--Erin from Los Angeles; image from
Below images and text on Expos from: William Bostwick, Exporting Architecture: The Rise and Fall of U.S. World Expo Pavilions
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
US singer Salama visits Kuwait - Arab Times: "A key priority for the Obama Administration, as outlined in the President’s Cairo speech of June 4, 2009 is launching 'a new beginning' in America’s relationship with the Muslim world.
The State Department’s public diplomacy professionals in Washington and at US Embassies around the globe are actively pursuing a variety of cultural, education and information programs to showcase respect for diverse cultures, faiths and traditions. As part of these efforts, American country and pop singer/songwriter, Kareem Salama (http://www.kareemsalama.com), will be in Kuwait on May 6, 2010 as part of a seven-country, one-month tour of the Middle East. Salama will be accompanied by three other accomplished musicians: Dan Workman, J.J. Worthen and Michael Whitebread. Kareem Salama and his band will be performing in Kuwait at the Al Zomorrada Hall on the Gulf Road at 07:00 pm. The performance is sponsored by the US Embassy, Kuwait and Zain and organized by the AWARE Center." Brussels, 1958, designed by Edward Durell Stone: In 1958, Edward Durell Stone had been working for years, but this was the project that landed him on the cover of Time. The fame arguably ruined his career, leading to high-profile disasters like New York's GM building, but it was well-deserved. The expo's theme was atomic energy, and it was centered on a 335-foot-tall reflective iron crystal molecule. Stone's circular pavilion brought things down to earth--it's big (340 feet wide), but a light-filled interior, thanks to a translucent roof and Stone's trademark quirky, filigreed facade, gave the space-age fair a much-needed humanist touch.
Comments on the US pavilion at the Shanghai Expo - Public Diplomacy Council Facebook page: Among the comments: Two fiascos: the US pavilion at the Seville '92 Expo and the '10 Shanghai Expo.
Seville, 1992, designed by Barton Meyers Associates: The 1992 pavilion in Seville saw its original $45 million budget slashed to less than half, and the building still cost $14 million--twice as much as its projected cost. This Expo was a flat-out disaster. While Tadao Ando designed a kick-ass wooden palace for Japan (the world's largest wooden building at the time), the U.S. plunked down a pair of pre-used geodesic domes, in a nod to the glory days of Bucky Fuller. One dome held a standing-only theater showing a GM film called 'WorldSong' about how we're all, like, one, man. They were wrapped in a mural of Columbus sailing to America and in between them stood... a batting cage. Today, most of the other pavilions are still there. The U.S.'s is long gone."
I wonder what they're actually thinking as public diplomacy "ambassadors" - John Brown, Notes and Essays: "The US pavilion at Shanghai has been panned (see recent editions of the Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review on the negative reactions). In what I suppose is the spirit of the Cold War days, when young people were a key 'human' part of USG propaganda exhibits overseas, there are 'student ambassadors' representing our country at Shanghai ... sent there perhaps in the hope (and on the cheap) of upgrading America's international reputation. I wonder what these young people, supposedly bright and ambitious, are actually thinking about the national embarrassment -- the US pavilion at Shanghai -- in which they are taking part. Perhaps they could let the American public know."
Senate Democrats criticize Radio/TV Martí, recommend that it be integrated with VOA - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "When Radio Martí went on the air in 1985, its studio[...]s were located in Washington, and its ID included 'un servicio de la Voz de los Estados Unidos de América,' i.e., a service of VOA. Later, the VOA connection was dropped, and Radio and TV Martí moved to Miami in 1996. The Senate report would have the Martís move back to Washington and resume their affiliation with VOA. ... When assessing the performance of international broadcasting, members of Congress almost always first ask how many listener (or viewers) a service has. Will quality of programming now be determined by members of Congress rather than the less-often-measured audience? That would be an effective way to eliminate what's left of the audience, but, never mind, there may be no measurements to document that disappearance. Consolidation in international broadcasting is always a good thing, so more combination of effort between Radio/TV Martí and VOA would result in some refreshing efficiency. However, the Radio/TV Martí studio facility in Miami was constructed at considerable expense, so it might not make sense to abandon it immediately. In the meantime, the advantages of covering Latin America from Miami versus Washington can be assessed."
VOA News Now is gone, replaced by new regional English broadcasts - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting
This was maybe the best Expo for architecture: Moshe Safdie's modularHabitat 67 housing block also went up that year and Fuller built his biggest dome yet. The U.S. pavilion's theme was Creative America--it contained artifacts like Elvis's guitar and some of our own space gadgets. Fuller's dome--designed with Shoji Sadao--was huge: 200 feet high, 250 feet wide, with a monorail running through it. It was covered in 1,900 acrylic panels, but in a Terminator-like twist, the skin caught on fire in 1976 and melted off.
VOA director's open letter to Ethiopian listeners tells of alternatives to jammed shortwave and blocked website - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting
On World Press Freedom Day, statements from Radio Free Asia, RFE/RL, Freedom House, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting
All Nighter – Musings of a Megalomaniac: "Up until the 1990s the US built libraries around the world through USIA in one of the most brilliant public diplomacy moves of the century. These libraries became places where anit [anti?] communist groups could meet and where citizens of countries became citizens of the world. Today although USIA and these libraries are gone the libraries that still exist in Universities in the US are a place where a new generation of Americans are meeting their country. And we don’t always like what we see, but then I guess its our responsibility to change it.
Osaka, 1970, designed by Davis-Brody with deHarak, Chermayeff, & Geismar: Inspired by Apollo 11 and built with NASA-developed tech like mylar and fiberglass fabric, the U.S. pavilion this year was a 125,000-square-foot inflatable dome. The real innovation, though, was how cheaply it was built. The government cut the pavilion's funding in half to only $450,000, and it was still built without a hitch.
The Daily Agenda 05 May 2010 - The Zimbabwean: Upcoming Events: The Bulawayo Press Club invites you to this week’s session on Thursday at 6:30pm. Speakers: David Bruce Wharton (Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy in US Government) to present on Globalisation and Press freedom in practice-The US Experience."
EU Religious Freedom Forum Repeats Itself - Eurasia Review: "Around 200 experts, politicians and religious leaders gathered in Cordoba for two days for the Alliance of Civilisations and the EU on Tuesday called for the promotion of education initiatives to prevent manifestations of violence.
They also proposed drafting codes of practice for journalists and promoting public diplomacy operations intended to prevent religious extremism. ... Participants were in favour of European societies introducing educational initiatives to promote tolerance and respect for diversity, or developing training programmes for police, teachers and social workers. They also proposed drafting codes of practice for journalists and promoting public diplomacy operations intended to prevent religious extremism." After the Seville debacle, the U.S. government stopped funding pavilions, requiring them to find private sponsors. Seville was such a blow that the U.S. skipped the next few expos (Taejon '93, Budapest '96, Hanover '00) while other countries' pavilions kept getting better--check out MVRDV's epic Hanover showing or FOA's for Spain in 2005. Finally, we got back in the game in Aichi (thanks to a NASCAR-driver's worth of corporate sponsors). It wasn't much of a debut: The official government site doesn't even show pictures of the exterior, or cite the architect, just "production director" Bernard Taresco. That's because the pavilion, thanks to its focus on sponsorship, was a glorified corporate VIP lounge (the "Franklin Room") looking out on a movie theater showing a Benjamin Franklin documentary. So here we are, with Clive Grout's $61 million megaplex. Inside, a "4-D show" of a Chinese-American woman's life in 2030 plays on seven screens.
NATO's role in ensuring stability and security in Europe and at strategic distance - Milaz.info: "On 4 of May 2010, the Conference 'NATO’s role in ensuring stability and security in Europe and at strategic distance' was organized in Baku. This is a public diplomacy activity devoted to celebration of the 16-th anniversary of Azerbaijan participation in NATO Partnership for Peace Program, organized by the Embassy of Romania, in its capacity of NATO Contact Point Embassy in the Republic of Azerbaijan, in cooperation with the Azerbaijani Public Association for Security and Defense (APASD)."
Netanyahu names Arabic-language spokesman: Ofir Gendelman will make Israel's case in the media to Arabic speaking communities - Globes: "The Prime Minister's Office has named Ofir Gendelman as Arabic-language spokesman for public diplomacy. Gendelman will make Israel's case in the media to Arabic speaking communities. National Information Directorate head Nir Hefetz said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the role 'in order to deal with recent media developments in the Arab world, and especially in light of global developments regarding Arabic-language television stations.'
According to the Prime Minister's office, the decision to appoint a public diplomacy spokesman for the Arabic media was made in order to strengthen Israel's public diplomacy efforts with Arabic-speaking communities, represent Israel's positions directly and increase the exposure of these communities to Israeli content and initiatives on various diplomatic, security, economic, social and cultural issues. Gendelman will also coordinate between the government's various Arabic public diplomacy elements, in the framework of the Prime Minister's Office National Information Directorate." Image from
NMC, AUD-MBRSC sign MOU - WAM - Emirates News Agency: "In an effort to increase and improve coordination between media outlets and universities and to create proper training programs for journalists and broadcasters, the UAE National Media Council (NMC) and the American University in Dubai on behalf of The Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication (AUD MBRSC) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the NMC headquarters in Abu Dhabi. ... AUD MBRSC and NMC will hold conferences hosting prominent media experts from around the world to lecture on strategic communications and modern techniques in public diplomacy and government communication to government media executives."
Iran’s Islamic Revolution and its Future - Abbas Maleki, Islamic Economy:
"The current tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program could ease if Tehran adopts a three-pronged strategy: normalizing its nuclear file through greater cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); carrying out cost/benefit analyses for its nuclear industry; and using public diplomacy more effectively to present its intentions and performance." Image: This image is of a 1980 Iranian stamp commemorating the Islamic Revolution of 1978. RELATED ITEMS
Afghanistan: is it time to talk to the Taliban? Until recently it seemed an absurd idea. But now, eight years after its overthrow, is negotiating with the Taliban the only realistic way forward? - Jonathan Steele, guardian.co.uk: Some western experts on Afghanistan also claim to detect a difference between the old Taliban and the "neo-Taliban". The movement has certainly changed its position on communication technology. Where it used to ban TV, it now has a sophisticated propaganda machine regularly commenting on the latest developments, as well as a website that offers statements, interviews and DVDs. The Taliban are also more diverse and fragmented. In some areas commanders ban music at weddings; in others they permit it. Obama administration has nailed its colours to two masts. One is a strategy of "re-integration", aimed at winning the so-called $10-a-day Taliban footsoldiers back to the government side, partly by the "hearts and minds" investment in schools, clinics and other government services that is supposed to follow the current offensives in Helmand and Kandahar, and partly by offering them money to start new lives. The cash bribes irritate other Afghans who never joined the Taliban and now feel unrewarded. They also doubt the strategy will work since it requires surrender before the main Taliban grievance, the US occupation, is resolved. The other US strategy, led by the senior commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is to use a massive surge of US forces (by the end of this year they will have tripled from the number left by Bush) to knock the Taliban back. He pays lip service to the notion of negotiation but he wants to inflict a severe blow on the Taliban first.
How soap operas could save the world - Drake Bennett, Boston Globe: Soap operas, after all, are entertainment at its least believable and least nutritious. The possibility, therefore, that people might be modeling themselves after characters on soaps might seem both farfetched and frightening.
A spate of recent research, however, suggests that, all over the world, that’s exactly what’s happening. ... Intrigued and buoyed by findings like these, researchers and public health and international aid organizations are looking at how to design soaps that might more effectively spread information and change attitudes about everything from tribal tensions to HIV to petty corruption. ... It’s no surprise that the behavioral impact of soap operas can be ambiguous. The shows are created to entertain, and to do so shamelessly. But activists, sometimes with the aid of media scholars and psychologists, are beginning to look at ways to focus the power of soaps, using them to deliver more specific messages. ... It remains to be seen, though, how healthy soap operas can be made before they lose their hold on viewers. ... Even when soaps are doing good, they need to feel a little bad. Via; image fromIran is friend of countries despite West propaganda: Anti-Zionists Jews Leader – ISNA: Anti-Zionists Jews Leader Rabbi Stephen Wise said Iran has always been friend of other countries despite the West’s false media propaganda. In a meeting between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a number of leaders of the US anti-Zionists Jews on the sidelines of the UN Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, the rabbi appreciated Iran’s stance in the conference.
China urges tough Internet laws targeting 'overseas' forces - Independent: One of China's top propaganda officials has urged lawmakers to push through tough legislation to stop "hostile forces" abroad using the Internet to achieve their aims, state press said Tuesday. China needed laws that would step up monitoring for "harmful information" and block "overseas hostile forces from infiltrating through the Internet," Wang Chen, vice head of propaganda, told lawmakers last week.
IMAGE
--From: Vatican investigates nuns on complaints of "feminism, activism" - Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing
MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY
“[A]ll we get with the Web 2.0 Revolution is more of ourselves.”
--Andrew Keen, the British American tech entrepreneur and self-described elitist who has railed against the culture of Web 2.0
"Unlike modern readers, who follow the flow of a narrative from beginning to end, early modern Englishmen read in fits and starts and jumped from book to book. They broke texts into fragments and assembled them into new patterns by transcribing them in different sections of their notebooks. Then they reread the copies and rearranged the patterns while adding more excerpts. Reading and writing were therefore inseparable activities. They belonged to a continuous effort to make sense of things, for the world was full of signs: you could read your way through it; and by keeping an account of your readings, you made a book of your own, one stamped with your personality."
--Scholar Steven Berlin Johnson
1 comment:
Very worthwhile piece of writing, thank you for the post.
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