| Code | 314G |
| Title | Connecting Villagers:Digitally Driven News and Social Development in India |
| Author | Gopalan RAVINDRAN |
| Affiliation | School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Penang |
| Abstract | There is a growing tendency on the part of governments and NGOs to latch onto the popular view of the interface between digital media and rural societies. The popular view of the potential of internet and other ICTs in accelerating the processes of social development hinges on their ability to provide new planes of engagements to the rural users even with conventional categories of information and news. The interface seems packed with myriad possibilities for nudging the villagers towards the highlands of economic and social development. Countless number of knowledge/tele centres in the developing world justify their existence mostly on this count. The ongoing projects in south India which seek to harness the potential of digital media for uplifting the villagers are no different. However, despite their seemingly successful onward march, key questions remain unanswered for those who want to care more about the socio-cultural dimensions of any social development process than the dimensions of technological solutions regarding access and delivery parameters. Can digital delivery of certain categories of news and information that are seen as vital for empowering the rural masses alone bring about social development? Can present day digital media succeed in spheres where conventional media faltered in the not so recent past? These are two of the major questions that will guide the exploration the present paper embarks on while examining two major digitally driven development news/information projects in the southern state of Tamil Nadu i.e RASI (Rural Access to Services through Internet) and the Information Village Project. |