Please excuse any unavoidable cross-postings...

> The Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan,
> Nigeria; the Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Lagos, Nigeria; the
> African Languages Technology Initiative (ALT-I), Ibadan, Nigeria; and the
> Nigerian Community Radio Coalition jointly invite you to an international
> conference to commemorate the 75th Birthday Anniversary of Prof Alfred
> Opubor, first Nigerian professor of Mass Communication.

> THEME: ³IF COMMUNITY MEDIA IS THE ANSWER, WHAT IS THE QUESTION?²
> Those were the words of the first Nigerian Professor of Mass Communication,
> Professor Alfred Opubor, and the title of one of his most discussed articles
> Though that question was raised in 2000 in a book published by UNESCO, the
> issues that gave rise to it are still as urgent and improperly understood as
> they were then. The recent political events in the MENA (Middle East and
> North Africa) region, the recent historic civilian-to-civilian transition in
> Zambia, the seemingly unending failure of the big media to significantly
> bring about participation and access; the recourse to neoliberal policies by
> African Œdemocracies¹ and the impact of that on the big media; are some of
> the issues that necessitate a thorough re-examination of that decade-old
> witticism. If community media is the answer, what indeed is the question?
> And how is it being answered? Are there more questions than there were? What
> are they?

> SUB-THEMES: Paper abstracts and proposals for project demonstrations are
> welcome on the following subthemes:
> ·         Community Media and new media technologies
> ·         Community media, policy and regulation
> ·         Community media, social media and social protest
> ·         Community media and empowerment/development: actual stories and
> potentials
> ·         Community media and the management of conflict
> ·         Community media, community/civic engagement and democracy
> ·         Research approaches in (and to) community media
> ·         Community media and gender
> ·         Community media and popular culture
> ·         Community media and diasporas
> 
> DATE: 27-29 March, 2012
> VENUE: Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
> TIMELINES:
> Deadline for submission of abstracts = Nov 30, 2011
> Notification of writers of successful abstracts = Dec 20, 2011
> Deadline for submission of full paper = Feb 20, 2012
> 
> FEES: heavily subsidised to cover conference materials, lunches and teas.
> Academics: N5,000
> International participants: $50
> Graduate Students: N1,500
> 
> Undergraduate Students: Free
> 
> Abstracts or proposals for project demonstration should not exceed 300
> words. Abstracts should be sent to both: [log in to unmask] and
> [log in to unmask]
> For more information on venues, hotel accommodation, presenters and lead
> speakers, timetables etc, visit: http://alfredopubor.org
> You can access the book in which Prof Opubor¹s Chapter (If community media
> is the answer...) was published here:
> http://www.unesco.org/webworld/publications/community_media/index.html
> 
> Ayobami Ojebode, Ph.D
> Chairman, Local Organising Committee.
>