OURMedia 7: Identity, Inclusion, Innovation –
Alternative Communication in a Globalized World
Accra, Ghana, from 11-15 August 2008.

What OURMedia is about
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.

Alternative communication for an alternative world
OURMedia 7 is built on the assumption that alternative communication – a diversity of actors, voices, themes and discourses - needs to flourish and take hold to create alternative worlds. It sees equity, community and cultural identity as the hallmarks of an alternative world.

Our Media 7 - In Africa, and in the world
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.

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.

AKWAABA (Welcome), OURMedia,
to Ghana and through Ghana, to Africa and the world!!!
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Invitation to submit proposals
OM7 invites proposals that develop the exposition of its sub-themes and emerging focal areas.
As the proposal form below shows, presentations may take different forms.

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.

Language of submission
It is regretted that proposals will need to be submitted in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish. Only translation between these four languages can be guaranteed at this stage. (English and Spanish are the initial working languages of OURMedia. French and Portuguese are, in addition to English, the two main working languages in sub-Saharan Africa.)

However, the proposal form allows for the possibility that a presentation may be made in a language other than the four named. Presentations in indigenous languages are also encouraged, but proponents are kindly asked to prepare to provide their own translations.

Deadline for submission

The deadline for submission is 29 February 2008.

How to submit your proposal

Proposals may be submitted in one of two ways:

· By e-mail to: ourmedia7@ghanacommunityradio.org

· By post to: The Secretariat, OURMedia7, P O Box KA9492, Accra, Ghana.

In either case, the proposal should have been received by the deadline.

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