Our Media 7 In Africa, and in the world - Call for proposals

OURMedia is coming to Africa for the first time through OM7. The previous six conferences (OM1-OM6) were held in Washington, D.C., USA; Barcelona, Spain; Barranquilla, Colombia; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Bangalore, India; and Sydney, Australia.

Founded in 2001, OURMedia/NUESTROSMedios is a global network with the goal of facilitating a long-term dialogue between academics, activists, practitioners and policy experts around citizens' media initiatives.

OURMedia is about building an alternative world, rooted in local knowledge, anchored in strong identities but also connected to global networks, open to ‘otherness’, diversity and inclusion.

OM7 will be held in Accra, the capital of Ghana, from 11-15 August 2008. Like the other conferences, OM7 will be shaped by the living experience of its host country and region. For Ghana and much of Africa, that experience has tended to be portrayed by the world media in terms of deprivation and destruction, or as curiosities. Yet, this vast, diverse and vibrant continent nourishes many of the values, traditions and practices that can enrich communication in an alternative world.

Like previous OURMedia conferences, OM7 is an opportunity to dialogue and strengthen initiatives around common causes with the rest of the world. In the case of OM7, the conference is also an invitation to better understand the complex and dynamic reality of Africa that informs and potentially deepens such dialogue and initiatives.

OM7 invites proposals that develop the exposition of its sub-themes and emerging focal areas.

Proposals from groups combining different disciplines, experiences and creative expressions are encouraged.

The richness and diversity of the proposals will give final shape to the OM7 programme.

The deadline for submission is 29 February 2008.

For more information: www.ourmedianetwork.org/?q=node/66