Suchergebnisse

The present study explores the broad alternative media realm, employing the metaphor of media ecology to address the intersection between varieties of activism and different media, and draws on the mediation paradigm to explore the appropriation of digital media by diverse alternative media producers. At the empirical level, the study evaluates the positions and tactics of Greek grassroots media in the age of the social web probing grassroots media producers' discourses and concerns over the employment of digital technologies. It reflects on controversial issues raised in regard to the enhancement and enrichment of the media-locus of resistance in the digital era, and discusses challenges and limitations raised by the employment of corporate social media in the Greek alternative mediascape.

The article explores alternative media sustainability across a wide range of Greek projects. In this regard, it probes into a number of factors related to both the political economy (funding, organization) of these projects and the nature (real/'imaginary', broad reach/niche) of the relationship with their communities/audiences. The findings of the research reveal a dynamic and contradictory field regarding alternative media resilience in terms of the dialectical relationship of idealistic/realistic (on the production, organization level) and puristic/pragmatic (on the communication, reach level) features. The article concludes by highlighting the strategies employed by the most successful projects in terms of sustainability in relation to their positioning along the idealism/realism and purism/pragmatism nexus.

The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed an upsurge in mobilization and collective action by a wide range of activists and groups engaging in social and political protest, all over the world, which continues to this day. New media are not only greatly facilitating the ways in which activists communicate and protest, but are also altering the relation of the movements to territorial boundaries and localities. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines have tended to focus on questions about the internet's role in protest, without attempting to answer the changing meaning of what it means to be a citizen within such movements and through their practices. This article responds to this need by developing an analytical framework for studying the connection between citizenship and ICT-mediated social movements, drawing on existing scholarship on social movements, citizenship and ICTs. Specifically, using citizenship studies as a starting point, it brings together elements that are necessary for a two-level analysis: a) the tangible aspects that are seen as the concrete practices of movements and their participants and b) the ideational aspects that are seen as the abstract practices of movements and their participants. This provides a theoretical structure that facilitates connections between different disciplines that might otherwise be difficult to discern, so that the construction of citizenship can be studied on an interdisciplinary basis.

This study describes the design of a serious game for social change ("Fact Finders") that presents intergroup conflicts through historical inquiry and multiperspectivity. A pre-test post-test experimental design examined the game's effect on undergraduates' perceptions of conflicts in history. Participants included 97 Greek Cypriots (direct parties of the conflict) and 79 Slovenians (third parties of the conflict) who interacted with and evaluated the game online. Data sources included a 17-item questionnaire on perceptions of conflicts in history and gameplay learning analytics data. Findings indicated that both groups' perceptions for historical source evaluation and understanding multiperspectivity changed significantly after the game. The game significantly changed perceptions about the constructedness of history and the ability to overcome their country's troubled past only for direct parties of the conflict. The study provides empirical evidence demonstrating the potential value of serious games for affecting young people's perceptions of intractable intergroup conflicts and their desire to overcome troubled pasts.

In the period between the 2009 and 2014 elections to the European Parliament, the international economic recession and related global debt crisis impacted seriously in several European Union (EU) member states. The rights and wrongs of debt fuelled growth and bank bailouts packages shaped political discourse not just in member states seeking sovereign external support but also placed great strain on the European project and raised real questions about the very future of the eurozone. The discussion draws on the content analysis data set generated from the assessment of posters and videos in the 2014 European Parliament election. The subsample in this chapter – focused on countries which experienced significant economic decline due to the post-2008 crisis – includes 321 items – 188 posters and 133 videos – which enables significant comparisons of trends and differences in six member states (Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Italy and Malta). Moving beyond this core group of countries, in the final section of the chapter we examine how themes such as 'austerity' were also evident in other member states and discuss how the economic backdrop to 2014 elections was evident in posters and broadcast spots produced by parties and candidates across the EU. It is possible to conclude that the ideological issues and national themes that played in the past an important role (Reif and Schmitt 1980) have been replaced by economic issues. The conomy and the crisis have become the new battlegrounds among parties, even bypassing the traditional distinction between right and left. The 2014 European Parliament campaign allows us to talk of the existence of a European anti-European campaign, which may well be a feature of EU politics beyond the economic crisis itself.