A participatory framework for researching and evaluating communication for development and social change

The growing dominance of project planning cycles and results-based management in development over the past 20 years has significant implications for the effective evaluation of communication for development and social change and the sustainability of these processes. These approaches to development and evaluation usually give priority to the linear, logical framework (or log frame) approach promoted by many development institutions. This tends to emphasize upward accountability approaches to development and its evaluation, so that development is driven by exogenous rather than endogenous models of development and social change. Such approaches are underpinned by ideas of preplanning, and predetermination of what successful out -comes look like. In this way, outcomes of complex interventions tend to be reduced to simple, cause-effect processes and the categorization of things, including people (Chambers and Pettit 2004; Eyben 2011). This runs counter to communication for development approaches, which prioritize engagement, relationships, empowerment and dialogue as important components for positive social change.

Developing a participatory impact assessment approach and action research culture within a communication for social change organisation in Nepal

Developing an effective impact evaluation framework, managing and conducting rigorous impact evaluations, and developing a strong research and evaluation culture within development communication organisations presents many challenges. This is especially so when both the community and organisational context is continually changing and the outcomes of programs are complex and difficult to clearly identify.----- This paper presents a case study from a research project being conducted from 2007-2010 that aims to address these challenges and issues, entitled Assessing Communication for Social Change: A New Agenda in Impact Assessment. Building on previous development communication projects which used ethnographic action research, this project is developing, trailing and rigorously evaluating a participatory impact assessment methodology for assessing the social change impacts of community radio programs in Nepal. This project is a collaboration between Equal Access – Nepal (EAN), Equal Access – International, local stakeholders and listeners, a network of trained community researchers, and a research team from two Australian universities. A key element of the project is the establishment of an organisational culture within EAN that values and supports the impact assessment process being developed, which is based on continuous action learning and improvement. The paper describes the situation related to monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and impact assessment before the project began, in which EAN was often reliant on time-bound studies and ‘success stories’ derived from listener letters and feedback. We then outline the various strategies used in an effort to develop stronger and more effective impact assessment and M&E systems, and the gradual changes that have occurred to date. These changes include a greater understanding of the value of adopting a participatory, holistic, evidence-based approach to impact assessment. We also critically review the many challenges experienced in this process, including:----- • Tension between the pressure from donors to ‘prove’ impacts and the adoption of a bottom-up, participatory approach based on ‘improving’ programs in ways that meet community needs and aspirations.----- • Resistance from the content teams to changing their existing M&E practices and to the perceived complexity of the approach.----- • Lack of meaningful connection between the M&E and content teams.----- • Human resource problems and lack of capacity in analysing qualitative data and reporting results.----- • The contextual challenges, including extreme poverty, wide cultural and linguistic diversity, poor transport and communications infrastructure, and political instability.----- • A general lack of acceptance of the importance of evaluation within Nepal due to accepting everything as fate or ‘natural’ rather than requiring investigation into a problem.

Diversity in action : minority group media and social change

This audio magazine, written by Melissa Giles, features three Brisbane-based media organisations: Radio 4RPH, Queensland Pride and 98.9FM. [#1 - INTRODUCTION - read by Sara Cowling]----- [#2 - RADIO 4RPH: SHARING THE WORD - read by Ellen-Maree Elliot (and Sara Cowling)]----- [#3 - QUEENSLAND PRIDE: OUT IN THE STREET - read by Dominique Wiehahn (and Sara Cowling)]----- [#4 - 98.9FM: BREAKING THE MOULD - read by Paige Ross (and Sara Cowling)]----- [#5 - CONCLUSION - read by Sara Cowling]

Diversity in action : minority group media and social change (text-only version)

This magazine, written by Melissa Giles, features three Brisbane-based media organisations: Radio 4RPH, Queensland Pride and 98.9FM. The PDF file on this website contains a text-only version of the magazine. Contact the author if you would like a copy of the text-only EPUB file or a copy of the full digital magazine with images. An audio version of the magazine is available at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/41729/

Public relations, activism, and social change: speaking up

Why are some voices louder in public debates than others? And why can’t all voices be equally heard? This book draws significant new meaning to the inter-relationships of public relations and social change through a number of activist case studies, and rebuilds knowledge around alternative communicative practices that are ethical, sustainable, and effective. Demetrious offers a powerful critical description of the dominant model of public relations used in the twentieth century, showing that ‘PR’ was arrogant, unethical and politically offensive in ways that have severely weakened democratic process and its public standing and professional credibility. The book argues that change within the field of public relations is imminent and urgent—for us all. As the effects of climate change intensify, and are magnified by high carbon dioxide emitting industries, vigorous public debate is vital in the exploration of new ideas and action and if alternative futures are to be imagined. In these conditions, articulate and persistent publics will appear in the form of grassroots activists, asking contentious questions about risks and tabling them for public discussion in bold, inventive, and effective ways. Yet the entrenched power relations in and through public relations in contemporary industrialized society provide no certainty these voices will be heard. Following this path, Demetrious theorises an alternative set of social relations to those used in the twentieth century: public communication. Constructed from communicative practices of grassroots activists and synthesis of diverse theoretical positions, public communication is a principled approach that avoids the deep contradictions and flawed coherences of essentialist public relations and instead represents an important ethical reorientation in the communicative fields. Lastly, she brings original new perspectives to understand current and emergent developments in activism and public relations brought about through the proliferation of Internet and digital cultures.

One tweet does not a revolution make : technological determinism, media and social change

This paper discusses the problematic influence of technological determinism in popular news media coverage and analysis of the Arab Spring events of 2010-11.

The purpose is to develop insights into how and why elements of a ‘soft’ technological determinism inflect both journalistic practice and news discourse in relation to the Arab Spring. In particular it discusses how the ‘bias of convenience’ and a journalistic obsession with the ‘continuous present’ connect with this determinist inflection to create a potential distortion in the journalists’ ‘first rough draft’ of history in relation to significant and complex events such as social revolution.

Risk communication and social media:are we ready?

Oral presentation

Diversity in action : minority group media and social change

My thesis consists of a creative work plus an exegesis. This exegesis uses case study research to investigate three Brisbane-based media organisations and the role they play in encouraging social inclusion and other positive social change for specific disadvantaged and stigmatised minority groups. Bailey, Cammaerts and Carpentier’s theoretical approach to alternative media forms the basis of this research. Bailey et al. (2008, p. 156) view alternative media organisations as having four important roles, two media-centred and two society-centred, which must all be considered to best understand them: • serving their communities • acting as an alternative to mainstream media discourses • promoting and advocating democratisation in the media and through the media in society • functioning as a crossroads in civil society. The first case study, about community radio station 4RPH (Radio for the Print Handicapped), centres on promoting social inclusion for people with a print disability through access to printed materials (primarily mainstream print media) in an audio format. The station also provides important opportunities for members of this group to produce media and, to a lesser extent, provides disability-specific information and discussions. The second case study, about gay print and online magazine Queensland Pride, focuses on promoting social inclusion and combating the discrimination and repression of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Central issues include the representation (including sexualised representation) of a subculture and niche target market, and the impact of commercialisation on this free publication. The third case study, about community radio station 98.9FM, explores the promotion of social inclusion for peoples whose identity, cultures, issues, politics and contributions are often absent or misrepresented in the mainstream media. This radio station provides “a first level of service” (Meadows & van Vuuren, 1998, p. 104) to these people, but also informs and entertains those in the majority society. The findings of this research suggest that there are two key mechanisms that help these media organisations to effect social change: first, strengthening the minority community and serving its needs, and second, fostering connections with the broader society.

Amplified activism : transmedia storytelling and social change

The avenues through which communities and community organisations raise awareness about the issues they face and how they agitate for change have developed rapidly in the past ten years; and digital technology has provided community activists with the means to quickly create and widely disseminate stories. Perhaps the most influential and wide reaching of recent innovations in storytelling has been transmedia storytelling. This article explores a new breed of projects that utilise recognisable conventions of transmedia storytelling and borrow elements from other forms of storytelling that predate transmedia, such as digital storytelling and documentary film making. In addition to being hybrid in form these projects are independent and solely focused on raising awareness about particular social issues or telling the stories of marginalized groups, who otherwise do not have a voice in the public sphere.

Journeys into the unknown: shared schooling and social change in Quebec and Northern Ireland

This article compares experiences of shared schooling in societies with 2 distinctive traits: first, a history of intercommunity conflict and isolation; and second, a segregated school system. Drawing on Parekh’s (2006) reconceptualisation of multiculturalism, this article analyses issues arising from experiences of intercommunity contact in shared schools in Quebec and Northern Ireland—in one case, bringing Anglophones and Francophones together and, in the other, Protestants and Catholics. Research data from both contexts is drawn upon to reflect on how this experience is lived. The metaphor of a journey is used to capture what it represents for those involved. A need to clarify, recognize, and exploit the potential of shared schooling for the transformation of divided societies is identified.