Category: Applied ICD

UNCAOC intercultural dialogue games

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Wants to Foster Innovation through Apps and Games Promoting Intercultural Dialogue

The UNAOC launches Create UNAOC 2012, a global competition organized with MIT Education Arcade and Learning Games Network; International Partners include Global Voices, Fundazione Mondo Digitale, Voice of America, ICT for Peace, John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, Doha Centre for Media Freedom, among others 

NEW YORK, New York, 26 July 2012 — the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the MIT Education Arcade, and Learning Games Network today launched Create UNAOC 2012, an international competition for app and game developers to produce apps and mobile games that enable new avenues for intercultural dialogue.

The aim of the project is to identify opportunities through innovative tools that promote intercultural dialogue, drawing on unique cultural resources and experiences of developers around the world. Five finalist apps and games will be selected by an international jury, awarded funds for producers to refine their creations and played by delegates of the 5th Annual UNAOC Forum in Vienna, Austria, 27-28 February 2013. The global competition will accept submissions through the end of November 2012.

“Successful intercultural dialogue is essential to help us navigate the unprecedented challenges of the 21st Century world,” said Marc Scheuer, Director of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.  “Apps and games afford powerful new tools and experiences to explore the dynamic and challenging processes that enable individuals and groups with different cultural backgrounds to engage in an open and respectful exchange of views, to share experiences and to develop a better understanding of each others’ aspirations and better practices of living together.  We are eager to see what young and new developers can contribute to the global conversation.”

The UNAOC and its organizing partners want to encourage developers to think of ways that new apps and games can be used to support such pursuits as gender equality, youth development, migrant integration, religious pluralism, better understanding among individuals of different cultural and religious backgrounds, biased media representation of cultures and religions, and education.
Apps and games submitted will be reviewed by an international jury and measured on whether: (1)  potential users would be given a novel experience to creatively and thoughtfully share perspectives on intercultural and global issues; (2)  how content and commentary relate to historical or current events, as well as (3) how the apps and games provide new perspectives that support intercultural dialogue.
Registration and Submission Requirements
Developers may register to participate in the competition between 27 July and 30 November 2012 at http://www.CreateUNAOC.org.  Developers may register as an individual or as a team with a maximum of eight (8) collaborators. Registrants must be 13 years of age or older.  A video walk-through (i.e., screen capture) or PowerPoint/Keynote presentation of a working app or game alpha or beta prototype built in HTML5 should be submitted for competition by 30 November 2012.  Note: Developers are not required to submit actual working apps/games on authorized development devices to the UNAOC.
Five (5) apps/games in HTML5 will be selected as finalists by 3 January 2013.  Developers will be notified and awarded $5,000 (US) per app to complete development of a fully functional app/game by 15 February 2013.  Apps/games will be played and rated by participants during the 2013 UNAOC Forum in Vienna, Austria (27-28 February 2013).  A Grand Prize will be awarded.  All apps/games submitted to the challenge competition will be featured on the website before and after the Forum in Vienna.
“We are excited by the global network of creative and technical professionals, scholars, NGOs, media companies, and others, who have come together to inform and promote the Create UNAOC Challenge,” said Jordi Torrent, UNAOC Media Literacy and Education Project Manager.  “As we explore new ways to engage citizens of the world in the UNAOC’s charter work, our jurors and partners help to expand our understanding of new media and reach young people and producers who are pursuing exciting new projects that can be used to effectively support intercultural dialogue.”
International Jury and Outreach Partners
Create UNAOC jurors include: Deborah Bergamini, Member, Council of Europe (Italy), Jan Keulen, General Director, Doha Centre for Media Freedom (Qatar), Sanjana Hattotuwa, Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives (Sri Lanka), Eric Klopfer, Professor, MIT (United States), Solana Larsen, Managing Editor, Global Voices (Switzerland), Anthony Lilley, Chief Executive Officer, Magic Lantern (United Kingdom), Alfonso Molina, Fundazione Mondo Digitale (Italy), Savita Nair, Professor, Furman University (United States), Wu Heping, Dean, College of International Exchanges, Northwest Normal University (China).
Initial outreach partners include:
Global Voices (Netherlands), Fundazione Mondo Digitale (Italy), Voice of America (United States), ICT for Peace (Switzerland), John Lennon Educational Tour Bus (United States), Doha Centre for Media Freedom (Qatar).
Media Contact:
Learning Games Network
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) aims to improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions. It also helps to counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism. The UNAOC was established in 2005, at the initiative of the Governments of Spain and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations.  A High-level Group of experts was formed by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan to explore the roots of polarization between societies and cultures today, and to recommend a practical programme of action to address this issue. The Report of the High-level Group provided analysis and put forward practical recommendations that form the basis for the implementation plan of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.  On 26 April 2007, former President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, was appointed as the High Representative for the UNAOC by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to lead the implementation phase of the Alliance. The UNAOC Secretariat, which is based in New York, works with a global network of partners with States, international and regional organizations, civil society groups, foundations, and the private sector to improve cross-cultural relations between diverse nations and communities. It also works at the grassroots level, promoting innovative projects that build trust, reconciliation and mutual respect.  The Alliance works in four program areas to support such projects: youth, media, education, and migration. 
 
The MIT Education Arcade explores games that promote learning through authentic and engaging play. The program’s research and development projects focus both on the learning that naturally occurs in popular commercial games, and on the design of games that more vigorously address the educational needs of players. Our mission is to demonstrate the social, cultural, and educational potentials of videogames by initiating new game development projects, coordinating interdisciplinary research efforts, and informing public conversations about the broader and sometimes unexpected uses of this emerging art form in education. MIT Education Arcade projects have touched on mathematics, science, history, literacy, and language learning, and have been tailored to a wide range of ages. They have been designed for personal computers, handheld devices and on-line delivery.
 
Learning Games Network
The Learning Games Network, a non-profit spin-off of the MIT Education Arcade and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Games+Learning+Society Program with studios in Cambridge, MA and Madison, WI, bridges the gap between research and practice in game-based education and is committed to the development and distribution of games informed by research in the learning sciences, creative design, and technical innovation.  

JustStories Online Story Festival

JustStories Online Story Festival
Thursday August 2 @ 8PM EST

The JustStories Festival features stories that build bridges between diverse racial and ethnic groups and is a co-production of Angels Studio, a communications ministry of The Society of the Divine Word, and Halloran Diversity Productions.

This year the festival is going to the web in hopes of reaching an even bigger audience with stories that can heal our racial and ethnic divides. During the August JustStories online festival, every hour (14 hours a day!) on the JustStories Facebook page a premiere video of a professional storyteller’s story will be shown; 60 stories in all!

You can watch the videos, then comment on them and contribute your own story. Even better – you can simultaneously listen to other people’s comments, too – from Australia to India to Mississippi and New York. In addition, some of the storytellers will be online Thursday August 2,  8PM EST  to answer  questions and listen to comments and shared anecdotes. 

Yes! You can be part of the red carpet and get a front row seat without leaving the comfort of your home or workplace. Won’t you please join the worldwide conversation, a respectful and fun conversation on witnessing and honoring our diverse experiences and exploring the possibilities of living in harmony?

Go to:  www.facebook.com/juststories and encourage your friends around the world to join us, too. If you are already on Facebook, “Like” the JustStories page and then you’ll be able to “Share” the videos and resources with your friends.

Museums and Intercultural Dialogue

A very nice article by Eva Zimmerhof on museums as forums for intercultural dialogue has just been posted online by the Goethe Institute.

It begins: “In future the traditional national museums to be found in Europe are to open multidimensional perspectives on the history and culture of both the individual countries and on Europe as a whole. To implement this new approach the European Union has initiated a program called “Eurovision – Museums Exhibiting Europe” (EMEE). This is an interview with the project’s coordinator, Prof. Dr. Susanne Popp.”

BMW UNAOC Innovation Awards 2012

The Intercultural Innovation Award enters its second chapter in 2012

Building on the great success of the Intercultural Innovation Award in 2011, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the BMW Group are continuing their solid partnership in 2012. At the first Partners Forum of the UNAOC in Istanbul, Bill McAndrews, Vice President Communications Strategy, Corporate Communications BMW Group, has officially announced the second edition of the Award which will start accepting applications on June 15th, 2012.

Also in Istanbul, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, highlighted the significance of the partnership between the UNAOC and the BMW Group. Ban was the co-chair of the UNAOC Partners Forum which was hosted by Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Forum aimed at bringing together governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, private foundations and individuals with a strong commitment to intercultural understanding, cooperation and cultural diversity. A dozen Heads of State and Government and more than 70 senior representatives from countries and international organizations attended the event. Ban referred to the Intercultural Innovation Award as a great example of the “support that the Alliance provides to innovative grassroots initiatives in collaboration with corporate partners such as the BMW Group.”

Representing a new kind of partnership between the private sector and the UN system, the Intercultural Innovation Award honors and supports innovative projects that promote cross-cultural understanding and cooperation, and hence make a vital contribution to security and peace in societies around the world. Non-profit organizations that are innovating in the promotion of intercultural understanding, with a track record in managing intercultural projects and willingness to expand their range of action, are eligible to apply.

More than 400 applications from 70 different countries competed in the first year of the Award – with ten ground-breaking winner projects that were honored at the end of 2011 and are being supported throughout 2012. “These results confirm our belief in the impact of intercultural understanding and underscore our commitment to the partnership with the UNAOC,” Bill McAndrews commented about the success of the Award for Intercultural Innovation in 2011. “We are looking forward to many outstanding applications in 2012 – and hopefully in many more years to come.”

 

case studies intercultural dialogue CFP

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
CASE STUDIES IN INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE
To be edited by
Nazan Haydari & Prue Holmes

We invite submissions for an edited volume on the topic of intercultural dialogue contracted with Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. The growing interest to the concept of intercultural dialogue highlights recognition of the intercultural character of all dialogue processes as they are embedded in and transcend national, political, economic, cultural, religious and historical contexts. It also acknowledges how closely normative assumptions about dialogue are implicated in intercultural communication practices.

The volume aims to make a contribution to the field through the diversity of conceptual and methodological approaches, inclusion of various cultures, contexts and examples, and through the contribution of a diverse number of authors. It draws on cases of intercultural communication in which there is dialogue, conflict or misunderstanding, and presents approaches, theories, and analytical tools that can be used to productively understand and/or resolve the issues presented in the particular examples. The collection approaches case studies as both a way to theorize intercultural dialogue, and as a teaching/learning tool. By defining the concept of “case” more broadly as a real life situation—from a well-defined situation taking place at a certain time and place (e.g. conversations, meetings, classroom settings) to series of events, forms of representation, or organizational structures—the collection aims to cover a range of examples from different cultural contexts. The case studies are structured around the idea that intercultural dialogue is an important component of everyday life, and which is practiced at various levels—from interpersonal communication to media, education, business settings, legal work, action in civil society, and national policy construction, etc. The cases are expected to demonstrate the complexity in the dynamics of intercultural communication, culture, everyday, and identity, and emphasize the building of dialogue at individual, interpersonal, group, and institutional levels. Submissions may address a broad range of issues, including class struggles, international journalism, artistic expressions, interpersonal and workplace conflict, media, education, migration, new media technologies, NGOs working on conflict resolution or in conflict-torn areas, popular culture, race and ethnicity, sexuality, religious diversity, social movements, transnational feminist practices, youth cultures, and war.

Please send an extended abstract of 1000 words by November 21st to both nazan.haydari@yahoo.com and p.m.holmes@durham.ac.uk . Selected abstracts will be notified by November 30th and full papers (of 5000 words including notes and references) will be due 15th of March 2012.

Near Media CFP

The aim of Near Media’s Intercultural Dialogue through Community Media Project is to increase integration and intercultural understanding in society. We are currently recruiting for 8 participants (4 Irish and 4 non-EU nationals) to complete a FETAC level 4 in community radio and intercultural media literacy and, when accredited, to form a production team to create 13 radio programmes on the theme of intercultural dialogue, which will be broadcast on Near90fm.

Attached is a Motivation Form IDCM for those interested in participating in the project. I would appreciate it if you could send this call for participants over your networks, newsletter, website, and/or display the attached poster. The deadline for returning the form is October 7th.

Grace Wilentz
Intercultural Dialogue through Community Media Coordinator
Near Media Co-op
01-848-5211
www.near.ie

About the project organisers: The Near Media Coop is a democratic, not for profit community media initiative based in Coolock, North Dublin. Part of our mission is to provide an alternative to mainstream media by offering an outlet for those underrepresented or excluded through training and access to distribution facilities.

This project is co-financed by the European Commission under the European Integration Fund and is supported by the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration in the Department of Justice and Equality and Pobal.

Save

Museums for ICD

UNESCO launches the network of Museums for Intercultural Dialogue

The role of museums as messengers of peace and intercultural understanding cannot be overemphasised, as they stand as major attractions in our globalised world where millions of people travel for the discovery of other cultures.

UNESCO launches an appeal to the international museum community to join its network by contributing to the enrichment of its new on-line virtual museum for intercultural dialogue where invaluable objects and new narratives can be consulted, for the enjoyment of the public and a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of historical actors, since the early times to present.

UNESCO Museums for Intercultural Dialogue EN | FR | AR

Inauguration of the pilot exhibition in Egypt and Syria (link)

World Heritage site museums project (link)

Contact: Nao Hayashi Denis

Culture Shots

“On Monday the 18th of July at 6.30 pm, Near90fm [Dublin, Ireland] will broadcast Culture Shots, the first show in a series of 13 programmes examining the meaning of culture, and what begins when people from different cultures meet and start communicating. Through conversations, stories, interviews and music, Culture Shots aims to promote understanding between the myriad cultures present in Irish society.

Culture Shots is the culmination of an 8 week training and production initiative which was made possible by support from the European Integration Fund. This initiative brought together 4 migrants from beyond the EU and 4 Irish nationals to work in collaboration to develop skills for understanding and creating media from an intercultural perspective. Before production of the series, participants completed requirements towards earning a FETAC Level 4 in Community Radio, and a certificate in Intercultural Media Literacy.

Gillian McInerney, a North Dublin resident and a presenter on the programme said, “By including voices from very different communities and identities, Culture Shots expresses the diversity of voices, perspectives and languages in Ireland today.”

The series debuts with a programme in which two individuals from different cultures were brought together and asked to collaboratively prepare a 3-course meal. Shannette Budhai, one of the chefs and a presenter on Culture Shots said, “Listening to our culinary experiment shows how people from different cultural traditions, when cooking in a common space, can reflect on how we define ourselves and where we come from through the foods we grew up with. By sharing our stories, along with useful cooking techniques, we were an example of how people of different cultures working in collaboration with one another leads to creativity and innovation.”

Tune in to Culture Shots on 90.3 fm or livestream at www.near.ie each week, Mondays from 6.30 to 7.

This project is co-financed by the European Commission under the European Integration Fund and is supported by the Office of the Minister for Integration and Pobal.

The Near Media Coop is a democratic, not for profit community media initiative based in Coolock, North Dublin. Part of our mission is to provide an alternative to mainstream media by offering an outlet for those underrepresented or excluded through training and access to distribution facilities.”

For further information, see original post.

Cole Foundation grants

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Grant applications for the Cole Foundation’s upcoming round of Intercultural Conversations-Conversations Interculturelles programs are now available online. Recent grants totalling $148,140 were handed out to professional theatre companies in Montreal for their 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons. The Cole Foundation created this grant program to encourage a better understanding and greater social harmony amongst the various cultural communities of Montreal through the presentation of professional French and English language theatre. Barry Cole, Cole Foundation President, believes that dialogue leads to better understanding, appreciation and greater social harmony amongst the cultural communities. With this in mind, the Cole Foundation initiated the programme Intercultural Conversations to stimulate the production of theatrical events that feature intercultural dialogue and that introduce Montrealers to other cultural heritages and social realities. Intercultural Conversations consists of production grants, commissioning grants and translation grants to both French and English theatre companies.

Montreal is a multicultural city welcoming people of all ethnic origins. The Cole Foundation wants Montrealers to have a greater awareness of the voices and stories from and about its diverse cultures and communities. Dialogue among these various cultural communities is one way of bringing them together. Theatre has the ability of fostering this intercultural dialogue through the presentation of stories of other cultures on stage and the Cole Foundation considers it vital to support plays that explore these important issues.

Grants for the next competition relate to the 2012-13 and 2013-14 theatre seasons. The deadline for the fourth competition of this meaningful award is October 7. Application forms are now available online where you will also find further information, including lists of past recipients.
Intercultural Conversations grant application forms are available for download here: www.colefoundation.ca/community/competition-forms

Information about the Intercultural Conversations program: www.colefoundation.ca/community
Information about the Cole Foundation Pediatric Oncology research grants: http://www.colefoundation.ca

European Intercultural Forum

The European Intercultural Forum e.V., a NGO based in Berlin, operating in the fields of youth participation, European Citizenship, conflict management and intercultural learning is looking for new partners in the fields of the Action 2 of the Youth in Action Programme: European Voluntary Service.

We are registered as a sending organisation under reference 2010-DE-31 on the EVS database and are looking for EVS hosting placements in various countries for motivated young volunteers from Germany (including fewer opportunities profiles).
Please contact us in case you would like to host volunteers from Berlin on short-term and/or long-term EVS projects and discuss possible partnerships.

EVS coordinator: Tiphaine Coulardeau
European Intercultural Forum e.V.
Prenzlauer Allee 176, Berlin
eif.germany@…

—
European Intercultural Forum e.V.
Address | Prenzlauer Allee 176, 10409 Berlin – Germany
Mail | eif.germany@…
Website | www.european-intercultural-forum.org