Papers by MARIE GILLESPIE
Diasporas and Diplomacy
Diasporas and Diplomacy analyzes the exercise of British ‘soft power’ through the BBC’s foreign l... more Diasporas and Diplomacy analyzes the exercise of British ‘soft power’ through the BBC’s foreign language services, and the diplomatic role played by their diasporic broadcasters. The book offers the first historical and comparative analysis of the ‘corporate cosmopolitanism’ that has characterized the work of the BBC’s international services since the inception of its Empire Service in 1932 – from radio to the Internet. A series of empirically-grounded case studies, within a shared analytical framework, interrogate transformations in international broadcasting relating to: - colonialism and corporate cosmopolitanism - diasporic and national identities -public diplomacy and international relations -broadcasters and audiences The book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology and anthropology, media and cultural studies, journalism, history, politics, international relations, as well as of research methods that cross the boundaries between the Social Sciences and Humanities. It will also appeal to broadcast journalists and practitioners of strategic communication.
Social media and political participation
Policy Press eBooks, Jul 1, 2015
Designs, devices & development: audience research as creative resource in the making of an Afghan radio drama
This essay analyses the role of audience research as a change agent in media development interven... more This essay analyses the role of audience research as a change agent in media development interventions in Afghanistan. It analyses how audience research in transnational contexts involves a complex set of intercultural negotiations and translations that contribute to the enduring relevance and sustainability of the highly popular Afghan radio soap opera New Home, New Life. This is a ‘development drama’ that has been broadcast across Afghanistan since 1993. It is based on BBC Radio 4’s The Archers and produced by BBC Afghan Education Projects (BBC AEP). Audience research has been vital to forging a dynamic relationship between the creative teams who make the drama, the donors who pay for it, and the audiences who consume it. The article addresses three broad themes. First, we outline how data gathered in formative audience research, prior to the creation of the drama, provides the creative team with the dramatic raw material for the radio serial. The extensive qualitative data gathered by Afghan researchers in local milieux is translated so as to enable culturally diverse teams of writers and producers to ground the serial narratives in the lived experiences of its audiences, and to introduce multiple local perspectives on development issues. Second, we show how evaluative audience research, data gathered in the postproduction phase, plays a key role in providing critical audience interpretations of New Home, New Life’s dramatic themes. In so doing, it creates feedback loops that allow audiences to become active participants in the ongoing creation of the drama. The research designs and devices, developed over the last two decades to document the changing life-worlds of Afghan citizens-cum-audiences, are part of an ongoing set of transcultural encounters that contribute to strengthening the social realist appeal of the drama and to calibrating how far any given storyline can be pushed in terms of cultural propriety. Third, we examine how during periods of military conflict, when routine audience research becomes dangerous or impossible and audience feedback loops are disrupted, the writers and producers have to rely on their own
From Comic Asians to Asian Comics
Berghahn Books, Mar 1, 2003
Soap opera and social change: Drama and development at the BBC world service
'Edutainment' is a term coined to reflect the contemporary coupling of education with var... more 'Edutainment' is a term coined to reflect the contemporary coupling of education with various popular entertainment genres. Used extensively throughout the developing world to address a wide range of development issues from landmine awareness to gender-based violence the most widely used edutainment genre by far is radio and television serial drama or soap opera. This paper examines the use of the genre by the BBC World Service and by the World Service Trust, its charitable arm that specialises in development projects. It introduces a collaborative research project that brings together academics, BBC Trust researchers, dramatists and development workers in different parts of the world. This ethnographically styled research involves a comparative analysis of radio and television soap operas produced in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Burma, India, Nigeria and Rwanda, the contexts of the production, reception, evaluation and development. The paper addresses how the dramatisation of social issues works as a creative process, and how the translation of complex information and western development concepts into local and vernacular idioms is an essential part of that process. The paper sets out theoretical approaches to communication and drama for development and an analytical framework for researching and evaluating communication intended to effect social and cultural change. It presents a novel methodology that seeks to connect and articulate research on processes of production, reception, evaluation and the feedback loops in the ongoing stages of developing continuing serials. In doing so it aspires to a more joined up approach to communication processes and at the same time plugs a gap in research in this field.
Drama for development in Afghanistan: knowledge, power and participatory citizenship?
http://www.cresc.ac.uk/events/conference2008/programme.htm
Social media and political participation
New Media & Society, 2017
In recent years, scholars have explored how effective social media is at mobilizing and facilitat... more In recent years, scholars have explored how effective social media is at mobilizing and facilitating political movements and revolutions in a variety of cases. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube provide users with diverse participatory environments with practical and accessible tools for communication and political activism. The following review will discuss three recent publications in the field of social media and activism: Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action by Helen Margetts, Peter John, Scott Hale, and Taha Yasseri; Revolution in the Age of Social Media: The Egyptian Popular Insurrection and the Internet by Linda Herrera; and Social Movements and New Technology by Victoria Carty. These works focus on the role new media technologies play in shaping political landscapes. Each author asserts that individuals use social media to try to make their issues known and publicly visible by using new technologies. For instance, Margetts, John, Hale and Yasseri state, “We confirm the importance of visibility of people’s actions as a powerful determinant of their propensity to participate in collective action, something that has been demonstrated in offline contexts in previous research” (p. 150). All three publications reviewed in this essay demonstrate that social media can increase the visibility of political events and productively raise awareness of what other users are doing. People exchange messages and public posts on Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media to spread the word and ask others with similar beliefs to join events. In Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action, Helen Margetts, Peter John, Scott Hale, and Taha Yasseri focus their attention on how the political behavior of citizens is affected by social media and examine the reasons why individuals decide to join online collective actions. The book contains eight chapters, and the authors 728054 NMS0010.1177/1461444817728054new media & societyReview essay book-review2017
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Editorial The BBC World Service and the Middle East: Comparisons, Contrasts, Conflicts
Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 2010
ABSTRACT The author reflects on the development of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC's)... more ABSTRACT The author reflects on the development of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC's) international broadcasting services in which the Middle East has played a vital role. He discusses that BBC adopted Arabic as its first foreign language service in January 1938 because of the threat of World War II. BBC decided to expand its radio service in Turkey and Persia.
Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 2010
Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 2010
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The 'Tweeting the Olympics' project (the subject of this special section of Participations) must ... more The 'Tweeting the Olympics' project (the subject of this special section of Participations) must be understood in the context of efforts by host states, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other actors involved in the Games to cultivate and communicate a set of meanings to audiences about both the Olympics events and the nations taking part. Olympic Games are not only sporting competitions; they are also exercises in the management of relations between states and publics, at home and overseas, in order to augment the attractiveness and influence or the soft power of the states involved. Soft power is most successful when it goes unnoticed according to its chief proponent Joseph Nye. If so, how can we possibly know whether soft power works? This article reviews the state of the field in thinking about public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and soft power in the period of this project (2012-14), focusing particularly on how the audiences of soft power projects, like the London and Sochi Games, were conceived and addressed. One of the key questions this project addresses is whether international broadcasters such as the BBCWS and RT used social media during the Games to promote a cosmopolitan dialogue with global audiences and/or merely to integrate social media so as to project and shape national soft power. We argue first that the contested nature of the Olympic Games calls
Talking diasporas: diaspora dialogue
Index on Censorship, 2002
... Diaspora culture is created at the conflu-ence of different traditions of thought and creativ... more ... Diaspora culture is created at the conflu-ence of different traditions of thought and creativity, in narratives of plural and fluid identity, whether in hip hop or bhangra, Vikram Seth or Zadie Smith, or Meera Syal and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Bombay Dreams. ...
This article explains the methodological framework created for the 'Tweeting the Olympics' projec... more This article explains the methodological framework created for the 'Tweeting the Olympics' project represented in this Journal issue that can be used and adapted by other researchers in their studies of global media events. This project was a case study in the adoption of and adaptation to social media in a global news organisation. It examined the opportunities and challenges that were faced by the BBC World Service during the 2012 London Olympic Games in developing their Twitter strategy, and how audiences responded. The aim of the project was to assess whether and how the BBC World Service engaged audiences via Twitter and fostered intercultural dialogue (or, in the BBC's terms, a 'global conversation'). We focused on the uses of Twitter by four different Language Services provided by the BBC World Service: the BBC Arabic Service; BBC.com (the English Language Service targeted at overseas audiences); the BBC Persian Service; and the BBC Russian Service. We adopted a 'social life of methods' approach that treats methods as active agents in institutional processes. We argue that social media research and methods, despite their rapid emergence and proliferation, are still at an early stage of development and should be treated as experimental. As we develop methodological designs for our research experiments, sharing our experiences of failure as well as of success is important to advance the field. For although some regard 'big data' as the new gold standard, promising forms of knowledge previously unattainable, it is wise to be cautious. There are risks as well benefits for academics working alongside corporate researchers. The paper offers an honest and Volume 12, Issue 1
Designs & devices: towards a genealogy of audience research methods at the BBC World Service, 1932-2011
... Manchester University Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change, the 'Social Life of ... more ... Manchester University Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change, the 'Social Life of Methods' (SLoM).14 Two key questions animate this strand of our collaborative research: ... A good example of how such a SloM-informed intervention worked in practice came about ...
For refugees seeking to reach Europe, the digital infrastructure is as important as the physical ... more For refugees seeking to reach Europe, the digital infrastructure is as important as the physical infrastructures of roads, railways, sea crossings and the borders controlling the free movement of people. It comprises a multitude of technologies and sources: mobile apps, websites, messaging and phone calling platforms, social media, translation services, and more. The smartphone is an essential tool for refugees because it provides access to a range of news and information resources that they depend on for their survival. Access to digital resources plays a crucial role in the planning and navigating of their perilous journeys, as well as in their protection and empowerment after arrival in Europe. But despite their utility, mobile phones have a paradoxical presence in the lives of refugees-they are both a resource and a threat. The digital traces that refugees' phones leave behind make them vulnerable to surveillance and other dangers. The research on which this report is based was conducted collaboratively by The Open University and France Médias Monde between October 2015 and April 2016. Our aim was to assess whether the provision of news and information for refugees was adequate to their needs. So much is written about refugees but little by or for them. Their voices often get drowned out in the cacophony of media and political debate about how to tackle "the refugee crisis". The problems are exacerbated by the lack of a pan-European approach to the provision of reliable, relevant and timely information. Policy and practice are uncoordinated and ineffective. There are many initiatives using apps but the field is fragmented and there is little or no collaboration. It is our common European problem. European member states alongside international news media need urgently to work together to find solutions to the worst humanitarian crises in recent history. There are significant ethical and practical difficulties in researching refugees, including privacy, security, trust, and informed consent. Our research team was very mindful of these problems. Most of us have had direct experience as researchers and/or workers in NGOs and refugees' support groups. The research was carried out on a shoestring budget offered by Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change at the Open University. We are very grateful to the researchers who gave their time generously, some on top of already heavy workloads. Professor Heaven Crawley and her colleagues generously shared with us a database of some 500 interviews conducted as part of the MEDMIG project. As a multidisciplinary team we are skilled in using a range of different research methods. Mixed methods enable us to offer diverse perspectives on the problem and to seek effective solutions to the information gaps that refugees face, and which often make the difference between life and death. We also involve refugees themselves in participatory research practices. We want to ensure that understanding the actual uses of technological, news and informational resources will direct any initiatives to create new resources and so contribute to their success. Refugees are not a homogenous group. The experiences of men, women and children in different places are profoundly different, as are their demographic characteristics and ideological positions as well as linguistic, social and cultural competences and digital literacy. All these factors need to shape the development of any resources for refugees. This report summarises the first of three planned phases of research. We hope this work will lead to the provision of valuable resources for refugees. This first phase feeds into plans to develop digital resources for refugees in Europe and to make recommendations to support such plans. The second and third phases will involve developing resources and monitoring and evaluating progress. Please get in touch if you wish to share information or comment on the report.
The purpose and conduct of organisational evaluation is variously defined and understood. With th... more The purpose and conduct of organisational evaluation is variously defined and understood. With the shift to the 'new managerialism' and the steady advance of audit culture in the public sector, evaluation models have proliferated but they are often narrowed to crude measures of impact and performance. They subject people to unhelpful, top-down forms of appraisal and accountability in the interests of transparency and economic efficiency with little respect afforded to the multiple perspectives and divergent goals of the actors involved. There is often a lack of clarity about what is being evaluated and from whose perspective. This paper traces the development of the Cultural Value Model (CVM). It was developed as part of UK-wide research programme aimed at rethinking how we assess the value of cultural activities. The primary objective of the CVM is to provide an analytical and methodological framework for re-conceiving models of evaluation. In particular, it shifts the frame of analysis away from impact to value. Our project aimed to deliver a robust, evidence-based understanding of the changing cultural value of the British Council (BC) and BBC World Service (BBCWS). These publically funded international organisations are an integral part of the UK's diplomatic infrastructure and subject to stringent accountability measures to satisfy diverse stakeholders. They are experiencing rapid and convulsive change in response to financial, technological and geopolitical forces and their purpose and value is being questioned. In the paper we argue that the CVM, in fostering a more engaged, participatory approach to performance evaluation challenged and even subverted existing practices but with mixed results. In the case of the BC, it generated a high degree of interest and engagement to the extent that it is currently being adopted and integrated into organisational practices. In contrast, the BBCWS were more resistant to innovation believing that their audience ratings and internal reviews suffice. The flexible adaptability of the CVM presents an opportunity for other organisations to move from away from top-down performance and impact assessment towards a more inclusive, reflective and sustainable model of value. However we need to get a better understanding the organisational constraints that obstruct innovation if more participatory models of learning, monitoring and evaluation are to intervene in social and organisational processes and achieve sustainable models of good practice.
Chapitre 2. Guerre et attentats à la télévision
Médias-Recherches, Sep 11, 2004
Career trajectories at the BBC World Service: managing diversity. Confidential report for the BBC World Service
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Papers by MARIE GILLESPIE
The Open University adapted the Cultural Value Model for this research – a participatory approach which brings together diverse perspectives on a programme and assesses its value according to expectations forged at the outset. The research involved five in-depth case studies of cultural relations programmes. The data gathering process included participatory workshops at British Council and Goethe-Institut offices in Cairo and Kyiv with beneficiaries of the programmes, the staff delivering the programmes, and the strategy and policy teams within those two organisations; stakeholder surveys; and in-depth expert interviews.