Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa (MEDIeA) is a collaborative research program between Denmark, Kenya and Tanzania. Three universities –one Danish and two East African– have teamed up for the program, started in 2009 and scheduled to end in 2012: Roskilde University (RUC) from Denmark, the University of Nairobi from Kenya, and the University of Dar es Salaam from Tanzania. The program will comprise six individual research projects with a Kenya focus and a Tanzania focus, supplemented by an International Reference Group of leading experts in media, empowerment and democracy –theorists and practitioners. Dissemination, capacity building and policy dialogue are additional components of the program.
Media are crucial to the exercise of freedom of expression. Public opinion can only be formed if a public that engages in rational discussion is able to create and occupy a communicative space that is, ideally, free and independent of established interests and as well as, open and accessible to all citizens. The ongoing emergence and convergence of the electronic media has changed notions of the public sphere radically.
MEDIeA invites to a full-day seminar on Social media as a tool for social transformation: Encouraging Civic Engagement, Good Governance and Democratisation? – to be held in Nairobi, 17 May 2011. Participation is free, but we kindly ask you to register with Norbert Wildermuth (norbert@ruc.dk) or call +254 (0) 724 391 980) to facilitate our logistic planning.
For more information on seminar content and venue, download information sheet here. [Added 11 May 2011:] See also the full seminar programme, and the list of participants.
Presentations from the MEDIeA seminar on Media, Empowerment and Development – Strategies to explore information and communication needs of citizens held in Copenhagen on 7th June 2010 are now available online. Click here for access.
