International Community Media Conference - University of Ibadan, Nigeria -IF COMMUNITY MEDIA IS THE ANSWER, WHAT IS THE QUESTION?

The Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, > Nigeria; the Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Lagos, Nigeria; the  African Languages Technology Initiative (ALT-I), Ibadan, Nigeria; and the  Nigerian Community Radio Coalition jointly invite you to an international  conference to commemorate the 75th Birthday Anniversary of Prof Alfred  Opubor, first Nigerian professor of Mass Communication.

THEME: ³IF COMMUNITY MEDIA IS THE ANSWER, WHAT IS THE QUESTION?²  Those were the words of the first Nigerian Professor of Mass Communication,
Professor Alfred Opubor, and the title of one of his most discussed articles  Though that question was raised in 2000 in a book published by UNESCO, the  issues that gave rise to it are still as urgent and improperly understood as  they were then. The recent political events in the MENA (Middle East and  North Africa) region, the recent historic civilian-to-civilian transition in  Zambia, the seemingly unending failure of the big media to significantly  bring about participation and access; the recourse to neoliberal policies by African Œdemocracies¹ and the impact of that on the big media; are some of  the issues that necessitate a thorough re-examination of that decade-old  witticism. If community media is the answer, what indeed is the question?  And how is it being answered? Are there more questions than there were? What  are they?

SUB-THEMES: Paper abstracts and proposals for project demonstrations are  welcome on the following subthemes:
> ·         Community Media and new media technologies
> ·         Community media, policy and regulation
> ·         Community media, social media and social protest
> ·         Community media and empowerment/development: actual stories and  potentials
> ·         Community media and the management of conflict
> ·         Community media, community/civic engagement and democracy
> ·         Research approaches in (and to) community media
> ·         Community media and gender
> ·         Community media and popular culture
> ·         Community media and diasporas

> DATE: 27-29 March, 2012
> VENUE: Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
> TIMELINES:
> Deadline for submission of abstracts = Nov 30, 2011
> Notification of writers of successful abstracts = Dec 20, 2011
> Deadline for submission of full paper = Feb 20, 2012

 FEES: heavily subsidised to cover conference materials, lunches and teas.
 Academics: N5,000
 International participants: $50
 Graduate Students: N1,500

 Undergraduate Students: Free

 Abstracts or proposals for project demonstration should not exceed 300 words. Abstracts should be sent to both: opuborconference@yahoo.com and
comlangarts@gmail.com 

 For more information on venues, hotel accommodation, presenters and lead  speakers, timetables etc, visit: http://alfredopubor.org
 You can access the book in which Prof Opubor¹s Chapter (If community media  is the answer...) was published here:  http://www.unesco.org/webworld/publications/community_media/index.html

Ayobami Ojebode, Ph.D
Chairman, Local Organising Committee.
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International Institute for ICT Journalism
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