Communication and advocacy work for peacebuilding

Este artículo forma parte de la conferencia titulada «Comunicación para el desarrollo humano y el cambio social. El papel de la comunicación en la incidencia política para la construcción de la paz», pronunciada en el “II Congreso Internacional de Comunicación Social para la Paz”, celebrado en Bogotá (Colombia), del 21 al 24 de septiembre de 2009.Este artículo, enmarcado dentro de las teorías de la Comunicación para el Desarrollo, trata de establecer las condiciones básicas para la investigación social en proyectos mediáticos de intervención política orientados a la construcción de la paz en zonas de conflicto.This paper, framed within development communication theories, tries to establish the basic conditions for social research into political intervention media advocacy projects keyed to peacebuilding in conflict areas

Non-scriptural Elements in the towneley cycle

This study discusses non-biblical material in seven of Towneley's plays. Five of these plays, Mactacio Abel (II), Processus Noe cum Filiis (III), the two shepherds' plays (XII, XIII) and the Processus Talentorum (XXIV), are (influenced) by the Wakefield Master, whereas the Processus Prophetarum (VII), and the Suspencio lude (XXXII) are not. It is argued that although each of these plays conforms to a theme current throughout the cycle - to convert and ask for mercy - the -plays attributed to the Wakefield Master also pursue a different thematic concern of their own. The non-scriptural elements can be described in terms of allusions to, and traces of, folklore customs, folktales and legendary material, social criticism and comment, inclusion of fictional characters introduced by the playwright(s) and a vivid portrayal of characters with human dimensions,, By focussing on the significance of these features, their reason for introduction, their sources, and on whether a partially illiterate audience could have been familiar with them, it is suggested that although most of the material is traditional, the Wakefield Master used it in a unique way. Introducing new elements, or modifying material already present in the cycle, he reveals a predilection for depicting interpersonal conflict. This frictional relationship between man - man, based on a difference in commitments and found only where the Wakefield stanza is present, is reflected in man's relation to God. The study suggests further that the author of the Processus Prophetarum may have used a breviary as his source, and that the Judas legend on which the Suspencio lude is based resembles a particular offshoot of the OEdipus legend. Of the twenty-one plates illustrating points of view, one involving a close folklore analogy to Mak's tossing in the Secunda Pastorum has hitherto received no attention, whereas some others dealing, with the Noah legend have not been discussed before in English

Delaytainment an Flughäfen: Die Notwendigkeit eines Verspätungsservices und erste Gestaltungsideen

Der Luftverkehr ist ein internationaler Wachstumsmarkt. Eng damit verbunden sind schwerwiegende, strukturell begründete Kapazitätsprobleme der Luftver-kehrsinfrastrukturen, die chronische – in Zeiten starker Nachfrage sogar kata-strophale – Engpass- und Verspätungssituationen herbeiführen. Mittel- bis lang-fristig ist auch trotz der Ereignisse rund um den 11. September nicht von einer Verbesserung der Pünktlichkeitswerte auszugehen. Im Gegenteil wird der Luft-verkehr zukünftig noch stärker im Stau stecken als bislang schon. Das vorlie-gende Papier beleuchtet die strukturellen Gründe dieser Verspätungsproblematik. Ausgehend von diesem Befund werden sodann auf der Grundlage der Ergebnisse einer qualitativen empirischen Erhebung Vorschläge verspätungsbezogener Ser-viceinitiativen entwickelt, die an die zunehmenden Tendenzen zur erlebnis-orientierten „Entertainisierung“ von Wartesituationen in allen Lebensbereichen anschließen. Dieser sogenannte „Delaytainment“-Ansatz speist sich aus der Überzeugung, dass die handlungsmächtigen Akteure des Systems – die Luftver-kehrsgesellschaften und Flughafengesellschaften – bislang mitnichten alle Mög-lichkeiten verspätungsbezogener Serviceinitiativen ausschöpfen. Nach Ansicht der Autoren reicht es heute nicht mehr aus, allein Massnahmen zur Verspä-tungsvermeidung zu entwickeln. Vielfältige Möglichkeiten zur sofortigen Lin-derung der Situation bleiben ungenutzt. Der derzeitigen Verspätungssituation angemessen muss gleichzeitig das in den Verkehrswissenschaften häufig gescholtene „Reparaturdienstverhalten“ durch ein geeignetes Notfallmanagement verbessert werden. Oder anders gesagt: Kein Arzt würde, nur weil er primär an der Heilung der die Schmerzen verursachenden Krankheit interessiert ist, die ihre Folgen lindernden Schmerzmittel in seiner Therapie vernachlässigen. Dies scheint aber im derzeitigen Verspätungsmanagement des Luftverkehrs der Fall zu sein. Die hier vorgestellten Lösungsansätze zielen auf eine Verbesserung dieser Situ-ation. Auch die Adaption der grundlegenden Gestaltungsphilosophien auf Verspä-tungssituationen im Bereich der anderen Verkehrsträger erscheint aus dieser Sicht wünschenswert. -- Air Passenger Traffic is a strongly growing international market. Such growth creates delay and capacity problems, issues of increasing political and scientific interest. In this paper the structural reasons of the delay-problem are examined. On the basis of a qualitative empirical investigation a so-called „Delaytainment“-approach is developed, aiming to relieve – not to cure – the structural problems which can only be solved in middle and long term perspektives.

A level playing field for comparing air and rail travel times

The research project was funded by the International Union of Railways (UIC).Background: Shifting travellers from air to rail can reduce environmental impacts and is an important European Union goal. Online travel planning applications allow travellers to easily compare air and rail transport choices, however, they may not accurately consider time travellers spend at the airport or railway station since these depend on buffer times travellers use to protect against delays. Methods: This research investigated the actual time spent at airports and railway stations to analyse the accuracy of travel planning applications and help improve the quality of travel time estimates. The research used a travel time recording application to determine the time spent by passengers at airports and railway stations. Data was collected for 312 trips. The research was supplemented by an extensive literature review of dwell times and multimodal travel planning applications. Results: The research found that travellers spent an average of 157 minutes at airports and 32 minutes at railway stations. Comparing these results to travel planning application, the information shows that the applications significantly underestimate time spent at airports and slightly underestimate time spent at railway stations. The use of unrealistic airport waiting times in travel planning applications distorts traveller perception in favour of air travel. Conclusion: Therefore, railway operators should support the development of improved travel planning applications that better consider waiting times. Improving these applications would be much more cost effective than infrastructure improvements designed to save a few minutes of travel time