International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2008

This article introduces the special issue and argues that the contributions in it lead us to think more deeply about the need for endogenous rather than exogenous approaches to information and communications technologies (ICTs) in our analysis of globalisation, communications and political action. The argument covers three areas: globalisation virtual and material processes; communications as integral to politics; political action and new virtual forms.

Prevailing analyses of globalisation and the Internet posit global politics as the outcome of the Internet's physical-geographical reach. This reach is assumed to compromise the traditional sources of political power associated with the sovereign state by transgressing its territorial boundaries. The shortcoming of this approach is that it fails to acknowledge the degree to which the state and its sovereignty are discursively constituted as normative principles that legitimate a particular type of political order. Thus, in order to locate the transformative potential of globalisation, attention must be directed to globalisation's discursive dimensions. To do this I focus on two metaphors of globalisation global village and global marketplace. In this paper, I outline how these metaphors constitute and legitimate global political order and the impact this has on the global character of the Internet. I specify how each metaphor shapes what the Internet is, who it is for, what kind of global potential it represents according to its understanding of what constitutes legitimate global political order. The structure of global political order cannot, therefore, be easily derived from the Internet's physical reach. We can still study the Internet as emblematic of globalisation and global politics; however, doing so necessitates exploring how the structure and character of the Internet is tied to, and changes with, the production of new systems of global legitimacy and political order.

This study explores the impact of a virtual organisational structure called a policy collaboratory on a transnational NGO network participating in the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). A collaboratory is a center without walls, which uses computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools to support geographically distributed knowledge work (Wulf 1989). The interdisciplinary conceptual framework draws primarily on Roger's (1995) diffusion of innovation thesis. To explore the conceptual framework, we asked four grand tour research questions: (1) How is a policy collaboratory introduced into a transnational policy network?; (2) how is the collaboratory used?; (3) what impact does it have on participants?; and (4) to what degree can it be institutionalised? Using the second phase of WSIS as the setting for this longitudinal mixed-methods study, we purposefully selected the participants from the active WSIS civil society networks. After collecting baseline data in December 2003, we designed and implemented the collaboratory in January 2004, continuing to collect multi-modal data (surveys, interviews, email, computer logs) until shortly after the Tunis WSIS in November 2005. Key findings include: (1) training and a visionary change-agent are critical to successful diffusion; (2) participants may not utilise the full potential of the collaboratory; (3) even with limited use, the collaboratory can help to empower network members, especially those from developing countries, (4) institutionalisation of the collaboratory requires at least medium-term commitment and financial support. The study points to some of the challenges and opportunities of using the Internet and CMC tools to enhance geographically distributed participation in global governance processes.

Projects that bring information and communications technology (ICT) to the developing world and especially to rural areas have the potential to empower the disenfranchised, foster economic opportunity, and narrow the digital divide that threatens to widen global disparity between the haves and the have-nots. However, given the remarkable growth of such undertakings around the world, there has been little corresponding effort made to address the vital issues of long-term project sustainability and the diverse motivations and incentives facing the actors involved. As a result, these projects continue to be implemented sporadically and in a piecemeal fashion, which in turn hinders our ability to define success and recommend best practices for implementing and/or scaling them. Through an analysis of publicprivate partnerships (PPPs), the prevailing vehicle for project implementation today, the article addresses the issue of sustainability through partnerships, and also asserts that developing world technology recipients must be considered as stakeholders, as they hold the key to project sustainability. Following an overview of both theory and the current state of ICT-related development projects, the article provides a case study of a Sri Lankan-based pilot project involving multiple stakeholders. This case reveals important success factors that can be applied to future developing world ICT projects.

Girls and young women are participating in unconventional forms of political participation through Ladyfests. The first Ladyfest took place in 2000 in Olympia, Washington, United States. Ladyfests are activist-oriented festivals that include art, spoken word, music, workshops, artisan fairs, and other performances. Since the first Ladyfest there have been approximately one hundred and twenty spanning the globe. I argue that Ladyfests provide the organisers and attendees alternative communities to network, educate, share information, and build offline and online communities. This form of contemporary cultural activism relies heavily on engaging culture as a means of both commentary and action. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by girls and young women is on the rise, including as activist and networking tools. Ladyfesters are web savvy and use ICTs to organise the events, share information about their Ladyfest and others, as well as build networks after the event.

Conglomerate Rock: The Music Industry's Quest to Divide Music and Conquer Wallets, David J. Park (2007) Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 160 pp., ISBN: 0739115006, 60.00 (hbk)

Troubled Pasts: News and the Collective Memory of Social Unrest, Jill A. Edy (2006) Philadelphia: Temple University Press, ISBN: 1592134963, 71.50 (hbk); ISBN: 1592134971, 23.95 (pbk)

Journalists and the Public: Newsroom Culture, Letters to the Editor, and Democracy, Karin Wahl-Jorgensen (2007) Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 165 pp., 47.50 (pbk), ISBN 9781572737372

Canadian Television Today, Bart Beaty and Rebecca Sullivan (2006) Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 168 pp., ISBN 9781552382226 (pbk), 24.95

Framing Celebrity: New Directions in Celebrity Culture, Su Holmes and Sean Redmond (eds.) (2006) London: Routledge, 384 pp., ISBN: 0415377099, 125.00 (hbk); ISBN: 0415377102, 33.95 (pbk)

Kids Rule!: Nickelodeon and Consumer Citizenship, Sarah Banet-Weiser (2007) Durham: Duke University Press, ISBN: 9780822339762, 79.95 (cloth); ISBN: 9780822339939, 22.95 (pbk)