Gjesteforelesninger om medier og politikk

I høst har jeg hatt to gjesteforelesninger på emnet Mediepedagogikk ved Høgskolen i Lillehammer. Den første tok for seg forholdet mellom medier og politikk generelt, vinklet mot internasjonale / globale forhold. I siste forelesning lå fokuset spesifikt på politikk og sosiale medier på det nasjonale nivå, med vekt på valgdemokratiet, aktivisme og muligheter for revolusjonære regimeendring. Du finner onlineversjonene av begge under her.

Digital Storytelling in Election Campaigns

Article written with professor Eva Bakøy of Lillehammer University College published 2010 in Seminar.net vol.6, issue 2. The study was also presented at the conference of the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies (IAICS) in Guangzhlou, China, June 18-20., 2010. Powerpoint of presentation is available at Slideshare.

The paper goes into how a particular Norwegian-Pakistani Labour politician, Hadia Tajik, has used digital storytelling to construct her political identity, and a discussion of the consequences of her experiments with this genre. 

During the 2009 electoral campaign she moved from being an unknown politician to becoming a political household name and the only member of the new Parliament with a migrant background. The digital stories were instrumental in this development for numerous reasons, the most important probably being that they gave her prime time television coverage. In 2012, she was appointed Minister of Culture, which also led to international attention, as in this piece in EL Pais. Apparently the paper also was aware of our article and I did an interview to get information about how she constructed her identity :)

Guest lectures on Media, democracy and politics

In the last week of September 2012 I did two guest lectures in the course Television and new media, part of Bachelor in film and television at Lillehammer University College. They are posted below to browse through at your convenience.

Book on international relations

Cappelen Akademisk released a book on International Relations in 2010, co-written with Ole Gunnar Austvik and Heidrun Sørlie Røhr. In Norwegian only, sorry about that. It has been reviewed well and sold well and is already in its first reprint after a year. The reviewer in the leading Norwegian journal for international relations (Internasjonal politikk) concluded a long and positive review with what can be translated as:

Kalnes, Austvik og Røhr make life easier for Norwegian students meeting IR for the first time. The book may be even more useful for more experienced students wondering about what texts to read to write a good paper for their Bachelor degree. En akkurat passe lang introduksjon til Internasjonale relasjoner is a good place to start the search.

There are also a number of web resources dedicated to the book. Internasjonalerelasjoner.net is the main site, supported by a YouTube channel dedicated to IR with videos organized along the chapters of the book

Four aspects of International relations

The book focuses on four aspects of IR; International Politics, International Political Economy, Global communication and culture, as well as War, conflicts and conflict resolution. It dedicates a chapter to each of the subjects, following an introductory chapter. You can watch a playlist containing slides from each chapter below.

Course description Media & Politics

The text is based upon the official course description on the college homepage.

The subject of the course is the complex and changing relationship between politics and the media. Do the media simply reflect politics at the national and international level – or change politics profoundly? How are power relationships and political identities affected, within as well as across and between states? How do the media function during periods of crisis, when states collapse or are in transition, during civil wars and interstate wars or terrorist attacks?

Addressing such topics, the course is divided into three main blocks:

• Core theories and concepts of media and politics
• Comparative Political Communication
• War, terrorism and the Media

Emphasising developments during the post-cold war period, the effects of global communication networks based on internet and satellite technology are of particular interest.

What you learn

Knowledge of recent developments in media and politics, as well as relevant theories and concepts from media- and political science.

Ability to develop and deliver efficient presentations on complex topics and to address challenging oral questions at short notice

Methods of teaching

• Group assignments, presentations and quizes
• Lectures, seminars, screenings and tutoring

Required knowledge

The introductory course in International Studies or other courses providing basic knowledge in social- or media science.

Mandatory assigments

Take part in a one-week group assignment to produce and deliver a presentation for the seminar on a subject from the course contents. The quality of both the group and individual contribution has to be satisfactory.

Take part in a group assignment to present the answers for a quiz on the course contents during the seminars. At least 75 % of the quiz has to be answered correctly.

Exams

Individual 45 minute oral examination in two parts at the end of the course. Both parts count equally in the grading.

The first part is a 20 minute presentation based on an assignment given a week before. The presentation will be evaluated in terms of demonstration of academic knowledge, as well as ability of effective communication of a complex material. The student is responsible for the availability and compatibility of the presentation at the start of the examinations.

The second part is a 20 minute verbal examination where the student has to answer five out of ten questions randomly picked from a set of questions covering the curriculum. The student is allowed a five minute break under supervision to choose questions and prepare answers.

It is not allowed to bring personal PCs, notes or literature into the examination.

The examinations take place over a maximum of two consecutive days. Two printed copies of the presentation are to be handed in at the student administration no later than one hour before the examinations start. No changes are allowed in the presentation after the print-outs have been handed in.

Norway: The Challenges of Globalisation

Actually had fun with a lecture for foreign students about Norway and the challenges we face from globalisation - and our rather marginal international position. The course is called Norwegian Culture and Society and is offered every spring semester for students visiting from abroad. You can see an edited version of the presentation below:

Notes for background research on KONY2012

As most should know by now, Joseph Kony is the infamous leader of the guerilla group the Lord's Resistance Army, which have fought the authorities of Uganda for many years. In 2005 the International Criminal Court charged Kony and some of his accomplices for their attrocities. Planning to use KONY2012 as a case study for my course in Media and Politics later this year, I started collecting material, and might as well share some of it. Those unfamiliar with Kony may for instance read:

Fisher, M. (2011, October 17). The Bizarre and Horrifying Story of the Lord’s Resistance Army. The Atlantic.
International Criminal Court. (2005). ICC-02/04-01/05. The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.
Schomerus, M., Allen, T., & Vlassenroot, K. (2011, November 15). Obama Takes on the LRA. Foreign Affairs.

Despite the ICC-charge and US support to search for Kony, he is still at large, probably somewhere in East Congo. When the NGO Invisible Children started their campaign KONY2012 to mobilize political pressure to seize Kony, their 29 minute video distributed on YouTube and Vimeo was an overnight sensation, as it became truly viral, thanks to sharing via social media.

Ackerman, S. (2012, March 7). Viral Video Hopes to Spur Arrest of War Criminal. WIRED.
Invisible Childrens home page and Facebook page.

 

There has also been a lot of reactions against both the campaign and the video. Not because there is any sympathy with Kony, but because there are doubts about the motives and transparency of the NGO itself, that the video is too simplistic in its storytelling, is a product of the "white man's burden" type of thinking and so on. Some of the articles are collected in the list below. Possibly the best of the lot is the posting of Ethan Zuckerman on his blog (at the bottom of the list).

Bjørn Stærk: (Utenrikspolitikk som) Såpeopera for nyhetsinteresserte (nordmenn). Om Midt-Østen, Kony2012 og andre ow.ly/9PMnr
Alex de Waal: Don't elevate Kony ow.ly/9Ozi2
Adam Finck: How Kony 2012 succeeded beyond our wildest expectations. 100 Million Viewers Can't Be Wrong ow.ly/9OsU6
David Rieff: The Road to Hell Is Paved with Viral Videos ow.ly/9FQpq
Patrick Meier: #UgandaSpeaks: Al-Jazeera uses Ushahidi to Amplify Local Voices in Response to #Kony2012 ow.ly/9FPls
Jason Mogus: Why your non-profit won't make a KONY 2012 ow.ly/9FNLP
Jenkins, H. (2012, March 12). Contextualizing #Kony2012: Invisible Children, Spreadable Media, and Transmedia Activism. ow.ly/9FMoa
Gilad Lotan: KONY2012: See How Invisible Networks Helped a Campaign Capture the World’s Attention ow.ly/9FGoo
Ethan Zuckerman: Useful reads on Kony 2012 ow.ly/9FGfW
Mareike Schomerus et al.: KONY 2012 and the Prospects for Change. Examining the Viral Campaign ow.ly/9E6pL
Christian Caryl: Let’s Stop Miscasting Africans. A tale of two films ow.ly/9E5MR
Charlie Skelton: Kony 2012 is about now – right now. Get with the programme! ow.ly/9E3uc
Bradshaw, P. (2012, March 8). Kony 2012 – review. the Guardian.
Curtis, P., & McCarthy, T. (2012, March 8). Kony 2012: what’s the real story? the Guardian.
Deibert, M. (2012a, March 9). How Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 Will Hurt - And How You Can Help - Central Africa. Huffington Post.
Deibert, M. (2012b, March 9). The Problem With Invisible Children’s “Kony 2012.” Huffington Post.
Fisher, M. (2012, March 8). The Soft Bigotry of Kony 2012. The Atlantic.
Joyce, M. C. (2012, March 8). Why Kony 2012 Brought Out the Cyber-Skeptic in Me. The Meta-Activism Project.
Kagumire, R. (2012, March 9). More perspective on Kony2012. Rosebell’s Blog.
Murtnes, S. (2012, March 8). - Trist at Kony-dokumentar får oppmerksomhet. VG Nett.
Naughton, J. (2012, March 10). After Kony, could a viral video change the world? the Guardian.
Okwonga, M. (2012, March 7). Stop Kony, yes. But don’t stop asking questions. The Independent. Retrieved from
Pflanz, M. (2012, March 8). Joseph Kony 2012: growing outrage in Uganda over film.
Rosen, R. J. (2012, March 9). Why We Should Take Heart From the Backlash Against Kony2012. The Atlantic.
Ruge, T. (2012, March 8). A Peace of my mind: Respect my agency 2012!
Taub, K. C.-F. & A. (2012, March 8). Solving War Crimes With Wristbands: The Arrogance of “Kony 2012.” The Atlantic.
Wilkerson, M. (2012, March 7). Guest post: Joseph Kony is not in Uganda (and other complicated things). Foreign Policy Blogs.
Woolf, N. (2012, March 8). Kony 2012 and the politics of sending a brutal villain viral. the Guardian.
Wright, R. (2012, March 9). Can the Internet Catch Joseph Kony? The Atlantic.
Zuckerman, E. (2012, March 8). Unpacking Kony 2012. my heart’s in accra.

The Guardian did interviews with a few children/youths who belonged to the group that watched the Invisible Children video.  Here's what they had to say:

Europautredningen og velkjente dilemma

Etter mediereaksjonene å dømme løfter Europautredningen Utenfor og innenfor (NOU 2012:2) fram velkjente dilemma fra tidligere norsk Europa-debatt. På den ene siden skal EØS-avtalen være en demokratisk fiasko for Norge, samtidig som vi økonomisk sett tjener fett på avtalen, i følge Aftenposten. Men den kan muligens bidra til å bryte den langvarige tausheten som har karakterisert offentligheten saken de senere år.

Hele rapporten kan lastes ned fra denne siden hos UD. Se også Europautredningens hjemmeside, som også inneholder annet interessant stoff. Hele overrekkelsen, med kommentarer fra utredningsleder Fredrik Sejersted, utenriksminister Støre og påfølgende FAQ, er filmet og kan beskues her.

Parsons, Ghonim, Web 2.0 and the Arab spring

A great reminder from Ryan Evans in a blogpost about Talcott Parsons' classic statement from nearly 50 years ago:

Since in social conditions the most effective action is collective action, the most important liberty is liberty to co-operate with others to participate in collective action. Furthermore, the most important single condition of effective co-operation is communication with others. The most important deprivations of liberty are therefore those that block communication, in order to limit or prevent altogether co-operation with others. (Parsons, pp. 41-42 in Eckstein 1964)

Evans then quotes from Wael Ghonim's new book Revolution 2.0:

Together, we wanted justice for Khaled Said and we wanted to put an end to torture. And social networking offered us an easy means to meet as the proactive, critical youth that we were. It also enabled us to defy the fears associated with voicing opposition. The virtual world seemed further from the oppressive reach of the regime, and therefore many were encouraged to speak up. (p. 66)

In the video below Ghonim speaks on TED about his experiences:

The Ivory Tower Survey - IR Scholars about themselves and the world

Paul C. Avey, Michael C. Desch, James D. Long, Daniel Maliniak, Susan Peterson and Michael J. Tierney present the most recent IR-Scholar survey in the latest edition of Foreign Policy.

• Scholars are mainly liberal on social and economic issues
• Constructivism is now the most influential perspective
• Wendt is ranked as most influential among his peers, but Nye is most influential among practitioners