The Drum Beat 355 - Print: Trends and Strategies

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This issue of The Drum Beat focuses on some of the trends in and strategies for the use of printed materials to address economic and social development issues. For the purposes of this Drum Beat, printed materials include anything with printed text and/or images (e.g.: billboards, books, comics, flyers, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, pamphlets, and posters).

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1. Polio Bulletin - Namibia Airdrop
On Wednesday, June 14 2006 at approximately 1:30 pm, a plane flew over Windhoek, Namibia and surrounding areas with an airdrop of 250,000 printed leaflets alerting people to a recent outbreak of polio in that country. The strategy involved drawing on the use of existing networks to provide information directly to the people, and to stimulate community-based efforts to help with the distribution of emergency information and to support vaccination against the disease. Due to the remote nature and lack of technological communication devices of many communities and people in Namibia, a key component of this initiative involved local participation at various levels. Those who might be travelling to rural/remote parts of the country were asked, within the bulletin, to contact the offices of the Republikein to collect packages of the polio bulletin to disseminate to farming areas, small villages, and the like. Employers were also implored to encourage workers to visit immunisation clinics.

2. Evaluation of Soul City Series 5: Focusing on the Distribution and Use of the Booklets
Published in 2002, this report includes findings of an evaluation of the print component of the fifth series of Soul City, South Africa. The evaluation aimed to assess the distribution and usage of the Soul City booklets and to explore qualitatively the impact of the series on HIV/AIDS and rape. Three booklets on these themes were printed. The print component provides further information about the messages incorporated in the TV and radio series, and is serialised in some of the major newspapers. The market research found that in terms of access to the booklets, 42% of the adult population (over 16 years) saw at least one of the three booklets distributed during series 5. In real population figures, this translates to 11.7 million adults. One and a half million black people had seen the booklets at a friend's house. The fact that books are visible in people's homes indicates a positive outcome in relation to one of the key aims of the Soul City strategy - to bring issues into a more public arena and catalyse interpersonal communication about the health and social issues it addresses.

3. Political Economy of Government Responsiveness: Theory and Evidence from India
by Timothy Besley and Robin Burgess
This article is a political economy analysis of the responsiveness of governments to the needs of vulnerable populations in situations that require state-based food distribution and disaster aid. The authors seek to examine how democratic institutions and mass media have affected the responsiveness of state level governments in India from 1958-1992. They provide an in-depth analysis of the relationship between media and government responsiveness. The interactions were found to be significant for two policy responses - a fall in food production yields more public action in situations where newspaper circulation is higher, and crop damage from floods yields more disaster relief expenditures when newspaper circulation is higher.

4. Assessing the Effect of Fine Art Printmaking Based, HIV/AIDS Posters on the Durban Institute of Technology Community With Specific Reference to the Break the Silence Project: Evaluation of Art as Advocacy on HIV/AIDS Posters
by Joy Kitsnasamy and Jan Jordaan
This is an evaluation of Break the Silence, an HIV/AIDS billboard campaign carried out by Art for Humanity (AfH). This public education programme uses artistic images produced by local and international artists on billboards to promote the 'Break the Silence' (BtS) slogan about HIV/AIDS dialogue in South Africa. The campaign aims to change people's HIV/AIDS-related behaviour, instilling a sense of "moral ownership" of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South African society through art. The project was designed as a public art initiative with the aim of reproducing the artworks as billboards and posters in public spaces. The researchers conclude that the results indicate that visual art does have a significant role to play in advocacy around social issues.

5. A Simple Formula for IEC in Kinh Populations
The literature review has identified a basic [Ä] (or triangle) formula for the strategic approach of IEC in Vietnam. This formula uses a combination of at least one of each of three key elements: mass medium; face to face communication and; print material such as leaflets and brochures. In addition the Ä formula can be supported, when available, by at least one opportunistic IEC activity such as a health day or competition. The application of this formula is designed to place an emphasis on those elements that have the most influence in any particular population group.
See also the full report from which this is excerpted: "Effective Information, Education and Communication (IEC) in Vietnam" [PDF] - page 13.

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The World Congress on Communication for Development (WCCD)

Co-organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The World Bank and The Communication Initiative, the WCCD will take place in Rome, Italy on October 25-27 2006.

Click here for details.

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6. Punishment of Love: Media Impact Survey
In May 2003, Population Services International (PSI)/Cambodia launched a 12-week integrated, multimedia HIV/AIDS prevention campaign featuring a television soap opera called Punishment of Love. In December 2003, PSI published an evaluation of the series that focused on the media impact of the campaign. Excerpted from the evaluation: "Behavior change communication (BCC) messages broadcast on television benefit from the widest coverage of any media in Cambodia. A large proportion of the population can also be reached by radio but BCC messages in newspapers reach only a tiny fraction of the population. The newspaper ads were included in the campaign as a potential way of reaching opinion leaders in the community (i.e. high-status males), however...the limited reach of newspapers should be considered when selecting media for future campaigns."

7. Bound By Law - Global
This comic book explores "the delicate balance between intellectual property and the public domain" - the realm of material that one may use freely without permission or payment. The project draws centrally on use of the printed medium to explore how rights to information are played out in a digital world. The purpose of Bound by Law is to bring complex copyright law issues across in a simple, enjoyable style in an effort to educate artists and the public about the right to information and expression. Through the story of the main character's experience, the comic aims to translate copyright law into plain English and abstract ideas into "visual metaphors." The strategy involves showing the firsthand impact of right-to-information issues while providing details about a variety of relevant court decisions in an engaging, entertaining way. To facilitate access to the comic, organisers have invited educational and other bulk users to purchase the printed version at a discounted rate. In addition, the comic may be read and/or printed in full online for free in a variety of versions.

8. HIV/AIDS Among Zimbabwean Adolescents: Can Improving their Ability to Use Communication Methods Really Make a Difference? And, What is the Communication for Social Change Stuff?
This presentation was delivered by Denise Gray-Felder at the VIII International Communication for Development Roundtable in 2001. It identifies the roots and framework of the "Communication for Social Change" process and looks briefly at a case study of the process in Zimbabwe. One 'operating principle' that Gray-Felder identifies is related to the use of printed materials in a change process and is described as follows: "Communicating in ways and using methods that are natural/comfortable for the people, not imposing new - or foreign - ones at the start. a. I would love to reinforce and build community radio stations and alternative newspapers in every community in which we work in Zimbabwe. However, we first have to use flyers and leaflets, t-shirts and songs/dance. b. Start with the simple methods, not the complex and foreign: leaflets, voice, dance, song. Help people be comfortable talking with each other about HIV/AIDS and to get comfortable handling objections and conflict during dialogue and debate."
Click here for more on Communication for Social Change.

9. Power of Information: Evidence From a Newspaper Campaign to Reduce Capture
by Ritva Reinikka and Jakob Svensson
This paper examines an information campaign in Uganda aimed at reducing the capture of public funds by providing schools with information to monitor local officials' handling of a large school-grant programme. In the mid-1990s, a public expenditure tracking survey (PETS) revealed that for every dollar spent by the central government, the schools received only 20 cents on average. As evidence of the degree of local capture became known, the central government enacted a series of policy changes. Specifically, it began to publish data on monthly transfers of capitation grants to local governments (districts) in newspapers. The authors use a repeat PETS to study the effects of increased public access to information as a tool to reduce capture and corruption. One finding was that head teachers with access to newspapers, on average, were better acquainted with the rules governing the grant programme and the timing of releases of funds from the centre.

10. Billboards as a Medium
from "The Struggle for Meaning: A Semiotic Analysis of Interpretations of the Lovelife His&Hers Billboard Campaign"
Research undertaken by the University of Alberta found that the effectiveness of a billboard is dependent upon the message style, number of messages, linkage of the product and service being displayed to a brand, the use of illustrations, legibility and copy length and the mixing of media for greater impact. What makes the use of outdoor media effective in achieving brand awareness is the subliminal manner in which outdoor media communicates. Where outdoor media is utilised to supplement television it can sustain awareness levels initially established by television.

11. Using Comics for Development Communication
by Frederick Noronha
This article focuses on the use of comics and cartoons in respect to how they can help communicate development issues to local audiences in India. Noronha focuses his article on the story of a Delhi-based cartoonist, Sharad Sharma, who strives to encourage local activists and artists to create comics as a way of sharing information with readers. Noronha describes Sharma's efforts as requiring local content to be effective. Comics are in effect a visual story which must reflect local perceptions and visual cultural cues to be understood. Further, according to the article, "comics make sense in a cultural context like India's where he describes people as having a "rich story telling culture."

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Please participate in our PULSE POLL

Overall the world communicates better now than it did 20 years ago. [If you agree, please elaborate. If you disagree, please indicate why.]

Do you agree or disagree?

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RESULTS of past Pulse Poll

Listening to parents is the most important thing communities can do to better support early child development.

Agree: 85.45%
Disagree: 10.91%
Unsure: 3.64%
Total number of participants = 55

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12. An Evaluation of the Power of the Comic as an Element of an HIV/AIDS Communication Strategy: Eish! Thandi Breaks Her Silence
by Kirti Menon
This presentation summarises an evaluation of the South African series, eKasi comics. The 24-comic series covers various topics related to HIV/AIDS. Comics were considered to be suitable in language and format, as they provided access for both first language and second language speakers of English. According to the author, comics also enable a merging of the fictional world with the real world, in that comics are based on real stories of readers. The findings of this evaluation include that readers actively engaged with the comics, identified strongly with the characters and said that the social context in the comics mirrored their world.

13. The Effects of News Stories that Put Crime and Violence into Context: Testing the Public Health Model of Reporting
by Renita Coleman and Esther Thorson
The purpose of this study is to examine whether changing the way newspaper stories report crime and violence can induce shifts in readers' perceptions of the problem. Using an experiment that manipulates the framing and graphic presentation of newspaper stories on crime and violence, the authors seek to discover whether the public health model that calls for news stories to incorporate information on context, risk factors, and prevention strategies will help readers learn more about the context in which crime and violence occurs, endorse prevention strategies in addition to punishment, and become more attuned to societal risk factors and causes of crime and violence.

14. HIV/AIDS: What Role for Library and Information Centres?
by Prof. Kingo Mchombu
According to the author's research, there is a large and wide range of locally produced materials on HIV/AIDS in Namibia. The materials include newsletters, periodicals, booklets, reports, flyers, and posters. In spite of the wide range of materials, some field workers complained that they did not have any materials back-up at all. The author proposes that library and information services should seek to study and understand the social science dimension of HIV/AIDS so that they may craft a meaningful role for information centres and make a meaningful contribution towards combating HIV/AIDS. Through strategic building of information resources and community-directed information services, library services can a make a major contribution towards managing and ultimately defeating HIV/AIDS through disseminating useful information directly to the public, as well as providing forums for debate and discussion.

15. Newspapers Increase Efforts to Attract Youthful Readers
by Lisa Singhania
This article, from late 2002, examines the trend of people in the United States, and particularly youth, seeking information from online new sources instead of print newspapers. "Newspaper readership among those younger than 40 is shrinking, a function of changing tastes and alternatives including the Internet and cable TV. Although the loss of readers has been an industry concern for decades, the intensifying competition has newspapers worried that if they don't do something now, they will lose future generations forever. So they are experimenting, launching new publications and looking for more cutting-edge features and columns....Experts say newspapers must learn how to provide readers with information they can't get anywhere else in an easy-to-access format..."

16. Mid-Term Evaluation: Sara: A Role Model for Girls as They Face HIV and AIDS in Africa
This study looked at both the implementation process of the UNICEF's Sara Communication Initiative in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique and a quantitative (in Tanzania) and qualitative (in Kenya and Uganda) evaluation of outcomes. Key findings of the quantitative study reported in July 1999 included the following:

• Out of 635 girls interviewed in 25 districts, 32.4% could correctly identify Sara when shown an illustration.
• 18.4% of girls interviewed said they had read the comic books.
• 14.8% said they had shared the story with others.
• 14.3% had been exposed to the comic books at school.

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