MedieKultur. Journal of media and communication research Thematic focus: Media, Empowerment and Democracy in the Global South Editors: Poul Erik Nielsen (guest editor, Aarhus University), Norbert Wildermuth (Roskilde University) Submission deadline: SEPTEMBER 1, 2011 Publication date: Spring 2012 With the advent of web 2.0 and with the spread of mobile phones on a global base, conditions for and processes of citizen participation, public debate and social critique are changing. Information and Communication Technologies’ potential role in articulating citizen actions has been discussed in reference to recent events, such as the oppositional demonstrations in Tibet, Burma and Iran. However, while the use of social media and mobile phones in these events has received global attention, their de facto scope for democratic empowerment is contested and in need of further exploration. Other attempts to tap into the communicative potential of digital network media for the purpose of civic engagement, political deliberation and mobilisation for social change are furthered by web-based applications, such as Ushahidi, which played a prominent role during the 2008 post-election crisis in Kenya in crowdsourcing crisis information. Avaaz.org, a global campaign and petition network with more than 6 million members from over one-hundred countries, is another prominent example of the transformative power of e-mobilisation, which exemplifies the global-local nexus at the heart of e-participation and -mobilisation strategies. These ‘new’ developments, exciting as they are, run not only the danger of being interpreted in overtly optimistic and techno-centric terms, but also of diverting attention from the continued relevance of other mass, community and citizen media in contributing to communicative efforts for democratisation, empowerment and social change. The planned issue of MedieKultur therefore invites papers that discuss the present role of both Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and other media in an admittedly altered media environment. Communicative efforts to further democratic development and the empowerment of disenfranchised and marginalised populations demand scholarly attention to the lessons learned by ‘conventional’ media development and ICT-based initiatives. We thus invite papers with a thematic and theoretical focus on civil society based forms of communication for democratic deliberation and empowerment, in the broadest sense. Case studies and attempts to develop theoretical conceptualisations should explore relationships between media and communication developments, civil society, citizens’ engagement and governance processes. Papers with a focus on such issues in the context of the Global South are of specific interest. www.mediekultur.dk -- Ditte Laursen Forsker i medier, ph.d. / Media researcher, Ph.D. STATSBIBLIOTEKET / STATE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Universitetsparken Dk - 8000 Århus C Tlf. / Phone +45 89462060 CVR / SE / VAT No. DK 10100682 - EAN 5798000791084 http://statsbiblioteket.dk http://www.dittelaursen.dk