This thesis is the product of a discourse analytic investigation of the first decade of the British lesbian magazine, DIVA, which launched in 1994. Work on mainstream women's and men's magazines has established them as sites at which (largely heterosexual) femininities and masculinities are constructed and construed, but relatively little scholarship has addressed lesbian magazines in this fashion. DIVA is Britain's only nationally sold, mainstream lesbian magazine; with this in mind, the thesis provides an analytic account of the magazine's launch, production and brand, and considers the discursive construction of lesbian community and the boundary work that that entails. The initial analytic chapters detail editorial philosophies, routines, and financial circumstances; design, front covers, and editorial content. Though the magazine has only limited resources available, those restrictions are simultaneously liberating, allowing DIVA's editors to pursue their political commitments at the same time as operating in the commercial marketplace. In considering the discursive construction of 'us', the thesis highlights a focus on community, support, and heritage. It further considers the discursive management of the boundaries of that imagined community, focusing on the 'threat' posed by bisexual women and the arguments this causes among readers. Finally, DIVA's handling of (heterosexual) others is considered, concluding that they are constructed as irrational, yet powerful, aggressors. Overall, DIVA's was a brand invested in the notion of community and in its role not only in imagining that community but also bringing members together. Though readers were at times divided over who belonged, or should belong, they were united in their belief that there was something to belong to. In the face of a hostile greater 'other', which was constructed as a constant source of threat, this belonging was incredibly important.

Abstract Denna uppsats handlar om hur community radiostationerna Mega FM och Radio Wa i norra Uganda arbetar med fredsjournalistik. Syftet med uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för relationen mellan community radio och fredsjournalistik. Det är inte bara relevant för journalistikvetenskapen, utan även för alla som är intresserade av utveckling och freds- och säkerhetsfrågor i konfliktområden.    Hur ser det fredsjournalistiska arbetet ut i praktiken på community radiostationerna Mega FM och Radio Wa?   Vilka förutsättningar är nödvändiga, enligt Mega FM och Radio Wa, för att skapa ett generellt freds- och försoningsrelaterat radioprogram?   Vilka svårigheter finns för att lyckas genomföra ett fredsjournalistiskt arbete, enligt Mega FM och Radio Wa?   Frågeställningarna har besvarats genom kvalitativa informantintervjuer med radiojournalister i Gulu och Lira, och observationer. Det teoretiska ramverket inkluderar fredsforskning, utvecklingskommunikation, deltagande kommunikation, teorier om community radio och fredsjournalistik. Tyngdpunkt ligger på de senare. Teorin har operationaliserats genom att dela in de fredsjournalistiska kriterierna på en minimi- till maximiskala.   Uppsatsen visar att Mega FM och Radio Wa är community radiostationer som arbetar fredsjournalistiskt, men inte på en maximinivå eftersom de inte fullt ut adresserar alla konflikter, eller tar en proaktiv roll som medlare utan använder sig av en tredje part. Framför allt utgör avsaknaden av pressfrihet och tidsbrist de främsta hindren för ett proaktiv fredsjournalistiskt arbete, samt att informanterna betonar att en allt för aktiv roll strider mot objektivitetsidealet, något även kritiker mot fredsjournalistiken har lyft fram.

This is an investigation of the diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly the Internet, by community broadcasting organisations. In order to understand ICT diffusion processes in community radio stations, this study focuses on a particular project which saw a large scale diffusion of Internet technologies across Australian community radio stations at the beginning of 1998. The Community Access Network (CAN) project was an initiative of the Australian government, and saw funding for the provision of an Internet ready computer to every licensed community radio station in Australia. In approaching this subject, this research employed social constructivist assumptions, expecting that ICT use, and in particular the CAN workstations, would vary from station to station, reflecting the cultural and organisational conditions in each environment. As such the study aimed to understand the ways in which ICT technologies have been used and understood by community ralo station management and their participants. Since community radio stations are organisations, this study employed Everett Rogers' framework for understanding diffusion of innovation processes within organisations, acknowledging that organisational variables act on innovation behaviour in a manner over and above that of the aggregate of individual members of the organisation. This approach provided scope for the investigation and comparison of organisational factors, as well as meaning making on the part of individual participants. The research was based on data collected from two case studies, chosen on the basis of their divergent social, cultural and organisational environments; 4EB in Brisbane, a metropolitan, ethnic community radio station; and 2NCR-FM in Lismore, a regional, generalist community radio station. Ethnographic methods of observation and interviews were employed to collect qualitative data, providing insider accounts of community broadcaster's use, experience, and understanding of the new technologies in their day-to-day broadcast practices. By looking at two different community radio stations, this research acknowledges points of similarity and difference across these organisational situations, identifying factors that contribute to variation in technology take-up in particular station programming emphasis, perception of need, organisational resources, role of innovation champions, training, ICT policy and broadcaster variables. Evidence drawn from these case studies, and the specific ICT investigated, contributes to a general understanding of factors in the diffusion of ICT technologies across the community broadcast sector, providing a frame of reference for anticipating subsequent innovation diffusion. In particular, there are implications for future diffusion projects which plan to deploy new technologies across the community radio sector. It also contextualises community broadcasting and ICT use within the field of new technology uptake by broadcast sectors in general.

This thesis is a critical ethnographic exploration of Philadelphia graffiti as radical citizens’ media, and how the graffiti community is impacted by digital new media in regard to identity, social connection, and commodification. Previous research explores the traditions and practices that are specific to the Philadelphia graffiti community and how the medium affords transformative agency to practitioners, but existing research does not sufficiently explore how this subculture has been impacted by digitality and social media. Through both interviews with Philadelphia based graffiti writers and a critical virtual ethnography of local graffiti archives on Instagram, I explore the following research questions: How may graffiti be used as a form of transgressive, radical citizens’ media to challenge hegemony and elicit alternative imaginaries of resistance? How has the local Philadelphia graffiti scene integrated Instagram to their graffiti practices and community? I argue that graffiti contributes to both the urban physical landscape, but also the digital mediascape, specifically on the social media platform Instagram and as a medium has unique affordances that empower writers for social change. Further, I also argue that social media has influenced how graffiti is practiced, documented, and culturally received while also expanding opportunities for social change and community building. / Media Studies & Production

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The aim of this study is to introduce and analyze the case of the Núcleo de Comunicação Comunitária São Miguel no Ar (Centre of Community Media Sao Miguel on the air, freely translated), known by its acronym NCC, in order to discuss in what ways an educommunication project can contribute to local development and social change, and might be acknowledge as a Communication for Development strategy. The general research question is: in what ways can an educommunication project enhance social participation and contribute to local development? What are the main features of NCC projects in regard to social participation and local development that might characterize it as a Communication for Development strategy? The general aim of this study is to bridge Educommunication and Communication for Development.

This diploma thesis aims to describe and explain the phenomenon of the community radio broadcasting. Despite the fact, that this sector has not been implemented in the Czech media system to supplement the dual system of public and private stations, broadcasting of this type does exist. As a subject of my case study I chose the internet radio StreetCulture as I consider it to be a unique example within the Czech media market. StreetCulture proves its specificity with a very wide range of contents. It acts as a platform for a large number of different communities and it also interconnects the participants within the public space StreetBar. The analytical part of the thesis investigates how this radio station fulfils four basic dimensions of community media as defined by the media theorist Nico Carpentier: community aspect, alternative aspect, civil aspect and rhizomatic aspect. For each of these specifics I tried to demonstrate how it relates to the StreetCulture radio station concerning both the organization and content of the broadcast and how it is reflected in various non-broadcasting activities of StreetCulture. The aim of this study is not to draw general conclusions which could be applied to other community stations in the Czech Republic. It rather offers a detailed insight into the...

This thesis is an investigation of campus/community radio in Canada and an exploration of its motivations and methods of using social media as a tool to interact with listeners. It develops and applies a methodology referred to as S.M.I.L.E.S., a methodology to create triangulation and validate results when researching in areas involving social media and minimal previous literature available. Radio station staff and volunteer programmers use social media, traditional digital and non-digital methods to gather feedback about the show and/or station, promote the show and/or station, provide additional content to the listener off-air, communicate about the station itself, and achieve personal, station, and community growth. Results suggest that campus/community radio members use social media very differently than commercial or public radio station. As a whole, the campus/community radio sector is generally slow in providing support and policy when facilitating technological change, which has resulted in tentative use and lack of support for social media. Geographical location is also irrelevant as regards the utilization of social media. Also, programmers must be careful in identity management when engaging in online communication, as well as using social media as a fundraising tool and forum for information dissemination. Finally, stations need to consider implementing policy surrounding social media in order to facilitate growth within the industry. / Generously funded in part by the Snowden Program, at the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph.

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This research is aimed at discussing the impact of participatory communication on empowering, increasing agency, and mobilizing citizenship that fosters social change. I conducted my fieldwork with a group of 21 youth (seven women and 14 men), with ages ranging from 15 to 30 years, who reside in Ataúro, Timor-Leste. This group participates in a community wall-newspaper founded in 2008. The methodologies applied were participant observation and qualitative interviews. The text is divided into three chapters; the first explores the societal structure and the constructing of youth, and the process of resignification of youth roles and identities from the work of young people in the community newspaper. In the following chapter, the internal dynamic of the newspaper group is analysed through the participatory communication framework, elaborating on empowerment processes and showing how this promotes changes and continuities in traditional structures. Finally, the last chapter looks at interactions of the group with their community and the way the negotiation between new and traditional practices develops. Youth are more empowered and the changes occurring throughout the participatory process suggest that ruptures and continuities between conserving and changing traditional practices, and the perception of ‘youth’ in the community, are occurring.