Dr Divina Frau-Meigs, University of Paris 3

Dr Divina Frau-Meigs, University of Paris 3-Sorbonne, Professor, Focal point for
the WSIS Taskforce on “Education, Academia and Research”, ex-vice-president of
IAMCR, director of the master’s programme in “e-learning engineering”
Divina Frau-Meigs, a Fulbright scholar, is professor of American studies and media
sociology at the Université Paris 3-Sorbonne, France. With degrees from the Sorbonne
University, Stanford University and the Annenberg School for Communications
(University of Pennsylvania), she is a specialist of media and information technologies
in English-speaking countries, in a comparative perspective. She is also a research
associate with CNRS. Her other activities include being editor-in-chief of Revue
Française d'Etudes Américaines (RFEA) and a member of the editorial board of
MédiaMorphoses (INA-Colin).
She has published extensively in the areas of media content (Les Ecrans de la Violence,
Economica, 1997; Jeunes, Médias, Violences, Economica, 2003), information and
journalism (Qui a détourné le 11 septembre? Journalisme, information et démocratie,
DeBoeck, 2006) the technologies and sub-cultures of the screen (Médias et
Technologie: l’exemple des Etats-Unis, Ellipses, 2001) and the relationship between
media and technologies (Le crime organisé à la ville et à l’écran, 1929-1951, Armand
Colin, 2001; Médiamorphoses américaines, Economica, 2001). Many of her published
articles deal with on-line extensions of such issues as media content, information and
(self)regulation. In 2007 for UNESCO, she edited a multimedia kit on Media education,
with 5 guidebooks (for teachers, students, parents and media professionals) available
on-line at unesco.org (in French and English).
She is currently working on issues of cultural diversity, acculturation, media education
and e-learning in a global perspective. She has held the UNESCO chair for informationcommunication at the Universidad Autonoma in Barcelona, giving a doctoral course
on globalization and cultural diversity (Autumn 2006); she has also organized the first
graduate students encounters on cultural diversity in Montreal (December 2006). Her
other research interests deal with issues of media regulation and self-regulation, for
which she is an expert with UNESCO, the European Union, the Council of Europe and
a variety of governmental agencies.
She has served as vice-president for international affairs on the boards of Société
Française des Sciences de l'Information et de la Communication (SFSIC) and has been
vice-president of the International Association for Media and Communications
Research (IAMCR), as well as a founding member of ECCR which has become
ECREA (the European Communications Research and Education Association). In the
World Summit on Information Society (2001-2005), she led the coalition on
“education, academia and research” and as such was a member of the civil society
bureau. In 2006 she was awarded the “E-Toile d’Or” of the l’Internet for her work on
the research and promotion of new information technologies.
E-mail: [email protected]