Adrift or ashore? Desert Island Discs and celebrity culture

Why do we want to imagine celebrities as adrift, as banished from the rest of the world, and yet, at the same time, to find out more about them? The idea of celebrities as 'intimate strangers', with the media providing us with privileged access to the alleged 'real' person 'behind' a distanced, glossy façade of superstardom, has long been a constituent element of modern celebrity culture. Desert Island Discs' capacity to use and perpetuate such motifs has been a key reason for its success. At the same time, the programme also registers shifts in celebrity culture: towards a less white and male-dominated demographic, towards the hyper-intimate confessional, and towards expanding celebrity power. In this chapter I consider how Desert Island Discs connects to changing formations of celebrity culture, to ideas of meritocracy, and to a social culture of individualization

Activismo ciudadano y acontecimientos políticos en la transformación de la esfera pública digital en españa: del sms ¡pásalo! a Podemos

This paper discusses digital communication, activism and political system in Spain from a critical-historical perspective. The results of combined empirical and analytical research indicate that a critical digital public sphere emerged in 2004 affecting the evolution of the political sphere to this day. Traditional parties had a slow and instrumental approach to the digital realm. Conversely, cyber-activism unfolded new options of political action, both in the short and long term, transforming the bipartisan system.El artículo aborda la comunicación digital, el activismo y el sistema político en España desde una perspectiva crítica-histórica. Los resultados de una investigación empírica y analítica indican que en 2004 surgió una esfera pública digital crítica que afectó la evolución de la esfera política hasta hoy. Los partidos tradicionales se acercaron al entorno digital de manera lenta e instrumental. En cambio, el ciberactivismo abrió nuevas opciones de acción política, a corto y largo plazo, transformando el sistema bipartidista

"There are just a few of us, but we are all important": responses to a disaster preparedness survey in Interior Alaska river villages

Master's Project (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015This survey explores individual perspectives about disaster preparedness in Interior Alaska villages. The results will be used to create a new, locally relevant preparedness outreach flyer for distribution across the Interior Alaska region. Modern Red Cross preparedness fliers use the "Be Red Cross Ready: Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Informed," flyer to educate people on useful preparedness behavior. This is also the standard across the United States used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies. But is the information contained within the "Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Informed" flyer really applicable to life in small, remote, Alaskan communities? Many of these communities are highly isolated according to the standards applied to the rest of the country: they experience often-extreme environmental conditions, and are composed of indigenous people who have their own worldview and concept of risk and community values. In order to effectively prepare people in villages for disasters, everything must be reconsidered to fit this Alaskan setting. Key findings from this survey project include: the importance of outdoor survival gear and cold-weather gear in emergency kits; the need for more written small community emergency plans; and the need for cultural competency training for disaster response professionals and volunteers