well as to inspire further dialogues and new research initiatives. Guy Berger summarizes the focus on journalism well in his chapter Why the World Became Concerned with Jou

Hi all, Another good week for #globaldev debates! Development news: Special section on the aid industry in contemporary America kicks of this review; sweatshops & industrialization in Ethiopia; Turkey’s crackdown on NGOs; Should World Bank staff visit the field? IKEA is upgrading its refugee shelters; Nepal earthquake anniversary; the complexities of social change in ‘mini-Indias’; local aid workers in the Philippines; the gig economy in the South; ICT4D for girls & women; bad schools may not always be bad ideas; can the UN system do innovation? #allmalepanel? There’s an app for/against it! Our digital lives: Facebook admits government exploitations; Silicon valley won’t be fixing health systems in the global South; rich charities are getting richer; thought leaders & plutocrats.   Publication: Blockchains for development. Academia: New UnPaywall extension . Enjoy! New from aidnography Electing Saudi-Arabia to the UN Commission on the Status of Women is not a bad idea