Mass Media and Public Policy: Global Evidence from Agricultural Policies

Mass media play a crucial role in information distribution and in the political market and public policy making. Theory predicts that information provided by the mass media reflects the media's incentives to provide news to different groups in society and affects these groups' influence in policy making. The paper use data on agricultural policy from 69 countries spanning a wide range of development stages and media markets to test these predictions. The empirical results are consistent with theoretical hypotheses that public support for agriculture is affected by the mass media.

 Read more and download the paper at: http://zunia.org/post/mass-media-and-public-policy-global-evidence-from-agricultural-policies

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Viral Sports Videos Give Kenyan Orphans Their Field of Dreams

Two viral videos featuring Kenyan orpahns have successfully helped fund a new playing field and learning space for them in West Nairobi.

 

Read more at: http://mashable.com/2013/07/29/kenyan-orphans-sports-videos/

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Zurker - a new social network with a difference

Zurker - a new social network:

http://www.zurker.net/i-271732-iaxgtugifc

My first reaction - "do we need yet another social network?"

After reading about the philosophy of Zurker, my answer was "yes" - because it is one that is owned by the network members and responsive to needs of the network members, rather than being a centralized, corporate, profit-oriented, juggernaut.

Zurker is literally a member-owned application.  You actually get shares in the company and so can profit from its growth.

And Zurker is driven by democracy. It's new - and still developing. Instead of changes being introduced top-down (whether you wanted the change or not) Zurker seeks out your ideas and feedback, so that their development team can develop the social application most in tune with what users actually want.

And it's free, of course.  Check it out here:

http://www.zurker.net/i-271732-iaxgtugifc

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Study an Elementary Education Degree Online for a satisfying career

This page provides information on elementary education online degrees, what is studied in them, where you can study them, the prospects, and more ...

 

Read more at: http://onlineanddistancelearning.com/elementary-education-online-degrees

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Studying a Masters in Teaching online

Getting a Masters in teaching is an excellent way to qualify for a teaching career, obtain the best jobs and get promotion.This page provides details of online masters teaching programs, where they can be found, what the career and salary prospects are, and more ...

 

Read more at: http://onlineanddistancelearning.com/masters-teaching-programs

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Water and Development

Did you know that 3,5 Million people die every year due to the lack of clean drinking water and proper water treatment?! 

On January the 1st 2013, the United Nations introduced the International Year of Water Cooperation. The access to clean water is a Human Right. Cutting the number of people without access to safe fresh water is one of the Millennium Development Goals. 

See on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RL7IQ5fcCw

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Using multimedia approach in education

Roger Slack in his article ‘PEDACTICE - The Use of Multimedia in Schools’ which was published in September, 1999, comments that the growth of information and communication technology (ICT) in society is reflected in policies to encourage the use of ICT in education and the development of educational multimedia. As the role of educational multimedia increases, it is increasingly important to have an idea of the potential it affords for teaching and learning.

Multimedia, as per Pearson’s website, can be defined generically as any combination of two or more media such as sound, images, text, animation, and video. For educational technology purposes, multimedia refers to computer-based systems that use associative linkages to allow users to navigate and retrieve information stored in a combination of text, sounds, graphics, video, and other media. 

 

Read more at: http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=57601

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Studying a Clinical Doctorate in Psychology

Are you looking for clinical doctorate in psychology programs? This page will help you to find out more about clinical psychology study online and on campus.

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Studying a Clinical Doctorate in Psychology

Kenya Open Data two years later

Now two years old, the Kenya Open Data Initiative (KODI) has set a high standard for Open Data in Africa. The platform – the first of its kind in a developing country – has encouraged government transparency within Kenya and beyond. Software developers, NGOs, and other members of civil society have submitted hundreds of requests for new datasets to KODI, reflecting the public desire for even more information. Over 500 datasets now are available to the world.

The portal makes a large amount of public government data accessible to the people of Kenya. But just how useful is the data?

The program certainly has its challenges. Many changes were made to data in 2012, but 2013 seems to have been quieter. We find that only eight datasets have been added in the first six months of 2013. Similarly, only a handful of previous datasets have been updated in the same period.

 

Read more at: http://www.oafrica.com/ict-policy/kenya-open-data-two-years-later/

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Commonwealth of Learning - Pan-Commonwealth Forum

COL’s Seventh Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF7) will be held in Abuja, Nigeria from 2 - 6 December 2013, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). The Forum will address "Open Learning for Development: Towards Empowerment and Transformation" through five themes: "Girls’ and Women’s Education", "Skills Development", "Promoting Open Educational Resources (OER)", "Innovation and Technology" and "Institutional Development".

 

PCF7 website: www.pcf7.net

 

Delegate registration: www.col.org/pcf7registrations

 

Early-bird registration discount is available until 30 September 2013.

 

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