Michael Meadows – författare

The audience-producer boundary has collapsed in indigenous and ethnic community broadcasting, and this is the first comprehensive study globally to chart the rise of its new relationship. Based on studies of radio and television audiences in Australia, the authors argue that community radio and television worldwide represents an essential service for indigenous and ethnic audiences, empowering them at various levels, fostering ‘active citizenry’ and enhancing the processes of democracy. The authors, former journalists, spent months on the road, travelling tens of thousands of kilometers from urban centres to the most remote regions of the Central Desert to ask why they engage with and adapt local broadcast media. They draw on two decades of primary research material taken from face-to-face interviews and focus-group discussions with audiences. Consequently, Developing Dialogues offers international researchers a new social, cultural and historical perspective on the emergence of the unique Australian community broadcasting sector within the context of other global trends. It will appeal to scholars of media and cultural studies, as well as to industry practitioners and policy makers.

This book identifies and discusses research directions, challenges and achievements in contemporary geography. It also documents the most current theoretical and methodological considerations undertaken by scientists representing various sub-disciplines of geography with particular reference to human geography. It was assumed that the thematic structure of the currently active International Geographical Union (IGU) problem commissions corresponds to the most relevant and current research directions in geography. Reflecting this assumption, the book consists of 14 chapters contributed by geographers representing 14 problem commissions of the IGU, which allows us to examine geography from different perspectives and to provide the reader with a complete overview of contemporary research issues in human geography. 

The first part discusses contemporary research problems and issues related to scientific methodology and achievements of selected geographical sub-disciplines, including urban geography, agricultural geography, transport geography, and political geography, among others. The second part focuses on the interdisciplinarity of geography and the topics of global dimension undertaken by geographers such as global change, GIS and geospatial technology, marginalization, and environmental change. This part also discusses the internal relations between geographical specializations and their links with other related sciences, including geology, sociology, and economics. The third part discusses the holistic approaches of geography applied to particular regions, territories, or conditions (Africa, costal systems, geomorphology and local development).