International
The international organizations with which the Center has already established contacts include the UNESCO in Paris, the FAO in Rome, the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), the ORBICOM Network of UNESCO Chairs based at the University of Quebec in Montreal, UNAIDS and UNIDR in Geneva, UNICEF in New York, the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) in Toronto, and The World Bank in Washington DC. Such regional organizations as the Asian Media and Information Center (AMIC) in Singapore, CODESRIA in Dakar, the International Communication Association (ICA) and National Communication Asociation (NCA) in Washington DC, the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) in Brussels, and the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and USAID in Washington DC are also close partners.
Existing student and staff exchanges are already current with a number of universities. These relationships will be intensified and supplemented with a research component. In addition, the Center will explore new exchange agreements in Asia (China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and India), in Europe (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia…), Africa (Kenya, Mauritius, South-Africa), and the Americas (Argentine, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Venezuela, and Canada).
Through the Center-of-Excellence in Communication for Sustainable Social Change, efforts will also be made to increase collaboration with professional associations, such as the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Geneva, Switzerland, the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) in Damascus, Syria, the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) in Kingston, Jamaica, the Union of Radio and Television Organizations of Africa (URTNA) in Dakar, Senegal, the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) in Suva, Fiji, and relevant commercial bodies, such as Media City in Dubai, UAE.
UNESCO
ORBICOM
UNDevelopment Group
UNIDIR
US and local
Inside the University of Massachusetts, the Center will establish links and partnerships with the other centers and departments in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, such as the Departments of Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology, the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies (http://www.umass.edu/clacls/), the Center for Public Policy and Administration (http://www.masspolicy.org/), the Department of Psychology’s Program for the Study of Peace and Violence (Linda Tropp, Director), or the Political Economy Research Institute (http://www.peri.umass.edu/) . In addition it will look for alliances and lasting relationships with other centers and institutes on the campus, such as the already established one with the Institute for Global Health in the School of Public Health (http://www.umass.edu/globalhealth/), The Environmental Institute (http://www.umass.edu/tei/TEI_2005/BuildingGreenCommunities.html), The Center for International Education and The Donahue Institute’s Civic Initiative (Mike Hannahan, Director, and Lonce Sandy-Bailey).
Several organizations at the University of Massachusetts also are involved with issues of the social impact of ICTs and developing a social assessment of impact (for policy matters) and implementation (for social justice and humanitarian reasons). Boardmember Prof. Hanson is a Principal Investigator on both of the projects described below:
The Science, Technology, and Society task force of Social and Behavioral Sciences (chaired by Political Science Professor Jane Fountain) deals with the impact of ICTs and other technologies (i.e. Nanotechnology Manufacturing) as information about them becomes diffused throughout societies. The importance of public opinion research in supporting and analysing new technologies is key to effective policy discourse. This group is currently in the second year of a three year study, to provide social science research for a project dealing with Nanotechnology Manufacturing (health, risk, occupational health and safety) funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In the local context, the College has a vast range of media industry and non-media related contacts which it will make available to the Center-of-Excellence, thus ensuring that visiting scholars and media practitioners are exposed to a wide variety of US institutions, agencies and individuals.
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