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Use and Importance of Memes in Development Communication

A meme is an idea, a behavior or style that stays in the minds of individuals and, eventually, modifies it… A meme is an idea, a behavior or style that stays in the minds of individuals and, eventually, modifies it. This tiny piece of information can take the form of a picture, an action, a sequence of words or an expression (e.g. Pres. Barrack Obama’s, “yes, we can!”). Memes are self-replicating patterns within a culture. It makes use of our minds to be emulated. It was the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins who introduced the term “meme.” In the book, The Selfish Gene (1976), he asserted that memes could spread like a virus, influencing people’s behavior. In the field of Development Communication, a message/information that has been conceptualized to take the form of a meme may have the following advantages: . A meme facilitates message dissemination. A meme is similar to a commercial spot, the refrain of a song, an echo in a canyon. It grabs the attention of the people, provo...
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How to Produce an Effective Radio Ad

A radio ad should contain only one principal message in order to be effective. This message should also be mentioned and repeated several times within the ad… A communication material like a radio ad is an audio marketing message transmitted over the radio or other streaming platforms. The primary scope or a radio ad is to promote products or services or simply to transmit a single message. Radio ads usually last 15-60 seconds and they employ voice overs, music and sound effects to make it more appealing and to capture the attention of the target audience. A radio ad is produced in three stages: pre-production, production, testing and evaluation of the material. A. Pre-production stage – the editorial staff prepares the script of the radio ad bearing in mind the following considerations: 1. Discussion among the editorial staff – the editorial staff meets for brainstorming. The focus of this is to understand all the aspects related to the radio ad being produced (e.g. what the se...

Importance of Radio in Development Communication

The most important characteristic of radio is that it can be employed easily, which means that radio can be listened to while doing household chores… Radio is a popular mass communication medium employed in Development Communication (DevCom). This is because radio can easily reach people in remote areas and because of its cheap price the local population can afford to buy radio receivers. Furthermore, listening to radio does not require internet access nor electricity: a universal medium accessible to all. In the DevCom context, there are three types of radio broadcasting: 1.Rural radio - refers to a specific central radio station reaching or transmitting to a particular rural area. 2 . Community radio - refers to radio programs that are produced locally and are transmitted to a specific community by means of loudspeakers or via 3 .  Compact discs (CDs), which are employed for community use or for recording radio programs on issues that may concern the community. The mos...

The Social and Economic Effects of Air Pollution in the Philippines

Air pollution may be caused by natural or human-made sources. Sources of air pollution may be classified into stationary, mobile and area... Statement of the Issue Air pollution is one of the most pressing challenges that Metro-Manila is facing today. According to the report released by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environment and Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), the air quality situation in the National Capital Region in the first quarter of 2015 was even worse than that of the end of 2014 (as cited in Metro-Manila’s Air…, 2015). While the maximum safe level of total suspended particulates (TSP) of air pollutant concentration was 90 micrograms per normal cubic meter (ug/NCM), monitoring data revealed that the total TSP reached 130 ug/NCM, higher than the 106 per normal cubic meter recorded at the end of 2014. The World Health Organization 2006 Report showed that, pollution, especially from airborne particulate matter (PM), has serious adverse health effects whic...

Impact of ICT in Radio Broadcasting

With the onset of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), radio broadcasting is changing nature while it continues to uphold its primary purpose to inform and to entertain listeners… The radio has long been considered a valuable and functional instrument in reaching people living in remote areas of the world. This is because radios are cheap to buy, easy to manage and very portable. You can, in fact, listen to a radio wherever you are, at home while cooking, washing dishes or ironing clothes. You can listen to a radio outdoors, while driving a car or even while running for an errand. Challenges related to the use of radio are real and concrete. The choice of suitable airing time and the difficulty for broadcasters to capture and hold the listener’s attention to what is being discussed in a radio program are concerns that could determine the program’s success or failure. Nevertheless, in spite of these challenges, the radio can without doubt provide listeners usefu...